Brilliant morning bringing sunshine 🌝

What a brilliant morning this morning.

First of all Malc and I loaded the four flat screen Tv’s into the car and drove to Parisot to hand out televisions.

Then with Abdul Rahim and Mamoud, one African and one Afghan we drove to Intersport at Villefranche where we bought 4 “propa” footballs, two Paris St. Germaine and an other 2 Barcelona( Malc was disappointed not to find any Middlesbrough)

Then we bought a solid looking outdoor table tennis table and lots of bats and ping pong balls.

Then we bought a dartboard having taken another second hand one this morning as well as everything else

A box of cakes left over from our apero evening and our morning was complete.

Malc and I drove home singing, we were so happy.

This is why we and all the team at Mains Tendues  work our socks off to help others.

Ik

March of the Century

We published recently calls for a march for the planet on 31st March, organised locally. But 140 organisations, including Greenpeace, Nicolas Hulot Foundation, Secours Catholique, SOS racisme and many others have called people, especially the young, to join in a mass "March of the Century" on Saturday 16th March.
This is taking advantage of the Friday protests we also reported on recently, with school and university students making their feelings on climate change known by strikes and demonstrations. As with most Fridays there will be some manifestations on 15th and the groups have asked that those worldwide events be followed on the next day with a massive march.

Visitor tax starting to bite

The growth of short term residential lettings, either a gite or Airbnb, is a concern apparently to the bigger organisations such as hotels. They claim that owners of such short term premises compete unfairly as they don't have the same standards to meet, do not pay business rates and often do not pay tax on their earnings.
Having the "stay" tax now charged by internet letting companies such as Homeaway or Airbnb means owners no longer need to account for it, but the bureaucracy of registering and making monthly reports for other sources remains. In Tarn and Garonne the nightly rate is fixed at 5% (not a straight percentage of the gross rental, there are "chargeable" and "exempt" guests) and other areas have other rates.
The rates charged include the tax which is paid by the guests, but remitted by the owner or manager. The amounts are supposed to fund the tourism infrastructure which will attract and improve the stay of visitors to the area. As a gite owner we can appreciate that big cities or resorts may see the competition as unfair, but given the absolute dearth of decent hotel accommodation in this part of the world we are actually only competing with other gite owners.
The stay tax is in addition to the tax fonciere and habitation and in most cases the income tax we pay on the letting income. Maintaining our properties is not cheap and wages for cleaners, gardeners and managers can be substantial. Mostly we are private owners wanting a bit of income from our property and not extra bureaucratic paper work (sorry, internet work).
Where is my gilet jaune!

Montauban in times past

Place Nationale, formerly known as Place Royale.

It is said to be the fourth most beautiful place of France. 

Vide armoire for Cancer Support

Save the Date! Vide Armoire for Cancer Support France.

I am delighted to announce that on behalf of Cancer Support France, we are holding a Vide Armoire on Saturday 13^th April, from 10am ‘til 5pm.  All proceeds will be going to CSF and any items remaining after the sale has finished will be donated to Les Mains Tendue in Varen, a fripperie that supports refugees in the area.

Also included in the sale will be a number of items that were donated by the family of Erica Nickalls, who sadly died from cancer at Christmas.  It was her family’s wish that her things be sold for charity.  

There will be a large selection of items at amazing prices ranging from 50 cents to 5€

Women’s Clothes – Dresses, skirts, trousers, swimsuits, sweaters, jackets and much more.  Many designer labels included.

Hats, handbags, shoes, jewellery, umbrellas, greeting cards, a fantastic selection of cookbooks, some baby equipment, patchwork & knitting materials, books, hair accessories, suitcases and much more.

There will be cake and juice available to buy also.

If you are interested in donating some clothes or accessories to the sale, please contact me directly to discuss.  We will accept a small quantity of good quality items only.

Location:  Bonbousquet Yoga Studio Les Cabannes, 81170.  Coming from the direction of Cordes sur Ciel, travel through the centre of Les Cabannes and take the first left after the Social Centre and Post Office.  Then take the first right and follow this road directly until the end, about 1 km, past the quarry.  There will be balloons signalling the way.

Date: Saturday 13^th April 2019 10am – 5pm.

Please pass this onto your friends!

Sideboard for sale

Cupboard or sideboard in good condition

100 euros ono

Mains Tendues 82

Varen

taglines82@gmail.com

Adoring and adorable Issy

Little Issy age between one or two, fully grown so she is not a big dog. At present in the care of Linda Walsh doggy mummy and dog fosterer.

Izzy came today to the book swap and was not fazed but look how she is looking at Linda with adoration. Well Issy could be looking at you like that... if she was yours.

Contact Linda Walsh to meet Issy and discuss her adoption.

pebblestherapies@gmail.com

What time will we have?

The (for most of us) conundrum of whether the clocks go forward or back may soon come to an end. A proposal has been adopted by the EU to get rid of the twice a year change of hour to summertime and back to standard time. But there is some confusion over what time to choose. Should countries stick with the summer time or with the winter time?
Currently the UK moves from what we call Greenwich Mean Time (although it is referred to as Universal Time Coordinated - UTC) to British Summer Time (UTC+1). France moves from UTC+1 to UTC+2. Each country can choose what system it wants to use; currently the UK, Portugal and Ireland use the same time, France and most EU countries are one hour ahead and the more easterly members are 2 hours ahead.
So unless all the countries make the same decision there could be a variety of times when crossing borders. If France adopts UTC+1 and Belgium UTC+2 one would need to alter the clocks every time you cross the border - and many people live on one side of the border and work on the other.
A government consultation here suggests that a majority would prefer to choose the summer time (UTC+2), but whatever system countries choose it will probably not be introduced before 2021.
It is worth noting that here in south west France we are very much on the Greenwich meridian so that our actual time would be the same as the UK, rather than one hour ahead.
NB the clocks this year will be advanced one hour on the night of 31st March.

