Cheques arriving hand over fist.

Hi Val,

Cheque arrived today. I will post it to Brian tomorrow. Please thank Ms Neill and Mr Stone for the generosity and thank you all for your continued support of CSF Sud Tarn.

All the best

Helene

Thanks also to the Tippets for theirs which arrived today.

Thanks to Jacynth Crozier for her 35 euros to Liberte des Anes

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Where do you buy paving stones?

Hi Val,
I wonder if you can help me out I need some paving stones for the garden and nobody seems to stock the and I go back to England on Saturday . Can you help?
I live near Laguepie
Regards Catherine
Hi Val
Re the above: we've found it well worth the distance to go into Montauban to Pavan. The range is excellent and the price is unbeatable. As much as i support local businesses whenever possible, i couldn't bring myself to pay 3 times the price, so to Montauban we go for tiles and pavers.
Di
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Le Château de la reine Margot

Sur le commune de St. Projet(82) sera ouvert à la visite tous les jours du 29 Mars au 6 Avril inclus 14h à 18.30
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Irish music at Caussade

This applies to any new commercial building built

An aeroplane crash in the Alps kills everyone on board

An aeroplane travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf has come down in the Alps killing the 148 people on board
13h09. "Il n'y a aucun survivant" dans le crash dans les Alpes françaises de l'Airbus A320 de la compagnie Germanwings assurant la liaison entre Barcelone et Düsseldorf avec 148 personnes, a déclaré à la presse le secrétaire d'Etat aux Transports, Alain Vidalies. "Il y a eu un appel de détresse enregistré à 10H47. Ce signal de détresse montrait que l'avion était à 5.000 pieds, dans une situation anormale. L'avion s'est écrasé dans le massif de l'Estrop. C'est une zone qui est enneigée, inaccessible par des véhicules, mais qui a pu être survolée par des hélicoptères."
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On the cinema live from the Royal opera House

Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny live in cinemasWednesday 1 April 2015. 7:15pm (BST)

Three criminals on the run find they can go no further and found a city – Mahagonny, city of gold. This is Kurt Weill and Bertholt Brecht at their most brilliant and inventive.

Mark Wigglesworth conducts a stunning new production from John Fulljames, with a superb cast including Christine Rice, Willard W. White and Anne Sofie von Otter. Sung in English with local-language subtitles.

Paterson Joseph will give audiences around the world a glimpse behind the scenes as he presents the live cinema relay. 

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The couple are second homers in France

Angelina Jolie on the face of it has everything, beauty, stardom, fame, money and Brad Pitt but her cancer concerns are now making her choose to have her ovaries removed. Two years ago she had a mastectomy, a family gene gives her a 50% chance of getting cancer in these sites.  She has all our sympathies I am sure, but it leads me to remind anyone suffering hard times,  nobody but nobody sails through life without ups and downs. When you are having a down just remember the up is on the way. You are not alone with your problem, some hide it better than others but everyone has " life's soucis"
Sound a bit like Marge Proops, remember her?
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Canal du Midi on Great Canal journeys

Next week the programme Great Canal Journeys features the Canal du Midi
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French cuisine hits back

Discerning some claims that British cooking has displaced the celebrated cuisine Francais as "French-bashing" and "Anglo-Saxon arrogance" the French foreign ministry and celebrity chef Alain Ducasse have launched a counter offensive.
"Gout de France. Good France" (I would have used "gout de France. Good taste", says Malc) is a campaign to show to that French cuisine is still the best. Based on Escoffier's "Diner d'Epicure" in 1912, embassies throughout the world will be inviting local dignitaries to dine on food prepared by leading chefs on the same basic idea.
We can't help thinking that a 1912 idea says something about French cuisine. It's traditions are good, but fresh thinking is what is driving international kitchens to the top. We re-watched the "100 Foot Journey" the other night and in amongst all the mush is the theme that even the French will welcome some culinary innovation - though more likely in the steel and glass splendour of the Pompidou centre than the homely institutions of St Antonin.
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Life has its ups and downs

A picture arrived at TAG from the St. Antonin dog catchers and rehomers with an urgent plea "Val will you be a famille d'acceuil to a dog just found,  who needs a home." The picture showed a huge skinny hound with the longest legs. Malc and I looked in horror at the dog and I emailed back and said a definite NO it is not possible, he s just too big for us.
When a couple of days earlier we had said we would foster to help the girls out of a sticky period we had a list of cute dogs, labrador puppies, yorkie, spaniel and old border collie, but a huge possible alsation never crossed our minds.  (I have always been a bit scared of alsations)
I then received another email asking if I would put the details on TAG. I did this knowing in the short term the dog did not have a hope. We kept getting messages telling us to pass on how gentil and loving he was and he was at our local vets at Laguepie.. and it may only be for a few days.
So we cracked and went to look at him. A  sorrier sight has never met your eyes, but eyes were the thing that shone out of this great bag of bones. It was uncomfortable to stroke him, his bones stick out so much. He was too ill to bring home yesterday. Today I am hoping he will be up to it and this morning I will go and see how he is. If not well enough to leave the vet's care I will try and give him a bit of fresh air and a walk around the nearby car park.
I do not know about adopt a puppy, they must be easier to find homes for, I am going to start "Adopt an elderly dog"  day and for us it might be that day.

