Suze01

Well, I've got my parents here at the moment along with my sister and her family (11 of us all together), so we held a sweepstake at €1 per horse.  Guess what - I won!! €24 - the first time any horse I've picked has won - they usually fall. So I'm a happy bunny [:D]

[quote user="Alexis"]2.6 kilos! [/quote] [:-))] [Www] [:D] That is amazing - congratulations - you deserve to be able to brag.

[quote user="KatieKopyKat"]I agree with hardhat that only a lowlife would shop... [/quote] I totally disagree.  It is the lowlife/scum/thieves, call them what you will, who are stealing  from the government and the honest people of this world who pay their taxes and pay for costs of running the hospitals, schools, roads, etc. etc. etc.. Whilst reading the start of this thread it brought to mind the 'travellers' that come around offering to re-tarmac your drive, then disappearing only for the thin layer of tarmac to break up no sooner than it's finished.

BBQ-ing them works well [:$] but when I found a line of them crawling across my drive a couple of years ago I doused them with bleach and that did the job too [6]

[quote user="Ab"]Have you checked chlorine level? Does chlorinater show bubbles i.e. is producing chlorine when you switch on. [/quote] The original poster did mention that he'd checked the chlorine levels and they were 'way too low'. The cell should not have any air in it (according to the instruction on my unit any way - but I suppose different models... [;-)] ), so there shouldn't be 'bubbles' coming off it.  What you should see is slightly 'milky' looking water flowing off it - that is the chlorinated water.

If they were hairy then they could possibly be Processionary Caterpillers.  Were they 'walking' along in a line? If they are these, then they are DANGEROUS, especially to dogs/cats but will also harm us too.  If threatened they shake off their hairs which are highly irritant - you would not want to get them in your eyes.  They can kill a small animal.  I don't mean to sound alarmist but they really are nasty little bu***rs! AFAIK they nest in pine trees in coccoon-like spider web type nests.

[quote user="Alexis"]So.  Lost a kilo this week so my total for the three months is 9.9kg.  13cm off my waist.  12cm off my hips. [/quote] Alexis - you are amazing.  9.9kg weight-loss is very impressive.  I fear I have put on again this week - I will weigh-in and update this post soon.  My problem is lack of w-p, feeling a bit low and a few health problems - this last month I've been on some medication that is highly likely going to make you gain a kilo or so (well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). The last few weeks have been a disaster diet -wise : I've been having a few glasses of wine and too many carbs.  My tummy is really flabby again - I was in my pool yesterday afternoon, chilling & floating about on my li-lo and thought jeez, I look like a beached whale! Today, I am going back on the wagon, after all I managed it for 6 weeks at the beginning of the year, and I must resist those carbs.  If I can do those two small things and can get back on track again then the pounds will start to fall off as they did before. Sorry to waffle but I needed to write it down - you know how it works. Edit: Yep - as thought (though not as bad as) I've put on half a pound [:(] [url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/] [img]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/3;10732;78;0;1/c/184.5/t/165/s/191.5/k/94a8/weight.png[/img] [/url]

How old is the salt system? I've read that the cells only have a lifespan of a few years depending on water conditions. It could be that the cell is at the end of its life and so is not producing much chlorine. Do you run it all year round?

I've just started reading it too on the back of it being featured on R&J and thoroughly enjoying it so far. I'm sure that the book will increase tourism in the area - hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold - and no doubt a few house sales will also be made. My mum has always wanted to visit the area and this weekend she'll get her wish as they're stopping off there en route to us from Spain. So John, if you see a sixty-something year old couple in a right hand drive, Spanish plated Toyota Corolla - that's my folks!

[quote user="SaligoBay"]Do you have to pay to give a dog to the SPA?      [/quote] Yes, you do. If I remember from when we adopted from there, it costs €100 to 'abandon' a dog, unless you tie it to their gate when they're closed, as I'm sure some people do!

That dog isn't just extremely ugly - it is downright scary [+o(]

You may be able to buy cheaper direct from the abbatoir, our local one has a boucherie attached.

