I'm not ranting, but further to LiR's post directly above ...

My partner, who was Belgian, gained his Baccalauréat (that's sort of the equivalent to English A levels although the whole system is rather different), at just 17. That is a year earlier than usual (for the time) though its certainly not exceptional .... but anyway to further improve his English he then spent a 'final year' at an ordinary American high school in Louisiana. As a native/mother-tongue French speaker he acted rather as a classroom assistant in French lessons, but for all other subjects such as history, English and maths, he was basically there just like any other student. Accordingly he was always very proud that at the end of the year he won the school prize for English grammar, and also came second in the school (English) spelling bee - in both having competed against ordinary English-speaking American students. I can however vouch that his knowledge of both history and geography - in whatever language - was atrocious. And of course once back in Europe he also had to unlearn the deep Southern-American drawl that he'd picked-up.

.... Seriously though in response to LiR's post; I suspect that Americans' (in)famous ignorance of geography and the larger world outside of the US, is largely a function of the enormous size of their country and the distances to anywhere 'foreign'. I visited the US as a student in the 1980s and encountered many Americans who'd never needed or wanted to travel, whether for business or holidays, outside of the continental US ... indeed many hadn't even been more that a state away. I had just spent two weeks happily travelling around Europe, while many American's I encountered seemed frankly amazed that one would willingly visit a country where English wasn't the usual language. I was repeatedly asked, 'But how did you tell them what you wanted?!? Adding to this casually xenophobic mixture of arrogance and conservatism, there is also undeniably, the US's post war economic success which basically meant guaranteed jobs for all - whether that be in the local mine or factory, or the local gas-station or store. Why bother struggling to learn calculus or Spanish when it was simply expected that you'd join your father, brothers and uncles, working for good pay at the neighbouring car-factory or chemical plant?

All that has now changed of course, but the deep-rooted sentiments are probably still there.

For a country that has largely been built on open immigration, the US has nevertheless also had several long-lasting bouts of deliberate self-imposed isolationism ... in particular the years before both the World Wars, but also increasingly these days too with Trump's 'America First' policy. Foreigners, immigrants, foreign languages, different ideas, different weights and measures, unfamiliar ways of doing things ... all are increasingly seen as un-American and threatening, and so the US further entrenches itself behind its self-built walls. In such a climate is it really unsurprising that many Americans don't know the capital of Hungary, the name of the French President or even where Pakistan is situated?

Not ranting here - thanks for the information, MM.  I know I read something about "l'immersion" - an attempt to promote French in Louisiana which state was once largely French-speaking.  I can't remember which thread now but I know there was some posting about Louisiana French, Jersey and Guernsey French and minority languages in France.  And I know I mentioned the anecdote about the the lady who spent a year in the Limousin perfecting her French but found it easier to talk to her Parisian father-inn-law in English because the two French dialects (Parisian and Limousin) were so different.  Mind you, I've met some English people (not too many thankfully) who seem to be proud of being unlearned.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Not ranting here - thanks for the information, MM.  I know I read something about "l'immersion" - an attempt to promote French in Louisiana which state was once largely French-speaking.  I can't remember which thread now but I know there was some posting about Louisiana French, Jersey and Guernsey French and minority languages in France.  And I know I mentioned the anecdote about the the lady who spent a year in the Limousin perfecting her French but found it easier to talk to her Parisian father-inn-law in English because the two French dialects (Parisian and Limousin) were so different.  Mind you, I've met some English people (not too many thankfully) who seem to be proud of being unlearned.

Lady,

I think it was from Anglo-Norman from Jersey. And on his instigation I visited Jersey with the jet-foil from Granville. After some ten years I still receive regularly advertisments from there....
as I visited Newcastle and the Hadrian Wall on the instigation of Dirk Marinus
but I have to say it were indeed very interesting destinations...

Kind regards from Paul.

This is yesterday's rant really.  I had a letter from TV Licensing.  Basically, it was to the effect that I had ignored two previous letters about my licence fee not being paid and that I was now under surveillance and I could be fined £1,000.  I rang TV Licensing and was polite (after all it wasn't the fault of the individual who answered the phone to me that things had gone awry).  I said that I'd received a letter but that I hadn't ignored any letters because I'd been in touch by phone and email and that I had paid my licence.  (I may have mentioned I'm a pensioner on a finite income and that I'm trying to get my blood pressure down).  Anyway, the man I spoke to looked at my records and said that my payment had been traced and not to worry and he'd send a letter to that effect which I could expect within the next 5-10 working days.  I'll probably write to TV Licensing snail mail though - I was told by the chap who rang me up early in January not to worry (and to be fair to them they did initiate that call though most correspondence on this matter has been initiated by Sincerely Thine).  But I still got the (to me) threatening letter.  So if I send a hard copy letter that will be a record of what I have said.

If I'm still on the planet next year they are getting a payment by cheque though - I'm not risking these shenanigans again (I paid by keying the appropriate numbers into the phone keyboard this (well last technically as it was in November '18) year.

Watching the news this morning, I wonder if there is an element in the UK nowadays that has a somewhat infantile approach towards politics.  I'm not especially a fan of "The Donald" but when I saw some protesters floating (or getting ready to float) a balloon in the form of Mr T as a baby. I thought it would depict the UK as discourteous.  There are more sensible ways of letting Mr T know that one has qualms about some of his policies.

I thought Mr Corbyn absenting himself from being in the presence of Mr T was not very wise.  At the moment I can't think of anyone from any party of whom I could think "Yes, I could get behind him/her as prime minister" but IF there should be a change of government (i.e. should there be a general election) and IF Labour should become the party with the greatest number of members of parliament at that time, he'll have to deal with POTUS.

