From 27th to 30 Sept , showing a science fiction film ''The world's End'' and from 4th to 7 th Oct. ''Blue Jasmine'' the much talked film, Woody Allen directing Cate Blanchett.
http://www.allocine.fr/seance/salle_gen_csalle=W0114.html
I have added the Cinema to the top list as we are so lucky to have this couple running this cinema, let us all support them
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Heads down, to let the dog see the rabbit
One of those incomprehensible headlines you seem to get in newspapers which if you are trying to follow the story in French, you get your mind set in the direction of looking for dogs and rabbits.
For our Dutch readers," heads down" means we must get busy and not be distracted and "dogs seeing rabbits" means we are getting on with making things easier to see, in this case clearing the weeds. All that explained Malc and I must spend the next weeks repairing donkey fencing, building the new donkey shed and clearing the weeds in the garden ready for muck spreading.
Who is not gardening at the moment? I think we all are.
At this point Malc says '' Put that camera away and get back to weeding''
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For our Dutch readers," heads down" means we must get busy and not be distracted and "dogs seeing rabbits" means we are getting on with making things easier to see, in this case clearing the weeds. All that explained Malc and I must spend the next weeks repairing donkey fencing, building the new donkey shed and clearing the weeds in the garden ready for muck spreading.
Who is not gardening at the moment? I think we all are.
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| One of our views, click on the pictures for bigger images |
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| High on a hill, Mas del Sol, and in the larger version I can just see our silly sheep on the wall. Malc says ''change that to your silly sheep'' |
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| Work in progress on the new donkey shed |
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| The old donkey shed is down under the trees and quite a walk in winter to give them hay. |
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Whose responsibility would it be?
A 60 year old man was working on the roof of a barn near Monesties when the tiles collapsed under his weight and he fell through the roof and was helicoptered to hospital gravely injured. He was not wearing a harness at the time.
I just wonder if there is any responsibility on the barn owner, and will the mutuelle pay out if he was not working according to safety procedures, and in that scenerio would the barn owner bear some responsibility. Certainly if he was working on the black the barn owner could be in trouble.
Safety first, my motto.
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I just wonder if there is any responsibility on the barn owner, and will the mutuelle pay out if he was not working according to safety procedures, and in that scenerio would the barn owner bear some responsibility. Certainly if he was working on the black the barn owner could be in trouble.
Safety first, my motto.
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Tuesday, 24 September 2013
9,000 bodies on a Normandy beach
Dear Val,
My art friends both in France and UK have been sending each other these images. In case you have not see them, I thought you and some of your readers
might be interested.
Best wishes,
Ellyxxx
Val says Thanks Elly that is really interesting but I never thought TAG would ever give a link to the Daily Mail!, my most despised newspaper. For those with my sensiblities I have found another link in War history online http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/haunting-reminder-millions-lives-lost-war-artists-stencil-9000-bodies-normandy-beach-mark-peace-day.html
Elly says I stand corrected dear Val. I feel the same about that paper. Glad you found a more acceptable link. Nevertheless, what do they say about the baby and the bathwater?
Elly says I stand corrected dear Val. I feel the same about that paper. Glad you found a more acceptable link. Nevertheless, what do they say about the baby and the bathwater?
Love,
Elly xxxx
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Accident de chasse à Galapian
Two stories in one here. A son age 28 going out hunting with his father shot himself and was accidentally killed, this was in the Lot and Garonne region.
But I have copied the retraction made by the Depeche as yesterday they incorrectly announced that the father had killed the son. Below their retraction.
But I have copied the retraction made by the Depeche as yesterday they incorrectly announced that the father had killed the son. Below their retraction.
Contrairement à ce que nous avons affirmé par erreur dans notre édition d’hier en mettant en cause le père de la victime au prix d’une regrettable méprise, nous tenons à rectifier les allégations portées à tort et présentons nos plus sincères excuses à l’intéressé et à sa famille pour l’émoi légitime suscité.
