Scooby

Good article in the times last Sunday for any one who might be interested in this type of holiday: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/where_to_stay/article6585189.ece

Dave, you're right about having to have your user name and password stored on the database that is acting as your proxy bidder.  However, I never had a problem using snipe software.   The only reason I don't use it now is that I don't use ebay.

There are downloadable tools that will put in a last second bid for you without you sitting at your pc.  I think the one I have used is called 'snipe'. Tbh I haven't bought on ebay for ages - I found that a lot of the stuff being sold was just total rubbish.  There are far too many con merchants on there (especially anything to do with electronic gadgets / mob phones) and absolutely no protection if things go pear shaped.  I would endorse everything Dave said - particularly about Paypal.

[quote user="J.Rs gone native"]Those that wish to champion modern day British food are doing just that when they cite the diverse influences, I would have more respect for them if they had a real appreciation of and a wish to protect and promote genuine British food. [/quote] It's a little presumptious of you to presume that just because someone enjoys the new diversity of dishes in the UK that they don't also appreciate good 'old fashioned' British food.

Interesting that most of the posts defending the burqah come from men.....

Chocolate was cooked with meat by the mayans and incas...hardly nouvelle cuisine.  I agree frenchie, there are some wonderful innovative french chefs but, equally, there are a lot of french restos that produce very predictable, boring food.  Confit, sauteed potatoes and green beans are ok the first time - but they are the mainstay of every menu near us.  Sorry frenchie but a lot of french food is over-rated and over priced.

Agreed chessfou - but the fact is that the UK has progressed whereas France has stayed still (or given the recent McD surveys - gone backwards)

J.R's gone native said: "I am struggling to recognise this English cuisine with borrowed influences adding a different dimension to often well known British dishes". I think I know what Catalpa is talking about.  Traditionally (i.e. when I was a child) we would have had a lamb / beef casserole, roast or similar.  Now we have things like slow cooked venison with bitter chocolate, lamb shank braised in red currant sauce, chicken braised with pumpkin, wild mushrooms and cream.  (And, yes, we eat these at home.) These are not 'traditional british dishes' nor are they obviously french, italian whatever.  The UK simply has a much better range of produce available now which has been influenced, to a large extent, by the cultural mix of its population. The media has also elevated food (both cooking and eating) to a serious pass time / hobby rather than the functional mundane topic it was in our parents and grandparents era. 

I hated giving telephone numbers - i.e. 643278 soixante-quatre, trente-deux etc.  I get flustered trying to working out the combinations to end with a double digit while at the same time giving them in french. 

I think the worst we had recently was last week in Perigueux: 22 euros a head - for which we were expecting a good meal.  The food was very mediocre and the (cheap) small bottled beers we had with it were charged at 5.50 euros each.  The meal for three of us came to over a 100 euros!

I've certainly seen no price reductions in my area. TBH when we are in France we don't eat out very often at all now.  I'm struggling to think of any restaurants where we are that offer 11 euro lunch time plat de jour anymore.  Most start at 16 euro + and the menus are often limited (3 choices starter, 2 choices of main course etc)...and don't change.  When you consider the exchange rate that's nearly £15 a head.  Our local (very pretty and old) pubs serve excellent lunch time meals for less than a £10 a head with extensive menus that change regularly.  Yesterday we went for lunch at a gorgeous riverside pub and had a very substantial main course and a pint of guinness for £8 (too full for dessert!)  We couldn't match that in France.

[quote user="Braco"] Are the examples you cite the actions of ignorant people who happen to be Muslim, or people made ignorant because they are Muslim? [/quote] The latter.  It is to do with the status afforded to muslim women. 

