redkite

For some reason when opening a site from my desktop shortcut they now come up as a small window (which I thren have to maximize it) rather that the full page. Any ideas how to change it back? I've been through the tools and internet options with no luck. Thanks as always guys.

[quote user="cooperlola"] Yes, this has been an interesting discussion, Richard, I agree.  I'm also glad to see that Redkite is now a convert.  Way back on page 4 s/he told me that my husband and animals (those in the world I really love) did not constitute my  home, but it was where I was raised (that could be Lancashire (one of 3 houses), Yorkshire (one of 3 houses) Malta (one of 2 flats) or Sussex (1 flat)).  Now it's good to see, RK, that you concede that as my little fermette in the Sarthe, where the one I love is, is home.[:)] [/quote] Did I say that? And it's he :-)

Talk about teaching your granny to suck eggs - my daughter posted this on her facebook page this morning not being aware of these discussions. 'When you are with the one you love, anywhere is home' Pretty good eh?

[quote user="tegwini"][quote user="redkite"]Tegwini, read my post. That's not what I said. I said they had 'an attachment'. The same way as the US has 'an attachment' to the UK, and New York has 'an attachment' to the Irish.[/quote] Yes you originally said they had an 'attachement' (sic) but they didn't have even that, and since many of them were not even from Holland they did not, and the decades, and centuries went by and any relationship - or whatever vanished. Tegwini [/quote] I'm no historian Tegwini and certainly have little interest in a people that adopted and promoted racial superiority and slavery but, I did read somewhere of Dutch proposals to mediate between Britain and the Boers and that was what, a nudge over 100 years ago which would suggest....?

I always remember my sister (who has lived in France for over 40 years) telling me that in her experience the French do not 'do cosy'- meaning that they have a more utilitarian view of the home - unlike the Brits, who tend to make their houses more warm, comfortable and welcoming. Mind you, you'd have to go to the ends of the earth to find any word better for the longing of home than the Welsh 'Hiraeth' which no translation can do ever do justice.

Tegwini, read my post. That's not what I said. I said they had 'an attachment'. The same way as the US has 'an attachment' to the UK, and New York has 'an attachment' to the Irish.

[quote user="tegwini"][quote user="redkite"].  By the way, my dictionary defines Boer as a decendant of any of the Dutch or Heguenot colonists who settled in SA. Now, I wonder where such names as The Orange Free State, Bloemfonten, Kiersdorp and Vereeniging Kopanong came from? Hmm. [/quote] A dictionary is NOT the place to understand hundreds of years of history. The most famous Boer president was Kruger, a German name perhaps ?  and  other names such as du Plessis, du Toit, Joubert, de Villiers, Cronje, Blignaut,  Malherbe and the famous Malan or  de Klerk are Huguenot  names.  They came from France not Holland. Strange so many are not Dutch names - I wonder why not?  Even in the language, which I can speak, there are some 'French' sounding words, and although Afrikaans seems similar to Dutch - the Dutch would disagree. Plenty of place names in SA that are not Dutch - quite a few are English - how about Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, George,                        KingWilliamstown etc.  Place names  in England some are also a bit strange, some originating with the Angles, Saxons and Vikings. It's really complicated. And to get back on thread  the Boers had little loyalty - or interest in Holland after about the 1780s. Tegwini [/quote] And the Dutch word for farmer is?

Ditto Scooby :-)

Just to bring this back on course.... having spent many years travelling around France supplying services to Brits, do you know what the most common reason held (repeated ad nauseam) for leaving the UK? That it was full of blacks, asians and other immigrants. Maybe it is getting that way, but I did make the mistake once of pointing out to a client he was also an immigrant - he was not a happy bunny.

[quote user="Maricopa"][quote user="Richard"]As for Brits talking French to one another, I would say in public, say a bar, that is a more polite thing to do. [/quote] I remember, not too long after we moved over here, we were shopping in a supermarket and talking English to each other.  A French woman, who we didn't know, asked (in English) if we could speak French.  Yes, we said (in French), so she asked why we weren't speaking French (in French). Whilst even now, we still speak English to each other in the supermarket, the above does back up Richard's point. [/quote] Try telling that to an Asian in the UK or even better, a Hong King Chinese in a takeaway - he'd spit on your fried rice and hand it over with a smile on his face. But hey, the French can get away with it - a bit like us getting away from definitions of 'home'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8345944.stm What a tragedy, so much for assimilation

In a nutshell Mel and perfectly put. It sums all I've been trying to say.

Hold it there Richard. I've had French bacon and it's rubbish - usually thin, round and salty and as far their sausages go they put more crap in them than the Brits do - the contents of which is known in the trade as slurry, hosed down from the animals carcass.... which is why I always get my bacon from our local UK butcher.

