Gardengirl

lbf said:

I expect you'll spend a lot of time sitting drinking coffee or rosé at cafés which have free wifi on offer. If desperate there is an internet café, and some tourist offices have free wifi too, don't know about Ceret TO though. If tge house is not too remote, maybe you could use the internet links from nearby houses for your non-secure connections..........

Extremely worrying, Mint. I supose nobody thought about problems with Gibraltar when voting in the referendum - nor Ireland or Scotland. Edit: can't you get your true name back? I got locked out once and the techy people put me back together again.

A big problem arises when somebody living near the nest is allergic to wasp stings -like I am- can be very nasty, despite having epipens at the ready.

Are there any shops and other amenities where you are considering buying? (I've read your other thread and sympathise). Even some of the younger members of our walking group echo our ''lovely place, beautiful views, but I wouldn't want to have to get in the car for bread or milk'' when we pass isolated hamlets. Yes, being organised can usually get you over that, but there are times, such as illness etc when the best-laid plans don't work. How far would your children have to travel to school? Will they need to stay Monday to Friday when they move on to college further away? Hundreds travel to our small town each Monday, home again on Friday; for French people it's just the normal thing to do, of course. Edit: you've hit on one of the bad points about this forum -really irritating to have loads of gobble-de-gook!

Due to very heavy rain, the open days have been moved to next weekend, 8-9 April.

The tours are just 15 minutes long only this weekend so that interested locals can see them before they are removed by summer. I haven't heard what is planned for them, maybe they'll be installed in the new musée de Romanité in Nîmes (not yet finished) but it would be great if they could be installed more locally, in Uzès itself preferably; maybe the maire could retire with a flourish after that, a suitable legacy after his long service as maire, 34 years at the moment. I don't know the Roman villa at Perigueux, but found a visit a few years ago to the Roman villa at Loupian, near Bouziques was fascinating: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x178ap4_villa-romaine-de-loupian_travel

Wish we could have been there this weekend for the tour sessions round the site.

Yes, it's the daily wail, but it has more photos of these lovely mosaics discovered in Uzès than I've seen anywhere else, sent in an email by my son: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4367620/Roman-mosaics-unearthed-southern-France.html

My lupins are perennials, which just keep going but hate being waterlogged. They love full sun. There are also annual lupins, so maybe that's what you bought.

??? You're very gallant, Gardian. We have Premier Select tickets for travelling down to Avignon, £110 each. Haven't decided on the return journey, as it's still all so much in the air, but took the 12.53 TGV from Avignon last summer when we were being repatriated and again following my visit in November. It worked out very well, apart from the scrum to get upstairs at Lille!

Ceejay, it's good to hear that your 'welcome home' cards were waiting for you. Thank you for your information. Mint, I hope it all happens for you 3 before too long.

We haven't used the direct train, just those where you change at Lille; definitely don't like the scrum to get up the stairs for security checks before going through to the departure lounge. Providing all is well following medical checks in the UK at the end of this month, we'll be taking the direct train in Apri. It was a very good price so we felt it was worth the risk of possibly having to move our date and pay a fee for that. We only booked to go south as we hadn't decided on our return date, but looking at trains to head north, they are looking pricey. We're staying at the Premier Inn the night before travel in April, and if we decide to take the direct train back we'll probably stay there again as thevtrain doesn't arrive until, after 22h - 23h French time.

Wednesday is my favourite day France. There's the smaller, local produce market, then my husband and I meet up with friends for coffee, which often turns into lunch. After lunch there's pétanque with about 20 of us, members of a local association, which lasts up to 3 hours and ends with us all going to a bar for a friendly drink. It's always such an enjoyable day. Thursday is my favourite day in England, as we have our 2 year old granddaughter with us then, always a lovely day with plenty of fun, although very tiring! At about 17h our DIL arrives with our 5 year old granddaughter, who has a swimming class straight after school. We have tea together, sometimes our son joins us (he has an office upstairs in our home), if he's there, before the girls are taken home to bed. If it's a family member's birthday then a Sunday is best, as we spend the Sunday nearest to everyone's birthday day we together. We usually visit a country pub for lunch, then everyone comes back to our home to spend more time together until those who live a distance away have to leave. Actually, since retiring, all days are enjoyable.

