Judith

Following on from reading these posts, and telling the doctor I wondered if it would help as I always seemed to be tired though sleeping reasonably well, she has just prescribed one dose and suggested it is sensible to take one every three months - I don't get out as much as I should since the hip op and I've still to get back to full fitness so don't walk that much at the mo. She did say that there is more vitamin D deficiency in the south of France than the north - and she agreed when I said, yes, they don't go out when it is too cold in the winter, and in the summer they stay inside because it is too hot!  We laughed together at that one! However, my question is, can anyone who has taken Vit D tell me when I am supposed to take it (with a meal ??) or indeed do I take it neat or in water.  Leaflet does not make it clear at all, or indeed, it is not clear how I open the thing.  Cut the end off?? Any suggestions gratefully received!

Maybe the UK firms are just more used to people moving???

Well, must admit, if I went back to the UK, selling the French car had never been in my to-do  list ... and sure there are many other points very easy to overlook ...

Have a memory in one of the cliniques of seeing a notice that you could recycle Xrays, but for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was you had to do.  Sure they will have thought of this, but sorry, more than senior moment!

Chrissie, Sorry to hear you are "leaving" us, and so we won't manage to meet up for books etc etc. However, my Rotary club have installed 2 (soon to be 4) "boîte à livres" in places locally, which we have to check for books on a regular basis, so I have a way to get rid of books now, and all for a good cause, though not yours! However, regarding your post about removal firms.  We used Bishops Move on more than one occasion, the last being at least 10 years ago, when I came here.  When we moved from "that" house to "this" house 8 years ago, we used a firm from Narbonne, and they had only to move the big furniture, we did the rest (only moved 20 mins drive, and did not need to time the sale / purchase together), and that cost pro rata a lot more.  Though we did need a lift to get some of the furniture out of the old house! UK firms will often be very competitive, especially if you can fill them up on a return load!

Congrats ALBF et al..  No experience of this on either side, but I think I can guarantee you some sleepless nights! As for Mint's original question ... so far, so good, none!  Still time yet!  I think the frangipane ones are only tolerable warm.  Like mince pies, though with mince pies I follow the Yorkshire custom of eating it with cheese, which takes the utter sweetness away at least.  Also cheese with Christmas cake and apple pie.  Don't ask, but they do go so very well together. I actually made my own mince pies this (sorry "last") year (now), and still two to eat .. from both shop bought pastry and mincemeat (but Waitrose, so extra special stuff!!), and they were not bad, looked funny shapes as most of my baking does, when I do it (rarely!), but tasted fine!  Roll on le fin de janvier ...

I've got amaaaazingly !!!! good at ignoring adverts - completely, even on my kindle.  Only use what's app for one person as it seems it is the only way she can receive any communications from me - email never works with her for some unknown reason ....

I would say that Hoddy knows exactly what to do with kids, both in this forum, and also in whatever school it might have been.  Light touches can work very well, depending on the kid. I would also say that each spoilt kid on this forum should have learnt how to behave by now, and that whilst some fun is definitely allowed, name calling can certainly get out of hand, as has been demonstrated a little too much recently. I  haven't posted much because of these posts which have deteriorated badly from little boys (or girls, it matters not), just having fun, to sheer nastiness. I think Hoddy has done a brilliant job on this forum, and wish everyone, including the naughty boys and girls, a happy new year!

Good news all round, so glad.  Yes, sometimes doing it on your own is just as good as forced exercising with the kine. Unless it needs specialised equipment you can do much at  home, main thing is to schedule a session every day, that is what I found hardest of all. Bonne chance, and indeed, bonne année!

Indeed, Mint, I did see 2 of the 4 you mention, but on the mainstreams well, it is always pick and choose.  Yesterday, well but the evening, having cooked lunch which finished at 4.30 - so French - after the quizzes on 2, I treated myself to a bit of It's a Wonderful life on video ... I was far too weary to do anything else. Today, however, there are so many all at the same time that I will be spoilt for choice.  But I still watch very few with adverts .. and of course, for us, there is now Christmas University Challenge series, plus for hubby, the RI Lectures, which of course conflicts with the newly found Morecombe and Wise tapes.  'Twas ever thus, feast or famine!!

