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sid

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Everything posted by sid

  1. The term is "depth of field". When everything seems to be in focus, that's a deep depth of field; when only the subject, a person in a portrait for example, is in focus but the background is blurred, that's a shallow depth of field. The depth is controlled by the aperture, a large aperture (that's a SMALL f-stop number) gives a shallow depth of field, and vice-versa. Modern cameras usually have a setting for portraits and this setting will normally set the largest aperture and correct shutter speed for the prevailing lighting conditions. There's lots of info on the internet.  
  2. 8 years is good going though, so you've done well!  
  3. The big garden centre chain is Jardiland and you'll find at least one in major towns. They offer a guarantee on most of their plant stock, although I wouldn't like to try to argue the toss if something died. (See other thread about French shops and after-sales service). Everything we have bought from them over the past 11 years has been good quality and has taken well. The key is looking after it properly in the first place, watering especially! Also there's Hortipole. (you can Google all of these). There is at least one good mail order supplier, Jardin Express, and we have used them for Spring plants, including veg. For a large number of the same plant (you mention lavender) you probably would do better at a nursery (Pépinière) where you might be able to negotiate a deal (I wouldn't hold your breath though!). I'm about 50km north of you so I don't know where to point you, but the PagesJaunes should help.  
  4. [quote user="You can call me Betty"]Selected text...  I'm just watching Question Time where one of the speakers has just stated that 26% of doctors working in the UK were not born in the UK. it would therefore be logical to assume that someone from another country would have a fair chance of finding a doctor who speaks their language, and it follows that if you want to communicate with an English-speaking doctor in the UK, you have a one in four chance of it being a doctor whose first language is not English. [/quote] I had to take issue with your statistical conclusions.  [6]  "26% of doctors working in UK were not born in UK". It doesn't necessarily follow that they wouldn't speak English as their first language, as I'm sure you are aware that English is the first language in many large countries, USA, Oz and NZ for example. Therefore without knowing their country of origin, the 1 in 4 chance is a guess. [geek]  
  5. [quote user="Kong"]No idea if our doctor's writing is legible, he prints his prescriptions from a pc.[/quote] Same here, and the prescription has a duplicate tear-off part which you keep, and the dosage is on that.  
  6. [quote user="idun"]Why does this annoy me, because no one is forced into moving to a foreign country and I BELIEVE that one should just get on with the local language if living full time in another country. I have no idea why anyone would move to France and want or expect english speaking anything. I HATE it when I see all the options in the UK of two zillion languages at council offices or the health service. IF someone needs a translator, let THEM pay for one. [/quote] I have to agree with these sentiments! My wife is having long-term medical treatment just now and we have met a really charming set of consultants, all of whom like to try their English on us. We have these double-language conversations where they try their English and we try our French! As an aside I have to say that the health service is first class.  
  7. I have to agree with Chancer about the cost of these materials here in France, and I suppose that's why we see the much cheaper versions in places like BricoDepot. I never feel that the quality is as good on the cheaper marques, and anyway, it's also about safety - how do you assess that? As for surveys, the regulations about siting of tableaux applies to new builds; we had a survey on our house and the old tableau wasn't even mentioned (a fusebox basically, positioned on the narrow staircase). We had an extension built on the house, and a new mains cable from the road (meter), which arrives in the cellar where the new tableau is installed. I replaced the one on the staircase which serves the original part of the house. As far as the OP is concerned I'd still recommend taking out the fuses and replacing with "disjoncteurs". If it's a box with DIN rails and there is (are) already "differential(s)" on the tableau, so much the better, and this would cost the earth. A photo would help here.
  8. Mine cost around 500€, DIY, so no labour, and there are many makes besides Legrand. Our electrician had already used Hager in the new extension so I opted for the same make, not cheap! Hager bits are not usually available in the brico sheds, but there are plenty of suppliers who will deal with "particuliers", and you can buy online. My electrician would have sold me the materials but online was cheaper. Angela may not want to get involved in the work herself. Job done in a day. Surely the normes only apply to new buildings? My tableau is in the cellar.
