Gemini_man

There's some really interesting old places to see here: http://www.franco-oldtimers.org/index.php?n=Main.HomePage

[quote user="banyuls diver"] What is "Thunderbird"? Is it an option to type directly into an e-mail? Is it down-loadable?[/quote] Thunderbird is a mail handler program. You can configure it to handle your e-mails from mixed sources ie. Orange, Hotmail, Yahoo etc. It's free and comes from Mozilla who also produce Firefox. It's an open source program so it's non-commercial and is supported by a community of users - in other words "it's a good thing" [:D]. I've used it for four years and although in it's infancy it was somewhat quirky there have been big improvements with each version. The latest version Thunderbird 3.0 became available earlier this month and looks to have plenty of innovations and now that Christmas is over I'm about to upgrade to it myself. It's available here: http://en-gb.www.mozillamessaging.com/en-GB/thunderbird/

[quote user="Lou"]termites are NOT flying insects and travel underground really quite slowly....and will begin their assault on your house via the ground up.[/quote] Sorry, not true - just like ants, once a year some of a termite colony grow wings and go where the wind takes them in order to mate and try and form new colonies. They do also travel underground. "Les termites souterrains rencontrés en France utilisent principalement deux modes de propagation naturelle: l'envol, généralement une fois l'an, d'adultes sexués (aussi appelé essaimage), qui vont quitter leur colonie pour en fonder de nouvelles"Taken from Wikipedia:   http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isoptera Termites are very common in the Dordogne and I've seen local farmers make fires within the stumps of old tree trunks but I'm not sure if that's to destroy an existing colony or to discourage the possibility of a colony moving in. Edit: It's not the queen that leaves, it's the would be new queens. Here's a better link and in English:  http://tinyurl.com/m6tsmc

Thank you for that link Dog. I love dragonflies and will read it and explore the site when I have a little more time [:)]

Spotted Laurel might be suitable. It's tolerant of sun, partial shade or full shade. Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/csqzfg I was also going to suggest Fatsia and I see there's a link for that on the same page, at the bottom. Here's a link in French for Spotted Laurel: http://isaisons.free.fr/aucuba.htm

Oi!!! Wot about the asperges?? Seriously Clair, this is the ideal moment to think about creating a small asparagus bed, especially since you say the soil is more sandy than clay. I would say that 10 crowns would be ample for two of you and might even leave some for the freezer (asparagus soup is easy to make, freezes well and is very tasty). It's very simple to make a bed, just add more sand and plenty of compost below the crowns. It's usually said that you shouldn't harvest asparagus for the first two years but my opinion is that you should but don't cut too much, let some go to flower. An asparagus bed is quite easy to maintain (tips available) and continues producing for years. My asparagus bed was created about 15 years ago and I'm currently cutting a good few handfuls every other day - mind you, this is an especially good year possibly due to the late start to Spring and plenty of moisture during the last month or so. Oh, by the way - green asperges is far superior to white in my opinion.  http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/asparagus-grow.asp So far as other veggies are concerned - having done it, enjoyed it but got fed up with the hassle of watering and weeding and the fact that in high summer it may be too hot for many plants to produce much I've ended up with a simplified version of the original which now consists of: runner beans (seeds available if you would like), tomatoes of course (recommended tasty type available if you would like), lettuce, spring onions, courgettes, cucumbers, haricots vert and a few potatoes for early cropping. For the rest I prefer the local market or LeClerc! My potager motto is: don't be a slave to your garden! [:D]

Slightly off topic but if anyone is interested in la fête du cochon - here are pics of our village affair: http://tinyurl.com/dfgkdg

[quote user="Dog"]I am beer man.[/quote] that could account for the 'earth tremor' then.

Plenty of Brits in UK registered cars around Ribérac this last week and plenty more driving hire cars also but it's mostly owners - that's going by observation in town, at the supermarkets and amongst my clients. As for holiday makers - haven't seen many of them about (UK ones that is) and owners say bookings for the summer are not good.

[quote user="billy10"]Hi forum, I have a perfect area of about 6 metres by 20 metres which would make a lovely veg garden , however the only concern I have is that it is also the drain field for my fosse septic, My question is can I plant crops such as carrots, peas, sweetcorn, broad beans,runner beans spinach etc etc , or will it not be a good idea to plant these crops where grey water is draining which in essence is a diluted human sewage, has anyone ant ideas on this ???????   Regards Billy10    dept 36 Indre   [/quote] Yes, I guarantee that you will have the most enormous carrots above all else. All the other veggies will do phenomenally well also. I have had direct experience of this. In Asia it is a recognised way of growing a good supply of vegetables. If you research a little you will find plenty of information online concerning this. As for is it a good idea, from the health point of view I cannot comment other than to say my family and I survived 2 years of crops grown in this way.

Not harmful, they spend most of their lives copulating it seems [:P]

Very noisy here but not really roaring. The clouds are rushing past the moon and its 12°, quite pleasant really. It looks like La Rochelle and inland from there are having the worst this time so far, good luck up there. Time for bed I think, hope everyone is OK. Bonne nuit. Bah, just to prove me wrong, while I was writing that the wind has picked up and I just heard tiles crash off the barn roof. Damn! [:@] 00.40

Nothing much moving. Having been looking at Benjamins web site the eye of the storm has been stationary over Lands End for the last three hours. So, until it moves nothing much is going to change.

