chrisb

This weekend there will be several ceremonies in remembrance of the Typhoon pilots and ground crew who served in the Battle of Normandy. Culminates at Noyers Bocage on Sunday morning with ceremony at the Typhoon memorial (http://www.panoramio.com/photo_explorer#view=photo&position=40&with_photo_id=49131017&order=date_desc&user=5007491) at 11.15 with a flypast by a Spitfire at 11.40.

There are plenty of producers west of Caen as well. Would recommend Clos d'Orval at Amaye-sur-Seulles - a few miles from Caumont l'Evente. They do apple juice, cider, Calvados and pommeau as well as some preserves. It says on the site that they're open all day but don't expect any quick service if you turn up just after lunch time! You will of course be offered degustation! http://www.calvados-tourisme.com/en/343/0/0/PCUNOR014FS000FH/sit/detail/heritage/industrial-tourism/Clos-d-Orval/AMAYE-SUR-SEULLES/

Now you've got me worried - ours has sounded as if it has bronchitis for several years now. Hope it's not terminal.

They have them in stock at our local garden centre (near Bayeux) but I thought it looked very expensive and quite flimsy. A good review site is www.fredshed.co.uk but they don't seem to have covered this yet.

Can't believe our luck - real Summer temperatures here in 14. Might even get the barbecue out. Last year we hit bad weather on every trip so doubly pleased!

As an alternative you can try http://www.meteo-normandie.fr/# Often seems to differ from the official meteo site so we tend to look at both and choose the better forecast. Not, of course, that this makes better weather any more likely.

[quote user="Jay"]There are about 200,000 Google refs. about how to prune roses. THIS is a good one although I prefer to watch NATASHA as she is very easy on the eye [;-)] [/quote] She was talking about pruning roses? My attention seemed to desert me once she put the rubber gloves on.

The map doesn't seem to be kept up to date. Travelling back to Calais today we passed 6 motorway services. 5 of them had the full choice of fuels available and the 6th had everything except 98. This could be a temporary improvement in supplies I suppose with the blockades of the depots having been lifted - but presumably if the refineries are still not working then there won't be anything to replace what's being sold now. On the plus side the traffic was extremely light on the autoroutes!

[quote user="WendyG"]Hi May be a stupid suggestion, but why not travel back from Caen to Portsmouth, at least you can then guarantee getting back for work. Good luck WendyG [/quote] That was the plan of last resort - believe me you do not want to know just how bad a sailor I am! Luckily though was surprised to be able to fill up with 98 at leClerc in Bayeux this morning - there wasn't even the usual queue. So unless any blockades on the road (not on a Sunday I'm guessing) it's back to plan A. Not going to tell my boss yet though - let her think I really struggled!

[quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]That's what I thought. So why are the government not stressed about it then?[/quote] C'est normal, hein? I'm keeping everything crossed for Sunday as have already had my boss email me threatening dire consequences if not back at work on Monday morning. Have enough to get to the BP on the motorway near Caen (and back here if they don't have any) but not enough to get to Calais. Dilemma is whether to use more of what I have looking for somewhere to top up before then? By the way - shouldn't BP be reserved for Brits in these circumstances????

Reading the explanation in the various articles I have to say that it doesn't make sense. They're saying that the passengers were in a carriage behind one left empty because of an earlier food spill and that staff forgot to empty it on arrival. But when the shuttle arrives ALL the interconnecting doors open at the same time so how could they get forgotten? And what would have happened when they started loading the cars for the return trip? How could anyone not notice they were there - and come to that how could the stranded passengers not notice what was happening? I suspect there is some other explanation that's being kept quiet. edit...please read "fuel" where I've put "food" - shows what's on my mind!

[quote user="JandM"]Goats.[/quote] or Eeyore

[quote user="Stan Streason"]We are with Seolis and it looks like I can submit readings on their site.  I still think it will be a battle.[/quote] We've found with EDF that sending the correct reading through works fine in getting the account corrected. What has proved impossible is getting them to actually amend their estimates so that future bills reflect the fact that the house is only occupied for 12 weeks per year. Their estimate is also based on the fact that a previous owner had electric space heating as the only form of heat and however often we tell them that this is no longer the case the estimated use rate never changes.

[quote user="bixy"]Arriving at St Pancras it was obvious that something was wrong - huge crowds of people waiting to check in, and no-one doing so. An announcement soon told us the problem - a false fire alarm caused by a lorry shuttle in the tunnel. [/quote] Those waiting for the shuttle service at Folkestone weren't lucky enough to get any sort of proper explanation - just announcements referring to an "incident train". We were checked in for the 07.50 and got called round to the waiting area after an hour or so. Once there it was announced that we wouldn't be departing until after midday! No such luck - in the event we were on the first passenger shuttle to leave - just after 14.30. What I really can't understand is how it can take over six hours to recover a train from the tunnel when the only thing wrong was a malfunctioning smoke alarm. Either the operation is totally inefficient or there was more to it than we were told. I notice that there was a Press Association report at 09.30 that said there had been a false alarm and that the service was back to normal - probably just as well that we were unaware of that at the time.

Probably it's largely a matter of taste - I think a bit of gameyness (?) is great but others like their meat absolutely fresh. It'll also vary according to the weather and where you have to hang it (I'm assuming that none of us has a proper game larder). Best guess - assuming weather cold and dry - would be 3 to 4 days with the giblets still in. It'll then be fine refrigerated for a few more days.