mint

After my abject failure to identify even one correct answer, here is my retort: casser le haricot......what does it mean? Unfortunately, since reading this expression in the Sud Ouest this morning, to do with the difficulty of parking for VSLs (of which I have had direct experience for 3 years) at the Francheville in Périgueux, I have been unable to find the article again and so cannot provide a link. And here is the ONLY meaning I have managed to find, so any further explanations would be welcome. Cette expression née à la fin du XIXe siècle signifie que quelqu'un nous agace beaucoup 

I agree entirely about soft boiled eggs.  If I do get it just right with firm-ish whites and runny yolks, then it's a happy accident. Age of eggs and thickness of shells are the hardest things to factor in.

Thank you, Wools.  I don't think I knew a single one of those[:-))] Don't you just know how to make someone feel knowledgeable?[:D]

Chessie, it's also good to keep some essential information to hand.  If a house, for example, a floor plan is always useful or, failing that, at least measurements of principal rooms, sitting rooms, main bedroom and so on, size of plot and location of tap for mains water, electric counters, gas fittings.  After all, sizes of rooms do not change and it saves a lot of kerfuffle preparing sales particulars at a later date. If a car, then it's always useful to have clear in your own mind or have written down somewhere number of chassis, year of first immatriculation, when CT due, size of fuel tank and stuff like that.  Don't know about you but, if I am asked a question, especially over the phone, whatever little bits of knowledge I have disappear completely and you could be forgiven for thinking I must have stolen the car because I couldn't think of its number plate. I know you have a problem keeping paperwork safe so you might like to think about some of these things in advance?  BTW, have you found your car keys?

Can I fly the flag for our regional newspaper, Sud Ouest?  That has coverage of national news as well as what happened to M. Dupont when he set fire to his own garage in Cognac.  That is a fictional news item that I invented, BTW; I merely wanted to show that it deals with national as well as very local events. When I posted the Guardian article, I did say that I wasn't posting to score points and I THOUGHT I had managed to convey my wish for friends to read it in the hope that that would inform their actions in the lockdown relaxation.  Some hope!  Why do people always want to put a spin on them versus us, Tories versus Labour or whatever. I shall be extra wary in future not to provoke this sort of discussion when that wasn't the object of my post at all.  Usually, I try to signal whether a post is to be taken literally, with a pinch of sort, with a smile, a grimace, with counterpoints to contradict me, etc.  I shall stick to asking help with problems and for French usage and post nothing that makes people think they know and can predict my thoughts and the newspapers I choose to read.  

Yes, even if you found someone to do it, it's best if you use the Cérulyse drops for at least 10 days beforehand. If you bought a "poire" which is indeed a hollow bulb, you fill that with warm water and push the water into your ear.  You should see the wax in the water that comes out.  You may have to do this a few times until you can hear again and all is well and you start smiling at your own cleverness! At least that is what my new doctor told me to do, as he didn't have time to do it the day I went to the surgery.  I must say I feel very pleased that I shall be able to deal with possible similar future problems myself.

Might be of interest to others taking part in this thread.  Email from Amazon today, remboursement effected[:)]

I agree about the cost of the extra photos.  Sold my previous house in 36 days on leboncoin and, like lehaut, I was regretting the expense of the extra photos. But nowadays, I think buying the pack of extra photos is ESSENTIAL.  The buyers said they fell in love with the house by looking at the photos.  Just as well the photos were taken over a summer when the sky was blue and the garden looked superb. Just on that experience, I always take photos of the house and gardens and keep them aside, in case of future need[:)]  After all, if you need to sell in winter when the skies are grey and the garden looks dead, it's not going to have the same appeal, is it?

Yes, pomme, I used to do all that but today it was a breeze. Go to the machine and follow the instructions.  The address on the label (peel off and ready stick) was for Amazon Orléans which was indeed the depot that sent me the goods.  The receipt came out with it, again with all the necessary info printed on it; date, barcode with number, etc.  Took that to the guichet for it to be tamponné.  The lady said, you don't need proof because look here, the date is already on the receipt.  However, at my insistence, she stamped it. I thought that the machine giving me the receipt meant that I had printed out the etiquette but there was nobody to verify that I had actually POSTED the parcel.  This way I can "rester tranquille" plus, I can now track the parcel, using the number on the barcode. BTW, the barcode started with a number and then R, R for retour, I think because I was certainly not charged.

Id, I know that you are nothing if not sensible and you will not take unnecessary risks. Wools, rightly or wrongly, and I was just talking about this to OH this afternoon, I just KNOW that if we were still in our previous place of abode in the UK, I would be a lot more uneasy about things than I am here.  And that's got nothing to do with whether Macron is managing this better than Boris or any of the rest of it.  It is a physical fact that we are here with fewer people, fewer of everything and I have very little in the way of fear. Strangely enough, OH, who is usually a lot more carefree than I am, is now fussing about (fussing about in my opinion) and wanting to wash all shopping, keeps sanitising his hands, the car, etc etc.  Either I have a death wish, too idle to do all this stuff or maybe, having weighed the risks, have decided that the risks are minimal!!! Opinion piece or not, I thought it was worth careful reading; I really do.  And, of course, I didn't post it for myself.

