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I'd smile if it was funny, Lehaut. Just as well you are so clued up on what needs doing! Me, it would have been panic stations and running round in circles... But the 3 times thingy MUST have something to it!!! In the last fortnight, I have fallen 5 times but only 3 times was I unconscious. And no, I hadn't been drinking if anyone thinks of asking me that! Serious, rugby injuries kind of falls..in fact, I would have welcomed the brancardiers coming to cart me off. OH thought I'd died. Coming back to your grandmother, after my second fall, my Aussie neighbour came round and asked, have you had your THREE! I thought, well, writing off the car was one, the fall when I bled all over the kitchen tiles was another so, at that time, there was not yet a third. Until last Friday, in the dead of night, when I got up for the loo, and passed out, hitting my head against the porcelain. Can testify that porcelain is a hardwearing substance, a lot harder than my head. Now awaiting IRM, heart man, etc, but yep, I have now had three and hope that I am safe for a bit? Can't even go down town later to watch those muscular lycra-clad young men peddling down our High Street; too shaky and too nervous to walk and stand around in the sun for hours.

As much as 1%?😕

How spot on you are, Lehaut. Still, it makes me sad......

I don't know why people would even want to "go and gawp".....it was a tragedy after all. One other thought sprang to mind (and those that disagree, could you do so without vitriol?) and that is the difference between all the resources and international efforts expended on these 5 people which seems in complete disproportion to the couple of border forces boats sent out to the boat migrants.

Yes, I know the resto with attached😂 shop. Might perhaps visit it again; Run by lovely people. You could get French wines and apéritifs at Spanish prices! Alas, hardly drink at all now or I WOULD be tempted to buy a litre bottle of whisky to give the French a treat! MUCH better l'apéro than Pineau des Charentes😜

DL, you won't regret choosing the Pays Basque. From my first sight of it back in 2010, I have been intrigued by all it has to offer. Besides the walks, there are many other things peculiar to the PB. Restos serving traditional Basque food, the songs and chants, the culture of wonderful ginormous trouts (made possible by the numerous vigorous mountain streams) and the many tales of spirits and legends. Of course, you have to find out too about the smugglers and er....dodgy characters that live there! Some years ago, Norman who understands my fascination for the Pays Basque, sent me a video link about Coelho (the writer and philosopher) who chose the PB as a place to make a home. And, of course, it is a gateway to the Spanish part of the Compostelle and so at its frontier with Spain, you could literally meet just about every nationality in the world. I have explored various bits of the Pyrenees themselves, but no further East than Ariège and that's another great place to walk in.

Thank goodness for that DL, and I think I can say that you have hit the nail exactly on the head

I so hope that no one other than Ken thinks I have given the impression I am "an experienced mountain walker". How he got that impression I do not know. Does anyone else think I gave that impression? No, I am a nordic walker and so my walks are not normally up mountains; steep hills maybe but not mountains. Though I HAVE done the Tour du Mont Blanc many years ago. What I have often said is that I LOVE walking in mountainous areas. This is because there is something about the majesty of mountains and the something about the air. Strangely enough, despite my asthma, my breathing is never worse when I am high up. I have been in the area called Little Siberia in Switzerland in the winter when it was -32° and never felt worse for it. Anyway, in our walks and wandering, we have moved far from Woolly's topic of rain. Yes, a lot of rain so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we would not encounter too much of it to stop us walking🙂 Judith I am sending you a PM in the next few minutes

Thank you, Judith, for your kind post. Indeed, I have had walking holidays since I went on my first one at 19 years old. Never did like lying on the beach but enjoy sightseeing in cities and all other holidays are walking ones. Of course, walk with my friends and neighbours at least twice weekly and walk on my own as well, especially in the cooler weather. Don't worry, the post belly remark does not apply to me😝 In fact, I now weigh less than 46 kilos.....since I have started doing some special exercises to lower my blood pressure. Lost over just over 10 kilos since the end of chemo and take a French size 36 to 38 tops in clothes.

I DIDN'T say I minded being unable to walk the unforgetable day when the rain was horizontal and we could see nothing for the mist. We were a group of a dozen friends and we had a guide with us. We took our picnics back to the gîte and invited the guide to share our meal. He disappeared into his own house for a while and then came to our gîte to join us for lunch. He brought with him some special pâté that he'd made himself. During the afternoon he spent with us, we learnt a lot from him about walking in the mountains and it was an afternoon that all of us present still now and again remember and talk about with enjoyment. Even "tourists" don't want to be doing touristy things ALL the time. We shall certainly be going to the resto in Banca on our first night there and re-engaging the singers we know to come and sing us Basque songs and no doubt they will be wearing their black berets and red neckerchieves to regale us with their songs and provide the music for dancing. Other thing is, it doesn't do to be too snooty about the tourists; you might not work in the tourism industry but I know that many of the locals in the Pays Basque would find earning a livelihood considerably more challenging without the much needed income that tourists bring.