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]I'm finding the site below of great value,  for Britain as well as France http://www.xcweather.co.uk/?Loc=FR Well worth taking a few minutes to get to know how to use all the options. I do wish everyone luck,  I absolutely hate strong winds and the damage they can cause  (remembering the destruction round us after the 1999 tempete,  although we were relatively unscathed). Bon courage. [/quote] Ooh yes, nice map, have added that to my favourites and will explore the options, thanks Martin and Benjamin [:)] Talking of the tempete of 1999, that started with a deep depression that tracked along the channel and North of France, just like this one is going to do, causing enormous damage then 24 hours later out of nowhere a second depression, even deeper, developed off the West coast - oddly enough it was given the name Martin! The second depression devastated large parts of West, South West and South France. I have reason to remember it well as my subsequent insurance claim paid for a second car, a fridge freezer, a computer upgrade and some new tiles. So, I shall be watching closely for any developments off the West coast tomorrow [;-)]

[quote user="NormanH"]If you click on the link I gave before Méteo   you will see that there is now an orange alert in the North West and West [/quote] Yes, Meteo France updated this morning. The Met Office are forecasting the depression to be a low of 973 mb which is considerably higher than the recent storm in the South West which was 960 mb so hopefully this one will not be too destructive. It will be a noisy night though, that's for sure. Now where did I put those candles? [:$]

Unfortunately the Met Office site is only updated once a day at 7.30 am which is pretty useless for forecasting purposes so will have to wait until the morning to see what their prediction is. Meanwhile Meteo France have updated their site several times and are now predicting strong winds in the West, North and Centre throughout Tuesday but are only talking about gusts of max 110 kmh consequently no vigilance orange or rouge. I'd still put away anything that could be blown about, just in case!

[quote user="Lisleoise"]On Méteoconsult (click for link): "violente tempête" [/quote] Maybe you're logged into the site Lisleoise? I think non registered visitors see this "Vous n'avez pas navigué sur notre site depuis plus d'un quart d'heure. Pour votre sécurité, nous vous avons déconnecté." But clicking on Sommaire does bring up the page with the Viloente tempete details.

[quote user="Judie"]I'm afraid your link doesn't work.[/quote] Judie, Lisleoise's link times out viewing sessions but if you click on Sommaire on the left of the page it will take you to a weather map with a section on the right marked "VIOLENTE TEMPETE à partir de lundi soir"which you can click on for more info.

[quote user="suein56"][quote user="Gemini_man"]Take a look at the met office site here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/europe/surface_pressure.html Advance it to monday night/tuesday morning by clicking on T+60 or T+72 (12 hour increments) and you'll see the potential beast. It may simply be very windy or it may deepen and become another hurricane, either way it's forecast to head off over northern France but that is only a forecast. Direction will be all important. The strongest winds will be south of the eye of the depression. [/quote] Using Gm's link (what a useful site Gm) it seems as though the worst of the storm might occur through Tuesday - if I have read the timing right? Sue [/quote] Sue, it looks as though the storm is likely to arrive onland sometime Monday afternoon/evening and it should be a very noisy night for anyone in or near it's path. Tuesday should be a lot calmer by daybreak, depending on where you are in France of course. The important thing will be how deep the depression is, at the moment Meteo France don't have it flagged to be vigilant of which kind of surprises me as they are pretty cautious these days. Fot anyother view of what's "coming your way" this is a usefull site: http://tinyurl.com/3xx87m It shows a loop of the last three hours rainfall/snowfall from which you should be able to see if anything very wet is headed your way. It will also show cloud cover by clicking "clouds and rainfall images" at the top of the map. The images during the recent storm in the South West were quite remarkable with a very intense cloud swirl, that is until the elctricity went off and the screen went blank [:P]

Take a look at the met office site here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/europe/surface_pressure.html Advance it to monday night/tuesday morning by clicking on T+60 or T+72 (12 hour increments) and you'll see the potential beast. It may simply be very windy or it may deepen and become another hurricane, either way it's forecast to head off over northern France but that is only a forecast. Direction will be all important. The strongest winds will be south of the eye of the depression.

I agree with Steve. Normally the cutter deck can be released by withdrawing 4 or 5 split pins then it can be pulled out from beneath the mower and cleaned to your hearts content. Well, that's what I do anyway.

I have it on good authority, ie. my wife, that these are Cockchafer grubs, also known as June bugs or May bugs (depends where you live). Here's a link:  http://tinyurl.com/6k45rn

Quite correct and the following weekend also. Unless the weather is bad in which case the work may be put back, presumably to the next weekend. "Le Pont d’Aquitaine pourrait être complètement fermé ce week-end et le week-end prochain. La DDE de la Gironde a en effet prévu une fermeture totale du vendredi 12 septembre à 22 heures jusqu’au lundi 15 septembre à 4 heures (2 sens de circulation) et du vendredi 19 septembre à 22 heures jusqu’au lundi 22 septembre à 4 heures (2 sens de circulation), afin de procéder à la réfection des chaussées. Cependant, cette fermeture annoncée de longue date pourrait être reportée si les conditions météo (assez aléatoires ces derniers jours) ne se prêtent pas aux travaux. Pour faire simple : s’il pleut, le pont d’Aquitaine restera ouvert. On devrait en savoir plus vendredi." http://tinyurl.com/52us3t

Agreed with Dwarf Elder. It's interesting that you mention a shortage of sloe berries this year. Last year we made over six bottles of sloe gin but so far this year you have seen two berries more than we have. Which makes me think it might be prudent to guard the last bottle and a half we have of sloe gin for another 3 to 4 months  [:P]

Yes I saw it very clearly but only from in front because it was darting at me as it attacked. What struck me was it's speed and darting movements. When it stung me I dropped the shears I was holding and legged it out of there in case it attacked again. From in front it appeared black but having looked at various photos I see that a Frelon Asiatique is black at the front and not really like the frelons I am used to.  Having read this article I'm beginning to think this might be the culprit:  http://tinyurl.com/5bpp2z Mind you I shall be in real trouble if I find a nest like the one shown in the article [8-)]