Gardian

[quote user="FurryKnickers"] Terrible news!!! I was talking to Mrs Gupta last night on the phone about going to see Nana Mouskouri in concert, and she told me that she is playing her last ever concert this sunday in Cyprus! I am now very sad [:(] [/quote] Does anyone think that dear old Nana will be upset if I pass up the opportunity to attend her Farewell Concert?  Now if  Demis was on as well ......... Worth a thread on how to get to Cyprus from Nimes and back in two days by air / boat / camel. 

I know this isn't the Rm 101 thread, but can we put Nana Moustache and Demis Roussos in together?  (After P Hewitt of course).

OK adjudicator.  The vote from the Gard is as follows: 'Open All Hours'   3 pts   (even 20 yrs on, doesn't look dated) 'Blackadder'         2 pts   (good, but especially for the poignancy of the final episode) 'Fawlty Towers'    1 pt    (just a classic - we've all stayed at one, haven't we?)   p.s. KKK - how can I stop that that ****** eye winking?   James ought to be coming down hard on that sort of  distraction.   

[quote user="Cassis"]I don't mind putting the list togtether from all the mentions on this thread - as you know, I am looking for a life and in the meantime that would do - but I've spotted a snag.  The forum doesn't support polls.  Any ideas?[Www] [/quote] Just do it Cassis.  If, by the time that James has got back from the pub and he's noticed it, he'll doubtless realise that this is a harmless piece of nonsense and non-threatening to anybody or Archant.  Zap it at your peril, guardian!

Cassis ............. Consider yourself nominated. Suggestion: three votes, scoring 3, 2 & 1 respectively.  Just keeps it simple. Can you include 'Anything involving Patricia Hewitt'.  It has the double 'advantage' of making me want to laugh and scream simultaneously.   

Louise ............ Sounds really cunning. You know what you've started now, don't you?  Hundreds of Brits searching for suitable paper bags to blow up ..........    I'll be one of them.

Haven't you gone yet?  Thouhgt it was was ages ago. For goodness sake get a grip on yourself (and that cat). Happy landings.

It's well documented on here. There are a number of good and reliable money brokers who will 'buy' euros for the ensuing year at whatever rate is going at the time, then take a mthly d/d from yr UK bank a/c and send the euros to your French a/c - same amount every mth. You know where you are.  5 working days tsfr. I use HIFX, but there are many others who are good and reliable.  www.HIFX.com  I think.  They'll take 'their cut' (of course), but they're good people to deal with. Two yrs and never a problem.  

Last night.  Off to the loo, after signing off here.  Not a lizard, but a bloody great frog.  Hanging on the wall: apple green with red legs, and looking at me. "You're going out old son", said I, to which he duly obliged (with some gentle help). Never a dull moment. p.s. If CPP has done nothing else in his life (you may well have, but), he has taught many of us not to be 'spookey' about these harmless animals that invade our territory a bit in thse parts. .......... and to treat them with some equally harmless and effortless respect.     

Our dechetterie will take 'builder's rubble' (incl concrete), but you should check with yours however. Your problem to get it there though.  Find a friendly small builder with a tipper who might be able help you out? 

Sorry, slight digression from the original thread, but the mention of plants reminded me of something that happened today. Lunch at a local hotel: buffet a volonte under the trees. All sorts of food being served in the 'open air'.  Not a fly nor a wasp. I remarked on this to the proprieter, who said plenty of people had mentioned this and that he thought that it was something to do with the planting in that area of the garden (the house and grounds are 150 yrs old).

And of course, when they got the child out, she was hugged as if some 'natural disaster' had befallen. Like I said, cretins.

[quote user="KatieKopyKat"] Excuse me I have caught grumpy old man syndrome from this forum[:D] [/quote] Sorry, but there are a number of us who claim uncontested ownership of that sobriquet. Please go and find your own one.