It is not always easy getting it right
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It is not always easy getting it right
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Lower cholesterol, how have we managed that?
Malc went for his yearly medical check up and was pleased that his cholesterol level was lower. The Doctor asked if he had changed his diet. I then went for my check up and once again my cholesterol level was down. What is it that in a year we have both changed about our diet we mused. Then we thought, perhaps it is the fact that we steam all our fish and vegetables and have done so for about a year. That Phillips steamer at only 45 euros (ish) was worth it, if that's the case.
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"Commérage" / gossips
Years ago I remember being told about "les commérages" at a local bar. I thought it a useful word to add to my vocabulary. This morning it popped into my head when Malc who was out walking the dogs, came back after "gossiping" with a builder working over the road. How did he find out all that information in such a short space of time. I think men make the best " commérage"
Sally says Commère - Is the word.....meaning fellow Momma....
Val says Looking it up Sally, the word can mean gossip, or biddy, so a lot of old biddies gossiping!
It could also mean mother in law, godmother, someone who is a chatterbox.
Commérage can also be gossips who are gambling which is the context I heard the word being used in the first place.
It seems to have a grave accent on commère but an acute accent on commérage.
I guess it is not a particularly nice way to call a group talking, too gossipy.
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Sally says Commère - Is the word.....meaning fellow Momma....
Val says Looking it up Sally, the word can mean gossip, or biddy, so a lot of old biddies gossiping!
It could also mean mother in law, godmother, someone who is a chatterbox.
Commérage can also be gossips who are gambling which is the context I heard the word being used in the first place.
It seems to have a grave accent on commère but an acute accent on commérage.
I guess it is not a particularly nice way to call a group talking, too gossipy.
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Di Canio shown the red card
Not a french story in any other way other than it has seriously affected the health and well being of a resident here in France. Paolo Di Canio has been fired as manager of Sunderland football club and one chap "wor Neville" will now be able to rest easy in his bed at nights.
Lorraine says Ah but! he can't rest easy just yet as there is talk of The Wally with the brolly in the pipeline! heaven forbid!
Val says Are you talking about Steve McClaren, Middlesbrough's best ever manager who went on to manage England ? Perhaps we had better continue this discussion off line!
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Lorraine says Ah but! he can't rest easy just yet as there is talk of The Wally with the brolly in the pipeline! heaven forbid!
Val says Are you talking about Steve McClaren, Middlesbrough's best ever manager who went on to manage England ? Perhaps we had better continue this discussion off line!
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Sometimes the papers get it wrong
Last night a reader Mimi sent a link to the Depeche and I made the headline 19 soldiers injured in a road accident at Verfeil, not that far from us. A few minutes later I noticed the headlines said 12 soldiers injured, so changed my headline ( knowing some reader would be sending me an email otherwise) This morning I notice two reports both in the Depeche, one saying 12 and another saying 19 soldiers. So the next time I make an error just remember paid reporters and sub editors can make mistakes, never mind an editor feeding and walking countless pets, entertaining, running a gite, gardening, shopping and very occasionally asking the cleaner to clean in and behind the fridge ( just in case any UKIP supporters are reading)
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Basque Choir in Varen Church
Friday 4th of October at 21h in the church at Varen, there will be a basque choir singing.
