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Now who's moaning and who's a "sore loser", stp?😂 I'm afraid you well deserve that, Wools!

I think I made a mistake about his having been Health Minister. We did hear rather a lot from him at the time because he was the porte-parole at the beginning of covid. Sorry if I have misled anyone.

Is the route open just for the special occasion or can you run or walk it at other times as well?

I thought he had excellent communication skills when he was the Health Minister. I didn't know about the Education post being so low ranking! Still he is a million times better than the Education Secretary in the Sunak government despite her own declaration that she was doing an f-inking good job. Also good to have a head of state who is dynamic and engaged (and engaging) and not like the doddery fossil in the US.

Is Gabriel Attal to be Macron's successor? If so, would you welcome this? Here is a short recent interview he gave as Education Minister https://www.france.tv/france-2/l-evenement/5362452-l-evenement-l-interview.html

Agree, Lehaut. Our nurse says about the middle of November for the flu jab so that it will be effective for the better part of the flu season.

I am truly intrigued and would love to try them. But where would you buy them? Norman, I don't suppose you fancy filling your barrel with these onions and hawking them around? Please don't take offence, I am only joking. Hélas no walk for me today. It's blowing horizontal rain at 80kmh.....another day indoors trying to sort out banking and workmen problems...my absolute least favourable things to do.

Such a nice foodstuff, no peeling, no waste, pretty much looks after itself while cooking. But have you noticed the price of rice recently? I used to only buy basmati, white or brown and virtually no other rice type. The price is now more than I want to pay for a staple so I have been buying a long grain (bio) in a box in Aldi. Took me a meal or two to get used to the texture but now I don't mind it. It doesn't have the fragrance or the taste of basmati. So I am here to ask people what they put in the water when cooking rice to flavour it? I have tried coconut milk but that is only good with curries. I also use turmeric to colour it if I make kedgeree but it's now getting increasingly hard to get smoked haddock. I suppose I could try a stock cube. Well, what do the cooks on the forum use, svp?

I call everything like that gunge. Any dictators you have in mind?😜

I enjoyed the link, thank you, Norman. I haven't heard of these céba but I have seen other sweet onions with their shape aplatie with pale yellow or white flesh. I always look out for the sweet onions from the Cevennes and sometimes they are huge so that you can't use a whole onion if you are only cooking for two. Further down your link, there is a recipe for an onion tart and I like that so much I might make one for the weekend. I am doing a walk for Octobre Rose and it might be nice to come home to.

Went to make our RdV and I was offered that, one in each arm. I accepted the covid one but explained that I'll have the nurse do the flu jab because I wanted to support her. Incidentally, at least 3 friends have contracted covid recently. However, is it correct that testing is now no longer offered?

It's really tasty and you will feel very proud when you serve it. But do use blue cheese because the taste is superior. If you can't make your own pastry you can always buy it ready made. If possible something sweet (like my glazed clementine) adds that bit of contrast. Otherwise I suppose even some citrus peel like you'd use in cake making will be OK. bon apetit!

Or you might have foreseen his death? I suppose that could be some sort of premonition or clairvoyance or whatever the correct term is. Your story gave me the shivers wilsondavid. I just hope I never forsee the death of anyone I love. It's better not to know, even my own death. It'll come when it does, like a thief in the night, according to the bible. I used to think I'd like some warning beforehand but, since I had been seriously ill and death was a distinct possibility, I'd rather not know.

Gardian, there was also the question, amongst a few others, when there was a deliberate knock-on by the SA player right at the beginning when France was 7 nil up. The ref said he was simply trying to catch the ball in one hand. Well, he was no Harlaam globetrotter was he? So why would that be OK and passed over? A few more instances came to mind, Gardian, but it would be boring for others less interested to do a detailed post mortem. As they used to say in the good old days when people called a spade a spade: France was robbed?

DL, that's an excellent explanation and I like the analogy of ripples in a pond. The "ghost" I last saw, by coincidence, died in the ripples of a pond. As I didn't know this lady and have nothing to do with her farm, I think she was just going about her ghostly business and I happen to come upon her. So, no reason at all for me to see her again so she can just go about her own business and I'll go about mine😄

Oh yes, do share. The thing is, I have only had three experiences in my life and in each case, I had not realised anything was out of the ordinary. It was upon reflection quite a few hours later on that I began to question what I had seen with my own eyes. And, in response to other posters, it was not the least bit "scary".....how could it be when I wasn't questioning anything at the time? Then by the time I thought about it, it was done and dusted so no longer any reason to feel frightened. I have however passed that same duck pond several times as it's situated on one of my regular walking routes but I have never before or seen that person or ghost again.

