5-element

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]I corresponded with Tresco for a time, but she faded into the ether a while ago and I've no idea what became of her. Shame: she was a high quality human being. [/quote] Tresco is alive and well, still a high quality human being, and still kicking whenever necessary. As far as I know, she has left the forum world to follow other pursuits. Something along similar lines can be said of SB.[;-)] Catalpa: I am glad to see YOU are still around!

Pity that Clint Eastwood is just a bit too ...mature....  he could have made a good Jack Reacher...

Trouille is good, but how about "elle a une trouille terrible!" ("elle avait une trouille terrible" or "elle a eu une trouille terrible", depending on what past tense you need for the context.  

Jakes? I wonder how it became the John...

Quite. If he has any sense, he will be taking a long holiday in some undisclosed location, well away from the limelight. At least until the next presidential elections are over.

Especially when there is no hope that they will ever get any better (i.e. when the "get well soon" cards are painfully inadequate), it is really hard to cope, and a number of people (men or women) just make a run for it. This is exactly what we were told by the professionals when my husband first went on dialysis. It doesn't necessarily mean that the carer is "bad" or heartless - just that they simply cannot cope. Almost anyone who has had to care for someone in that way, must have had the occasional fantasy of doing a runner. In fact, having that fantasy is probably quite healthy. Then you know for sure that you are staying out of choice, and out of love. Or a mix of love and sense of duty, which is OK too. 

Sara - I wouldn't want yours to be just a voice in the wilderness, so I can say that some of your particular experience exactly duplicate yours. We live on an old lotissement, green and leafy and yet very close to the centre of a small town. Overall, the people who live around us have lived there ever since the houses were built, circa 1960. Nobody moves. When people die, the next generation takes over the house.  They have all known each other for yonks. The house we bought was up for sale, as the father had committed suicide in the garden shed, and the family just couldn't bear to stay there (we didn't know at the time). So we have now lived here 10 years and realise we have made a mistake - (OK some will say, move on, but in many ways it is not really feasible). I don't think I have ever lived anywhere that has ever been so unfriendly. After some initial interest, perhaps only curiosity, many of the neighbours are now completely ignoring us to the point that we are invisible to them. That includes across the road, even though at first, I was helping their teenage son with his English as he had problems at school -  he was coming to our house once a week, which was hell, as the boy was rebelling very hard against what was his parents' idea. . Slowly, they started to ignore us, and now are hard pressed to even say bonjour. The boy has now grown up, is training to become a gendarme, and has also become the most civilised of them all as he is the only one who will acknowledge me in the street. My husband is also chronically and seriously ill (not the same as Sara's husband, but at times he needs urgent and prolonged hospitalisation, and the ambulance comes to get him). Only one or two  neighbours have ever asked after his health, although it is clear to everyone that the ambulance is there and they see him stagger into it. (I hasten to add, if ever I stop in the street with anyone, I am treated to a great detail of their ailments and their families' ailements, and yet there is very little reciprocity).  People are surprised when they find that I am French,  they tell me "Ah but I thought it was les Anglais who live there!"(probably because we always speak English at home to each other). I hasten to add, both my husband and I joined a number of organisations and associations (different ones from each other) when we arrived, so we do know quite a lot of people in the town, and each one of us has a number of activities, we go to events where there is hardly ever any other expat, only French people. But here on this lotissement, it has been astonishing: only a handful of neighbours will even respond to bonjour - and the ones who do, we have got to know in a different context, some club or association. There is only one exception: a couple in their 40's who also moved here from elsewhere, at about thesame time as us. We have their keys when they go away, they have ours and feed the cat, etc. We have sometimes thought "we could just die in here, and wonder how long it would take for someone to notice". Very unlike anywhere else I have ever lived, even Paris or London! I am not "moaning" about it, as both my husband and I have quite a wide network of friends (especially him, who is much more sociable than I am anyway) so that we don't feel "all alone in the world". But certainly, as far as neighbourhood goes, we certainly are on our own, and it had never happened before to either of us. Perhaps it is only a local phenomenon.[blink], and sometimes it is a little disquieting.

Like RH, I enjoyed "A Gathering Light". Nothing earth-shattering, but a really good story, well-written, good plot, and enough of a mix of genres. I think the title was different when published elsewhere, it was "A Golden Light".

[:D][:D][:D] CK, have you thought of a lycra cycling outfit, it might resolve the problem?

Thank you for that Norman. It saves me having to wade through treacle to try and work out where "they" will hit me next. As things stand, nothing seems to affect me personally, but not holding my breath:  it would be unusual for "ordinary people" not to have to fork out in some way.