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Monday, 23 September 2013
Another apero story
Dear Val - I was amused by your apero story and it brought to mind our first "apero" invite just after the New Year (we had moved in at the beginning of October) - not a mistake but certainly not to a chateau either - this is an extract from my blog at the time
"Autre fois" (as we call our life before moving here) we had very few callers at our front door even though we lived in a fairly ordinary suburban area. When the doorbell went more often than not it was our next door neighbour telling us they were off on holiday for a few days. Now we live in splendid almost isolation an unexpected knock at the door is certainly a surprise! Last week it happened twice. The first occasion I opened the door to find a man I didn't recognise talking extremely fast and very heavily accented French at me - I managed to catch the words "voisin" and "apero" and realised it was the neighbouring farmer ( we had met him briefly to introduce ourselves when we moved in but I hadn't recognised him) inviting us for a drink - and that meant right now! I summoned TC who appeared out of the shed a whiter shade of pale covered from head to toe in white dust as he had been busy sanding a ceiling ready for painting - he looked like the ghost of old father time. A quick change and dust off and off we went up the lane and spent a pleasant (if linguistically challenging) hour or so over a bottle of champagne with Alain and his wife.A year later we invited Alain and his wife for new year aperos at our house - but we did at least give them notice!
Sue Carter
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"Autre fois" (as we call our life before moving here) we had very few callers at our front door even though we lived in a fairly ordinary suburban area. When the doorbell went more often than not it was our next door neighbour telling us they were off on holiday for a few days. Now we live in splendid almost isolation an unexpected knock at the door is certainly a surprise! Last week it happened twice. The first occasion I opened the door to find a man I didn't recognise talking extremely fast and very heavily accented French at me - I managed to catch the words "voisin" and "apero" and realised it was the neighbouring farmer ( we had met him briefly to introduce ourselves when we moved in but I hadn't recognised him) inviting us for a drink - and that meant right now! I summoned TC who appeared out of the shed a whiter shade of pale covered from head to toe in white dust as he had been busy sanding a ceiling ready for painting - he looked like the ghost of old father time. A quick change and dust off and off we went up the lane and spent a pleasant (if linguistically challenging) hour or so over a bottle of champagne with Alain and his wife.A year later we invited Alain and his wife for new year aperos at our house - but we did at least give them notice!
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Donkey sanctuary news / libertedesanes@gmail.com
hello everyone
just a reminder for you to book your place at our lunch and vide grenier with loads of books, lovely clothes and donated bric a brac on thursday 3rd october at lavolvene, 82150 belveze. we hope to start to eat at 1 pm so we will open our shop from 12 onwards, we need you to mail us to confirm you can come to enjoy our tasty lunch of QUICHE, QAKE AND QOFFEE, wine included with delicious home made food for 15 euros.
if you have been following the news of our latest arrivals you will be interested to see the attached photos.
firstly bourro looking much better than on arrival.
and then petronille, her rubs came from when she travelled before we collected her as we use a piece of foam to stop our animals rubbing and injuring themselves.
we look forward to hearing back from you and thank you in advance for your support for all the donkeys here, we can only continue to keep everyone healthy and happy through your generosity.
jan lemmy
Val says those poor donkeys, the ears tell it all
I look at my Rosie and Lucy and think how lucky they are. I hope they will spend the rest of their lives being lucky.
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Val says those poor donkeys, the ears tell it all
I look at my Rosie and Lucy and think how lucky they are. I hope they will spend the rest of their lives being lucky.
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12 young soldiers hurt in a road accident on the Verfeil / Ginals road
Hi Val,
I thought you might be interested in the link to the accident that closed the Verfeil to Ginals road this morning.
Brits always arrived on time ... even when not invited
Brother in law Tudor has just phoned to say he is enjoying " the chateau" stories but what about our apero incident. So just for Tudor ( he is the one whose trousers fell down in the airport) I will tell you the story.
We had just arrived here in December and my sister and Tudor came in January on a Christmas present flight that cost me 8 pounds each with Ryanair (those were the days) Sadly my sister was at this time not well having breast cancer, so every minute of that holiday was precious for us all. I had been to the chateau next door and had a conversation which included talking about apero evenings. I came back to tell the family that night I thought, no I was sure we had been invited for aperos at 6pm. I said how difficult it was with "0" level French from years ago to understand. We were all a bit excited and my sister and I discussed what we would wear to go to the chateau. It was our first invitation out into French society life.