  9. Yeah, well OK... I replaced my own, needing more circuits etc, so it was a better solution, for me, in the end.
  10. [quote user="Loiseau"]Ooooo-er, guys! My fuse board has those tilt-out fuse-holders into which you drop the appropriate fuse. [/quote] Ooo-er indeed Angela!   [:-))]  When the electrician comes ask him for a devis to replace your tableau! The fuse cartridges do not give the protection that a modern disjoncteur can provide. The fuses simply protect against short-circuits whereas the modern trip switches can detect a current leakage (as for example when you touch a live wire) in milliseconds and trip off, thus preventing you from being electrocuted!  It would be money well-spent. [;-)]
  11. Agreed. I hope they found enough to do. Often visitors find things that we didn't know about, right on our doorstep! Oh well.
  12. [quote user="Théière"]Maybe the ones that trip too frequently are just worn out? [/quote] My thoughts exactly, which is why I was surprised, not to say disappointed when our electricity supplier refused point blank to replace ours even if I were to pay the full cost. [:(]    
  13. Quite right, the cyclists (and horses, walkers, runners, tractors, trucks, buses and other miscellaneous road users) should never have been allowed to use the private reserves which are the car-drivers' own reserves. Sid Froome
  14. [quote user="NickP"]How many of you will be celebrating the Queens record of becoming the longest serving monarch of the UK on 9th September. Nice to know we have something that other countries would love to have, well done to her for becoming an iconic world figure. [B][B] [/quote] Yes, I'll second that.
  15. I'm with Andy, it would be an "abri terrasse" in our area. An "auvent" would be for a porch canopy, the fan-shaped ones being called "auvent marquise". Not being pedantic, but... !
  16. You'll have to find a workaround yourself. You don't say which browser you use, but firstly try a different one. For Internet Explorer try the Compatibility View if the normal view doesn't work. I'm using MS Edge (Windows 10) and it looks OK to me, however I can't post links or smiley icons in my replies unless I go to Internet Explorer.
  17. [quote user="Quillan"]  (edited quote)...  By the way she got her money back eventually but that was because her son had installed a system that recorded every call to try and protect his mother against these types of fraud.[/quote] I saw this item this morning; the recording system just confirmed that she had in fact been taken and had authorised the transfer. She got her money back because Paul Lewis and the Money Box programme pursued it for her, with the weight of TV exposure behind them. She got £3k of the £12k initially, and then the remaining £9k, the two sums from two different banks, which I found odd. Lewis said that it was unusual to get money back, the banks usually claim that you authorised the transfer. There is another scam associated with this type of call where the thief doesn't hang up, thereby holding the connection open. You would be unable to dial out until the thief himself hangs up. In a sophisticated version of the scam they would play a dial tone, then a ringtone, and eventually "answer" to make you think you had got through. Best to use another phone, a mobile if you have one. [;-)] Paranoid, me? I looked up "paranoia" in the dictionary... it said "What do you want to know for?" [blink]  
  18. It's interesting that this thread has reappeared. Back in our early days here this used to happen to us, the main switch (immediately after the meter) would trip out at the slightest hint of a storm. We're in a rural village where the electricity supply is via overhead cables and thus susceptible to strikes and surges. At one point we lost the contents of our freezer when we were away. I noticed that the switch (Baco) was dated 1989 and asked the supply company (SEOLIS not EDF) if they would change it; the reply was a firm "No", not even if I paid for the whole job. The house has been completely re-wired now and the problem seemed to have gone away, so maybe there was a fault in the circuits? But then this summer, after 5 or 6 years trip-free it has tripped out twice during the recent storms, bringing back the worries about what happens if we're away. We don't have an immediate neighbour to come and reset the switch, and to be honest, I don't see that as a proper solution in this hi-tech day and age. Previously I did some research but found it very confusing. Firstly I don't think our meter and "disjoncteur général" to give it its proper name, belongs to EDF as everyone keeps saying; I think it's the responsibility of the supply company which could be SEOLIS in our case, or VEOLIA or EDF or other. Secondly there seems to be some doubt as to the legality, by which I mean "normes", of having a re-arming switch in a habitable building, although there are several such devices available including Legrand (which would be my choice for quality). We use the "Loiseau method", checking the state of the frozen ice cubes! If we go away, for central heating/frozen pipes security in the winter we leave the heating on a frost protection setting, but turn off the water main. The heating pipes are filled with anti-freeze, so it wouldn't matter if the heating went off completely, and the domestic water pipes would only flood what was left in the pipes. We would have to suffer the lost freezer contents, which is horrible, especially if there is a supply of homemade dishes from the summer's fruit! If there is a better way I'd be pleased to hear about it, but I'm not holding my breath, after 11 years we treat it as part of the "new life experience"!