Well, I just treated myself to a bit of Mary Poppins, before I turned over for Carols from Kings, but that was because it was aperitif time, and I needed to sit down.  Only films I saw on that I fancied, I already have on DVD / video (yes .... I still have those odd things!), so hoping for a treat of old films which I really like ... somehow, I hate the Christmas programmes of today. Not funny, and not worth turning on for ... IMHO. 

Thank you, WB, and to you too ... not watching for Santa, but for many years, will not be eating on our own tomorrow, as we have invited a French friend round who would be otherwise on her own.  Still not sure whether to cook beef (with 3 people who all like it cooked to a different level) or go for the duck!!  I have both in case!!!!! Spent the afternoon whilst preparing the sproutsn and such !,  listening to Radio 4 and the 9 lessons and carols from Kings, then saw the TV version, first time I've seen / heard both, and I much preferred the radio version (Mint, Norman H) so now I feel ready for the big day, but have no expectations of Santa arriving, nor do I intend to wake up early to see if he did indeed come. But Merry Christmas to all, believers, or not ... we need to enjoy it, regardless of whatever bl***y B****t might bring next year !!

After the flood we replaced our parquet with pine .. varnished with a clear varnish, cost about the same as re-parqueting. After a year, it has "darkened, ie aged, nicely, looking nothing like the pine underneath.  Why pay more for oak ... all these types of flooring products are widely available in bricos ...

I very often think that you cannot improve on the original, in spite of the many technological advances, and I am not sure that actors improve proportionally either!

So little do I watch independent channels that I never see adverts.  If I do, I use them to go do something more interesting - amazing what you can get done in those breaks! Happy Christmas everyone - no rain scheduled Mint, so hope you get your wish!

No goody bag here, but we are a somewhat larger commune.  Do get the OAP lunch invite, and usually go, if I am not elsewhere, or indeed, one year, leaving hospital on that day after my hip op! Usually go to the NY do too, but likewise, unless we have other things happening .. which is now occurring more and more!  Actually, I think the goody bag is probably more useful than the free lunch ('cos we know that one doesn't exist!).

Quite right Norman, at last some sense on this thread.  I understand Betty's post, of course I do, I'm a WOMAN, but it was the stupid (which JC unmistakably said, lip reading you know), which I found interesting to have been quietly "forgotten" in all the furore.

Mint, I am always amazed how much joie de vivre you have, puts me to shame. I try hard not to swear, as I know I don't really know when and how - though I do know ras de bol, j'en ai marre, etc, learnt in one of my French lessons before I arrived here, but never used! You are quite right, register is important, I have a book, Using French: a guide to contemporary usage (Cambridge U Pres about 2000 ... which is all about  about register ... and which words to use.  I decided at that point not to worry about what level I spoke, but to go for the middle of the road stuff, which has served me well enough.  It all depends on age, sex, geographical origian, and indeed your "class" to abbreviate ... fascinating, but I'll stick with what I can cope with. But bravo to you for trying all this. I have to agree, ce m'est egal is most useful in all sorts of occasions!

 Yes, news this morning that farmers and lorry drivers are joingin in ... just a NormanH predicted.

[quote user="suein56"]One of my friends is a traductrice assermentée who has translated the most bizarre written matter over the years. She is, apparently, extremely knowledgeable about the many different kinds of cement used in the building industry .. amazing just how language is used isn't it ?[/quote] I used to know a lot about cement and concrete too, one of the subject areas I have worked in.  And yes, I have a friend who is assermenté, she gets some interesting subjects to work on too, as well as a lot of the usual certificates for CdS and nationality at the mo!

Glued together hybrid .. I rather like that, it's better than my usual description of a Jill of all trades, having done a degree which had science, languages, and management etc of information all cobbled together in it. 

So now we find that ALBF cannot type, or perhaps it's just the usual finger slip ...

Can't see the quiz, but then I use a large screen covered in the forum discussions and not its adverts as well. Only way to work IMHO.

Oh, THAT Dick, thought you were still talking about someone who still seems to be posting on here ...

And probably to be expected.  Think I've better things to do with my time sadly, if this is going to be the standard response now.