Val says well the good news he is holding up, eating a little now and performing bodily functions. He is still being kept in the vets on a drip and tonight he will have another blood test. The concern is for his kidneys. I was allowed to give him a ten minute walk where he met Bonny without any problem. We will hopefully go tomorrow and pick him up.
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What happened with our HyperU?

For years we were faithful to the HyperU in Villefranche. Admittedly it was largely because it was the most convenient to get to from our home; but for the "big shop" we all need from time to time it met our needs. Then one day (January 1st 2015) it became a Carrefour and one wonders how that can be. Most big hyper and supermarkets are franchises, allying the owner to a major distributer for supply and marketing support. But unlike Leclerc and Carrefour the SystemU owners remain fully independent, with no particular binding contract, which allows them to walk away when it suits them.
The company has signed agreements with Auchan for joint buying and distribution which could mean more changes to the "pavillon", and the independent owners are not happy about it.
It seems that the direction of SystemU would like to bind their partners to a more formal arrangement, going against the ethos of "independents". Whatever, it is clear that the desires of the owners come ahead of that of the customers
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National puppy day today

Saving one rescue will not change the world but the world will change for the one rescued.

Val says I saw this on the net but need to check in what nation is " national puppy day"

Apparently dog lovers around the world are celebrating the day, maybe it should be International puppy day.
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It does sound plausible but...

the courts decided differently.
A RETIRED electrician and his wife who hid 271 unpublished works by Pablo Picasso in their garage for nearly 40 years have been found guilty of possessing stolen goods. The court in Grasse, on the French Riviera, handed Pierre and Danielle Le Guennec two-year suspended prison sentences. 
Throughout the trial, Mr Le Guennec, 75, had insisted that Picasso's wife Jacqueline gave him a box containing the 271 works while he was working on their farmhouse in Mougins in 1971 or 1972. He said that she told him: “This is for you”.    More in the Connexion.
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Sarkozy is back

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party won the first round of local elections in France on Sunday in what could be his first success in a long and likely turbulent campaign to reclaim the presidency in 2017.

“He can now claim that he led a successful campaign as the president of a new UMP,” Jean Garrigues, a French political historian and analyst told FRANCE 24. It is a feat neither of his main rivals within the UMP, former prime ministers François Fillon and Alain Juppé, can match.  comments to taglines82@gmail.com

Nous sommes mardi, le vingt quatre

Continuing translating Le Petit Prince
Quand j'en rencontrais une qui me paraissat un peu lucide, je faisais l'expérience sur elle de mon dessin numèro 1 que j'ai toujours conservé. Je voulais savoir si elle était vraiment compréhensive.

Whenever I met one of them that seemed a bit more clear sighted, I tried the experience of showing them my drawing number 1 that I have always kept. I wanted to know if they were a person of true understanding.
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Festival du livre d'Artiste

This might be hard to read and difficult for English speakers to understand but you have the chance from 25th of April to 3rd of May to see and get involved with many events concerning books. Last year and again this Malc and I are very honoured to be including in the list of judges for the festival of illustrated books. In our life as booksellers illustrated books along with childrens was our speciality so a true delight to view some of the wonderful ideas and unique presentations in this festival. Last year Malc nearly had to consfiscate my purse as I bought some lovely presents and gifts. More about it nearer the time but mark it in your diaries now.
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Najac is green

Najac the UMP leads the way, ahead of the PS and Greens (who polled 22%). Very liberal in Najac with not a single FN voter.
Photo Najac Aveyron
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Sadly back without Prince

Poor Prince is in a more dire state than we first thought. He cannot leave the vets as he needs another infusion. He is literally a big bag of skin and bones with a large abscess on his back, but he has huge adorable eyes. I did manage to take him for a little walk and practised my French commands as we went.
Malc stayed to ask about him at the vets. He was puced in 2004 in the Manche area, ( miles away in the North) He was picked up from between Parisot and Ginals on Friday but must have been lost for weeks or months to be the bag of bones he is.
Malc and I both had tears in our eyes as we left him with the vets wife and Emily the receptionist fussing around him.
 Will he survive? we just do not know.
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It's blue - but not Marine

The departmental elections first round yesterday were a triumph for Sarkozy's UMP and UDI colleague parties, with over 35% of the votes nationally, well ahead of the Front National (26%) and the PS (21%). This morning all parties are claiming that they did better than expected - the PS emphasising that its partners PRG and "divers gauche" push the left vote up to 36%. What is sure is that despite their vote the FN cannot claim to be the "first party" of France as Marine Le Pen has been claiming since the European elections.
The second round next Sunday will give a clearer idea of who will govern each department, with the right likely to take the majority.
Locally in Tarn & Garonne the FN was the largest party with 27% but out going president Jean-Michel Baylet and his "binome" woman partner, Christiane Le Corre (PRG) are the only two elected from the first round. Varen supported mainly the PS, Verfeil the UMP, St Antonin the PS.
In the Tarn the FN on top, but the UMP/UDI barely 5%, the centre right vote going to "divers droite". Locally in Cordes the PS topped the polls; in St Martin Laguepie the "divers" came out ahead of the PS and the 27 voters of Montrosier managed to vote for 6 different candidates.
In Aveyron  the "divers droite" and UDI topped the polls, with 16 councillors already elected.
Locally in Villefranche de Rouergue it was the "divers" well ahead of the PRG and FN.
In Najac the UMP leads the way, ahead of the PS and Greens (who polled 22%). Very liberal in Najac with not a single FN voter.
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