Christchurch NZ welcomes refugees

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/110981918/christchurch-welcomes-first-quota-refugees-since-the-earthquakes

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

Val we are back on track.   Hope we can emulate your success. Ann

Val says a message from lovely Ann in  Christchurch NZ

taglines82@gmail.com

Concert next Sunday

March for the planet

Zero interest loans for improvements

Previously available for a bouquet of home improvements designed to make homes more eco-friendly was eligible for interest free loans but from today any one of the approved improvements will be eligible for a loan up to 10000 euros. Loans are normally re-payable over 15 years.
Work such as roof or wall insulation, double glazing, installation of heating systems (excluding oil) and use of renewable energy will be eligible. The work must be carried out by approved installers.
The link below gives more information.
https://www.ademe.fr/particuliers-eco-citoyens/financer-projet/renovation/dossier/eco-pret-a-taux-zero/tout-savoir-leco-pret-a-taux-zero-2019

And ticks are on the lookout

The very warm weather has woken ticks from their winter slumbers and the little insects are already hunting out food. For animals such as dogs they can be fatal and for humans can cause the very debilitating Lyme's disease.
Many pet owners, Taglines included, will have already found ticks on their dogs or cats. There are various remedies or preventions; for walkers the simplest is to tuck your trousers into your socks. Children, who are nearer the ground, should also wear a hat when walking through tall grass or bushes. Anti-mosquito sprays may be effective and for animals tick collars can work. Regular examination of your pets and use of a simple fork to remove ticks without damage is recommended.
Our old Golden Retriever, Bonny, was a tick magnet and we have already found one on Chanel, so be vigilant.

Musée Toulouse Lautrec

Measles on the rise in France

France is one of the countries where measles saw an almost 50% rise since 2017. Unicef warns that the disease is highly contagious, caused over 130000 deaths worldwide and yet is easily and cheaply avoided.
Brazil, Philippines and Ukraine saw the biggest increases, but France is in the top ten countries affected. In some western countries there has been scepticism about the safety of vaccinations, often propagated by on-line scare stories. Most medical opinion is that the disease is far more dangerous than the risks of vaccines, and in poor countries vaccination is not always available. Most medical surgeries here in France have been warning of the danger of measles and offering immunisation.

One outside table tennis to buy then for now I have cracked it

A million thanks to everyone.

I now have the 4 required flat screen televisions for my young men and families.

I will explain that the wooden chalets are so small that a flat screen is more likely to fit in !

I also have a good outdoor table tennis table to pick up.

I NEED ONE MORE, and I am prepared to pay for it.

We felt so strongly that the lads should be able to watch sport as well as kick a ball about themselves that I really wanted to pull all the stops out

A photo of the last two tv’s offered.

Spring watch

Not the popular UK TV programme, but a volunteer group called "Spring Sentinels" who have been reporting early signs of spring to the local Midi Pyrenees PETR (an organisation of local government to collect and diffuse information on climate change).
Participants report first sightings (or bird calls) of 10 indicators. These include the first swallows, cuckoo, cowslips, hazel catkins, ladybirds (the 7 point variety), oak buds, vine shoots, yellow butterfly, pyramid orchids and green frogs.
Not all of these appear early in the spring, but it is useful to mark the progress of the season as it seems to be getting earlier each year.

Cowslips: primavere coucou

No doubt readers will have seen hazel trees with their pendulous flower clusters for some time now and we noticed some cowslips this morning. Pyramid orchids will not appear until late April/May, but there are other earlier varieties to look for from mid-March.
This link is to the very interesting report on the activities of the Sentinels in 2018.
http://www.midi-quercy.fr/IMG/pdf/-14.pdf

Music from the middle east.

A trio of Palestinian musicians will be presenting a concert of classical music with a middle eastern flavour on Sunday at the mairie in St Antonin. Participation libre, with part of the take paid to Et Puis D'Ailleurs, the association which is still helping the first migrants who arrived in the area three years ago.

Getting ready in the new department store in Varen

I should not laugh but it has been funny.

Malc and some of my boys working under instruction climbed up three flights of narrow stairs to bring down two old armoires. They are both beauties, but we have decided to keep them to display our linen that is for sale.

They are amazing things in that they break down into bits just like Ikea furniture.

They then transported them up up more winding stairs in our building to putback together. It took minutes to take them apart but after some time I left them to it on the pretext that the dogs needed their tea. ( the dogs thought it was hardly a pretext but a necessity.)

Malc will bring the second car and trailer when they are finished and I will run the boys back to Parisot.

I did warn them they would have to stay all evening if the jigsaw puzzle was not completed and left laughing.

You did not know I was so hard 🤪

taglines82@ gmail.com

Book swap in St. Antonin

Monday next week will be the St. Antonin book swap. Helen Graham asks that you contact her if you want to stay on for lunch

daxlore@wanadoo.fr