As Quillan says (and anybody else down here knows), it's been sweltering for weeks. No complaints, but when 19.00 arrives and a bit of breeze springs up, it's bliss. Saw somebody in the supermarket carpark today having to smash in his car window. After a few seconds it became apparent that he'd left a young child in the car while they did their shopping !!!!  Don't know why he had to break the window (maybe he'd left the keys in the car and she'd hit the auto-lock). Suffice to say, it took some breaking and the ambulance was arriving as we left.  Child OK happily.  Cretinous parents. 

[quote user="Christine Animal"] Lamb Curry Gris de Boulaouane        [:)]   [:)]   [:)]   [/quote] Christine - 'Gris de Boulaouane' ??????????     Sounds good, but what ???? Anyway, mine would be a nice glass, or two, or three of CdR Villages Rouge - there's some lovely 'Sabran' around here, so it's not necessarily the east bank of the Southern Rhone that's best. Followed by Lamb Fillet marinaded in wine, olive oil & herbs, then seared off in really hot pan and served (sliced) pink with a gratin (I sound like a menu, don't I ??)  

Sorry folks - I probably didn't make myself clear. To be honest, I couldn't care less if they were offering a crossing a tuppence ha'penny - I'm down here and I ain't going back unless I absolutely need to (and then I'll almost certainly take a flight). Simply trying to say that the l-c airlines get loads of flak over so-called misleading advertised prices ............ and then what do you find with the cross channel ferries?  Surprise, surprise.  Same thing. OK, with the airlines there's all this govt tax, airport tax, O'Leary tax, but at the end of it all, there's a bottom line that you're being asked to pay and you can take it or leave it. With the cross channel ferry operators, you get a 'come-on' advert and then no availability at a civilised time of the day.  To get a crossing at the time of day that most people who might respond to the ad, you've got to pay  a lot more than the 'headline' offer. Without intending any libellous comment whatsoever (!!!!!????), it's just as 'misleading' as your day-to-day Ryanair / Easyjet ad. I say again, I wonder whether Brussels will be giving the same amount of stick to S/F and (possibly) P & O?    

Amidst the regular slagging-off that Ryanair and the other l-c carriers get on this forum, in the press and in Brussels, I was interested to see a Seafrance ad in one of the weekend Travel sections. 'Bastille Day Special' (or something like that) - from £19 each way in July or August: book by 25/7. So I thought, I'll have a little look.  Early Aug, 08.00 - 09.00 out of Dover, returning 2 wks later.  After four 'no availability' responses, I was eventually offered an 01.15 dep out of Dover for £29. Return same price. Thought I'd try the 'regular fare' option and was offered what I originally asked for at £170 round trip. My point in all this is that we constantly read about what bad guys Ryanair are for charging £5.43 airport tax instead of the £3.27 that it should be and advertising flights at £9.99 each way (or whatever).  Will the bureaucrats in Brussels be picking up Seafrance for misleading advertising? As some will know from previous posts, I have no special brief for Ryanair, other than as a satisfied regular, customer.  Equally, I have nothing against Seafrance and understand fully their desire to fill space.

Can I have some more?  Well. I'm going to anyway: Politicians who say "Well John, I'm glad you asked me that, but I think the real question is ........" Chirac & his failure to instigate real change in France during his presidency CPAM - a bureaucratic nightmare Belgians who don't turn up at Cassis' place when booked

[quote user="Cassis"]The Belgian bastards who did not turn up tonight, having booked 2 weekend rooms 2 months ago in peak season. [/quote] There you are - Belgians.   They're everywhere (or rather not at Cassis')

All the counter staff at our local Poste (there's only ever one) The boulangerie when they forget to reserve me a pain au raisin (but that's rare, to be fair) The newspaper distributors when the weekend papers are missing bits, or just don't turn up Dutch tourists Belgian tourists Any other tourists Parisiens Is that / am I allowed more than 5?  

