Gardian

Would endorse most of what has been said in the other posts on this subject, but can best contribute with my last 4 days 'diary': Saturday: went for a drive locally and stopped at a 'Vente: Asperges' sign. Walked 50 m through the field, where 3 people were lifting asparagus. Bought 1 kilo for €2 - it came out of the ground not an hour or so before. That was dinner that night, with a bit of melted butter and some parmesan shavings on top. Sunday: our local village 'Foire de Paques', with half a dozen serious nurserymen, selling all sorts of plants - cheap & good quality. Cheese and other craft stalls. Monday: clear blue sky, temp 28C-ish. Spent most of the day potting up the previous day's purchases. Aperitif on the patio of a few / several  glasses of local red (€1.65 / litre - it's not Chateauneuf du Pape, but it doesn't cost that much) Tuesday: spent an hour over a coffee or two with my French neighbour discussing sanglier / fouine / renard and the possible cause of attacks on our cats (see another thread). No conclusion reached, other than apart from him being a lovely man, he's not a patch on ChrisPP. Agreed that the 4 of us would go off for a spot of lunch and a visit to a nursery in the Drome tomorrow. Is it all worthwhile?  I rest my case.    

Anne ......... I have a feeling that many of the world's problems may be heaped on the shoulders of the poor old sanglier. As mentioned on a previous thread, we too live cheek by jowl with them, but I've never actually seen one, sorry to say. I've got a small potager and happily they've never troubled it. Probably they don't like my grub. I do remember being in the Doc's surgery one morning though and listening to a crusty old local describing to an equally crusty old local, how the ******* sanglier were coming within a metre or two of his bedroom window and munching his salade (or whatever) and he wished that it wasn't the close season or he'd get the local chasse out to shoot the **** out of them!  Somewhat direct.  If I were you, I'd press on with my growing attempts and hope for the best. If you lose a bit, it'll have gone to a good home.     

No problem I'd say, but if you lose a few, then you lose a few. If you had an appropriate space indoors, they'd be indoors presumably?  All my tender plants are completely outside tonight and I don't expect to lose anything. Hope not, anyway! Biggest danger are the bloody sanglier, but that's another story.

Christine - 1st step, Mme Serpico (that's not her real name!) re Chris' suggestion on Tues, then when I get sfa from her, then the SPA could well be an avenue to follow. Actually, thinking about it, I might as well ring the SPA straight away. None of you guys know this woman!  

Chris ......... Thanks again for the response. Poison never was an option, so as per your advice, I'll be down the Mairie on Tuesday to discuss the matter with Mme ******.  Problem is that she scares me to death - whatever the opposite of charisma is, she's got it. If I can't get any sense out of her, then I'll pursue it at Uzes. It / them are a problem, because you can't have them beating the **** out of your pets every other week. Quite apart from what it does to them, it gets quite expensive!  I've checked all round the property and can't see any obvious bolt-holes (no barns, no loft), but it / they could be anywhere, not necessarily on our property. Good re the mice & voles, but our cats and the neighbour's (in particular) are already pretty partial to the odd one to supplement their diet!      

Just an update. The 'old girl' of 17 made a full recovery, but there was another event last evening with one of our other cats. This little chap is an adopted stray of five - bit of a weakling really. He was only out for 5 minutes, but came back completely beaten up. Not bitten, but a few specks of blood and absolutely terrified. Off to the vet this morning who confirmed your view Chris - definitely fouine. He hates them - one killed all his rabbits recently. His advice was to get on to the local chasse who will probably have a suitable trap and if successful, can take it off "somewhere far away".  Anyway, the patient is confined to barracks: not that he's all that anxious to be out and about!

My late-night calculations say 85 sq metres. For €12k, that's roughly €140 / sq m. I've just paid €32 / sq m for laying tiles (but indoor and he was cheap), add your tile cost of €20 and (say) another €10 for cement etc. It does sound pricey, but you may need to add a bit because you're in the Var. Even with topography, geography and TVA though, you'd struggle to get much past €100 / sq m. Tell them to sharpen their pencil and / or get another quote. For that sq mtrge, it's worth a few '000€. 