Whether you're pro or anti, a hard or soft brexit supporter or even if you coukdn't care less, you might enjoy a look at this game http://g8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BrexitBoardGame.pdf

I can't imagine ours sponsoring anyone other than Fillon. The last I read was that Fillon had 738 and Le Pen had 25, although that might have changed since then. They have to reach 500 by 18th March - not long left.

Sue, I've been taking English classes at our local AVF for the last 6 or so years and found the same as you, retired English teachers, gynaecologists, doctors etc, so I have to be on my toes with grammar, which gets harder as my memory isn't as sharp as it was. Some of them learned American English and use phrases I've never heard of and strongly argue their corner that, e.g. 'parking lot' is just as good English as 'car park'.

Our town has around 10,000 residents according to the mairie, although that was the number 9 years ago and lots of houses and apartments have been built by then. The number shoots up in the tourist season too. We are very well off for cafés, restaurants and everyday shops, although the only hardware shop closed last year and we've had a soap shop open fairly recently - on the slippery slope towards turning into a St Remy.......... Quite a few shops/boutiques open each year in time for the tourist season, but most only last the one season. A couple of bakeries closed a year or two ago but one other opened; I think we still have 15 or so without counting any on the outskirts, so we're still well-endowed with those. I buy from two artisan bakeries, really enjoy watching through the pavement-side windows of one when they are busy baking. I also buy lovely cakes from one of the shops, where again everything is made on the premises, including delicious chocolates. There are three small supermarkets in the town centre, with two large ones on the outskirts. We have two markets each week, one mid-week selling only local produce and a huge provençal-type market on Saturdays. I've been down twice without a car recently; almost everything we need can be bought in town, otherwise it's a 1.50€ bus ride each way to Nîmes or Avignon, although friends are generous with lifts there and back too. I think we're pretty well-off for shops generally; the only thing we haven't been able to find was a mousseur for the kitchen tap - would that be an aerator?

Ah, yes, Idun & Hoddy, he would have been 33, but in the family it was always said he was too old; in fact, he had rheumatic heart disease, which I had forgotten about, as he hadn't liked it to be thought he had wriggled out of war service somehow. Funny how the brain gets used to a particular version of events. He had started out in the coal mine when too young to go underground, but was banned from mine work after his rheumatic fever. Patf, that sounds fascinating, I hadn't heard about that. I'm planning to take my husband there for his birthday in May, so I'll be sure to see the homing pigeon room. Thank you for that information.

@ Idun, very well done, you are doing really well only10 days after! I didn't know you were going in for that op. So now two of you are progressing to doing the can-can! ? @Judith, hope things have settled down somewhat now, more rest, less pain; I've found in the past that once friends and neighbours get it that their visits don't always help, they find other ways to show their care. Take care, both of you.

Fascinating stories here about family members. My father was too old to be in the forces in WW2 but he worked with homing pigeons and still had the little carbon copy booklets of the messages sent via his pigeons, which were unfortunately lost when he and my mother moved into a care home.

Well done, Parsnips, it's nice to have a good-news story. If you're buying, Champagne would be lovely to toast your good health and thanks for all the help you give.

I think they need the conditional, Mint. 1. J'aurais dû 2. il aurait été are what I would use, not confident though. I hope somebody else will pop along soon who really does know Sorry, scratching my head trying to remember meant ET posted before me. I think I need more revision!

Goodness, yes, Department71, how could I forget vulnerable fingers?! Can be nasty; so albf, nothing to lose but your pride - and your fingers!

Yes, the side is a good place to start, get the feel of what you can and can't do by pushing a bit away from it and hanging on again when needed. It helps if you have decent balance, something I didn't - and still don't have, have never even managed to ride a bike because if it. But I had a great instructor too many years ago, who patiently taught me to have confidence and I did learn to skate - not anywhere near Torville & Dean's class, of course, but not too badly. So, yes, go for it! You have nothing to lose but your pride if you end up on your bottom!