  19. Oh good! I've recorded it so I've got that to look forward to. EDIT: I watched it after lunch and thought it was very good. I'm not a train buff as such, more of a nostalgia freak, and I love those snippets of the post-war period that I remember so well . My parents didn't have a car and we always went on holiday by train, usually to North Wales.
  20. Come on Frank, aren't you insulting our intelligence in the first place? I'm sure we've been there (not Aurillac necessarily) but been caught out, in the wrong, and feeling prickly afterwards and hoping to wriggle out of it. You have to accept the result, pay up, this is France, not UK or USA where litigious arguments are the norm. The best reply you have received, and most helpful, is to contact the Mayor and explain what's happened. Don't hold your breath though. Second best suggestion is not to park on the pavement. Try that one in the UK and you'll likely get key marks down the side of your vehicle. Third best, get someone to drop you near your appointment. Simple isn't it, with hindsight?
  21. Tread carefully, Mint! This looks interesting: http://tinyurl.com/nr42h9v Eurosport offering 1 month's access to their video coverage for 1 month at 5,99€ on a 12 month contract or 7,99€ a month at a time. I can't follow it properly but think it's live or up to 3 hours after the start time.  Perhaps other posters have some experience of this? I've no idea what speed your broadband would need to be, often these things (like Netflix) work from 2mega upwards but I'm open to correction.    
  22. Mint, the free streaming sites are exactly that, FREE. You mustn't give your details and definitely not give your credit card details to anyone who you don't know is legit. You don't need to sign up either. Most of these sites that I refer to are merely lists of links to the free streams for that day, and they change often. There is always lots of advertising and most of the annoying little windows partially obscure the live picture underneath. You have to be patient and work your way through finding the almost hidden little "x"s to close each advert or notice. Often they tell you that your video player is out of date, or your Java is out of date, but you don't need to click on their "update now", you'll just get more advertising.  I guess I've got adept at it now after several seasons of this. Tread carefully, I'm sorry I mentioned it now.      
  23. At the start of every football season I go through the same routine, looking for "reasonable" subscriptions to satellite or online services to receive just the Premier League matches. Every year it's the same, too expensive at around 39€ because I also have to take additional channels that I don't want. I already have the free French TNT channels for news etc. So, every year I settle for streaming feeds, of which there are plenty, although the quality leaves a lot to be desired on our 2mega broadband service. If only the "powers that be" would wake up to the fact that there is a market out there for people to pay for specific channels! One of my French friends lives in the local old people's home and he gets BEIN for 12€ pm and tells me he watches PL games (I'd be happy with that, so long as I didn't have to live in the home!) but it's part of some special deal with the home itself. So, Mint, just Google for "live streaming tennis" and see what you get. Not that I could ever condone doing something so illegal !! This year I was able to watch the Tour de France online because one of the French TV stations (francetvsport.fr) supplied a free feed, which was excellent, and showed all of the marvellous helicopter shots and fast descents which are normally cut from the ITV4 coverage. We live in hope.
  24. I can't see you point of view at all Q; I think the other replies have pretty well summed it up, holidaying on home turf you expect to be able to relax and speak your own language. Sometimes I think it's us Brits who are lazy about languages, going to Spain where "everyone" speaks English and all you have to do to make yourself understood is shout louder!
  25. Thanks Nick, I've seen those adaptors, but it's a totally unnecessary contraption at the top of the tripod for such a small camera (Canon G7X). I just need the "old-fashioned" ball/screw fastening. Really what I was hoping for was that someone had the same experience as me, but maybe I'm the odd-man-out, and everyone else likes the quick release ! In my experience they become loose and wobbly after a while and if you're doing anything requiring absolute rigidity, like photographing the moon or Milky Way it introduces more problems than it solves. Why would you want a plate fastened on the bottom of a pocketable camera, rendering it un-pocketable? I accept that I may have to go down this route in the end.
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