Judith

Indeed, and they close for lunch too!

Thanks, now that does look useful.

That's the current regulation .. and it is intended to remove that limitation once the law has been effected I think you'll find.

Dave, currently not able to report success in tasting. Managed, eventually, to find the vineyard, though it would be difficult to find at the best of times, as very badly signposted, but with a time constraint because we'd had traffic and other problems getting there, plus it was pouring down with rain, and cold, but could not find out they were open, even though the web site, and facbook pages were saying it is "open now". How they expect to sell any wine I really do not know!! Our phone call got into a "press this no" etc, which did not pick it up, so we abandoned the idea for that day, had a nice lunch in the nearby town, then went to the hospital on the way back for the appointment which was the reason for setting off at all. We'll try again when the weather improves, but will be telling them what we think of their marketing approach when we do. I had a French speaker with me, though I manage OK, she is an expert (retired teacher of French). We'll certainly making our point of view felt.

There is a reason why there are so many chateaux for sale at ridiculously low prices. The examples above have only confirmed what I think we knew already. Yes, I have stayed in one or two chateaux hotels, and when well done they are fabulous, if not cheap, but I've also stayed in some maisons de maître which were cold, fancy furniture, but so totally lacking in anywhere comfortable to sit and laze. The ones that work best have that also sussed.

I had a very low alcohol beer (0.4%) whilst was in the UK .. in the village pub where y sister lives, brewed by Carlsberg, as it happened and called a hoppy beer. That was pretty acceptable to me, but I don't drink a huge amunt of beer (ie lager) here in France and I always did prefer the hoppiness of beer when I did use to drink it. I was working for Whitbread when they brewed the first (I believe) - mid 80's - low or non-alcoholic beer, which I think would be a lager type to us, and I gather it was regarded quite highly for taste ..was it called Barbican? - I didn't drink it then, as I was not then "banned" from drinking alcohol!!

Yes, I know, but I'd like to taste it first. As Dave says, the supermarket offerings do little for me, and as they are so close it seems worth a small detour (well it's hardly that, in fact, just not my usual way to get to Beziers .. ie a minor change of route!! I'll tel you know what I think, Dave.

Dave, that's <exactly> the place we are going to find next week... about 30 minutes from us! Going to make it a nice day out too, with some lunch, somewhere!! If you say they are good, that's most encouraging as I must admit I do find I am better without the alcohol, but do so miss a decent tasting alternative! Though during this festive season I have found a glass of blanquette works well, as an occasionaly treat such as Christmas Day, but that's not for every day, of course!

That's sort of my experience with the no alcohol wine, lacks that je ne sais quoi! The red tastes like grape guice, the white is a bit thin (I like a hefty white with body) and the rosé, well that's the only semi reasonable one I am finding .. so far. I'm drinking stuff I brought back from the UK (Tesco's offerings) in October, but with luck are going to investigate a vineyard close to here which offers only non-alcohol stuff next week. Could be interesting.

My bête noir - in both countries, plates overloaded with meat and potato - or the inevitable frites, with little or no appearance of vegetables. Plonked one of top of the other .. confusion to the palate and the eye all round. Portion sizes either huge, or tiny, you can never tell which until they arrive - again in both countries. Restaurants show up the worse for this .. French home cooking I cannot report recently about .. but given the preponderance of kebab shops, the busyness of MacD's when passing, and the pizza places .. I think it's not what it once was. I travel quite a lot in both countries, staying in hotels a reasonable amount, and wish they would make allowance for those with lighter appetites, by offering by something tasty, but different and of a medium size. The decoration of a tiny bit of salad on a place and calling that the vegetable. The lack of a decent non-alcoholic drink which properly accompanies a meal .. plenty of non alcoholic wines around now ... but they don't make the profit wine does of course. The coke and other soft drinks they offer as a non alcoholic replacment are far too sweet to drink with a meal .. I could go on, but won't! PS the last is because I have to avoid alcohol now as much as possible, due to medication conflicts, but can find nothing to taste right with a meal, and water on its own gets so boring!

