babcock

[quote user="Frenchie"] I'm French , and read all this  with attention . Interesting. All I can say is that when I'm in the UK, I miss our French bread ... What we find in the UK in most places is not bread to me . More " pain de mie" .     [/quote]pain de mie and a lot of other french bread has added sugar (yeuk). We have found a french made bread that does not have this problem. it is called toastiligne and is perfect for real toast and english style sandwiches. Of course  certain breads are better for different purposes. I love pain au levain(sp) and certain other breads are super but our local baker only ever has baguette, pain and a local flat round bread that I don't even know the name of. The market in Brive has a staggering variety of bread on offer but we can't/don't go there regularly. I think that I could buy a bigger variety of bread in our local Tesco in the UK actually.

I thought it should have been renamed Paris on a plate because except for a brief outing to Lyon it was essentially about Paris. Also in his statement that couscous is the favorite foreign dish he had evidently overlooked the pizza which is far more popular.

The rebate is only allowed if the aircon is your main/only form of heating. We have an Insert and conseauently cannot have a rebate. The better companies understand this and explain it properly. Don't get me started about Huis Clos.........

The Tempo site seems to be run by some amateurs. This morning I could not even find the page for the colour de jour. I think that it is astonishing that such an important (to some) site is left to someone with less nounce that a five year old.

[quote user="woolybanana"] Perhaps a LaCie external hard drive, about 500mb or more, about €100. Should take most of what you have. [/quote] That is a bit expensive. I have an Iomega external drive 335gb about €73 from Darty.

I noticed in one of your posts that you are not yet 65. Be sure to check out the health insurance requirements (and costs)

I don't think that starlings migrate.They mill about the Runcorn bridge in their thousands. They seem to like to group together to roost. I believe that in Dublin they make the trees look black with their numbers. Geese tend to chatter all the time while flying in formation and swans sound as if they need oiling as their wingbeats make a very odd noise.

We stayed at the Riad Darna in the medina last Feb. www.riad-darna.com It is run by French people from Brittany. It is a gem. They only have 4 or 5 rooms. The food was very good as well. I thought that the newer part of Marrakesh looked a bit like any resort but it depends on your tastes.I found the place fascinating. Have a look at these photos http://marjorellegardensmarrakesh.fotopic.net/

I have Acronis True Image. It runs as a scheduled task and after the first full backup it runs in incremental mode. It also has a "try and decide" feature that allows you to try out new software without tangling up your PC. I also have norton 360 which backs up selected files to online storage while your PC is idle. I hope I have it covered after losing a lot of stuff to a corrupt disc.

If my husband should die before me I would move back. I am 61 already, healthy and stable but I know from experience that being a widow is difficult and being an elderly widow in a country where you do not have roots would be impossible. Strangly the things I would miss would be Libraries, U3A and such.

You can do it online via the ameli site. MUCH less stressful than visiting a CPAM office.

I rather enjoyed "only fools drink water" by Geoffrey Morris.

This sort of thing has been happening in Liverpool, where I used to work, for at least 10 years. Don't leave anything on a backseat and make sure that the doors are locked.

[quote user="Hoddy"] I'm with Gardengirl on this one. I don't talk about house prices to my friends and neighbours in England or the Dordogne. Incidentally, does anyone have figures for where the highest proportion of British immigrants is ? The Dordogne is often mentioned, but I have the impression that there many more in other areas. We are the only English in our village. Hoddy [/quote] Firstly one speakes about 'property' in the UK rather than homes and I have noticed this for about 20 years. Secondarly - we used to live in the Charente and one of the reasons we left was the level of UK immigrants. I defy anyone to go into Leclerc in Ruffec and not hear English spoken at any time, any day. Horses for courses.

The Corrèze magasine arrived yesterday. There is an article about chestnuts in it, Corrèze being the fourth largest chestnut producer in France. Under the heading Chataigne ou marron it is stated that they come from the same tree. The chataigne is cloisonnée - several in the outer casing- wheras the marro tends to have only one nut in the outer casing.  If less than 15% are cloisonnées it is a marron otherwise it is a chestnut. The poisonous conker or marron d'inde is roughly similar but always single , the outer case is not so spiny and the fruit has no pointy bit on the top. I find it hard to believe that people do not know what a conker looks like but after watching Jamie Oliver trying to interest people in cooking last night I will believe anything.

[quote user="5-element"]  I could give you a long list of instances,   one of the worst being a friend who was asking on the phone with CPAM (in a very nice way as you couldn't find ayone more mellow, polite, and positive, with fluent French) how long her carte vitale was likely to be, she was by the CPAM employee that "it will take as long as it takes, and if you don't like it, you can go back to England". My friend was so gobsmacked that she wrote a letter to the CPAM management for the discrimination aspect and the general rudeness to the public, asking if employees undergo any training in communication with the general public - this friend never even received an answer - even though she herself, was awarded the French Légion d'Honneur a few years ago by Chirac for services rendered to France. I know this is anecdotal - but I know of so many more anecdotes like this.  [/quote] We have found that the best way to deal with CPAM in particular is by email. Phone calls can be denied and letters even recommande can be put at the bottom of the pile but for some reason emails get a response in a day or two. There is a "code marianne"  (someone will correct me if this is not the right name) which details the response times for queries, complaints  etc for government departments. Actually an English translation of this would be very useful

Ok so what is the french for "rude"? Is ther somthing more specific than "impolite"

[quote user="Lotmontel"] although proper curry should not have tomato in it sinc ethis is not an Indian plant.   Has anybody told Madhur Jaffrey this? [:-))] [/quote] Tomatoes are not an Italian plant either nor French. Aubergine is not a French plant.Ingredients for ratatouille looking a bit short?

Pick them when they are young - before they start to harden. Blanch them for a couple of mins so they become flexible.

[quote user="ErnieY"] . What I find particularly worrying about this latest tunnel fire is the presence of a load of toxic chemical, phenol or carbolic acid, which is pretty nasty stuff with a flash point of only 79deg c and could potentially have killed everybody in the vicinity if it had got into the atmosphere. IMO this sort of material should not be transported by this route but on dedicated freight ferries. [/quote] MOH worked in freight for many years. Hazardous chemicals were certainly not allowed through the tunnel whern he was employed and I doubt that things have changed at all. So question is - was it incorrectly labelled or is the checking too lax?

I had a friend who did this 2 rooms into 1 and she got a reduction in tax.

My neice and husband are having a house built. To establish costs you need to be a bit more specific. They are doing kitchen, tiling and some other work themselves as her husband is a builder. Have you tried asking a construction company?

"Comfort points" was the way our insurance agent classed them. I believe that it includes a second sink in a utility area as well.

probably

Beans fix nitrogen in the soil while they are growing but I am not sure that digging them in would make any further improvement.