Judith

It tends to be good bottles of red that I get, but I can live with that .. though a nice bottle of bowmore would not go amiss either!

THAT's why they looked so odd. Couldn't make it out at first. Sad, they were quite handsome when young!

Idun, keep cheerful. I to have had some rough times, over the last 2 years, but I really do think that 2021 WAS better than 2020, when we were lockdown so much, vaccines had not then arrived, and I was diagnosed with advanced melanoma. Come 2022, most or a good number are vaccinated, I got over to the UK for the first time in 2 and half years, the cancer is on the run, and I've just had my second hip done, which means soon that I will be fully mobile for the first time in some years (I hope) and able to move on. Yes, it's a bummer at present, with so many getting omicron, but come summer, all will improve, I am sure .. keep well, keep safe, everyone, and look forward to 2022 with anticipation .. it is, after all, the only way to look at life now!

Well what a lot of miserable dumpties you all are (Noisette excpted). I liked (and in fact preferred) the Kings service this year .. much improved now Stephen Cleobury has retired. Having been unable to get into a car until a week before Christmas (and I still cannot drive), I decided that a quiet Christmas with just the two of us was best. Most restaurants around here were shut anyway. Went to Christmas Day service in my anglophone Christian fellowship (chauffered to it) and sang my heart out (no, it's not in Eymet). Got the meat I like best (fillet steak), cooked it perfectly (though I say so myself), opened a very good bottle of red, bought ready prepared veg, listened to the Queen's speech, and thorough enjoyed a peaceful and quiet time. Christmas is what YOU make of it.

Thanks, and from me too, to everyone. 2022 can surely only get better, eventually!

Not entirely surprising Gardian. Last year (is it really that long ago?) one nephew and family all caught Covid in the early days, all, that is save one of their 2 boys ... go figure! And a couple of weeks ago, sadly, the other nephew and family got it, he suffered, with it but is getting better now. I have never considered meeting up for Christmas (getting over here to see hubby when I was still working in the UK was bad enough). So pleased I did make it over to see them all in Sept / Oct though ... after 2 and half years!

Could be interesting here in our village, only the one big vaccination centre, in the fire station and manned by the sapeurs pompiers (they do a brilliant job), but they are always fully booked, and in my experience almost every patient I've ever seen there is well over 65 ...!

I agree, Alan, those bollards were enough to get you completely disoriented .. I never thought of Pernod being the reason ... what a tarradiddle it was!

Quite few I had heard of but didn't know, and some I never knew! Very useful indeed. Thanks Woolly!

Just come back via the tunnel. Indeed all preloaded, no questions asked (I spoke to a human as they'd managed to mess up which side to go, and he was on the wrong side for me). SAid, I have al the docs do you wnat to go on teh next shuttele (I was early) said, yes and away I went. French douane checked passport (did not stamp it, WARP attached to it and presented together). Asked for proof of vaccination, had a paper version with sworn stament on other side, showed him both and off I went. I left before pre-test was eliminated, but no need now, 2 day test OK. I used Oncologia, not the cheapest at £55, but all worked as planned, test arrived on the day expected, sent off the next day, result back with 24/48 hrs. Mid afternoonon a Sunday, quick and painless.

So, the forum changes it's software, and whilst not before time, it seems to be a ... well I leave you to put the words in. Now I cannot find the way to look at recent posts only, without plodding all the way through the topics, but so far spent little time on it, as I'm off to the UK tomorrorw - so won't be posting on here for a while, as I've managed to do the necessary to sign on again on my desk top, evidently, or I could not post this, but will it accept the new password on the ipad. Of course not! So, I'll check in on occasion, but won't be able to post anything until I've sorted it out on the ipad, and who knows when that will be!!! Maybe they'll have sorted out the gremilins by the time I return .. Happy discissions, everyone, in my absence. Judith PS now I've seen it on screen I can see they've lost our pseudonymns and our party pieces too!

I had to laugh, Betty, when I met this one .. I would often miss out one of the negatives, but with me it was always the pas and not the ne ... now I do it more like a really frenchie.