[quote user="Ab"]LUCKY DEVIL.!!!!!!!!![:D][/quote] Very [;)]

[quote user="Ab"]What is your pool temp.?or have you a cover or are heating it or you are young and brave. [/quote] I have an abri bas (chosen in particular to extend the swimming season) and a pompe a chaleur and it is up to 27 and gaining upto to 2 degrees per day so will be at full temp by monday/tuesday after which the abri will maintain most of the temp and the Pompe a Chaleur will just click in now and again [:D]

ali@ards wrote  Quote - "Having said that, I would never want to own a swimming pool again."  Why?????  Are they really more bother than they are worth??!!!    I love swimming - I'm never out of a pool on holiday - & as we'll be retired I intend to make full use of one.  Do you think we would be better to use a public one or a swimming lake? Go for it, depending on what set up you decide on they really needn't be hard work. You sound like me - in the pool every day unless I really can't find half an hour or more! Infact, I've just had my first swim of the year having opened my pool about 10 days ago, it is now up to a swimmable temperature - it was brilliant. I'll be going in again later when my daughter, who is also swimming-mad, gets back from her friends house. We have a salt system. In theory you will need to buy some sacks of salt each year to keep it maintained to the correct level but ours was a little high last year and so we don't need to buy any as the level is OK.  The electronic cells in the salt-chlorinator system (which produce the chlorine as the water passes through it) have a lifespan of a few years or more depending on conditions and I believe that they may cost 2-300 euros to replace! But, in the meantime you are not having to buy, or handle, chlorine tablets/chlore choc etc.  I would recommend (in hindsight - because we didn't) some sort of automated dosing system for the chlorine/ph levels that way you need never have to manually check these and adjust, it is all done automatically and at a constant rate so that there is no yo-yo effect in the chemical levels . We have had problems regulating the PH since we filled the new pool, had no problem with the old pool, so I presume it has something to do with the tap water.

[quote user="thomas16"] we bought a new car and it was imported LEGALLY  we innocently went to the uk on english plates with a valid french insurance. [/quote] Hello, maybe I'm having a blonde moment, but I'm interested  in how it all works - how do you define 'imported legally' if you haven't got French plates?

Well done Gay, I 'only' managed 3 in the 1st week. To do a ticker go to tickerfactory.com and follow the instructions. When you have finished making it you get a choice of different web addresses for it - use the one called BB Code, highlight it all and press Control and 'c' then on your post here do Control 'V' - it should appear when you preview the message.

So much for wanting to lose 2lb this week - I've put ON a pound.  My diet over the past few weeks has not been going well: +1lb / - half lb / 0 / +1lb.  I need to re-focus - at one point I was 9lb down overall but that has now slipped to 7 and a half pounds, and I was so close (1/2 lb) to breaking that stone barrier too. [url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/] [img]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/3;10732;78;0;1/c/184/t/165/s/191.5/k/bc55/weight.png[/img] [/url]

I don't know what Beryl's recipe is, but mine is self-raising flour, a pinch of salt and enough lager to make a thickish batter - whisk all together and leave to stand for half an hour. Sprinkle the fish with lemon juice and season before dipping in the batter and dropping into very hot oil, cook until golden.

Try [url=http://www.caf.fr/]here[/url]

Well done Jan & Alexis! Have just weighed myself too - very surprised to see that I've lost half a pound.  I've not been very 'good' on the food and wine front this week but I have been doing a lot of gardening with some serious digging to balance it out!  I have opened up the pool this week and so in about a week or so when the water gets up to a comfortable temperature I shall we doing a bit more excercise with a daily 30 lengths or so. [url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/] [img]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/3;10732;78;0;1/c/183/t/165/s/191.5/k/489a/weight.png[/img] THIS WEEK I WANT TO LOSE TWO POUNDS [/url]

Welcome KC, In theory a fosse septique should never need emptying if all is functioning correctly.  It is not a holding tank like a septik tank that fills up and needs to be emptied.  A fosse septique is basically a large box with 'dirty' water flowing into one end, nature's bacterias breaking this down, and then 'clean' water flowing out the other end into a sand filter bed or soakaway. Over many years there will be a build-up of sludge in the bottom and I beleive there may be new laws requiring a 'vidange' every ten years, but someone can correct me on that. Prices vary for a vidange depending on who does it (an assainissement company or the local farmer [;)] ) but 1-3 hundred euros is about the mark.

Thanks Mochas, I really enjoyed reading that. So, when's it going to happen?  [;)]

By some coincidence, when I went to take my sacks to the bins the morning, one of the bins had not been emptied and was bearing a sticker from SMCTOM to say that it contained polystyrene (large lumps of packaging) and that it couldn't be recycled - instead of transferring it to the other bin they just refuse (pun!) to empty it.

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]Flocks of birds, high flying, heading north east yesterday. [/quote] They were the Grues Cendrées. I saw them too when I was cleaning my pool out.  They stopped and circled over our house for 5 mins to gain altitude before re-grouping and heading off again.