That is the most important thing, Menthe. I did use a proxy once, when they were arranging them, and that was easy enough, but online would be so, so much eaiser. Not difficult to keep voting online legal and secure these days .. we already have to verify our voting registration each year, and with secure password and text messages with codes which you now need to do almost anything, no reason at all why online voting can be foolproof. I would happily trust any of my family to vote for me, they just do not live close enough to my old polling station (which was just at the end of our street - very handy!), to do it.

Yes, I took part in one. However, it was more to do with information, including asking how I would prefer to vote if / when I do. I said online. From my clalcuations, I have only "lost" my vote "this year" but have voted each time, but there is certainly some problem with postal voting, as votes don;t always arrive in time, and the proxy vote doesn't work for me as I know no-one who lives close enough to vote in my old constituency. As I have said before, I always vote as I regard it as my duty to do so. And for those who think I no longer have an interest in the UK poltitics, my reply is always "Of course I do! Where do you think my pension income comes from, never mind that all my family live there."

Of course, it is a right as I never forget people died to ensure that we ladies did get a vote.

Thank you, Menthe. Even though I worked in Wales for a few months and tried to learn some Welsh, that was missing from my multi-lingual greetings! It isn't now! Reciprocal wishes, of course!

Don't bother with NYE - utterly useless, but Vienna's NYD concert, always, with a bottle bubbly or something nice .. depending on what I have in ..didn't buy bubbly so it might be sweet white wine instead this year ..

ALBF, NOT in Yorkshire. I'm a Yorkshire girl, ducks is Derbyshire, Midlands. But Happy Christmas to all too!

I heard that quoted as the average on a news item .. got the prices now, more than I was paying for top cover, on th much lower package .. still deciding what to do!

Not got the prices yes, but the ones Ihave looked at seem to have increased out of all propotion to the cover. With 2 ALD's now I begin towonder if I need to bother!!

I only worked that out as when OH puts on the log fire and gets it up to quite a temperature, it's usually been too hot for me, and when I go somewhere cooler I find my chest feels much better. Think about those who used to got to the sanatoriums in Switzerland etc, to help with consumption etc ..it's also to do with clearer air, but crsiper conditions seem to help too (but not too cold!).

Menthe, one of my French friends has an Aygo, she's found it good and it can get quite nippy .. you could do worse ...

On this I am more with Lori, than Menthe .. I didn't used to mind the cold, now I do more ... doesn't help the joints .. though I do agree that lower temperatures do help breathing. I have a lukwarm shower rather than a hot one, .. but a cold one, or even a cold swim - - no way!

Thanks Menthe, I havn't needed to use it for a while, so had not noticed this feature. Well worth knowing about especially for those medical professions which have long waiting lists!

Thank you ABLF. Nor do I want to end up an old people's home in either country. That is, of course, given that I have the chance to grow old (or rather than I currently am). As Menthe would also concur ... a cancer diagnosis does make you think outside the box. Everyone has different needs and wishes at different times of their life .. be grateful that most of the time we have the chance to make the decision ourselves and that it not be made by others.

Unusually, I am somewhat in agreement wiht ALBF. I don't regret moving to France when we retired, but between Brexit, Covid, getting older, missing the family more as they grow, and then a cancer diagnosis, I have become disenchanted, not with France as such, but because I realised that when cancer struck I did not feel French enough to wish to die in France. Many people I knew here have gone back to their various home countries: age, work, grandchildren arriving, death of partner, Brexit - so many reasons given, but these decisions are often because the life situation which brought you to France in the first place has changed, and when that happens your choices often become different from those that brought you to France. Whilst I will happily accept that my healthcare has been superb and could not be bettered, I also know of people in the UK with cancer who have also received sterling care. Do not believe all the stories you here ... it is not all broken. It's not that my French can't cope, I do pretty well for someone not as fluent as I would like to be, but that when I am back in the UK, I can follow all conversation, in the supermarket, or bus queue for example, and join in. I can't do that here in France, and I find I miss it more and more. Finally, if I do have to move, I want to do it before I become to old or too ill to be able to do it. Regrets - no, but I'm getting to the state when a further choice and decision might have to be made ..

Me too, anything that says you have to do something with the whites of eggs after separating them I just ignore!!