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5-element

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Posts posted by 5-element

  1. Phil, totally agree with you. It's a plot within a plot.

    Will, you must have realised that I started this thread with my tongue in my cheek! I thought it was quite ironic that here we are, on a French Forum, and pages and pages of discussion about what goes on on UK TV. Thank you for reminding us of all the other reality shows, I had forgotten about some. I also agree with you about how dire much of French TV is - especially the variety shows, and the "reality" shows. Star Academy and Co are downright embarrassing, poor things do not even have a voice.

    But what I watch mainly is the news - especially TF1 at 1pm, this is what we call "the good news" as it seems to involve mainly showing this village or that old craft, or some regional dishes, and is like some advertising for "the way things used to be" in France. In the evening I watch TF2 news at 8pm. AND I always watch the Meteo, am quite obsessional with it. I also watch "Qui veut gagner des millions?" but I used to watch "Who wants to be a millionnaire" in England...As for watching French TV only, I draw the line at watching British or American movies - I really don't enjoy them dubbed in French, it is too odd...

    The issue I was hoping to raise was not whether it is good or bad to watch TV (French or British!), and you are right, I am no closet watcher... of all things to be in the closet about!!! - I didn't think about the issue of moral superiority in watching French TV only, for me it is a matter of both economics, and priorities. Having said that, we do have a satellite dish, (two in fact), but that is because OH could not bear to be without Eurosports...[:)]

     I would have thought that even bad French TV would be an excellent way to improve one's language skills for those who live here permanently -  but it is true that I found many expats who have only British TV, read only British papers, and yet claim they want to learn French. (This of course does not apply to those who live in the UK and spend their French time in their holiday home). I also know those who have both, and don't watch much of either!

     

  2. I know that many of you have one foot in the UK, and another in France. It seems that the foot in the UK is the one getting a lot of airing at the moment[:)]

    But surely, I can't be the only one (2 feet in France, end of story!) who DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO UK TV. I watch French TV, although I can't say it's that great, and have not seen any UK TV programme since 2001. Some of you might think I am just being jealous and feeling excluded[6]

    I wonder if there are any other forum members who can identify with that. For those odd ones who, on this Living France forum, watch French TV, maybe we could start a thread about Star Ac(which I don't watch), or, my favourite, Koh-Lanta - (Koh-Lanta being the tropical island/fend for yourself/sixteen wannabes to start, one to remain etc., answer to BB I believe). We might have to wait for the Koh-Lanta season though, as it's not on at present[:(].

     

  3. What is EJP??? Sorry if this is a dumb question[+o(]

    I am sure we save a lot through having the tempo option - especially since I am being such a hardliner with red days - nobody comes to the house for a meal then, and not even a cup of tea, I am more likely to go to theirs or spend the day at the Mediatheque[:D]

    So far, EDF have said nothing about withdrawing the Tempo option. They will probably wait until winter is over, and THEN tell us that no, we cannot have all the cheap blue days throughout the summer -

  4. [quote user="Will "]

    It's  an interesting mirror of life, exaggerated due to the isolated conditions in which the participants are confined.

    [/quote]

    Well, a mirror of life of a certain kind, the kind of people who strive and are desperate to appear on TV and in a Big Brother context. That is something they all have in common. After that, surely anything goes, and what can be expected?

    I can't imagine that you would search for Young Hero of the Year or Young Carer of the Year amongst the Big Brother cast, for example. Me-me-me gone wild, captured by cameras.

  5. I like threads like this: this is where good solid background information emerges, and how one might begin to construct a series of psycho-social profiles of other, more seasoned forum users, and see where all the strings are located. Especially when there are covert references to what happens on other fora which "one" might have come across also...

    In many ways, logging onto a forum like this one is like watching a soap every day. Or following the Tour de France for 3 weeks, or the World Cup - I just love it!

    BTW - the BB thread, elsewhere, might run for many pages, but as some might say, it is quality, not quantity that counts!

  6. [quote user="Teamedup"]

    Why do these things if they can't improve people's lives, what other good reason could there be, naieve of me really, but there you go.

    [/quote]

     

    I think you know the answer to that, TU: it keeps the fonctionnaires , and fonctionnaire mentality of a whole nation going, by creating jobs. The "results" go where all the rest of the paperwork goes here: in the Great Dustbin in the Sky!

