Phil & Pat

Spot on Chris, thank you again.

We came back on the Normandie on Tuesday afternoon.  She seems to have had regular refits and is still in pretty good conditions, at least in the public areas (can't comment on other areas of course).  Carpets, upholstery and curtains all in better condition than you might expect at the end of season.

I saw something yesterday that I initially took to be a scorpion, but now I'm not sure.  It was black, about 3cm long, with (apparently) 6 legs and 2 very small 'pincers' (or whatever they are called) and a flattened abdomen about 5mm wide.  It did not appear to have a distinct 'tail' but definitely arched its back end up and over when provoked, just like a scorpion. In Calvados, late October but very mild, and it was walking briskly over tarmac.  Any ideas what it might have been? Pity I didn't have my camera with me.

Thanks Danny, that seems to cover it nicely (apart from how to put a squib under Orange [:D] )

A friend recently lost her Orange broadband service.  On enquiring she was told she had been the victim of a 'dégroupement sauvage', which is apparently the same as happened to me in the UK about 10 years ago when BT unilaterally snatched my service back from Tiscali, much against my wishes. Has anyone else suffered this in France?  And more importantly, can anyone give some advice on how to speed up the reinstatement of the service?  Orange seems to be very reluctant to treat the matter with any urgency.

Safety questions aside, has anyone ever calculated the fuel savings that could be achieved if large numbers of vehicles were not obliged to slow down in preparation to give priority at a junction, then accelerate away again, all because another vehicle might have been approaching from the right but hidden by hedges, trees, walls or a building?  Compared of course to all those same vehicles maintaining a constant speed, and just the occasional vehicle approaching from the right having to slow down and then accelerate into the traffic stream.

[quote user="Sprogster"]My understanding is that UK banks can pay interest gross to non UK residents, but most UK banks choose not to do so, because the bank has the tax liability if they get it wrong. Therefore, all the main UK retail banks prefer to manage their non resident clients through their Channel Islands, or Isle of Man branches, which provide identical cheque and debit card current account facilities to their UK parent operations.[/quote] I had no difficulty in persuading HSBC and First Direct to pay my interest gross.

[quote user="Beemer1150"]... or because it is always switched on again at the same place it was switched off and doesn't need to search for the sats?[/quote] Even if the car has not moved the satellites will have...

Did no one think of parking close behind it?

[quote user="5-element"]"Produits phytosanitaires" is the global term for all chemicals used in agriculture (not just pesticides, but also fungicides, etc.) [/quote] Ah... thank you.

Do pesticides harm wild flowers, or do I have a translation problem?

You spoilsport, Ernie!

Just testing, but I'm sure stopcock is OK.  [:D] ... and cockerel too.

You might be able to find it here. Click on the playlist button at the bottom left of the video window, then select item 10, 1969 : Triumph. Good luck.

Try ELAGAGE ET ABATTAGE in the Quoi, Qui box.  They show plenty of results in Dept 62. Good luck.

[quote user="lucky luke"]Why should they have a freebie to France? [/quote] ... After all, they got the first trip free didn't they?

A similar situation with a former employer. Trying to change my computer password one day I was informed that my new password was not acceptable because it did not conform to the required 'format'. I asked what that format was, but they wouldn't tell me because it was not for the system users to know!

[quote user="Iceni"][quote user="Pierre ZFP"] Anyway, as was pointed out last year when I posted this, Pi approximation day (22nd July) is actually more accurate. [/quote] Shirley 22/7 is exact, not approx ? John [/quote] Exactly the right date but not exactly Pi. Only 0.0013 out though. And don't call me Shirley...

[quote user="Tandem_Pilot"]... - you will end up seeing the worm tracks within the wood and it will not look good [:(] [/quote] and possibly bright shiny nail heads too... [:(]

Clé is a generic term for several types of spanner.

[quote user="Jonzjob"]Mind you, it does make it easy to get past the idiots by using the roundabout correctly and using the left hand lane and indicating properly! [/quote] Be careful there John. The non-indicating idiot in the right hand lane might be intending to take the fourth exit when you make your move for the third.  Being on your right he just might expect priority from you. [:)]

[quote user="cheminot"]... Reply,"When you get your P60's send them to us and we'll process a refund".  "How long will that take?" Reply, "About 3 months after receipt of P60's" ... [/quote] Cheer up Cheminot.  My tax refund was a little delayed and they paid me some interest.  [:)]

The NF on my taxe d'habitation and taxe foncière is exactly the same as used on my avis d'impot sur les revenus.

[quote user="sweet 17"]...can you sort of er...............summarise it all...[/quote] Only when someone has counted all the hypertext links involved in this and all other linked documents, and demonstrated that there are no circlar links. I've been caught out before.  [:D]

A model of clarity...