Really buelligan? I dont thinks so. Many immigrants to the UK remain locked to their home culture - you only have to read the papers about 'forced' marriages and it is a fact that many Asian males prefer brides from home rather those girls emanciapted through British culture. And you know what really gets up my nose? It's those Brits in France that insist on speaking French to fellow Brits! What's that all about?

I just wonder if there is some sort of bias towards such claims as 'living in France and it being home'. Not surprising I suppose but some protest to much methinks. By the way, my dictionary defines Boer as a decendant of any of the Dutch or Heguenot colonists who settled in SA. Now, I wonder where such names as The Orange Free State, Bloemfonten, Kiersdorp and Vereeniging Kopanong came from? Hmm. And, I bet there are a lot of you that long for as I do, a bit of the old egg, bacon n sausage in the morning! Yum yum.

Point taken and well made but being born in England (for example) does not in my view make that person 'English'. As said in a previous post it is a combination of things such as language and shared history etc that attaches a person to a particular country. It has to be admitted that many Australians and New Zealanders - to use just a couple of examples, hark back to 'the old country' from where they share history, language and family. That's just how it is - a bit like the Boers of South Africa with their attachement to Holland or, to use a more approriate example for this forum, the French in Canada. One cannot simply ditch and disregard heritage in the way that some would imply and whilst I applaud your claim to be a world citizen, roots and where we come from helps define who we are and give us a sense of identity. Nationalism can as you say bring restrictions as well as being ugly - but that's people not nations. My own family have a shared heritage from Italy - but ask them what their nationality is and they will say Welsh. Dad's English, Mum's Italian.... but they define themselves as Welsh and why? Because they were born there, they have friends and family there, they speak Welsh, they went to school in Wales and, like so many Welsh language schools they engaged with Welsh culture. My eldest has lived in France for fifteen years, he even speaks the local patois.... but by gosh he's fearlessly proud his Welsh/Italian heritage. By the way, my term 'argument' refers not to a quarrel or alteration rather a discussion in which reasons are put forward.

.....and just to nail the argument. 'For in spite of all temptation to belong to other nations, He remains an Englishman! He remains and Englishman! Gilbert and Sullivan - HMS Pinafore

....ah yes, but when you left your family - perhaps to get married - I bet you went 'home' to Mum n Dad, and that's the point I'm trying to make. Do you really think that those of us that go to live overseas do not regard the UK as home? We kid ourselves to deny otherwise. Home is more than bricks n timber, more than where we left our shoes, more than being somewhere warm and more than where hubby is. It's where we were raised, it's where we spoke the language of the hearth, it's where we have family and memories. That's the home I'm talking about, not the new lifestyle that many have adopted be it France, Spain, or Canada for example. I love France, I live in France, I have a home in France..... but I'm not French, most of my family do not live in France and neither do most of my friends and to think otherwise is in my view dishonest.

Seems we are getting mixed up with home and 'home'. Home as in where you live I'm OK with and am quite happy and comfortable in France however 'home' is as said where the heart is and that for me has to my old stamping ground of south London... even though I have lived, loved, and brought up our family in Wales for 30 years 'sarf London' will always be that bit special. If more of you were just a bit more honest....

Easy. Home is where the heart is. It's an old saying but true. Like nationality it's a combination of things - a shared history, a common culture and language, shared religion, similar expectations and, most important of all, friends and family. Feel free to add to the list. France for us (or anywhere else for that matter) will never be home it will only be where we live even though we might call it 'home'. We've made friends here yes, and we even have some family. Also, we speak a bit of the lingo but home? Never.

The other half fancies having slate worktops fitted in our new kitchen - are they any good? Seems to me they might be subject to damage by getting chipped on the edges and also, they might get damp. Perhaps they treat them with something, I dunno. Any advice guys?

Thanks Clair and if I'm reading it right, 5 ton will be more than enough for 70 sq m

We've decided to lay some gravel but we are not sure how much we'll need by weight. Although our local (British) builder sells it by the ton, he cannot tell us how much we'll need for an area 10m by 7m added to which, he'll only do a 20 ton delivery - which seems an awful lot of gravel.... or am I wrong Any ideas guys?

Ah yes, I seem to remember in the news recently of some military guy 'losing'  his laptop over the side of the cross channel ferry! Thanks for the advice, I'll just reinstall the XP then. Cheers.

After seven years we've decided to buy ourselves a new laptop - and what a difference. Anyway, despite being a bit small in the memory department, (the computer not us) our 'old' one still has plenty of life in it and we'll pass it on to some friends of ours - but here's the problem.  How can we easily clean off all those files (sans boobs and bums.... honestly!) we've put on it over the years? We still have the original XP disc so maybe if we re-nstalled it would overwrite everything? Any advice appreciated.