A forum such as this one can be invaluable for practical information, to get the benefit of other people's experiences. If I believe that there is a little experience I have on a practical matter, which can be useful to someone, I post. It is also invaluable as a distraction during a life crisis - which everyone gets, in varying degrees, at different times. During those times, which can be, for instance, waiting over a matter of life and death, it is wonderful to be able to come on here and read and see that there are other preoccupations and other problems than one's own. As for entering into serious debate, that is not something I usually wish to do on a forum - although I have been known to be pulled into that direction, usually ending up regretting it. Serious matters are something that I prefer to discuss and air in a different sort of set-up. So I leave it to others, although I tend to read and lurk. I have made some friends - real life friends - via forums. That in itself, is precious, and worth every infuriating or indifferent moment spent on here. I think that it is lovely to have feelings of kinship with certain people, even if I am unlikely to ever meet them. And sometimes, I can really, really laugh too. Laughter is almost as precious as friendship. I don't think there is anything sad about posting several times a day. It is a matter of who you are, where you are in your life, but mostly, a matter of what you have to say.

[quote user="Clarkkent"]  Or the delightful Saligo Bay? [/quote] I shall pass that on to her. She liked you, too. [:)]

Public opinion poll says 61% French are against his return to politics. Do we think a possible return to politics by DSK would be good for the PS? http://lci.tf1.fr/monde/amerique/dsk-un-retour-en-politique-sera-difficile-estime-la-presse-6652367.html

Medically prescribed drugs.

My mother was obsessed with looking "convenable" - i.e. presentable. I interpreted it as being prim and proper. "pas convenable" also means bad-mannered.

Bon courage Coops, it will get better, even if it doesn't feel like it! XXX

Sweet, that was in no way aimed at you in particular, it was just a bit of information to be shared around, 'cos you might not get hangovers, but I bet some people here do[6]. In fact, I should have mentioned it to the friend who came this morning for a visit, as she DOES get hangovers, and finds getting up before 10 am quite a struggle. Her own remedy for mornings after is: pour boiling water in a cup, over 2 slices of lemon with skin - organic is obviously best - and have that beverage first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. Every day. She swears by it. Whoops, sorry about thread drift, we are a long way from gratin dauphinois![:P]

Well well well....these golden showers might turn into a gold mine for some![:D] http://www.lepoint.fr/insolite/l-envie-pressante-de-depardieu-pourrait-aider-une-entreprise-stephanoise-18-08-2011-1363932_48.php

Indeed. Here are some comments about the Lloret del Mar "indésirables". I hadn't realised that (apparently), it is the "jeunes des cités" (read - of Maghrebin descent - according to this right-wing forum) who might be particularly unwelcome on the Costa Brava. Hmmm.... on the other hand, perhaps "Planète UMP" is just what it says on the box, or perhaps worse... http://www.planete-ump.fr/t20389-Ces-jeunes-touristes-francais-indesirables-en-Espagne.htm

Sweet, my kind of food too, looking for that elusive "fifth flavour" that comes (if I remember right) from a perfect balance between sour, sweet, salty, hot - a cooking genius friend told me that if you can't get to that 5th flavour, then adding some spicy chorizo could do the trick! Umeboshi plums used to be a great delicacy when I was (for a while) following a macrobiotic diet. The flavour is very intense, and what a welcome explosion of taste after days of brown rice! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeboshi and I now see they are also supposed to be a great cure for hangovers.

Yes, great idea, and then please report back![:D]

We definitely have a theme here: the undesirability of the French abroad. Wasn't there also a recent survey, according to which  France was top of the world list for rudeness to tourists, or was that just Paris? It makes you wonder: not only French people are unwelcoming to visitors, but they also behave badly abroad?? What a reputation...[:'(]

Grainy doesn't sound good, so I probably won't bother. Idun, I go through phases of making ice-cream, and through phases of banning ice-cream in the house[6]. If I make "ice-cream"., I try to use as little cream as possible, or low-fat cream - in fact it often is frozen yogourt more than it is ice-cream, as I find real ice-cream much too rich. I make something in between sorbet et ice-cream (sorbet is good but again, you need to use so much sugar for it to work!)

Thre was a short TV documentary recently, about the bad reputation that French yoof has now, in Lloret del Mar. Perhaps it is since the murder of the young Anglo-Spaniard, but perhaps not. In any case, a young man, interviewed, was explaining that the French are turned away at discos and bars, and that if you want to be served, you have to say you are Belgian. [:-))] I searched for a link to that documentary and couldn't remember which channel or what programme it was. The nearest I found was http://www.fdesouche.com/231518-espagne-les-francais-indesirables-sur-la-costa-brava-video

Are those umeboshi plums, Sweet? Although, those are  normally not dry, but preserved with perilla leaves (shi-so). I love those - and have recently discovered that I accidentally bought a potted plant of purple shi-so leaves, which I keep munching. I had no idea you could freeze cream!![:'(] Next time somebody tries to say I am wasting valuable, real-life time trawling the forums, I can tell them what an amazing source of information it can be![;-)]