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ssomon

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Posts posted by ssomon

  1. 1 hour ago, menthe said:

    SPIKES?  Those are not spikes, they are little skin protrusions.

    If you want to talk about REAL spikes, you want to try and cut open a durian😁

    Durian spikes are easier to see and avoid. I left it to the servants to eat them anyway, as long as they did so away from the house. I couldn't get past the smell.

    You have to look a bit closer to see those on prickly pears. https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Prickley Pear.php

  2. Perhaps I should have said "may make one very constipated", as it probably depends on the individual.

    Actually, I was never tempted to eat more than one.

    BTW, where we lived in Algeria they were served peeled, in a bowl (or bucket) of water with lots of ice.

    "Like all delicious foods, the prickly pear is best eaten in moderation. If you eat more than 2 or 3 (depending on your digestive system) they may leave you constipated for days… or you might have the direct opposite problem. Love and hate, indeed!"

    Source: https://www.journeybeyondtravel.com/blog/5-things-you-should-know-about-the-prickly-pear.html

    A way to peel them without getting spiked, if you want to bother with them:

     

  3. I have suffered from gastric reflux for some time, and take a small daily dose of a drug which reduces the production of stomach acid. There are several drugs of this type; I am using Omeprazole.

    My wife began having a problem swallowing food last year. She described the problem to her MT as an urge to throw up, but the medicine she was given made no difference. We went together on her next visit; I asked her MT if it could be due to a hiatus hernia, which my mother suffered from, but she said that was not the case.

    Later my wife gave me a better description of what was happening. It sounded to me to be acid reflux, so I gave her one of my tablets. The problem went away a day or so later.

    I went with her to her MT a couple of days later, told her this, and described the symptoms as I understood them. Her MT agreed, and prescribed the same drug and dose that I use.

    This was in May 2023, and she has not had the problem since.

  4. 9 hours ago, anotherbanana said:

    Wel, well, Norman, now we know your real name and what you look like. Scooter looks very smart. Is the child a result of your union with the lady in the foto? Where does she sit or does she run alongside or, North African style walk behind? Still, handy for shopping.

    Careless of you, Norman, to be snapped in front of your chateau. Someone might also work out where you live.

    Wooly, however confident you feel, I advise you not to be tempted to cut him up. That scooter is better fitted out with armament than James Bond's Aston.

  5. 14 hours ago, Lori said:

    Well these vehicles don't seem to go beyond 50 km and often stay at 45 km.   Even on 80 km roads, that is really annoying, especially when there is too much traffic to pass them, or the road is a no pass zone.

    Especially as many are driven by people with no permis and no idea of how to behave on the road.

  6. 4 hours ago, DaveLister said:

    ................................. Also, as Crabtree says, if you have an EU passport your wife can travel with you visa free. That hasn't changed.

     

    I understood the OP as saying that pre-Brexit she did not need a visa as a family member of an EU citizen, that EU citizen, pre-Brexit, being the OP.

    After Brexit, of course, he ceased to be an EU citizen.

     

  7. They look similar to the gilgies found in W Australia. https://rivers.dwer.wa.gov.au/species/cherax-quinquecarinatus/

     We caught these in an inland stream by placing small pieces of meat on strings attached to sticks stuck into the bank.

    After leaving these for half an hour or so we found one on almost every bait, about a dozen or more.

    On returning home they were still alive, and we boiled them for a few minutes, as instructed by locals.

    The stench was so bad that we didn't even consider eating them, and left them in peace thereafter.

  8. 35 minutes ago, menthe said:

    I must say I have been totally surprised at Harris' ability to get points across in those big rowdy rallies.  Never lost her thread, never "misremembered" names, never repeating herself unnecessarily.

    The girl done good!

    You're right, ssomon, should be fun seeing someone put Trump in his place, make him look petty and ridiculous.

    Nothing guaranteed to dent someone's dignity more effectively than to laugh at him😂

    Let's hope 😁

  9. 12 hours ago, menthe said:

    Sorry, it submitted my post while I was still typing.

    I was writing none of Trump's "sleepy Joe" and "crooked Hilary", oh no, nothing as crude as that.  She referred to being a prosecutor and said she'd met predators, fraudsters and cheats and said she knew Trump's type.

    I was surprised at how well she worked the crowd, knowing exactly when to raise her voice for the crowd and when to lower the pitch and spoke almost confidentially as though she was speaking  one to one.

    It is the sort of speech that speech writers and media students could study and analyse to their benefit.

    Plus she kept it short.....yes, kept it short and left them wanting more!

    I'm looking forward to the possibility of a debate between Harris and Trump.

    With her experience she should find it child's play to handle him, and he wouldn't get away with the bullying tactics he used with Hillary Clinton.

  10. 15 hours ago, Harnser said:

    Perhaps the pedestrian/lawyer couple weren't aware of this:-

    "Pedestrians account for a significant proportion of road deaths. While you may be considered a priority on a number of roads, in different situations you do not have all the rights. Stay vigilant and do not take any reckless risks, particularly by crossing the road at random without ensuring that there is no danger to you or another road user"

    From https://www.securite-routiere.gouv.fr/reglementation-liee-aux-modes-de-deplacements/pietons-et-mobilite-urbaine/reglementation-des

    Maybe the subject couple were not seen to exercise sufficient caution in the opinion of the gendarme - ie actually looking both ways before they crossed?  As many of us have seen ,many pedestrians  just walk out in front of moving traffic without any observation, expecting the law to protect them.

     

     

    Especially when under the spell of their mobile toy.

  11. 2 hours ago, Lehaut said:

    ..................... Not surprising that they are staring to ask for debit card details and taking a charge for "No Shows"   The kicker is that people then leave bad reviews due to their own bad behaviour.

    That could explain the small number of really bad reviews for establishments which otherwise have a majority of very good ones, and on visiting, seem perfectly reasonable.

    As well as bad reviews posted by competitors or "enemies", of course.

  12. We lost the BBC News channel about 2 weeks ago, but can get the news on BBC1. Also lost a few Freeview channels, but can still get some of them on the "+" version.

    I think this may be due to a plane tree in the road outside having grown somewhat since the dish was professionally reinstalled and aligned a few years ago.

    Unfortunately the installer is no longer in business; the number of Brits around here seems to have decreased dramatically in the last 3 or 4 years.

    Nothing to do with Brexit, of course 😉

  13. I use a spreadsheet to arrive at the figures for our tax return, so it is fairly simple to change the rates for foreign exchanges. All our UK income stays there, so I have no actual figures to use.

    This year I made one calculation at a £ to € rate of 1.138 and another using the daily rates from www.exchangerates.org.uk , which is quite compact to print out.

    I always keep a copy and a note of the source for my figures, in case of any dispute.

    The  amount of tax payable was slightly lower using the daily rates, and more importantly, just below the next tax band applying to us, so I used those results for our return.

    This also has the advantage of probably being a more acceptable source than second hand information that is available.

  14. Then he went to the local, put the centipede on the bar and asked the barman "What do you think of this?"

    "Sorry sir, we get a few of those in here" said the barman as he squashed it flat.

    • Sad 1
  15. 1 hour ago, Lori said:

    Reminds me of some other weirdo groups in the U.S.A.  I imagine a French gendarme would have a field day with these types.

     

     

    But, judging from TV Police programmes, the average UK cop would spend half an hour or so arguing with them.

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