  7. Easy to forecast that the whole of next week is going to be Red Days (i.e. 5 on the trot!)... which means doing the laundry, roasting the chicken, doing the ironing and the hoovering on Sunday, after having bathed in very hot water for a long time.

    Then on Monday, out come the candles, no toasting, no microwave, no kettle, no oven use, and strip-washing.

    That's the only way to outsmart them[:D]: to hold your breath until the following Sunday!!!

    Is that quality of life or what??[:D]

  8. Bravo LG for taking the plunge! I knew she could count on the forum members for the excellent suggestions!

    I too, like WJT's idea of some glaze or wax which would take most of the edge of the patterns. It's true the tiles are a bit much on a large surface such as the living room. They could make you feel queasy if you had a hangover, or the dreaded gastro.

    I wonder why nobody suggested something else: "parquet flottant"? Maybe it is too heavy, or maybe there is only poor quality available, I don't know much about it, but I can imagine parquet would look very good against the rest of the flat - with the large volumes, high ceilings and windows and inner wooden shutters, it would look very elegant and in keeping with the genteel turn-of-the-century ballroom atmosphere... I can already imagine the chandeliers!

    I usually like rugs a lot, for their cosy feel.. But here in the Midi, many rugs are often not quite right- unless maybe some Berber-type rugs in keeping with the  Mediterranean feel and the very strong light. The point with tiles of course, is that they stay cool on the feet in the long summers.

  9. Not being very technically-minded, I can only describe it as a fan (well, there are 2 on my SUPRA model) which is set in the woodburner (itself an insert, i.e. lodged into the open chimney) and when the temperature inside the woodburner reaches a certain stage (thermostat is pre-set and cannot be altered once it has left the factory we are told) starts blowing the hot air. Those 2 fans are situated on the top part of the woodburner. Does this make any sense?
  10. I tend to agree with you Dick, about the lino - actually LG has got that in her kitchen, covering those tiles, AND I was fooled by the lino/vinyl which looks like... very different tiles.

    I am still waiting for the photo of LG's tiles, but yes they do look like some Victorian(?) ones I have seen in the UK, similar kind of motifs.

  11. I wonder if we are not splitting hair when trying to work out who should be entitled to what, and where, UK or France?

    Aren't we all Europeans anyway? And therefore entitled to the healthcare that is available in the European country in which we happen to live?

    If someone has a particular illness or medical condition, they are going to take it with them wherever they go. Same with getting older, most of us will be needing more specialised medical care wherever we are in Europe. What difference does it make to, say, the UK if it has to pay for someone's medical expenses in France or in the UK, if the medical care is similar? After all, if you leave the UK to go to France, you carry your condition with you, so what does it matter, especially if (as is the case) provisions are not dissimilar, it is all swings and roundabouts... I thought that this was one of the ideas about Europe....

    I have an 87-year old mother, who has been French all her life[:)], and living in France all her life. She is still  in her rented little flat (HLM) and gets a home help about 2 hours a week. My mother has a small income and qualifies for some degree of help, but she has to pay for a part of the home help costs. She could also join the "Presence Verte" scheme - I can't remember what the equivalent is called in the UK, where she has an alarm around her neck in case of a fall - but that is also not totally free. She is trying to stay independent as long as she can for all the usual reasons, but also because she could not afford to pay for a nursing home (Maison de retraite medicalisee). She hates them anyway, and all the stories I hear are as bad as one another, whether they are nursing homes in the UK or in France - unless you can pay huge amounts of money AND be lucky, they are going to be *not very nice* to varying degrees. Many French people who live in the north, close to the Belgian border, have been ending up in Belgian nursing home across the border, because they are better, AND cheaper. I am not over-familiar with the provisions for Alzheimer here, although there is a new unit being set up in my town.

  12. The (newish) house we moved into had a very inefficient open fireplace, so we had an insert installed (with Turbo). By carefully picking the wood we burn in it (oak only, and holm oak which is more dense and gives more heat - but it has to be at least 1 or 2 years dry), we manage to heat the whole house - we live there permanently. The turbo is effective enough, it does blow hot air.... but we might not have chosen this system if we had known that the turbo also makes a fair amount of noise when the thermostat starts  blowing the air. At first I felt it was like sitting on a plane before take-off (a bit of an exaggeration but nevertheless...). And of course, one does like to sit near the fire in the middle of winter.

