Vindolanda

Getting the car here as you said is the easy bit. Getting it on the road is a long process and an expensive one. Unless you are particularly attached to the car, your life will be much simpler if you buy something over here. That said, we used  a firm  in Paris,  Parts Plus( http://www.partsplus.fr/) Contact Mr Allanne Tel 01 39 31 13 13.  It took a long time to get everything done, with much delay and prodding, but we got there in the end with old Fox Mustang .

We were similarly  confounded  when, a year or two ago,  we saw our neighbour here transplanting young carrot s which he had thinned from the rows   in his potager.  It seemed to work fine for him. Although  anything he touches seems to grow. If he shoves a stick into the ground it sprouts !

We have found this site useful and have used them for several years now http://www.frenchwishes.com/

We had been bothered by cold callers and took out an additional service from France Telecom to prevent this. So far so good, no more irritating  silent calls. The service cost s  €1 per month and is well worth it.

You might find this site ( http://quid.notrefamille.com/v2/services_cassini/produit_cassini_choix1.asp) useful  for an initial trawl. I have found our house  - or at least the lieu dit- on it  in 1750

Honfleur perhaps?

I Got a Revo Pico wifi radio  a couple or so years ago and have been entirely satisfied with it. Range is somewhat limited because of the thickness of the stone walls. I suppose if we were sufficiently bothered we could get over that with a repeater. it is quite compact and should be suitable for the bedside table.

They have been spotted in 14 Calvados, so the Orne should not have too long to wait now.

So sorry.  We all know the day will come when we first let our pets into our lives. But that never makes it any easier when the time eventually comes.  Although it will now seem unlikely,  there will be a time when you are able once more to remember fondly all the good times you have shared. 

Me too. Aldi  sales take off!

Hi Sweet 17. We have been using our bread machine for about one year now.  We too have  sometimes found it  difficult to get the bread out.  From experience we have found the best way is to invert the tin (either when cool or straight out of the machine) and give one corner a sharp knock on the work top and the loaf will normally slide out with the aid of a few shakes. The paddles very often stay in the loaf and can be picked out with a little extractor tool that came with the machine. We find it is best to do this after the loaf has cooled. To make life a little easier I lightly grease (or oil) the post and paddles before using the machine again. I hope this helps.

You can probably look up all details on the French Golf  Association web site at  ffgolf.org. Enjoy your game.

Hi. For what is worth, I do not think that plumstones will be a problem,. We have several plum trees in the garden which are generally heavy croppers and our two "mange tout" Labradors have now survived several years of excess  plum consumption without any evident bother - apart from around the waistline.

Hi, It should be ok. Ours is starting to flower now and the leaves will come later. It is ok to prune in Feb which is when the experts recommend the second prune of the year is done. Your first pruning for a while might set it back a bit but I agree with OH you cannot kill them!    

Yes. All of our posties have been quite happy to collect letters when they deliver the mail. It is a boon when you have something urgent to send but would not otherwise need to leave the house.

I have just ordered 2000 litres premium with Leclerc at 80.2 cents TTC. I suppose the price will now drop!

More likely the first option. No odds on what Tuesday will be.    

Yes we had the first outing in between cold snaps a week or so ago. Mainly to knock some of the tufts back to the same length as the rest. I hope the current frosty nights will hold it back a bit yet for further trims.

Hi. Not sure if this is en route for Calais but we thoroughly recommend the kennels (there is a cattery too ) at Le Grais in the Orne We put our two in here when we go off on trips and they are always well looked after .http://www.goldenwaypets.com/f-about.html

We have just obtained a Moulinex which is very good. Multilingual instructions include English and recipe book includes various breads,  jams, compote as well as pasta and pizza dough. We are very satisfied with the machine and have used a readymix pack for  multi grain bread (Leclerc) with good results.

Everything working as normal here too. After my initial reinstall of AOL VR , which did not improve anything, I put it all into the too difficult box, did nothing and used IE instead. Then AOL self righted. Perhaps last week was too cold for it?! So AOL reprieved for a while at least.    

I have been having exactly the same problems for the last few days. Your second paragraph precisely describes my situation ( except for the make of computer). I was unable to type up a reply to your post on Aol. Going through IE has at least enabled me to frame a reply. I hope I can actually send it.   So no answers I am afraid but perhaps sympathy from a fellow suffere helps. Maybe it is time I bit the bullet and changed from AOL. I wonder if getting a Neuf Box might help? at least that way I could keep my existing  e mail address? Good luck.

 We have one clump of daffodils in the garden which sometimes have flowered for Christmas. This year the first bud opened fully on 6 December.   Our bit of the Orne is not renowned for a balmy micro climate. Has anyone else seen any signs of climate change in their garden?