plod

I am afraid you seem to suffer from the common misconception that because France is further south than England it must be warmer in the winter. If you really want warm and dry you'll probably have to go to southern Spain or even Morocco. Here in the south-west it is not uncommon to get temperatures as low as -10. True it may be dry. Maybe on the south-east Mediterranean coast or Corsica you'll find it warmer but you will pay dearly for housing here. Sorry, I wouldn't feel competent enough to comment on the health matter suffice to say that the President has tightened up greatly on non-French immigrants below retirement age, so I suspect you would almost certainly have to take out probably costly health insurance. I'm sorry to be pessimistic. Maybe others will post more positively.

Villeneuve to Bordeaux in an hour! Only by helicopter I fancy - they are 140 kilometres apart.

Eymet in the Dordogne. Not sure if the British contingent is "small" though.

Porridge with Nutella and a banana.

Wasps Toulouse Munster Gloucester There I've probably scuppered our chances now. Wasps coming back to form. Toulouse have invested in lots of good players. Leicester always come strongly at the death. Stade Francais could come good when they get all their internationals back. To be honest I think it's wide open even trying to pick the last four!

I, too, watched the Sarries game. It's all very well using up half a minute or so by keeping the ball in a ruck but not two or three minutes. They should have hoofed it into the corner and got Biarritz to run it back. I think Biarritz were there for the taking; they are not the side they were a couple of seasons ago. They have only scored two tries in all their games this season. The French commentator said that Yashvili was responsible for 82 per cent (!) of their points this season. C'mon Glaaaawwwsss!

Thank you Ulsterman; I hope you finish second in the pool. Big game tonight at Kingsholm when we face the Ospreys. Lou how easy/difficult is it to get to Toulouse's ground? Can you park there? I live less than an hour away. I was going to say "lucky man" but know I should never assume!

I did see this and it was very heartening, however, I know from reading the Gloucester fans' forums that we are nervously excited about our prospects this year. We have a terrific squad but what we have lacked in the past is the ability to win the really important games - something that Wasps and Leicester seem to be able to conjure up. Lou, you are a lucky man (woman?); first game some minor encounter of a couple of Federal 2 sides - not likely - Toulouse versus Paris. Then Toulouse Leinster and then Toulouse Leicester. You must have terrific contacts!

My French neighbour always says: "Rentrez". Yesterday I am sure I heard her say: "J'aime rentrer dans les églises" Is this a local peculiarity?

As a Glawster fan I too was surprised at the Ulster result. I think we have massive potential but can be a bit flaky - witness a 26 - 8 lead turn into a 29 - 26 defeat against Wasps the other day. I'm not sure I thought Toulouse were lucky, but Edinburgh certainly had their opportunities, and yes, they do need a goal-kicker.

Thanks for your replies.

Can I watch different programmes if I have two TVs, two boxes and one dish?

We have a wonderful gadget into which you put the tomatoes - skins, seeds and all. The machine separates the juice from the rest and then we freeze it. We've got about twenty litres of the stuff despite an average year for cropping. The make is: Rigamonti Passa Pomodori. Apparently, Point Vert has something similar.

If the smaller nations like Georgia and Portugal are to progress in Union then it makes sense for them to have a competition like the Six Nations - second division or similar. The problem with the World Cup, as NZ found to their cost, is that there are some games which are absolutely meaningless with absurd scorelines. I know that the "minnows" enjoy their time in the limelight but it can't do their rugby progress much good if they meet a strong nation once every four years and get thrashed. 

We bought our crowns from the local market in the spring and planted them in a trench. They've grown well; we also suffered the nuisance of the asparagus beetle of which we had swarms this year. We did a lot of hand squashing but in the end I'm afraid I sprayed as there were just so many of them. 

Although I think it unlikely that England will beat Australia, in a one-off game anything is possible. However, do you think it would be a bad thing for the future of English rugby if we were to win - papering over cracks etc?

I suppose it's all done fairly, however it is a bit odd that France started the tournament and yet they are playing on the last day of the pool matches. Pity poor Samoa who had to play on Saturday and then Wednesday.

It does look like southern hemisphere hegemony this year, unless the All Blacks wobble against France (their probable quarter-final opponents). Semi-finalists look like being Argentina, Australia, NZ and SA. England have been pretty dire, some of which is down to succession planning, some to poor selection and most of all, we don't have many world-class players at the moment. If we get to the quarters perhaps we might get a result against Australia as I don't think they are as good as SA or NZ. The Irish have been the big disappointment - they came with a settled team, experienced players, pretty good Six Nations record and I though they might mount a challenge. There are rumours of big disagreements in the camp so perhaps this is a reason for their performance.  

I'm pretty sure we have such a call from a bird here. It certainly is not restricted to night-time and I assumed it was an owl.

Our tomatoes are being attacked by something that leaves a small round hole in them. We had the problem last year and this year, if anything, it's worse. Any ideas and solutions or do we have to grin and bear it?

You don't actually say when you are going to move. Are you going to be permanent French residents? If so, you will need to go to the CPAM in your nearest town to arrange to join the French Health system and then you ought to arrange a "top-up" policy (usually with an organisation called a "Mutuelle"). As you are retired you will be covered and your wife will be covered by you, as it were.

My wife went to our local GRETA and certainly had to pay ( about 6 euros an hour it worked out). Unfortunately, there was hardly any conversation; there were a tremendous number of comings and goings which resulted in the teacher having to go over work repeatedly. Further, her teaching method, which I've been told is typically French, involved doling out reams of written exercises to be completed. My wife certainly got the impression that many of those in attendance were required as part of a benefit package.  

Our grapes are a disaster this year as we probably did not spray them often enough. Dry day, wet day, hot day, cool day etc. I understand that the professionals are forecasting a poor year in 2007.

Thank you for that.

Anybody know how I can get rust stains off tiles (outdoors)?