NormanH

derfThe bluetooth keyboard is a good idea, but the one you mention is a QUERTY and I would be lost on it. Do they make AZERY ones?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/world-black-pudding-throwing-championships-18884885p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent } a:link { color: #000080; so-language: zxx; text-decoration: underline } a:visited { color: #800000; so-language: zxx; text-decoration: underline }

Or 'Fesse -Beurck' as my French friends call it [:D]

I can't judge his ability in other languages since I have never heard him speak any of them but 'fluent' isn' the word I would use to describe his franglais[:-))] As Dr Johnson said of something else "it  is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

https://uksala.org/is-there-any-scope-for-agreement-between-the-eu-and-uk-on-subsidies/?fbclid=IwAR1KjfuI6b7E7lX53rA504QY4wZTwh3un60Xx9oan3m_puxDMxdy7KoD2Y8

Thank you for that link.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/06/five-weeks-clinch-brexit-deal-uk-move-boris-johnson-to-say

Very moving, as much for the context as the peformance...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8701529/Boris-Johnsons-chief-negotiator-warns-EU-Britain-not-client-state-Brussels.html "The bullish Brexit rhetoric is part of an attempt by Mr Johnson's No 10 to 're-grip the agenda' after a chaotic summer marked by an endless series of U-turns on issues such as Covid policy and A-level exam grades, with Tory backbenchers expressing growing disquiet over the professionalism of the Prime Minister's Downing Street operation." As reported in Le Monde https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/09/06/brexit-le-negociateur-britannique-promet-que-le-royaume-uni-ne-sera-pas-un-etat-vassal-de-l-europe_6051155_3210.html

By co-incidence she was one of the people who gave me the good advice I mentioned on a recent thread. At a period when I was becoming less and less mobile she encouraged me  to swallow my pride and lash out on a mobility scooter (she used one herself). Even more importantly she gave me the  adress of contact in the UK who sold them second-hand and was honest and reliable.It is a measure of her generosity of spirit that she did this despite our frequent disagreements on the Forum.

Castex reminded citizens that of the €100bn (£89bn), €40bn had come from the European Union recovery fund, and urged them to remember this when the money was spent.

But there is also this view as I mentioned in another thread.. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/03/french-reporter-who-joined-police-exposes-racism-and-violence-valentin-gendrot I live in a quartier populaire in a difficult town (Béziers)  so  I am aware of the social problems at first-hand... I also think that the language used is important as it serves to create a 'narrative' or 'story' to interpret the bare facts and manipulate  those reading or hearing the words. For example different groups of people might  have referred to Nelson Mandela as a 'Communist terrorist' or a 'nationalist freedom-fighter'. The facts about his actions remain the same, but the language interprets them differently.

Does anybody take it seriously?

The problem with the app is that you have to be near the meter to get it to start, whereas I am in a flat where the meter is inaccesible so I can't do that.I had hoped to be able to read online what I can't see physically, as I can do with my water meter.

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2020/09/03/l-ensauvagement-un-mot-a-l-histoire-sinueuse-surtout-utilise-par-l-extreme-droite_6050851_4355770.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/03/french-pm-says-jobs-and-green-economy-at-heart-of-covid-recovery-plan-jean-castex-france

I have never managed to obtain an online up-to-date  reading, which I imagined was one of the benefits ..

How nice to read such a positive thread..I like to think I have contributed, but I have also had excellent advice.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/03/french-reporter-who-joined-police-exposes-racism-and-violence-valentin-gendrot

That reads as if it is only one sort of Cold calling that  is banned, not all the various nuisances..

A wonderful pick-me-up after the other thread! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pi742OSQYI

for WB A reflection in a few poems 1) That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou see'st the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire, Consum'd with that which it was nourish'd by. This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long 2) Brief Encounter Cranes leave overhead Ripe fruit falls and rots untouched. Promise unfulfilled. Autumn is the station where you change for death. (A  disguished poet) 3) Soon we will plunge into deathly cold darkness Farewell to the brightness of Summer's brief life! Already I hear the funereal thud-fall Of firewood resounding on cobble-stone yards. All Winter will penetrate my being: Rage Hatred, shivering, horror, hard forced-labour, And just like the Sun in its cold polar Hell My heart will be only a red block of ice Trembling I listen as each log is falling Building a Scaffold makes no more muted a sound My Spirit is one with the Tower that yields To the blows of the battering-ram, tireless and heavy. This monotonous chopping has lulled me; I feel That they’re hurriedly nailing a coffin somewhere. For whom? Summer was yesterday -- Now Autumn is here! This mysterious sound tolls like a farewell. II I love the greenish glint in your wide open eyes-- Such sweet beauty, but today all tastes bitter , And nothing , your love, the bedroom or the hearth Means as much (to me?)as the radiant sun on the sea. Yet Love me, dear heart! Be just like a mother Though I'm ungrateful, though I'm so wicked ; Lover or Sister, be the fleeting soft moment Of a glorious Autumn or the Sun as it sets. It won't take long! The hungry tomb is waiting! Let me taste, my forehead resting on your knees As I regret the white-hot heat of Summer, The sweetness in the yellow rays of Autumn. (My translation of Baudelaire, read by me here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LzvJsMYlwJ4aEA0vWrG8Xf6QAGira1sW/view?usp=sharing Chant d'automne I Bientôt nous plongerons dans les froides ténèbres; Adieu, vive clarté de nos étés trop courts! J'entends déjà tomber avec des chocs funèbres Le bois retentissant sur le pavé des cours. Tout l'hiver va rentrer dans mon être: colère, Haine, frissons, horreur, labeur dur et forcé, Et, comme le soleil dans son enfer polaire, Mon coeur ne sera plus qu'un bloc rouge et glacé. J'écoute en frémissant chaque bûche qui tombe L'échafaud qu'on bâtit n'a pas d'écho plus sourd. Mon esprit est pareil à la tour qui succombe Sous les coups du bélier infatigable et lourd. II me semble, bercé par ce choc monotone, Qu'on cloue en grande hâte un cercueil quelque part. Pour qui? — C'était hier l'été; voici l'automne! Ce bruit mystérieux sonne comme un départ. II J'aime de vos longs yeux la lumière verdâtre, Douce beauté, mais tout aujourd'hui m'est amer, Et rien, ni votre amour, ni le boudoir, ni l'âtre, Ne me vaut le soleil rayonnant sur la mer. Et pourtant aimez-moi, tendre coeur! soyez mère, Même pour un ingrat, même pour un méchant; Amante ou soeur, soyez la douceur éphémère D'un glorieux automne ou d'un soleil couchant. Courte tâche! La tombe attend; elle est avide! Ah! laissez-moi, mon front posé sur vos genoux, Goûter, en regrettant l'été blanc et torride, De l'arrière-saison le rayon jaune et doux! p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; background: transparent } em { font-style: italic } a:visited { color: #800000; so-language: zxx; text-decoration: underline } a:link { color: #000080; so-language: zxx; text-decoration: underline } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; background: transparent } em { font-style: italic } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; background: transparent }

For Noisette http://www.cancerindex.org/clinks5f.htm I have had several episodes of Cancer, but I am not against 'speed traps' which can save lives, not against foreign aid.

I know of several students of mine, or of establishments at which I taught in the UK who have died, and they were  much younger than me. Sometimes it is an accident, but most were from disease. I have spent a total of several months in the regional Cancer centre here in France, and one of the most unsettling features is seeing the number of other patients  clearly much younger than me...

There isn't a lot of difference between Western European countries in terms of life expectancy, according to this  table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_life_expectancy#Life_expectancy_by_Country_(2019)