libellule

I just read "La consolante" by Anna Gavalda and "LA valse lente des tortues' by Katherine Pancol; both modern and very enjoyable

French hostage Ingrid de Betancourt has been freed !

Thank you for all your postings, I found naan bread in Picard, the Riesling (from Nicolas) was perfect and the meal was a great success

Thank you Clair and Puzzled, Gewurtz it will be.

Help! I am cooking a curry for French guests; I personally never drink wine with curry but they will expect wine. Which wine do you suggest? Thank you

Ysatis, you could have said "mon prof devait me poser des questions sur..." or "elle aurait dû me poser des questions sur..." Both forms of "devoir". Devait = imperfect Aurait dû = past conditional

Just Katie "Why do we tolerate so many immigrant gypsies who come to a country simply to beg? If I move to a foreign land, I would line myself up with a job first." Funnily enough, the only beggar I know the nationality of in France is Welsh. :-) Anyone else here spend much time in Vannes? He's usually just inside the Porte St Vincent.

Monika "I was just going to ask Libellule if Albert was her husband? I do adore Gypsies as long as they are as clever as Albert" No, Monika, I'm not married at present. (Hint! Hint!) Monika "however if they infringe on my rights as a "traveller" I am not so keen ( public parking area - and they were obviously there to stay for some time) ..." If they have settled in for a long stay in a public car park I'd have no issues with their being moved on, whether they were some of my bits of cousins or just a bunch of itinerant workers. Albert on Libellule's machine.

Hi, RH. No problem, I visiting & just borrowed her machine & forgot to log in separately. Thanks for checking. Albert using Libellule's machine

Sorry to cause any confusion. This (and the earlier comment) is actually Albert the InfoGipsy squatting on Libellule's sign-in. We've known each other for nearly 40 years. As the other side of the coin from nectarines little rant, there are many UK cases where Roma have bought land as occasional bases but are not allowed to bring their caravans onto their own land. A well-known case is at Stow on the Wold. At the annual horse fair this leads to long lines of vardos along the roadside when they could quite easily be on a large field actually owned by a gipsy.

Monika "The large car park was full of travellers/gypsies. ... Can they be moved on by the police in France?" Why should they be? And can you tell the difference between Roma and "lifestyle" travelers?

I would say: " ne t'es- tu pas rendu compte?" for " did you not realise? " and "t'es- tu rendu compte?" for "did you realise?" But in spoken French just rising intonation is fine for asking questions; the French do it all the time.

Sorry J.R. but the translation of "I had done" is "j'avais fait" ie plus que parfait or pluperfect tense.

Or you are welcome don't mention it

Hi Noeline, I live in Brittany and although I can't tell you if there is a need for Dog Groomers here, there are dog groomers where I live (South Morbihan) and lots of French people do own dogs. Therefore there might be a some business opportunity in Brittany. Good luck!