NickP Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 EuroTr@sh wrote: "This post was inspired by watching Johnson's abysmal performance in PMQ just now. He's not interested in debating or answering questions, all he's interested in is saying Everything I say or do is right and everything you say or do is wrong."I say: Tell me a politician who doesn't do this all of the time? Keir Smarmy and crowd are experts at being contrary, you'd have thought at this terrible time him and his cohorts would try to be supportive to help the country, but no way, all they want to do is to try to score political points. Mainly they fail abysmally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alittlebitfrench Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Well done ET for getting back home. Well at least your house was not squatted. That would have been a big problem. Anyone watching the news lately will know what I am gong on about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 NickP wrote: "Tell me a politician who doesn't do this all of the time?"WIthout moving far from the UK, have you never listened to Sturgeon taking questions from journalists or answering challenges from political opponents? Try it, I'm sure there's plenty of clips on youtube. She listens to the question and answers it. Sometimes this involves accepting the criticism and admitting she made mistakes, sometimes it involves accepting that the criticism is valid but explaining why she is following the course she's chose, sometimes it involves rejecting the criticism and explaining why she disagrees. But she stays on topic and replies coherently and rationally, and often you learn something from her replies, it's interesting to listen to, unlike Johnson.Classic example last week when Starmer asked Johnson a question about the examinations issues and Johnson "responded" by accusing Starmer of wanting to stay in the EU and having been an IRA sympathiser (clearly not aware of Starmer's track record in prosecuting IRA terrorists). You're not telling me you don't see a problem there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 The only problem I see is Sturgeon's hatred of anything English, except the money, and Starmer' failure to prosecute Savile. Still, you've shown where you hang your Tammie. So as you're the mod I'll withdraw from this debate before I get banned. night night. ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 EuroTr@sh wrote the following post at 09 Sep 2020 15:38:I did it. I'm back in Normandy. Not sure what next, but at least I know the house is OK.Excellent news .. I can uncross my fingers now (smiley face) as I have been experiencing a bit of cramp due to them having been crossed for so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Thank you suein56 :-)It's so nice to be back. I'd been gone for so long I thought it would feel strange. I was really worried that either the house would have developed a problem and be unliveable in, or that I would feel I didn't belong any more. But after a day it's almost like I was never away. First thing I did was go to Aldi because things I'd left in the house were past their best by dates - same faces at checkout and they haven't even moved things round, I was able to go straight to the things I want!What a mountain of post though, going all the way back to a late New Year card, a dépistage appointment that's been and gone (I feel quite bad about that), and the letter all the mairies sent out after Brexit telling us we can't vote any more. It was a bit weird catching up with it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 How nice, we're all here actually having a natter......ah....[:)]Catalpa, I hope you aren't going to disappear for years before coming here to post again! I always thought of you as the "sensible one", Parsnips as the "tax man", Sunday Driver as the "car man", Claire as the "go-to" person and so on. I always had a good idea of the person who'd give the best advice on whatever advice it was I needed[:)]ET, I did wonder why you didn't come "home" earlier from Caridigeon (have I spelt it right)? I mean who wants to be "beside the sea" when it rains all the time? Plus, did you make any friends whilst you were there? I never did in 12 years, not REAL friends, only those you have a reason to get on with. I did know masses of people, but only through my work or OH's. I feel now that it was ridiculous to have stuck it for so long. There were things that I liked, of course, but not enough to make up for all the downsides. OTOH, I did learn a lot about living in France just by talking de la pluie et du beau temps with French people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Gosh Mint those names are blasts from the past. Whatever happened to Sunday Driver?I was out in the wilds in the Brecon Beacons, not by the sea. A wonderful place to live and work but a weird place to be locked down on your own. Lliterally I never saw another soul for days and even weeks on end. At first we all expected the campsite to be able to open later in the season, seems laughable now how naive we were but at that stage we hoped it might all be over in a month and we could all pick up where we left off. Then when lockdown dragged on my ex, who is still my best friend in the world, offered me his spare room to save my sanity, and I took him up on it and broke lockdown to go stay with him. Then by mid July it was pretty clear the campsite wasn't going to open at all this year, and I just kind of lost the will - so fed up with my plans never working out. And I stayed where I was because that didn't need any planning. I was half heartedly trying to build up my freelance work again and what I said was that I would come back when I had some income coming in again. That hasn't really happened but here I am anyway, it just felt like time I did something. I still don't really have the scooby of a plan, keep hoping I'll wake up in the morning with a clear vision of what to do next, but I never do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gardian Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 To the best of my knowledge, SD sold up and returned to the UK.He said at the time that ‘That was it’ for him. No problems, just a change in location & typically he felt that there was nothing more that he could contribute.Good bloke though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith-aka-Judith Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Mint - Ceredigian - had a job there once .. didn't last long, loved the country, job was terrible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lehaut Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 albf wrote "Anyone watching the news lately will know what I am gong on about."Had dinner with two French friends last night. One has a second house at Pornic, the other 4 second houses (!) so the topic did come up, with the strange french phrase "ce n'est pas de tout normal" repeated many times with feelings.Having spent 5 long years battling the French legal system I have a horror of every needing to do it again. Stories like yours and the one linked below are the stuff of nightmares. Listen with your speakers on.https://www.letelegramme.fr/ille-et-vilaine/rennes/video-nuisances-sonores-et-malfacons-l-enfer-des-habitants-d-une-tour-rennaise-08-09-2020-12612612.