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Naughty DL, I'd have liked a very large bourbon (no rye thanks) after coming in soaked to the skin late afternoon. But alas no longer keep any spirits in the house and minimal wine so as not to be tempted.

Betise, I agree about the taste of galette des rois. I have been cured of eating it forever! This year, I have managed to avoid all occasions where it would have been served, not the gym réunion, not the maire's drink-up, not in any neighbour's house, not visited the boulangerie in case he offers me a bit to taste. I think that long line of galettes would have turned me queasy.

Yes, Judith, you are right, it is yearly. I am so distracted this morning and my head is in a whirl....can't blame anything else. Why does everything have to be so time-consuming and so hard to achieve? Can't even manage to pay my water bill on line.....

Plenty for everybody, but you'll have to go to Aurillac.... https://www.20minutes.fr/tempo/food/4070532-20240115-aurillac-record-monde-plus-longue-galette-rois-battu?utm_source=pocket-newtab-fr-fr

This morning, I have sent a request to be re-registered at my last UK address. Both of us were registered until last year so I am hoping for a rapid response. I have written to our proxy as well to request his permission. GE might be on the cards sooner than we think! Norman, I thought the new rules are that, for overseas voters the length of time the registration lasts is 3 years? However, that is a minor matter that can be sorted out at a later date. In the meantime, everybody else, please do not waste any more time. Get on that phone, write that email, take immediate steps!!!

Excellent news, Judith

Yes, Riggers, sometimes you just have to face reality. It's not always in your power, or anyone else's to change it. Ringing a bell in this context is irrelevant. Here is John Donne's famous poem to ponder. For whom the Bell Tolls No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.

Well, you can go to Glasgow? Was that what you did, ALBF?

Besides giving false hope and possibly lead to lack of vigilance on the patient's part. For example, if you think you are "free" of cancer, you might not be on the look-out for symptoms of its return or its spread. Being on the qui vive could mean your survival.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12966259/Why-patients-want-cruel-cancer-free-bells-banned-ritual-America-mounting-anger-terminally-ill-list Norman, are you there? I believe we talked about this between us and we were both extremely against. Whatever the significance of this practice, I dislike it on many levels. Not least of which is that cancer is not something you could ever be free of. The only way you could be free of it is after you have died and the post mortem shows that you have died of something else.

Thank you, DL. That's bucked me up considerably on yet another grey, cold cheerless day. Will get on to my old consituency electoral office tout de suite😄

Cajal, I am reminded of "looking forward to the future"......surely you can't look backwards to the future?

I couldn't eat either of those dishes. Just couldn't swallow tuna that isn't thoroughly cooked. Also I don't like goat's cheese. So that will be me out of Carluccio's.

I think in these traditional restos, the price will be the same for all dishes, that is the price of the "formule". Also easy to order if you just say I'll have the formule. Sometimes wine is extra but sometimes not. Cofee, however, is nearly always extra but typically only 1€ if taken after you have paid for a meal.

Also two of mine. Plus "concerning" for worrying as in this latest increase in prices is very concerning.

I have ceased to be shocked or even mildly surprised at these double standards or do as I tell you but not as I do. I don't know this minister's background so cannot comment on this particular case. I remember Diane Abbott in a Labour government, when she was Minister for Education, sending her son to a private school. Real cynicism went up a notch when Hollande, famously supposed to be on the side of the poor and with impeccable socialist credentials, referred to poor people as les sans dents. Not only disrepectful but downright cruel. About this governement, I don't expect a lot from Dati as Culture Minister and the Health Minister is also an unknown quantity to me. I don't know the logic for leaving Verran out of the cabinet altogether because I thought he made a pretty good fist out of being Health Minister. I was discussing the new PM with a couple of liberal music teachers (French married couple) last week. And they were thoroughly unimpressed. I have no idea what WOULD be approved by the French!