    It is pretty efficient though, our house has 4 smallish bedrooms upstairs, the downstairs is of course open plan and so is the staircase otherwise it wouldn't work. The heat seems to have some problems going around corners, though[:)]

    Although we live in the South of France, nights can be very cold in the winter... minus 8oC for several days on the trot is not uncommon.

     

     

  13. OK this is where I come in - yes I have seen LanguedocGal's floor tiles... but hope she will be posting a photo so that she can have a real range of opinions and ideas....after all, it may be that those of you who are in Britanny etc... have no idea what we are talking about.

    To me, they are just normal Languedoc floor tiles, the kind you see in most flats and buildings built in the 19C in this area. And of course, they are garish, I would not go as far as calling them bright and cheerful, but I must confess that the first time I saw such tiles I was intrigued and could see the attraction.

    Of course, I don't have to live with them. But they are probably just right for the flat...

    come on LG, let's have a photo now...

    As for Dick's kitchen, I was just too depressed to comment. [:)] It makes me feel I live in a squat.... very beautiful Dick and Mrs Dick, I love the subtle blue lighting? This kitchen would NOT be wasted on me, I guarantee, so that puts me in front of LG on the waiting list!

    I cannot comment on anything from Britanny - I have lived in many areas in France, but have never been in Britanny (considering it though, given global warming!)

     

  14. Cooperlola, so you're a Lancastrian! I agree that on a really good day, Morecambe could look quite spectacular - MOH  I think, pines for N.W. England where he has left so many old friends - he was born abroad, yet always seemed to think of himself as a Lune Valley boy...

    I hated lying in bed in the morning, seeing the sun coming in through the window, planning to go for a walk, and by the time I'd had breakfast it was grey grey grey again. And walking through countryside was mostly wading through mud. (Yes I do know Dubbin... gave up using it, that's for walking shoes, in the end I only used wellies[:)].

    I hated having to use a torch every morning to find matching socks in my chest of drawers.

    I hated wearing (or at least carrying) waterproof and fleece summer and winter. And I did find it hard to cope with people who would announce they were sweltering every time the temperature went above 18oC[:D] - although I do admit that Northeners were (are!) really nice and cheerful people! And when I said I wanted to move back to France, they would say..."Oooh I don't know, all that sun, doesn't it get really boring?"

     

  15. LOL... Of course TeamedUp, what was I thinking of - just goes to show how much out of touch I have got in the past 6 years....[:D]

    I now can't even think of a single place in N.E. England[:D] Better go and look at a map..

    I loathed Northern England anyway, just couldn't hack the weather - bottom of dustbin weather all the time, real SAD land...

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  16. Living in small town (6,000 inhabitants) in sunny Herault - a gendarme came to my door this week, he was  making enquiries:  3 cars were burnt just down the road from us by the river, a few days ago. And another four cars a little while ago. I don't feel too safe going out in the evening, as there are lots of fights (gitans vs. others mainly!) and some serious drugs and alcohol problems. Funnily enough, I feel safer in the big city than I do here!!!

    Having said that, we also got burgled twice while living in N.E. England (Lancaster) - both times we were IN the house too, the first time it was a solo young heroin addict, who even came into my bedroom upstairs... The second time, who knows!

  17. TeamedUp -

    Can you take it home and make breadcrumbs out of the brioche, or do you have to eat it there and then and make appreciative noises?

    You could claim an allergy to wheat. Or to dairy, or to the whole lot

  18. [quote user="Teamedup"]

     Some people, even older ones will be fluent within a year maybe sooner, such is the nature of this gift.

    [/quote]

    Well, I am open to believing this TU, but I have yet to see it. None of the dozens and dozens of  older English speakers I have met in the past 6 years in France, have become "fluent" within a year or even three. The ones who are fluent have been here for 20 or 30 years (Americans mainly) and have worked here, had families here, and arrived here well before retirement age. Perhaps "fluency" is open to definition. If it is, to be understood in casual social situations, then most people do manage that eventually. But fluency of the kind that means being "like a native", i.e. being able to pass for French, that is another matter altogether.