Graham & Lynn .......... We live in the Gard and lovely as it is, it is a bit of a desert re furniture shopping - probably not much different to many other places in France, but there you go. Our advice - buy in the UK before you leave and get it shipped over with the rest of your wordly goods. Advantage: you can test, thoroughly check before leaving + not much on-cost to ship. Disadvantage: no come-back if any problem. However, finding what you want can take ages & a lot of kms. Email me for more local info if you want it. Ian   

Russethouse - we used to live in High Wycombe, the home of G-Plan & Ercol, both companies no longer with us I believe (though I will probably stand corrected). Ercol was named after Mr Ercolani, I think of Italian descent and there is a strong Italian community in that town. At 'Foires' such as I've described, I sense the presence of knowledgable British buyers, who know a bargain (or at least something that they can turnover at a good profit) at these out-of-the-way places. Only thing I saw that I might have even wanted to buy was a set of old Paris Metro seats - do you remember the old wooden ones that were totally upright, in dark wood? Usually with a sign above saying "Defense de cracher". Always remember that. What's that got to do with IKEA?  

Stefan ............ Couldn't agree more with both suggestions: Ryanair et al don't know what they may be missing. A ready, willing and available labour resource ......... at the right price. And that's where it ends.  

It wasn't aimed at anybody personally: just the bloomin' lot of you with all those furry, moving pictures. Enough to make a bloke choke on his brandy. However, as they say over any late night dodgy programmes, "You don't have to watch it, do you?" Returning to the thread, I'd forgotten about the black ash stuff. Bought loads of those panels & furniture 25 (?) yrs ago to furnish my sons' bedrooms - they'd really cringe now. It was in the garage and I smashed it all up before moving out here: probably kept it thinking that someone would want it one day. The secondhand shop didn't even want it, let alone the 35yo Scandinavian teak items (I didn't want money, just a good home).  "Too bulky: only want cookers, fridges & small sofas."  Sad - but then we get like that, don't we?

Dorothy ........ Don't say "Twinkle" - to say the least, I'm not her favourite person! However, that aside, your piece would go down a storm in any of the local markets. What amazes me is the amount of 'retro' stuff there is around that fetches, or rather commands, astronomical prices. Everyone's taste is everyone's taste, but things from the 50's & 60's that are clearly now very collectable ......... well.  Saw a set of glasses there which my Mum & Dad had in that era - rather unsubtle + non-politically correct patterns on them: €60-ish for the set of 6. Now I know (as if I didn't know already) what those guys are doing when they're furtling around at our local Dechetterie for the stuff you and I dump. Hang on to your unit: someone from Antiques Roadshow will tell you that it's worth £5k in 2036.       

I reckon that it's only a matter of time before someone, somewhere makes an example of an individual who hasn't installed the necessary security measures. If you were responsible for policing it, you'd say "Go and find me a national and a foreigner who hasn't complied", wouldn't you? Don't get me wrong, I think that it's worthwhile (though costly) legislation, but like everything, in some places there'll be lip-service to enforcing the law and in others there'll be a martinet. Give it a month or two before there's something in the local rag.

Went to Barjac today for the Grande Foire d'Anquities. It's quite a big event - for anyone down this way, worth a visit & it's on till Monday. Loads of junk, but one man's junk is another man's ......... Anyway, couldn't believe my eyes. There was an IKEA round glass-topped table held by a curvy aluminium stand - they wanted €60 for it. My wife reckons that we paid twelve quid 4 years ago for the one that we've got down in our garage. Any offer over €20 secures! By the way, a new series of 'Grumpy Old Men' starts in 45 mins. Required watching for many of us - perhaps some of the regular Forum correspondents will feature?   