I love the Pays Basque and have had umpteen wonderful walking holidays there over many years. The rain, however, does tend to be rather fierce. So it's not so good when it rains so much you can't see where you are walking and could be in danger of walking clean off the hillside, that is, if you can keep upright in the wind! BTW, I hope you are not referring to me with your remark about people living in places they don't like? Wooly made a throwaway remark and I made a throwaway answer. Where I live in the Dordogne, it is a walker's paradise and I have lovely companions to walk with. Strange thing is, in all 16 years or so of my walking with my present nordic walking club and the one other club before that, I have never met a British person who have joined and stayed joined! That is to say, they might walk for a couple of weeks and are then never to be seen again. That's rather puzzling because I walk just about exclusively with French people (in a département that is supposed to be teeming with Brits) and there are even a few who are even older than me.

Alas, they don't shun it. Summertime and they come in their droves with the Brits buying up all the wines and the French all the Charentais melons. By Monday, all the supermarket shelves are empty. You see whole families of overfed people and I think well there's the obesity pandemic going on right there!😏 Today, there is a strange, very warm wind, banging the shutters and shaking all the ripe fruit from the trees. I long for the mountains and indeed will be off for a few days' walking in the Pays Basque, in the higher parts and I shall imagine I could soar up there with the birds. See, told you I am living in Fantasy Land, didn't I?

We live in a sort of "intermediate" zone. About along the line that usually divides the météo into northern and southern France. Sometimes the forecast is spot on and sometimes it's completely the opposite. East of us, you are into Limousin country and south of us the Lot and Garonne area. Both those are hotter in summer and colder in winter. However, we are not in the "maritime" zone as we used to be in the previous house. Today, for example, I didn't wash the bedding because storms were forecast but I see blue sky stretching as far as the horizon. It's been a bumper year for cherries and mulberries but the fig tree seems to have all leaves and very little fruit. The things I don't want to grow like the hedges and grass (and weeds of course) are sprouting like trifids. Growing a lot more vigorously than I have ever remembered. Everywhere I look, I sometimes think I see portents that do not bode well for all our futures. OTOH, I have been engrossed in a fantasy story about moles (to rival the hobbits) and I am getting a bit too gullible in my dotage!

So when has "beaucratic stupidity" ever stopped an organisation from doing something when they have a bee in their bonnet about it?

When we first moved here, I seriously considered installing a wash basin and a toilet in the sous sol. There is a bedroom down there with windows and it's great for sleeping in when it is hot. However, I WAS put off doing it because of, not only the cost of the work, but the increase in TF. As the lack of "facilities" has discouraged any but the most determined visitors, I can't say I am sorry. I find that nowadays I have less and less inclination to do housework; just no longer have the energy. Meanwhile the Aussies across from us and have a secondaire and have happily installed an extra couple of bedrooms and attached bathrooms without a thought other than where to get the fanciest floor tiles. I hinted in general conversation that they would need to declare those to the impôts but they didn't turn a hair and didn't react in any way. So, as usual, it does depend on whether you honestly follow the rules or not?

Oh no, not the nature nurture debate.....we'll be here FOREVER!

Thank you, betise, for researching and finding the numbers and being able to quote your sources. I wanted to say that everywhere it is getting more violent and I have also vaguely registered knife stabbings in the UK. But, unlike you, I have neither the time nor the inclination to find sources and so I didn't say anything. Plus the people who are always complaining about others on the forum making comparisons between UK and France, are the very ones who are the worst culprits in doing this. Cheers, betise....

No problem with ours and the dish is not only "normal" size but is years old and very rusty to boot.

Well done Woodrup. Unfortunately calling at the local impôts is no longer an option. The local office to us has been closed for a couple of years and to go to the nearest impôts is about an hour and a half's drive away. IF you can get a RV that is. I am interested in what you have said about your annuity. Since our first year of declaring (2008) my husband was advised that his annuities go into "rentes viager". We have never had to name the company.

DL, I have read that online drugs may not be the genuine article. Hope you find some acceptable alternative.

Oh, the COMPUTER! I thought for a moment you might have been referring to certain parts of my anatomy😏 Or to certain parts of yours?

OH has had 5 and I have had 4. I also had covid twice and I have been recovering well from surgeries and cancer treatment so am not sure that I want any more jabs at the moment. However, should the epicemic flare up again in a big way, I will reconsider. I think OH is keen to carry on having the jabs. It's his decision of course and I don't feel that I want to be responsible for swaying him one way or the other.

Nice to hear you are happy, Lori. As soon as you described the house, it sounded ideal for you🙂 So much of interest in the Dordogne. It's physically big too, with lots of variety. Some departements are big but very much samey samey for kilometre after kilometre. Here in the Dordogne, you only have to drive a couple of hours and you are in some place that is totally different from the place you have just left. I don't think I should ever get tired of it.

Lori, you seem to have settled down nicely in your new location. I met a man from Correze yesterday and he was very proud of living there. We have had a fair bit of rain but the ground is still as dry as dust. Only yesterday, I was driving slowly, practically creeping, on a dirt track. Nicely keeping my distance from a row of parked cars, I thought, when all of a sudden I must have hit a rut because my car was thrown sideways into the row of cars, damaging the last 2 cars in the row! So I feel like I am in one of those adverts where the claimant said well this lamp post came up and hit me. I don't know how I could have been thrown sideways and how I could have done so much damage creeping along and being ultra careful. My poor old car had to be towed away and I fear it would be a write-off.

Me too, I use my carte de séjour, accepted instead of my passport at the private hospital where I had my last operation. It's a relief not to have to take my passport, for one thing, it doesn't fit into my cardholder🙂