At 6 pm we arrived at the impressive doors in our best outfits and went into the courtyard, up the steps and knocked on the door. Madame Guiral had her daughter from Paris staying with her and they both appeared from the garden still in their gardening clothes with gardening gloves on.
They invited us into the large salon and sat and talked to us for awhile, they kept disappearing off into another room and we kept whispering amongst ourselves, when were the aperos coming. After about an hour and after the couples disappearance again I whispered, " when they come back let's get up and leave" which we did, saying effusive goodbyes, and then getting back home as quickly as we could.
We were in fits of laughter realising I had made a mistake and our aperos at the chateau was all an error.
Weeks later when we became friends with the son Bertrand, we told him about the evening and he laughingly said he knew about it from his sister. They had nothing prepared and kept going off saying " what are we going to do with them"
We have all laughed about it ever since and it is a happy memory we all shared with Yvonne my sister, who sadly died later that year.
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We had just arrived here in December and my sister and Tudor came in January on a Christmas present flight that cost me 8 pounds each with Ryanair (those were the days) Sadly my sister was at this time not well having breast cancer, so every minute of that holiday was precious for us all. I had been to the chateau next door and had a conversation which included talking about apero evenings. I came back to tell the family that night I thought, no I was sure we had been invited for aperos at 6pm. I said how difficult it was with "0" level French from years ago to understand. We were all a bit excited and my sister and I discussed what we would wear to go to the chateau. It was our first invitation out into French society life.
At 6 pm we arrived at the impressive doors in our best outfits and went into the courtyard, up the steps and knocked on the door. Madame Guiral had her daughter from Paris staying with her and they both appeared from the garden still in their gardening clothes with gardening gloves on.
They invited us into the large salon and sat and talked to us for awhile, they kept disappearing off into another room and we kept whispering amongst ourselves, when were the aperos coming. After about an hour and after the couples disappearance again I whispered, " when they come back let's get up and leave" which we did, saying effusive goodbyes, and then getting back home as quickly as we could.
We were in fits of laughter realising I had made a mistake and our aperos at the chateau was all an error.
Weeks later when we became friends with the son Bertrand, we told him about the evening and he laughingly said he knew about it from his sister. They had nothing prepared and kept going off saying " what are we going to do with them"
We have all laughed about it ever since and it is a happy memory we all shared with Yvonne my sister, who sadly died later that year.
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The bodies of Allison et Marie-Josée Benitez found
The bodies of the two ladies, mother and daughter have been found at Port-Leucate, Perpignan. They were found by divers in an area where Paco Benitez had been seen days after the ladies disappeared. The principal suspect in this now murder enquiry is the father and husband of the two, who committed suicide a few weeks after their disappearance. Another lady that Benitez was associated with went missing a few years ago and he is still a suspect in this case.
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David Hatfield sends recipes for tomatoes
Look in Cooks to see two recipes from David to use your tomatoes which are plentiful at the moment. We know David gets a lot of praise for his recipes but we also know as happened the other day whilst he was here that he gets a bit of stick for his Americanisms and measures. Keep up the good work David regardless.
David says I don't know what you mean by Americanisms. Are they somewhat similar to Englishisms?
.
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David says I don't know what you mean by Americanisms. Are they somewhat similar to Englishisms?
As to measurements I guess I could use French;
Last time I looked no lesser authority than Delia Smith uses tablespoons.
Take all this with a cuillerée de dessert.
Two single beds needed
Hi Val
Next thing on our wanted list is 2 single beds if any Tag readers may have 2 they wish to sell?
Regards
Linda
pebblestherapies@hotmail.com
0652029968
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Next thing on our wanted list is 2 single beds if any Tag readers may have 2 they wish to sell?
Regards
Linda
pebblestherapies@hotmail.com
0652029968
comments to taglines82@gmail.com
Fete Saint- Michel At Toulouse
Why are they " feteing" St. Michel I thought.