I mix up both languages when speaking, certainly, and some English words don't come to hand immediately, especially when hubby says - what's this in English !  But then, my French is sometimes completely wrong too! I do find myself thinking, that's the wrong side of the road when in England, driving or being driven!!

After the flood we replaced our parquet with pine .. varnished with a clear varnish, cost about the same as re-parqueting. After a year, it has "darkened, ie aged, nicely, looking nothing like the pine underneath.  Why pay more for oak ... all these types of flooring products are widely available in bricos ...

And probably to be expected.  Think I've better things to do with my time sadly, if this is going to be the standard response now.

[quote user="mint"]Latest finds:  seedless grapes (green and red), silky tofu and not the rough nasty coarse stuff found in most supermarkets and cardomom pods.  MUST be possible to concoct a dish, maybe as an entrée, with these 3 ingredients alone?[:D][/quote] Gosdh, Mint, RED seedless grapes!  Can sometimes get white, and I have some in the fridge au moment, but red, that I have never seen.  What a spirit of adventure and discovery you have!

[quote user="idun"]My son has recently found all sorts of 'treats'. As you mentioned, lemon curd, as well as HP sauce, and Lyle's golden syrup. He can usually get cheddar cheese too and sometimes crumpets, which he says are wonderful with foie gras. Must admit that we never found a French cheese that we liked so well for cheese on toast, and our son loves cheese, any cheese, hard, soft, blue, green, stinky, all of it.[/quote] Never thought of fois gras with crumpets!  Must try it, next time I buy crumpets, which seem to be reasonably easily available ici!

We have a cheese stand on our local market that sells cheddar in blocks, usually.  NO idea if it is fermier though.  Does take better than the plastic wrapped stuff which you can indeed by in most supermarkets here.  Casino now even have their own branded cheddar, I've had cathedral city as well, OK, but somehow just not like the real thing.  Now if we are talking about missing a certain cheese, Cheshire, Wensleydale, Lancashire - don't get me started.  All much nice than Cheddar, except for cooking. Though I prefer St Agur to a Stilton .. 'cos it spreads nicely on sliced bread!!

This is all very interesting.  I had to change my car this year, the garage dealt with the change of carte gris ownership, and I think I had the replacement with 2 weeks, if not less.  Maybe they had some inside knowledge!!

Good to hear that Mrs KG. I've got to change my driving licence soon, but hanging on in the hope that one day they will have sorted the problems!

Indeed, Mint.  And Sprogster, my desktop (MAC!!) is certainly not in decline ... much prefer it to my other more modern tablets / phones etc.   But agree ,the modern youth seem to do be lost without such technology!

So true, Idun.  We were saying today as we left church how complicated life seems to be these days.  Or was it that we are all getting older? 

Thank you, Andy.  Compliment accepted, icon or not!

What a fuss ... never any need to point at someone, we are ALL different, with different needs and wants ... I don't love my Ipad or my Iphone, but they serve a useful purpose for me. ... and I do sometimes wish that I could be like Chessie (love cheesy as a nickname, but I am sure you are NOT!) and I could to those days when computers were not so prevalent.  Mind you my career would have gone in a totally different direction if that were so. As the reading I have to do tomorrow at our local English speaking church says (Colossians) : Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against each other. Happy Mothering Sunday to all!

I have a mobile phone, though I managed for years without one, and only really got one to start with when I rented a place without a phone, and that just for emergencies.  I bought an iphone whilst travelling in Oz as the wifi was naff, or expensive, and so do use it, but mainly for photos, email and some searching, keyboard is too small for me, and it won't text properly, and usually sits on the desk, whilst I type away at my MAC which I much prefer.  I also bought an ipad for when I travel, but I cannot do as much as I can with my MAC which admittedly I cannot travel with. One good thing about the phone is that I can redirect calls from our landline and block those numbers I do not know, they are usually spam.  But then, I often don't answer it as I am not always near it and when it is in my bag I can't hear it.  I do use it to make calls, as is in next to me on my desk wherea the  landline isn't, and the mobile phone is useful when travelling too! So the pros and cons of mobile phones.  But I could certainly live without one if need be.