Betise, Thanks, guys, will definitely look into this. Betise, for my mouth ulcers I was prescribed something horrendously expensive which had to be made up with distilled water by the pharmacien. It was reddish in colour, tasted vile but did the trick. If I remember correctly, it was so expensive that the doctor wrote something on the prescription, that said that there was no alternative. Can't remember the exact product but I only used it for 2 weeks though the prescription was for 6 weeks. Even though I wasn't paying, I thought it was an outrageous price for something you can't even drink! Hours later Sorry , just found this message unsent....gggrrrhhh Actually, I don't think I fancy putting bleach no matter how dilute in my mouth. I think I will try mixing sodium bicarb into a paste and brush my teeth with that. They are not too bad but the dentist did not appear interested in giving them a polish. After drinking tea and coffee (only once a day for each) I always rinse my mouth straightaway with water. With a mouth full of expensive implants and crowns, it just seems a shame not to get everything looking a bit brighter, that's all. You might say I am merely looking after my investments!😝

One of those essential but boring topics so apologies in advance. Any recommendations for a stain-removing mouthwash, please?

Yes, I do believe that the vigilance is for snow and ice because I saw there was a lot of snow expected. Even here in the Dordogne, we had a vigilance jaune for this. The forecast is also for dry weather and a rise in temperature. Have a safe journey, Wools. Can't have you skiving off like that and leaving poor old DL to do all the work and take all the flak, can we?

Wools, I see that the PdC is on vigilance rouge again. Are you back in your house and are you and buandary ok? Did M. Attal visit you yesterday when he was in your neck of the woods and help you clear up the mess in the buandarie?

ALBF, you may remember I wrote about Attal here on the forum several months ago, perhaps going to be the president after the next election. I only had a couple of replies to my post. No surprise as politics on whichever side of the channel has never been a conversation starter on this forum. For my part, I'd far rather have a centrist Attal than either le Pen or Mélenchon.

I thought I'd relate my experience of visiting a chateau near us where we walkers were invited by the chatelaine herself. What happened was, we inadvertently trespassed on her land during one of our walks. She came out to remonstrate with us, only to stay on chatting and gave us a date to return and see the place properly. I think the poor woman was simply lonely. The day we went, she had old photos and the original plans of the buildings all mounted on boards and set up in a display to show us. She told us all about her life there and how her husband was not born a baron but was made one by "érection"! Not knowing that in French the word could also mean simply elevated to that position, I wondered how anyone arrived other than by erection. She had an elderly mother in a wheelchair and both acted like proper ladies, wearing pearl necklaces and old ladies' dresses and we were a group of walkers decked out in walking gear and led around like school children being shown things to dispel our ignorance. But what a sorry state the chateau appeared to me and looked, at at close range, nothing like the imposing pile we see silhouetted against the sky every time we walk the countryside around that village. I remember going home after my walk and feeling how much more comfortable and liver-friendly my own little house was by comparison. OTOH, I have stayed in 2 magnificent chateaux in 2 different départements that were run as hotels, and everything from food to grounds, furnishings, bedrooms etc were luxurious and wonderful to be in.

Here you are Hectorsdad, it's got to be Sinatra. As crooners go, you can't beat Sinatra!

Chateaux are very overrated. I have seen enough of crumbling, dilapidated chateaux and manoirs on my extensive walks to not ever, not even in a nightmare, wish to own one. However, it's more than bearable when you are flush for funds or paid for by someone else to stay the odd weekend in one😄

Are you full of vim and vigour and eagerly embracing a new energetic activity? Sorry, didn't mean to be flippant or irreverent. If you are anything like me, I can't at the moment see anything too much to look forward to. Not personally and certainly not more generally. Could this be the year of the end of liberal democracies as we understand it? Elections in large parts of the world are pretty scary. US, UK, Russia, South Africa, India, to name some of the biggest so called "democracies" Of course, the US has to be the leader, that is just a fact. Can Trump really return as president? Can the Tories be returned to government? I am talking about real elections, not the likes of Russia or India....those are predecided. And even if the "good guys" win, will the bad guys accept the results? As we know, that scenario has been well shown and discussed at the time of the Trump insurrection of 2016. On the personal front, I cannot at the moment plan my year. Can't even think of how to lose the kilo or so I have gained from too much chocolate and Christmas cake. Does anyone have any thoughts on any of this?