Leaderboard

Someone asked me to write and make an appointment for a "TEP scan " as it is called in French. I wrote it but he who is a know-all changed what I had written to PET scan, as it is in English, and sent that off What he wrote was asking for an scan for his 'animal de companie' ....😊

They were off-duty so out of uniform, but they were the one with the HUGE catches 😂

I'm feeling rich today! Got my very first pension payment. Despite the DWPs best efforts in ensuring that I pegged it before getting a sniff, I'm still alive and will do everything in my power to ensure that I live to be 120 😂 This is why it's so important to have access to good healthcare!

I wholeheartedly agree AB, I even think they were better than the ordinary Olympics, though I watched some events through tears moved by the courage of some of the competitors. Also, I was impressed by the comradeship and compassion of all those taking part. I was disappointed in the French results and when I spoke to a French friend he said, "Why are you surprised? Disabled people in France aren't catered for very well, look at the Metro and the Train services etc". Isn't that sad?

One resident oik is here with guns loaded!🤪 I know the Navy has trouble funding itself but a “Plymouth based frigate for tourists” is going a bit far.

The resident oik seems to be on holiday. 😉

The plot of two Shakespeare plays in limericks: Young Hamlet discovered his mater / And uncle had murdered his pater / Revenge him or not? / That's the gist of the plot / And he did, nine soliloquys later. Black brasshat, suspected magician / Gets spliced to Venetian patrician / But falls in a trap a / Malign understrapper / Had covertly wrought for their fission

In which case, Norman, something is awry in the Universe!😵‍💫

Noisette, I hope it all works out well for you. Bon courage and you'd need tons of it!

I'm truly happy for you both 😊 If I survive the wait for diagnosis and treatment, I'll be happy for myself, too 🤣

menthe " Judith, I can't agree that communication is not what it was. I feel débordée by too MUCH communication! For example, when we have a RdV, we get a phone call from the relevant secrètariat, then a convocation sent by post, then a reminder SMS to give the exact date and time of the RdV together with all the things you need to bring in your dossier and any instructions such as being à jeun. Often, there is another phone call as well to make sure we have understood the instructions given and so on. I'm NOT complaining mind; with my scatter brain tendencies, I feel reassured that such care is taken. Similarly with actual info given at the RdV. Not only does the doctor tell us everything they have found, including diagnosis, they give us a copy of the letter they write to the MT or, on occasion, a summary of their findings and recommended course of action." You seem to be living in a parallel universe 😇 IF I can get a RDV on Doctolib I do get a reminder SMS but never a letter, never a phone call, (thank goodness as if ever I call the receptionist they are extremely dismissive) and for example from the last scanner out of date information about the 'produit' that they proscribed for ME to bring even though since the 1st April it is the scanner centre ITSELF that provides it. That set me off on a worrying wild goose chase to find something that pharmacies no longer stock Then I phoned the health centre where my MT was one of the Doctors to make an appointment and the receptionist said 'il ne travaille plus ici' and put the phone down without suggesting one of the other Doctors. I had to embark on the VERY difficult task of finding a Doctor who was accepting new patients. Béziers is attracting a number of retirees at the moment, all looking for a MT so there is a serious shortage. When I finally found one she wanted me to see my cardiologist as the result of a scan she sent me for showed that as well as a totally blocked carotid artery on the left the one on the right was going the same way, which is obviously NOT good news. On Doctolib there were no RDV available so I phoned the receptionist who said that I hadn’t seen him for over a year so I couldn’t just waltz in like that (the French equivalent obviosuly So I had to cheat by sending a mail AS IF from my MT with the various scan results to his own email direct and THEN I had an immediate emergency RDV two days later at 8 am, (he keeps a couple slots open before his main list of the day Two amusing sidelines. 1) he obviously hadn’t noticed that the email with the results was from me , not my MT because he said that my Doctor had provided him with very full information 2) The receptionist who arrived while I was in the consultation wasn’t the old dragon who had been so rude. It was a new younger one who made a follow up appointment and when I commented that she wasn’t the same one as usual said that the old one no longer worked there and that “on est mieux seule que mal accommpagnée” so she shared my opinon of her predecessor I reckon

Congratulations!! 🎉

I agree that the Oncopole in Toulouse is wonderful, not as personal or welcoming as the Institute Claudius Regaud, which was integrated into the Oncople when it opened, but still a centre of excellence! In our village, even though we have 2 doctors, RDVs with a MT are not available unless you plan 2 weeks in advance. For specialists, I have found that Doctolib is the best way to go. I was told that I might have to wait 9 months for a non-urgent RDV with a cardiologue, yet managed to grab a RDV with a local cardiologue for Novembre. Healthcare, or perhaps access to it, is certainly not what it was 20 years ago, but still so much better than in the UK.

Well, they are over and what a spectacle; and I am filled with immense admiration for the folk who took part and for the seamless organisation. So much courage and dedication. Long may the event thrive and long may the Para folks be able to practise their sports.

