Edward Trunk

I can highly recommend Dr Antoine Faix at the Clinique Beausoleil in Montpellier. He is an excellent clinician, and he speaks English!

Does anyone know why the royals dress up as generals and admirals at weddings? It's not a military occasion. And when Princess Anne married her present husband he was a Lt-Commander. He's now a Vice-Admiral. How did that happen?

cooperlola, I think the point is that language defines our attitudes - and our values - towards things. Most of the responses in the "Telegraph", have predictably, been like woolybanana's. There are plenty of "petlovers" in Britain who abandon, mistreat and abuse their "pets". It doesn't matter to the animals what we call them. It does matter enormously to them what our attitudes are towards them.

A tomcat has been coming into our house through the cat door and marking his territory in the usual way. The attraction is no doubt our 2 females. They have been microchipped, and I have heard that you can get cat doors operated by these chips. Does anyone have any experience as to how efficient these are? They are quite expensive.

I didn't know I shared this forum with people who read the "Daily Mail". I may have to leave.

I am about to sell my LHD French-plated car. Can anybody guide me through the bureaucracy? Do I have to send my carte grise off somewhere?

We are sailing on the "Pont Aven" tomorrow night and Mrs Trunk is worrying what to wear if we are invited to eat at the Captain's table. She hasn't packed a cocktail dress. Any suggestions? Anywhere in Roscoff that sells cocktail dresses late on Saturday nights?

I am overnighting at Niort (which I understand is the epicentre of the French insurance industry - why?) and then Nantes and Rennes, I suppose. Will I get through? For God's sake, tell me the worst. Bubbles, thank you for your good wishes. Mrs Trunk sends her best.

I have to drive up to Roscoff on Friday from snow-free Herault. What are the roads like at the moment? Are the passes open? Will I get through? What should I bring to propitiate the natives?

Under the terms of the NATO treaty, France would be obliged to help a fellow member if it were attacked. It did this during the Falklands war. It had been supplying Exocet missiles to Argentina; as soon as the invasion began, it stopped this supply and gave the British intelligence about the stock of these missiles it believed Argentina to possess.

Thanks to you both for your helpful replies. I shall go and see my GP next week and see what he says.

My hearing is getting worse - I SAID MY HEARING IS GETTING WORSE - and I thought I might go to one of those audition places (there are two in this town). Do I need a referral from my GP? And will my Carte Vitale pay for any of it? Please shout your replies.

Is it easy to rent a car here in France from, say, Hertz or Avis and return it to an outlet in UK?

[quote user="woolybanana"]They were probably some of the same people. I remember years ago watching the hippy wagons going down the motorway through Belgium towards the Channel, when there was some G8 or something in London. Foned the Embassy chap to see if they could be sorted. Maybe they were turned round, who knows. Though UK has plenty of homegrown troublemakers. [/quote] So woolybanana is a coppers' nark? Who'd have thought it?

Am I alone in wishing that I could have just 24 hours free from seeing or hearing this pompous bore? He seems to be inescapable in whatever medium you turn to. His followers seem to believe he is a reincarnation of Shakespeare and Einstein. I am not one of them.

The output is 24kw. Our living space is 160 sq metres. Press a button to start the stove, pellets are loaded from the hopper into the combustion chamber, a glo-plug ignites them and a fan increases the flames. The stove burns at the level you set; it has 5 levels, at the moment we are on level 1. You stop it by pressing the same button. You can buy pellets en vrac; we buy them in 15kg bags. The more you order the cheaper they are. I pay 4.30 a bag; you can buy them at bricos, but they're more expensive. The pellets are compressed sawdust, they create very little ash. It's more work than a gas or oil system, but it's greener. As with normal wood-burning stoves, you get back the tax you pay on them.

crossy67, have you thought of a wood-pellet stove? We have one that drives 8 rads and radiates 2.5kw from its glass door. You load the hopper once a day and it's all computer controlled - and you get to see the flames burning. The French call them poeles à granulés de bois.

According to today's Midi Libre it is the French pilot's unions who have been leading the attack on Ryanair, and the same report said that O'Leary might pull all his French operations. He's not a man who likes being dictated to.

Have you had problems with processionary caterpillars? Do you have pine trees in your garden, or are there any close by in your neighbours'gardens? Even when the caterpillars have left their nests, the nests are still full of their hairs and these float down and cause irritation, for months afterwards.

You can't see aoûtats - they're too small. Keep your grass down, shower immediately after coming in from the garden (they take a while to climb up and find their target) and wash clothes. I used to put sulphur on my shoes and trouser legs - they hate it. You can buy it in garden centres.

Apparently butchers are not allowed to "hang" meat in France. This may account for its toughness relative to UK-slaughtered meat.

chessie, it isn't all lies in the Daily Mail. The date at the top is usually true. (but check with the calendar...)

In thrall to the unions, Wooly; and, as we all know, it was the unions,who, through their reckless borrowing and lending, plunged Britain into a financial crisis which will cost Joe Public years to put right. Why don't you protest outside Congress House, Wooly?

One drink is enough for me. Can't remember if it's the thirteenth or fourteenth one. Bubbles, where are you? Torreilles or Godmanchester?

(a) Tony Benn is not a "very very rich man." He inherited an earldom which he renounced, fighting a long legal battle to do so. (b)He has not been in government since the 1960s. He has constantly campaigned against the deregulated free markets which Thatcher started and Blair/Brown continued. It was the "light-touch" regulation of the financial markets which has led us into the present mess. Benn was never an advocate of this policy. Perhaps Woolybanana should rename himself Woollyheaded.