That too is my understanding, cajal. Cannot charge down a transformation and also not meant to move at all until the kicker has started the kick. Even the English commentator (watched this one in English so that OH could follow the commentary) said in surprise, I have never seen THAT before. Of course he hasn't, nor have I! Some said, to have been able to stop the ball in such close quarters, he would have had to started moving beforehand. THAT wasn't the only questionnable decision on the part of the ref. So, no, it was not loser "bitching", it was justifiable with so much at stake and a ref not sufficiently experienced to referee a match at this level. And that was all that Dupont said. OTOH, although Dupont passed the ball over 70 times, he didn't get hold of the ball and run as he would have done. IMHO, it was much too early to play him after that horrendous injury. Just thankful that he wasn't injured further as the Boks were targetting him at every opportunity. As for French media now paying less attention to the competition, can't say I blame them. I too have lost interest and glad I have things planned for this weekend.

That'll be something to see...ha! ha!

Lori, I didn't know that either and that's why I posted. Looks like the 100% is for front teeth. Dave, your post about smiling has put some ideas into my head. Imagine, if dentists were as numerous as the punaises on the Paris underground and everybody had access to one without driving distances and then feeling like you have won the lottery if you found one who would treat you? At one stroke, you could put an end to mental health problems (that's the illness du jour, right?) and people would go around smiling at everybody with their full complement of teeth. They wouldn't have to be embarrassed about gaps and stumps of decaying teeth. Their breaths would smell better too. People would be able to eat and chew better. Old folk in the maisons de retraite would be able to eat food other than pap like mince and mashed potatoes. The Brits can crunch on orange pippins and celery and the French would be able to crunch on their baguettes instead of dunking them in their coffee. If you were a politician, you could simplify your manifesto. No need to talk about the economy or pouvoir achat, you'd simply say "Dentists for ALL" and watch the other candidates fall like skittles while you smile all the way to Downing Street or the Elyssé or the White House. If you were a voter, you would no longer have to worry about politicians looking down on you and labelling you a "sans dents" as Hollande so shamefully did (and him a socialist!!) You have triggered all these thoughts, Dave, because I can tell you that of all the half dozen or so medical visits I have had in recent weeks, I haven't smiled so broadly as when I came out of the dentist's with my new crown!

Well here I am proud as punch of my new crown! Don't get ideas, it's not crown as in queen's accessory, just the one the dentist put in. Note to self: remember to smile broadly and show it off whenever opportunity arises! Thought I'd come back and let folk know what 100% prise en charge means. If you are as lucky as I am and you need a crown on a tooth that is visible when you smile, your total amount to pay is 84€. I couldn't believe it but sometimes seeing is believing and I still couldn't believe it until I had a closer look at the bill. My next 2 crowns will however, be "prémolaire" (that's what they are called in French!) and will cost nearer to about 500€ each . Still 3 for 2 which is better than most supermarkets are offering at the moment😆 Judith, the materials making up the crowns are ceramic with metal core. The devis says "céramométal".

You can't keep a good man down! https://www.midilibre.fr/2023/10/09/coupe-du-monde-de-rugby-antoine-dupont-autorise-a-rejouer-et-en-pole-pour-jouer-lafrique-du-sud-11506414.p

Well, for someone who knows "very little about rugby", you sure have managed to find and post a piece about le bouclier de Brennus which I have never heard about! I know what you mean about commentators. I often watch with the sound off but then I really quite like all the noise of the crowd. All comentators are pretty dire and that goes for most events, the tennis, the tour de France, the football. In particular, I don't like how the British lot mispronounce all the French names and the French lot repay the compliment by mispronouncing all the Bristish names. You'd think if you knew that millions are going to be listening to you, you'd do some homework and some practising, wouldn't you? OTOH, it's incredible how they can follow all the action and do a running commentary, so I could forgive them a few indeciperable mumblings.

No, they don't, ssomon,,nothing like that where I live. Here, I see top of the range farming equipment and a very efficient use of the land. I suppose some of them must hire their equipment, they look fearsomely efficient and really sophisticated. Mostly, they get 3 harvests yearly. Not a lot of manual labour. Seems to be the farmer and his family driving the tractors, the harvesters, the separators of grain, the watering system, etc etc. OH spends hours watching everything with wonder, it is certainly not like in the old days, when he was a boy and helped farmers with stooking the corn or whatever it was called! How some of the old folk (including my OH, of course, but not me!) still live in their heads and memories...😙

Sounds like a lot of "forbiddens" but, if it would save lives and injuries, I am all for it. For people to be "free" to do what they want, we need ground rules. I might in fact feel safer on the roads.

Throttle on the left? Yikes, really, really confusing ..... I can't imagine how horrible it will be trying to change gears AND accelerate using your left hand. I think I'll stick to walking and chewing gum at the same time!