Well it is not just St. Michel but St. Gabriel, and St. Raphaël archangels who have important work to save the planet. They are the ones who kicked satan out of heaven. Malc says I need to read Miltons Paradise lost again to remind myself. Oh! heck and I just popped in for a cup of tea whilst cutting down the wisteria. The reading will just have to wait!
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http://www.toulouseblog.fr/actualite-21439-fete-saint-michel-retour-a-toulouse-21-septembre-2013.html
Well it is not just St. Michel but St. Gabriel, and St. Raphaël archangels who have important work to save the planet. They are the ones who kicked satan out of heaven. Malc says I need to read Miltons Paradise lost again to remind myself. Oh! heck and I just popped in for a cup of tea whilst cutting down the wisteria. The reading will just have to wait!
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http://www.toulouseblog.fr/actualite-21439-fete-saint-michel-retour-a-toulouse-21-septembre-2013.html
Gardeners question time
Saturday and Sunday mornings on France Inter radio, around 7.15 to 7. 30am ish- there is a gardeners question time featuring Alain Baraton the head gardener at Versailles. Listeners send questions which he answers. Being a keen gardener I find this quite useful.
In fact he has helped me make a decision about a lovely white wisteria I have growing around a balcony on the gite. It has just started flowering in the last two years but this year the flowers were not as prolific as last year. The reason it would appear is that I cut back all the new growth and that is where the flowers would come, on the new not the old growth.
The wisteria has become a problem to family and renters using that terrace as it seems to attract ants and mosquitoes. Also it cuts out a lot of the beautiful views and repeat renters have started asking if I could trim it back.
Today my task is to cut back all the branches,(which will mean I will not get flowers next year ) and then in October dig it out and move it to a South facing wall where it will have the chance to run riot without being cut back.
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In fact he has helped me make a decision about a lovely white wisteria I have growing around a balcony on the gite. It has just started flowering in the last two years but this year the flowers were not as prolific as last year. The reason it would appear is that I cut back all the new growth and that is where the flowers would come, on the new not the old growth.
The wisteria has become a problem to family and renters using that terrace as it seems to attract ants and mosquitoes. Also it cuts out a lot of the beautiful views and repeat renters have started asking if I could trim it back.
Today my task is to cut back all the branches,(which will mean I will not get flowers next year ) and then in October dig it out and move it to a South facing wall where it will have the chance to run riot without being cut back.
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That beautiful front entrance door was not ours and should not have been there!
Madame Guiral from the chateau, in our first years here loved to come and sit on our terrace with a coffee and recount tales of the past. Just up Malc and I's street as we were and are interested in the patrimoine of our area and the region. As the little church of St. Vincent was directly opposite she knew all the stories about that and even about the cimetiere which was at the back of the church but had originally been all the way around. When it rained she told us it had been a problem as dogs could go and dig up bones quite near the surface. Needless to say we never allowed our dogs to go over there.
Her best stories though included our house and she always had a proprietorial air over the Presbytere. Her great grandfather had given the land to the church for the curé's house, in time that became the property of the state and about 20 years previously the council had sold the property now no longer used as the curé's home.Many years ago there had been no door at the front, only at the rear and Madame was never happy with our front entrance. For a start the door had been taken [whether by fair means or foul, we never knew] from a local run down church, but it would never have been allowed to be changed by her Grandfather. Malc and I were always vaguely apologetic about that door we loved so much when talking with her.
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Her best stories though included our house and she always had a proprietorial air over the Presbytere. Her great grandfather had given the land to the church for the curé's house, in time that became the property of the state and about 20 years previously the council had sold the property now no longer used as the curé's home.Many years ago there had been no door at the front, only at the rear and Madame was never happy with our front entrance. For a start the door had been taken [whether by fair means or foul, we never knew] from a local run down church, but it would never have been allowed to be changed by her Grandfather. Malc and I were always vaguely apologetic about that door we loved so much when talking with her.
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