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxadrets Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Catalpa is quite right. The occasional aggro on this forum has put me right off posting. I tend to avoid conflict in any case, so voluntarily going somewhere I might be subjected to it is a definite no-no. Maybe it’s a character defect, but it keeps me safe. I will continue to lurk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 I wish I hadn't heard that Lehaut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroTr@sh Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 auxadrets wrote: "I will continue to lurk."But you can only lurk if other people keep the forum alive by posting. Otherwise there will be nowhere to lurk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 ET, apropos your earlier remark about making plans that don't work out, I just want to say please don't be too hard on yourself. You had a plan and the courage to "go for it".....and that is perfectly admirable. NOBODY could have foretold the fallout from covid and how it could cause devastation to many a well-laid plan.I am sure you know Beckett's remark (and even Wawrinka the tennis player, of whom I am a great fan) had it tattooed on his arm: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.All the best, ET; you never know what pleasant opportunities might be just round the corner for you[:)] (encouraging smile!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 What worries me about your quote, Nimt, is that it applies to Donald Trump and even Hilter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Ah Mint, I like the quote. And, husband is a big fan of Stan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 I think that my reaction is summed up in my new tag... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybanana Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Though wise men at their end know dark is right,Because their words had forked no lightning theyDo not go gentle into that good night.Good men, the last wave by, crying how brightTheir frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,Do not go gentle into that good night.Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sightBlind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,Rage, rage against the dying of the light.And you, my father, there on the sad height,Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.Do not go gentle into that good night.Rage, rage against the dying of the light.From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp. Used with permission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GHrE2amzinyP8F6r49z0rKG6a6wWZnpT/view?fbclid=IwAR2tyGVBg8p-Hv9IeidKQF13fPwOWcyWnPS7zh2NMNmegxi5hGtMQ1yfJKoThesunlight on the gardenHardens and grows cold,We cannotcage the minuteWithin its nets of gold;When all istoldWe cannot beg for pardon.Our freedom as freelancesAdvances towards its end;The earth compels, uponitSonnets and birds descend;And soon, my friend,Weshall have no time for dances.The sky was good forflyingDefying the church bellsAnd every evil ironSirenand what it tells:The earth compels,We are dying, Egypt,dyingAnd not expecting pardon,Hardened in heartanew,But glad to have sat underThunder and rain withyou,And grateful tooFor sunlight on the garden.LouisMacneice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 [quote user="Lori"]Ah Mint, I like the quote. And, husband is a big fan of Stan.[/quote]I love to watch him play. His serve and single-handed backstroke ......fabulous!Pity he's not in New York at the mo; he'd have a good chance of winning the tournament! And with Djokovich disqualified..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 [quote user="Lori"]Ah Mint, I like the quote. And, husband is a big fan of Stan.[/quote]I love to watch him play. His serve and single-handed backstroke ......fabulous!Pity he's not in New York at the mo; he'd have a good chance of winning the tournament! And with Djokovich disqualified..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loiseau Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Hooray! I am briefly in Bananaland, and find that here I can view the forum on my iPad without one-third of the screen being blocked by a thick coloured band down each side.At last I can see the names of posters, and also the necessary Reply keys.It’s wonderful to see old friends like Catalpa and auxadrets pop up. I have been a member since the 1990s, I think, in the days of Coco, and Dick, and oooo, can't remember the other names. But some of us did meet up once at a French Property fair at Olympia, to put faces to names. I have even stayed, years ago, at Coco's lovely B&B in Normandy. I lived in France twice in the 1960s, and later had a holiday home for five decades (sold three years ago). But - although I speak fluent French - I have never totally committed to living there. Instead, my experience of the country and language became a springboard that launched me into writing a couple of guidebooks - one on the Vendée, and one on the north (within 90 min of Calais); both sadly now out of print. Gosh, I loved doing that; all that exploring and explaining.But I am not so good at debate and discussion.Will try to do better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betise Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Ooh, so many people I remember from "the old days". Some others are still here, Sweet 16, Teamedup, woolyB to name a few, although they have new usernames now. I remember Saligo Bay, Twinkle (so sad to hear that she died) Coops (of course) Russethouse, Clair, even (whispers) Mikki. I've been around here since the 90s, with a different username then, but gradually stopped posting. Then log in problems forced me to re-reigister with a shiny new name, and now I pop in from time to time, mostly just to lurk (as proved by my lowly post count ) but I do post from time to time.I would be sad to see the forum disappear :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judith-aka-Judith Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 [quote user="NormanH"]I think that my reaction is summed up in my new tag...[/quote]Yes, I was thinking how approriate it was to how I was feeling too .. wish I could remember who wrote it, I have certainly read it somewhere, sometime in the past! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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