Just had a look on the internet and one site showed a Marten's tracks .......... and they're exactly what we saw. Although I said an Oak forest, there are some coniferous areas close by as well. If I'm not careful, I could easily get in to this wildlife thing. Cats, however, remain unimpressed.  Have a good Easter weekend.   

Oscar - take everyone's word on it and open an a/c over here. Just like the UK, each has it's +'s and -'s. Having done that, open an a/c with your local builder's merchant. They'll want a RIB (can't remember what it stands for, but its a slip of paper that you can print off confirming your bank details) and probably want to look you up and down to see if you're a decent looking bloke.  Really! It just makes it a lot easier getting your materials - or having someone else getting them for you. Best of luck - you'll need it. 

Chris - many thanks for your reply. Being 'the man' in this field, I was hoping that you'd respond. I've just told 'Sammy' that she's still nifty, but she wasn't impressed. It was never like this back in the UK.  From your information, will now be reading up on our unwelcome passer-by!  Thanks again.

We live right on the edge of a very dense Oak forest, which is full of sangliers. Been here 18 months and never seen one, but I've heard them and during the hunting season (mercifully over, for now) there are plenty of shots being fired. The other night, one of 17 year old cats went out for a late-night 'constitutional'. After about 20 minutes, there was an enormous racket outside, with brooms being knocked down etc. I eventually got the cat in after about another 20 minutes and she was well and truly shaken up. Off her food for a day or so, didn't want to go out, very wary of the outside world. No injuries though. Today, we found some dried up mud prints on the patio. Big stride - nearly a metre and of the size that I found in the fresh snow one morning at the end of Jan. We're told that the boar go down to the stream at night for a drink. The prints don't seem to be cloven, which presumably a boar's are (?) Seems to be 4 or 5 'pads' in shape, so more likely a big dog, one would have thought. But if a dog, wouldn't I have been more likely to have heard a bark - there was no animal sound at all. Any ideas anybody?   

All good advice. If in Paris, be sure to visit the Musee d'Orsay. Wonderful building (a former station) & wonderful works of art, even for a Philistine like me. Whilst over here, think about taking a TGV down to Lyon - 2 hrs max. Nice city, quite compact, with a pleasant old quarter which is cheek by jowl with the new. Relatively unknown to most Brits, because most of us have previously passed it by in the pele-mele dash to the deep South.  

The rest of (this small) world must think that you're all absolutely 'barking' - for non-Brits, that means, mad! Come back in your own time Twinkle - no rush.   

Dick Smith - are you at Wal ? (WCGS in my day).

"Tough" - as used every other word by professional tennis players ............ and Sue Barker. Keep them coming Gluestick - looking forward to your next contribution.

Danny - doesn't sound too bad to me. We've just paid more or less double that for 20sqm of floor tiling, but a screed was required, hence 2 days work. TVA was paid, so not 'on the black'. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Our job was a full 2 days-worth & immaculately done. Imagine our 20sqm x €14 = say £200. That's £25 / hr. You'd be lucky to get someone to walk through your door for that in the UK, wouldn't you?    

"Going forward". Only to be used every other sentence in order to add gravitas. For me, probably because a former (hated) boss used it all of a sudden. He got it off of his new boss. Sends me apoplectic (I think that means angry).  

Teamedup - I think that I said "Reasonably OK" rather than "Good", but no matter. I suppose that as was said, I can understand most conversations and get 90% of it, even if I don't register every single word. Difficulties arise with slang, local accents and speed of delivery. Telephone conversations are the hardest. As for my spoken French, it's undoubtedly accented, but as for whether it's a reasonable accent, other French say that it is. My neighbour says that he'll begin to believe that I speak really well when I get all my genders right! Eighteen months over here has improved my vocabulary umpteen times over. The key to it for me is that I was taught properly at school. It had a strong Languages Dept and you were taught how to conjugate verbs properly. Having done Latin as well, it tended to come a lot more easily. Students were encouraged to spend 3 weeks 'on exchange' and I did that for 3 years running - that sort of total immersion makes you learn very quickly.