What has definitely disappeared, and not involuntarily, is the solidarity of the French people. The rulers have been adept in the 'divide and rule' principle with the help of the press and media. The gilets jaunes movement was a classic example of that. A lot of ordinary people had very real and justified grievances which, I feel, struck a chord with many more. Enter the voyous and casseurs (and we'll never know whether they were just opportunistic low-lives or a more sinister result of the Government's determination to discredit the movement), get the media to stir things up and bingo!. At least 'bingo!' for the Government. Do you think the general attitude is becoming more and more 'Thatcherite' for want of a better word? We're encouraged in a frenzy of selfish, protectionist consumerism and sod everyone else. Sooo sad.

Interesting to read the first two comments. May I ask what you base your verdicts on? Press and media opinions? Historical evidence? Personally I'll be waiting to see how he actually performs the job before condemning 🙄

"Grockle" was the term we used when I was based on a Plymouth based frigate for tourists, and the "grockle boats" that used to sail up and down the Tamar looking at the ships ( in the days when we had quite a few to look at). My understanding of an "oik" is an obnoxious person, normally a youth - not many on this forum (well young ones anyway!)

I know I am 😇

In this context I imagine that this performance of a carol that I used to find delightful would be condemned because of the fact the performers are not of the right type?

Normie and I are old enough and ugly enough to share a few pleasantries from time to time!

Quite right, Norman, a sad comment on the state of British academe. However, given the paper quality of the DM, I would suggest that you avoid using it for your most personal needs as your haemorrhoids might well take umbrage.

" Academics have been campaigning to replace Anglo-Saxon with 'Early Medieval English' due to concern the former suggests a distinct, native Englishness. Surely 'Early Medieval English' suggets ENGLISHness more than 'Anglo-Saxon' does? But why would anyone even wipe their posterior with the Daily Wail, let alone read it or worse quote it? You should know better oh shrivelled one 😂

Well done you, Lehaut! Not bad for 20€ to be reassured. Last year I had both an electrocardiogram AND an échocardiogram from a cardiologue and I paid considerably more but it was mostly paid for by the SS and the mutuelle. Like you, I was a mere fraud, nowt the matter at all.

Nick P - this used to be a grey area, but in 2022 the authorities clarified that a foreign resident can register a car in France on two conditions: a) that they have a valid driving licence (which can be foreign) and b) that they can provide proof of address in France (which for French residents cannot be a second home but can be for non-residents - it is regarded as their "main home in France"). As before Brexit, you cannot (legally) drive the car in your country of residence. e-plaque has all the details. Steve

I've seen pictures of the beds. They look perfectly comfortable to me. It's not as though they are all given a cardboard box placed on the ground is it? Many homeless people would be glad of a nice, robust box.

Dave, currently not able to report success in tasting. Managed, eventually, to find the vineyard, though it would be difficult to find at the best of times, as very badly signposted, but with a time constraint because we'd had traffic and other problems getting there, plus it was pouring down with rain, and cold, but could not find out they were open, even though the web site, and facbook pages were saying it is "open now". How they expect to sell any wine I really do not know!! Our phone call got into a "press this no" etc, which did not pick it up, so we abandoned the idea for that day, had a nice lunch in the nearby town, then went to the hospital on the way back for the appointment which was the reason for setting off at all. We'll try again when the weather improves, but will be telling them what we think of their marketing approach when we do. I had a French speaker with me, though I manage OK, she is an expert (retired teacher of French). We'll certainly making our point of view felt.

I don't know what you guys think, but I feel like online privacy issues have gotten worse over the past few years, especially after the pandemic. Because of the pandemic, people have had to rely on the internet more than ever; we purchase more online, we communicate more online, and we spend more time being entertained online. Businesses and big tech see this as an opportunity. It's become much easier for them to collect data from us than ever before! (I think the pandemic also accelerated the development of ChatGPT; we are feeding AI with our own data.) According to research, 80% of the revenue of these big tech companies like Twitter, Meta, Amazon, Google, and TikTok comes from advertising companies. They utilize our data for their profit, refine algorithms, feed AI, and even provide our data to the government to censor us. We provide these resources for free, and they don't give a damn about our digital privacy, not even our right to free speech. I'm just so tired of all this censorship, data breaches, and all kinds of other nonsense!

Walking around Nantes as we do, witness lots of work going on. I am constantly appalled by the lack of basic safely gear used by the workers, my pet horror is the motorised disc cutters with the operators not wearing neither ear nor eye protection. This group I took a picture of yesterday seemed to testing new ways to inflict self injury, or indeed those having the temerity to use the pavement the branches fell on! The top of the wall is about 12 cms wide and two meters high.

Quite a staggering story, given that this Human Zoo was established in 1993, we moved to France in 1996! This article in WIki gives more details. Of note is how the children received their medical care. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboula's_Village One hopes that attitudes have changed, but...

Imagine the cretins at Nottingham Trent Uni dropping the words Anglo Saxon from course titles for b.loody woke reasons all because of some spurious reason! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13801595/university-removes-anglo-saxon-module-titles-decolonise-curriculum.html