    And you are right about speaking like a vache espagnole. A (French) friend of mine moved to London in 1967 and is still there. 40 years ago!. It is only in the past 5 or 10 years that she has lost her thick French accent - yet she is fluent, but could never be mistaken for a native Londoner. So that demolishes my tentative definition of fluency!

    How long is a piece of string, this could be applied to the concept of fluency too maybe.

  19. Cat - Your post could practically have been written by Mr.5-element. As his French OH, and knowing what he is going through, first I want to congratulate you for trying so hard. This is very commendable, as I am sure many on this forum will agree...

    He, too, thought it would take him 6 months to be fluent. He arrived with a good command already, and having a very sociable disposition, could speak at length, understand quite a lot,reading l'Equipe and Midi-Libre daily, watching French TV exclusively - he and I however, seldom speak French - I just find it too artificial and it makes me feel like I am working if we do...LOL...

    I think your question about can you expect to be fluent, might have something to do with your personal abilities, but also with your age. I have run some French language and conversation groups for English speakers, have taught one-to-one, worked in a language school. For the past 5 years in France, most of the people I have tried to help with French have been retired, i.e. "older". I have no doubt now that, the older you are, the harder it is to learn a language. I learned English when I was 20-something, total immersion as I arrived in London and had a job, shared a flat with English people, and refused to mix with other French for several years. I was practically fluent within 6 months to a year BUT...it was because I was 20 years old.

    My husband sometimes despair. He is a born communicator, and a writer, so, the ability to manipulate language is crucial to him. He is very involved in our local, French community, on the committee of associations, was president of one, has long chats with his French  mates in cafes, goes to unruly meetings and even speaks there, can even make a speech introduce a speaker in a public place, and can understand most of what anyone says. His vocabulary is astonishing. BUT... like you, his grammar is poor, in spite of regular French lessons in a class (not with me!), and although he can have lonf flaming rows in French, in person or on the phone, he just cannot write intelligibly - either emails, or letters. This, in spite of being an ex-academic. He is very depressed about it, as he feels he will never be able to use French like he uses English. He feels like he misses out on lots of the subtleties, and some in-depth contact which is language-dependent.

     You don't say what kind of contacts you have with French speakers (Mr. Cat does not count here!). Sometimes I feel that one way to make a lot of progress is to have many heart-to-heart talks with people. But there again, if it is a person who likes you and knows you, they are bound to make allowances and to understand you even when you make mistakes, and not to correct you.

    It sounds as if you are "younger" - so you might be able to get there. Just persevere! Especially if the level you are trying to achieve is a working level of French. If you have a good teacher, he/she should be able to identify exactly where are the specific blind spots that you have grammatically. Is it the use of imparfait/passe compose? Is it pronouns? Is it subjunctive? Conditional? Then you do LOADS of exercises on those specific areas until you can integrate them so that rightful use becomes just a reflex action. What does Mr. Cat think about your French?

     

     

  20. Do you know, I was never able to see what is so terrible about French toilets, compared to British toilets?

    My worst toilet memories are from British Rail - being trapped on trains with either NO toilets at all, or with something that might have been toilets at some point, but was overlaid with a vast collection of all kinds of human body fluids and solids. A blocked toilet is a blocked toilet, wherever you are.

    So for me, toilets is an issue which can be improved both in France and in the UK - as for holes in the ground, I am lucky to be still able-bodied and to have developed strategies to avoid the tsunamis - it keeps the  body supple, a bit like what crosswords do for the brain. It involves an exquisite sense of timing, and the ability to make lighting exits.

  21. [quote user="Deimos"]

    You know you are in France when in the Supermarket with long check-out queues they start closing tills (making the queues even longer). Always seems that long queues seems to prompt to start closing them but when the queues get shorter they start to re-open them again.

    Ian

    [/quote]

    AND when a new till opens, it is the people who are behind you in the queue who race up to the newly open till and pay first, and you still end up being the last one in any queue. It always reminds me of the bibilical "les premiers seront les derniers et les derniers seront les premiers"... I am not sure what it is in English!

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