[quote user="Cassis"]What a load of cobblers.  I come out as Mr Happy from Happytown, I'm going to save the planet and I'm going to live forever.  But I should still do more, apparently.  For example, look at these fatuous results: Your personal Happy Planet Index (HPI) is 80.8, which is above that for any country, including top-placed Vanuatu. Congratulations! However, it is still below the reasonable ideal we have set, of 83, so you can still do more to improve your health and well-being, or reduce your environmental impact. Your score is above that of your country, 36.4. I think I need more drugs before I can hit the 'reasonable ideal'. Hurray! Your life expectancy is well above average for your gender and country. Probably, you're doing all the major things right - eating well, not smoking, getting regular exercise, and you're lucky enough to have the right genes. Are there any more ways you could make a difference? Some factors that improve your life expectancy are more surprising than others. For example, giving up your car, avoiding living alone, moving out of the city and shrugging off stress. I already told them I live with my wife in a village so I'm not sure how to follow their valuable advice.  I'll just go out and scrap the car and try not to feel too stressed about it when I have to walk 5 miles to the nearest big town and bring the shopping back in a wheelbarrow.  [Www] [/quote] OK, couldn't resist it.  Did the soppy survey and got a mere 61.4, which apparently puts me in with the Saudi's and Vietnamese. It also said that if I could bring myself to be a bit less grumpy and cynical, I'd score higher in their crappy survey.  

Thanks Cassis.  It's all crystal clear now. I'll mention it to Sonia in the Presse tomorrow morning - she who could kill a man at thirty paces with one of her 'daggers looks'.  "Sonia ........, are you interested in the redesign of the third sector so that it connects people's vision, voices and energy to real change in society?" Love it.

Pretty good week, but dammed hot down here!  As other folk will testify, it's been desperate for the first half of the week, but happily the storms have arrived (late-afternoon for the last 3 days) to give a bit of a soaking all round. Off to watch the Tour de France go through tomorrow.  The peloton passes in less than 30 secs, but find a nice quiet shady spot on the open road, picnic, Saturday papers to read, then the 'caravan' of publicity cars go through.  Two mins after the race has passed, you can be on your way.  In fact, probably home in time to watch the finish live on TV.   

[quote user="davieszak"] Well, I am happy that this survey has kept you amused for a while, even if it is b******.  How did you get your personal index so high?!  Mine is in the low 50-ties.  Have to work on my happiness levels, obviously (going to get myself a glass of wine RIGHT NOW). By the way, I don't think the report was prepared by some weirdos (unless you consider Friends of the Earth to be in that category).  It's a registered charity and they sound fairly normal, judging by their website: http://www.instituteforphilanthropy.org.uk/re5.html Anyhow, people - I hope you are happy, wherever you live! [/quote] Davieszak .............. Don't they always say that you decide on whether you're going to employ someone in the first 30 seconds of an interview?  Similarly, don't we all decide that a particular thread is a piece of nonsense within the first 5 secs of reading it?  That's not a shot at you by the way - merely the so-called 'study'. The 'Institute for Philanthropy' eh?  Sounds very dodgy to me.  

[quote user="Jc"]It does appear that most of the people who complain about Ryanair have not flown with them!! I have and I will use them again.[/quote] Spot on. Roughly 30 round trips by us, friends & relatives over the last two years.  One problem on one sector, when some plonker had a bad landing at Luton and closed the runway for 6 hrs or so - son's flt had to be diverted to Stansted. Although v irritating, hardly Ryanair's fault.  Rest of trips - no problem whatsoever & usually early arrivals.  Average cost?  £70 - £80 I'd guess, for a journey that you'd have paid £200 for 10yrs ago. Don't get hung up with all this tax nonsense - all that matters is the bottom line when you come to pay. If you don't like the final number, look elsewhere.  The market will rule, and if Mr O'L starts to take the Michael, then he'll lose business. I somehow doubt it though.