Brian

From memory, after filling in the registration form, the password (to use with your membership no.) will be sent to you in the post so will probably take about a week to arrive. Brian

Last October arriving 24 hours early (due to illness) proved no problem as we arrived during 'off peak' as originally booked albeit one day early. Perhaps if you are a frequent traveller you could have paid the extra £20/30 euro allowing travel during the peak period (1359-2359) should you have arrived earlier than intended.  Arriving late and travelling later (viz off peak) I am sure would have been no problem pricewise. Surely you should be happy that in the end you travelled a couple of hours earlier than you had booked anyway. Brian

I always use the German (DB) website for train journeys in Europe, might be worth a look http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en Brian

When I was in the Navy we always called the sea the 'oggin'. Take the capital letter and you have 'eau'; simple really Brian

Back in a former life, I produced many technical/commercial documents which I then converted to Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format before these were sent out electronically or on CD to our customers for them to read using Acrobat reader; the intention was to allow documents to be read/printed out but not altered or for photographs in these documents which were copyrighted to be reproduced. Brian

You can of course order them here: www.1000traverses.com/produits.htm As a railwayman I am aware that many sleepers are also impregnated with other products. Fortunately most modern trains (eg modern TGVs) now have chemical toilets. Many but not all sleepers (dependent on the type of wood) were treated with creosote years ago. Brian

Some years ago I enjoyed an immersion course with Alliance Française in Vendôme (41) staying with a lovely local family (who spoke no English!). This course included lessons in the morning and visits/other activities in the afternoon or evening. I'm fairly certain that many other AF branches throughout France offer similar courses. The other students in my group included Spanish, German, Finnish, Japanese and American with French needing to be our common language. Otherwise the OU still offer one-week summer schools at the University of Caen including a range of extracurricular events. Brian

Andouilette is top of my dislikes (is it marinaded in the gent's urinal? - that's what I thought first time) along with tripe (all modes) but must admit I still haven't managed to acquire a taste for endives. I'm sure I'll like them eventually. Now Jenlain, Trois Monts and the other northern bieres de garde, plus mirabelle plums in season, are definitly top of my favourites Brian

My problem with intermittent broadband was down to a videosender between our sky box and a tv in another part of the house. This, being wireless, caused problems with the wireless connexion between the PC and the router. Brian

Can I add Sommersby vs Martin Guerre*; another example of Richard Gere in a poor remake of a French original. Brian

They were all lined up on the southbound A16 on Wednesday midday when we approached the tunnel. No sign of police control (although the motorway signs warned of a bouchon ahead) unlike the efficient way the Kent police seemed to be handling things on the M20. The former CTRL depot (since redeveloped for other purposes) would fail to accommodate a fraction of the HGVs  stacked on the M20. Full marks to the British authorities for a handling problem caused by industrial action on the other side of the channel! Brian

Mike151, Probably explains why I always fit GB number plates when I change my car! Today on the way back from the tunnel we passed mile after mile of stationary lorries heading towards the channel ports on the other side of the M20, a large number of whom were French - I wonder if they were not proud to be French! I prefer to use headlamp protectors (expensive but easily fitted as required) Brian

The last direct train service (South West Trains) from Portsmouth to Waterloo departs Portsmouth & Southsea at 2224, then Fratton at 2228 and Hilsea (closest to the ferry port?) at 2232 arriving in London at 0028. Brian

Possibly taxi instead to Bellac then train (TER) to Poitiers but you would need to check timetables on the Limoges-Poitiers train service. Brian

Alcazar, Stationed at RNAS (now RAF) Lossiemouth and having lived in Elgin for several years and just back from a return visit, I'm intrigued with the missing link in this post - Zidane to sign for Elgin City?? Brian

The icing on the cake would be a French rider winning the Tour de France, but that seems to be only slightly more likely than a British player winning at Wimbledon! Brian

I hold no brief for Gerard Depardieu but I understand that he was 12 years old at the time. The Larousse definition of assister is 'to assist or to aid' whereas 'assister à' is 'to witness or to be a witness to' a quite different meaning but easily misunderstood. The article appeared in Time magazine some time in the late 1980s. Brian

I seem to remember some time ago that Gerard Depardieu was wrongly accused in the American press of having taken part in a rape at a very early age when in actual fact he had admitted to having witnessed such an event. The verb in question he used was 'assister à' / to witness. I believe he is very careful now that his words are properly translated. Brian

Not quite the same but topical perhaps. Each team in the Tour de France has a designated leader(s) and perhaps a specialist sprinter or mountain climber while the remainder of the team are usually referred to in the English speaking world as 'domestiques' (who work to look after the interests of their leader(s), fetching water bottles from the team car, working at the front of the peloton to bring back a breakaway, etc.) However, the French term for these riders is 'porteurs d'eau'?? Brian

Dave, Depending on how often you will be using the telepeage doofer, you may want to choose the formule mensuelle (monthly formula) whereby you are only charged 2 euro for each month that you use it rather than pay the annual 12 euro fee. Interestingly the membership card sent out with the kit is printed in English! Mine arrived within days of ordering. So satisfying on a busy autoroute arriving at the peage and everyone is rushing to get in front and you just swan across to the left and cruise through. Get some very odd looks, especially being in a British reg car! I thought of explaining that the peage recognises foreign number plates and, not being French taxpayers, we don't have to pay! Brian

Having used the tunnel recently we found no problem using the automatic check in procedure, being offered earlier times by the machine on both occasions (the outward journey being at the earlier, more expensive time at no extra charge; ie before 1500 for frequent traveller). No need to smile sweetly at the person in the manned booth either! Brian

Alcazar, Agree with you 100% about the route down from Rouen to Chartres and onwards to the A10. There is a French language forum at http://saratlas.free.fr/ where you may be more likely to get a comment, albeit in French On a different subject we are off to France tomorrow with our new "Autoroute Doofer". I assume that your lack of comment meant you had no problem with your initial experience. Brian

Have just checked the opposite of a recent booking with BA and find that the price quoted from France/UK/France is 68 euro per leg as compared to £48 per leg UK/France/UK - works out at equivalent of £1.00 = 1.41 euro. Brian

I have been on flights (not Ryanair / Easyjet etc) where we have been moved some more to the front of the aircraft and others to the rear in order to balance the aircraft -  ie spread the passengers more evenly about the centre of gravity of the aircraft. It is not necessarily essential to bunch everyone in the middle but probably does save time in turnaround times which is what cutprice airlines are all about. Putting passengers in alternate rows may contribute to passenger comfort but not to operating economics. Brian

An article in last Saturdays Guardian recounts how one passenger successfully took EasyJet to the small claims court after a cancelled flight. Brian http://money.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1701429,00.html