[url]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/08/the-guardian-view-on-easing-lockdown-boris-johnson-is-seeing-polls-not-science[/url] I am NOT making a political point with posting this.  At least, not this time[:P]  If I were still living in the UK, I'd be grateful if someone pointed this article out to me. Just take care everyone and follow your own counsel.

Thank you, pomme and lehaut. I have it clear in my head now.  I looked up the PO in our nearest town and they do have one of these machines.  I have the code and that is all I need to print out the etiquette. Lehaut, it seems the machine also print you out a "proof" and you take that to the guichet to have it stamped with the PO stamp. I suppose, it IS easier than printing your own (no ink, printer says no, etc) and it's simple enough to get your proof stamped. I see too that, because it's Amazon that gives you a unique code, they would know it was you who returned the parcel.

Pomme, I have gone back to look at the Amazon site and also looked at the email.  And, indeed ALL instructions are contained in my post above. I see nothing about getting a receipt for my parcel or anything else!

Thank you so much, pomme, for your reply. I have copied the instructions that came with the bar code. Instructions pour nous renvoyer vos articles. Nous avons envoyé votre code de retour à l'adresse e-mail associée à votre compte Amazon. Numérisez votre code-barres ou tapez votre code de suivi à 13 chiffres au bureau de poste pour générer une étiquette pour votre retour. Votre étiquette retour peut être imprimée depuis un automate d’affranchissement en Bureau de Poste en France métropolitaine. Sur l’automate, sélectionnez - Autres Services / Editer une étiquette web ou retour, puis saisissez ou scannez le numéro du colis Retour fourni par Amazon. Pour savoir si votre bureau de Poste est équipé d’un automate, rendez-vous sur ici ,sélectionnez votre bureau de Poste, puis, dans la rubrique "détails et horaires / services proposés", vérifiez la présence d’un " Espaces automates d'affranchissement " Une fois en bureau de poste, sur l’automate, sélectionnez « Autres Services », puis cliquez sur « Editer une étiquette web ou retour » et numérisez le code-barres ou saisissez le code de retour que nous vous avons envoyés par e-mail. I will go to the bureau de poste and find one of these automates d'affranchissement.  What I worry about is that there does not seem to be anything to pack with the parcel.  I have left inside it the original address label with my name and address, etc though there are no instructions to do that. I wish now I had opted for sending it back by Mondial Relay.  That would have been a better option, easier parking and no queue.

Thanks, minnie.  In fact, they have agreed to the remboursement and I only have to send the parcel off.

The method for returning unwanted goods to Amazon seems to have changed.  Once you have told them you had something to return, they send you an email, not with a label to print off as formerly, but just a bar code with numbers.  They have called this Label less la Poste drop off. I am unsure about what to return inside the package.  In the past, you had to print off something to be packed inside the parcel.  Now there are no instructions about this and, without an etiquette, I do not know what address to send the parcel to. To cut a long rambling question short.  Do I just wrap up the article, and take it to the PO with the code and, by some magic of technology, Amazon would know that it was me sending them this and the Bureau Post would know where to deliver the parcel?

GG, as you know, I am an admirer of Edward Thomas' poems; so here is his poem In Memoriam The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood This Eastertide call into mind the men, Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should Have gathered them and will do never again. Although Thomas wrote this in the Easter of 1915, the echoes of the poem endure and could equally apply to the D Day landings.

GG, I feel EXACTLY the same as you as regards artichokes. But oysters.............hm, I do like them......a lot[:D]

Weegie, thank you for the link.  But....er.....I still don't think I'll be gagging to visit. As for the photos of the meal.....got to pass on that one as well[:(]

Yes, I love that![:D]

OK, Weegie.  Non, moi, non plus!  Alors, is THAT clearer?[:D] As an aside, it IS possible to use 2 positives to make a negative.  An English professor was explaining to a class of his students that, while 2 negatives can make a positive, 2 positives can never make a negative.  Only for a student at the back of the class (it's always someone at the back, isn't it?) said Yeah, yeah.

Pomme, tempting as those desserts sound, I am NOT about to eat them again EVER![:D]

I have never visited Creuse but that must be, what, un peu triste?

But why on earth would they eat topinambours?  Horrible things! One of our keenest walkers comes in sometimes with boxes of home grown stuff to share with the group.  She it was who introduced me to topinambour.  Only had it once, and it was once too many! I remember years ago in the supermarket when I asked an elderly man what these things were called and whether they were good to eat.  He said, no, they were horrible but that people ate a lot of them during the war.

oui, moi aussi[:)]