Braco I'm not sure you really understand the position.  To say it's like a fad for the latest cut of jeans is being so flippant it's bordering on the obscene.  Two examples (and these are not die hard islamist families): Family with two daughters one son.  Wife isn't allowed to eat in the same room as her husband.  She has to serve his food and walk out backwards.  Daughters do all the work, wait hand and foot on father and brother.  Son gets £1,000 hi-fi for birthday, daughters don't receive a birthday present.  Son gets largest bedroom, daughter share the box room.  Elder daughter goes to college in London (as I said not as extreme as the situations this post is addressing).  Meets and falls in love with white college student.  Father cuts off daughter completely and sister is told that she is to have no further contact.  Younger sister devastated as sisters are very close and defies father and leaves home.  Death order taken out on both girls. Younger daughter was my sister's best friend - she has since lost touch as daughters had to move out of the area due to circumstances. One day at college a new mature student sits next to me.  We start chatting and I ask why she started the course so late.  At first she was reluctant to tell me then she explained that her husband was beating her so she had left him.  She was given refuge in a hostel for battered women.  Her husband swore he would hunt her down and take revenge for the 'humiliation' she had caused him.  She said she had moved to 8 different 'safe' addresses over the last two years and each time he had tracked her down.  She was currently at a local women's hostel but was terrified he would find her and kill her.  She attended the course for three weeks then we never saw her again.

Agree completely Frenchie.  There are many arabic countries who are very happy to impose their social norms on visitors because the behaviour of their visitors would otherwise cause offence.   It seem rather disingenuous, therefore, for those same countries to be making threatening noises when a western country makes the same stand about things that are incompatible with their cultural norms.

Ahermm - click on the union jack for English version...top right???

Then you's in trouble mate!!

...and what sort of fun is that!  Hope you have such things as pj's wb [;-)]

One of the requests of our 'most favourite guests' (see comments in previous posts) was to ask if we could get the cows in the nearby fields moved!!  I kid you not.  We did try to explain that the word 'rural' was normally associated with 'farming' but to no avail.  When our neighbour and farmer had stopped laughing................

[quote user="Catalpa"] And I think that's why I'm finding French cooking a bit dull and predictable. [/quote] I have to say Catalpa I agree completely.  We rarely eat out in France now because we find the food repetitive and very overpriced when compared to the UK.  I also agree with the point about french beef....we've now bought a slow cooker so we don't have to eat the boot leather steaks!

Have you tried contacting the passport office for a replacement passport?  Replacement passports can be provided if the original is lost, stolen or damaged.  It would seem your circumstances fit into one of the former two categories.  If he genuinely can't find them as he claims then a claim for a replacement passport on the grounds the original is lost is a perfectly valid and straightforward process.  If he has the passports and is refusing to return them then this would seem to amount to theft - another legitimate reason to request a replacement passport. Failing that it is also possible to have a duplicate passport issued.  This is usually done when the holder is a frequent traveller and so may need to submit their passport as part of a visa application whilst still needing it for travel.  Duplicate passports are usually issued for a shorter period of time but as children's passports only last for 5 years anyway it may suffice.

FairFX rates will struggle to beat Nationwide rates.  Transactions last week (purchases and cash withdrawals) went through my account at a rate of 1.175 euros : £1.  No need for a separate card and the hassle of topping up - funds come straight from my sterling current account.  As an aside - depending on the number of cards in issue it could amount to millions.

But if you can afford the dogs doodahs in ski / snowboard gear you can afford to fly BA / Flyby / BMI...non?

We have become quite used to travelling with only hand luggage - even to colder destinations for longer trips (1-2 weeks).  It's been quite a good discipline as we now realise how much stuff we used to take with us just to bring back unworn / unused.  It's also much quicker at both ends - just walk on and off the plane, no hassle, no waiting around.  I now look at some of the big cases being collected from the carousel and wonder what on earth other people find to pack! Re the ski / snowboard comment - why do you need to take your own when you can hire perfectly good gear at the other end...and save the carbon footprint?

[img]http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/15grandrue/3kittens-1.jpg[/img] [img]http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv319/15grandrue/MumandKittens.jpg[/img]

The only one I remember was Di (it on the radio news when I woke up).  I don't remember the day Elvis died but I do remember that it was in the school holidays because most of my favourite TV programmes were replaced by back to back Elvis films which I wasn't greatly impressed about!  The others are all before my time (though OH says it would be impolite to mention this in older company!)