Addendum: Just heard on the news that Ronald Reagan met with Michael Foote some decades ago and deliberately pretended to think Dennis Healey was PM* - so JC may be exercising caution.

* I would not have credited RR with being that clever!!!

Yes indeed, I'd have just assumed it was Reagan being his usual confused or forgetful self as there were several occasions when he famously mistook people, or muddled their names or titles. However that 'joke' - often-repeated when he was in office - became rather bad taste when the poor man was subsequently diagnosed with alzheimer's.

I'd never heard it before, MM, or else I had forgotten it.

Don't get me wrong, LiR, I wasn't criticising what you'd posted. Reagan was openly ridiculed numerous times during his time in office for often being confused (badly-briefed was how they span it at the time), and it was a regular theme on 1980s UK comedy shows, such as, 'Not the Nine o'clock News' and the more brutally satirical, 'Spitting Image'. But frankly so 'exalted' has the position of POTUS now become - "the leader of the free world" (who coined that ridiculous term?) - that it is nearly always fair game in my opinion (especially when the current holder is under investigation, in his own country no less, for for seroius criminal activities bordering on treason).

But regarding Reagan: although I didn't agree with his politics ...having seen my mother decline, diminish and eventually die from alzheimer's, with all her lifetime memories: of her parents; my dad, her husband of over 60 years; my sister and me .... indeed of everything that comprised her life (and touched on other lives). But all gone and lost forever. - even when she was still alive. 

It is not a future I'd wish for anyone.

I didn't take your comment as a criticism, MM.  Actually I've just seen something claiming that POTUS didn't want to meet JC.  No, Alzheimer's isn't anything I'd wish on anyone.  I still think the Trump baby balloon was daft.

Lady,

"I still think the Trump baby balloon was daft."

me too. It is childish. Cartoons they have to make, but with  "fine satirical humour", the British way. That is in my humble opinion the most efficent way.

Kind regards from Paul.

I don't have Sky TV but sometimes watch its online YouTube news service.  I swear if I have to watch another "over 50s plan" advert from Sun Life I will lose my cool composure.  It makes a difference from (equally annoying) adverts for classes on how to write from Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman and Dan Brown.  I watched a TV show which was based on a Neil Gaiman book (American Gods) and didn't hate it.  Margaret Atwood isn't my "cuppa" though I will credit her with ability but heaven forfend that if I ever want to "learn to write" I turn to Dan Brown!  Before that I was getting a lot of adverts for large-sized underwear and leggings!!!!  YouTube obviously has a low opinion of me!!!

I don't have an adblocking application loaded on this computer and there are sometimes adverts which play before the news opens.  I've down voted the over 50s plan adverts to oblivion but still keep getting them!

I'm not sure which thread this should be on - I thought about Brexit, but it isn't Brexit exactly, though it did relate to Bo Jo and the Tory leadership debacle. He was being interviewed on Sky News and saying he was going to both cut taxes and pour more money into funding schools.  The interviewer (don't know her name) called him out on it but he persisted in saying there were taxes which could be cut.  (Thought bubble coming out of my head - "Oh yeah - and if there is a spurt in unemployment post-Brexit how are the benefits for the unemployed going to be financed?").  Still, it's not the average British man or woman in the street who will make the choice on next Tory leader (and thus next Prime Minister).  I hope the politicians who have to make the choice can see through his waffle.  I don't doubt there's a section of the public which will believe what he says though - there are always some people who go with the person who tells them what they want to hear.

Well said Lady, well said. It echoes what MM said on this board some time ago. Overhere it is not better. A pat position to form a government between the soft Flemish Nationalist party in the North and the Socialists in the South of Belgium, both the leading parties in their respective region. If they don't work together the middle minority parties can work with them to start a new government. And if the soft Flemish nationalists work together with the Far right Flemish party, who has recently won in the polls, as everywhere in Europe, except in Nielsen's Denmark, then it is the split of Belgium coming on.
I call for "Realpolitik" à la Bismarck.

PS. I thank nordmann to have eliminated my double. I put my Eleanor (Eleonora) thread first on the "Civilisation...forum) but asz I now always do, copied it to be sure that I didn't have a double and pushed the preview tab and then I looked for my thread and saw it not immediately and pasted instead on the War and conflict. But as it is now on the War and Conflict it is as good as Eleanor wasn't the cause of the 100 year war, she was perhaps as mother fo the Plantagenets perhaps the unwilling cause   and if you read the author of the fiction novel and the non fiction one, what a woman...

Kind regards to both from Paul.

Although this is "the rant", I'm just mentioning something quite funny (in my opinion anyway) that happened to me in real life yesterday.  I went with a group from the U3A (University of the Third Age - an organisation for retired and semi-retired people) I belong to for lunch yesterday.  I started to talk about BoJo and what he had said about cutting taxes while simultaneously investing money in the nation's schools.  The lady to my right said something (paraphrasing) along the lines of "I've come here to enjoy myself and I don't want to talk about him".  Of course, I respected her wishes and remained silent on the subject henceforth.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

 The lady to my right said something (paraphrasing) along the lines of "I've come here to enjoy myself and I don't want to talk about him".  Of course, I respected her wishes and remained silent on the subject henceforth.

Although apparently quite funny, this actually reveals a rather worrying trend: people are getting to the point where it is safer and more enjoyabe just to say nothing about anything. Even at Res His, where once we would discuss (argue) for hours - nay years even - all sorts of things, we all seem now to have adopted one of Elizabeth I's favourite maxims: video et taceo (I see but say nothing). We are in danger of dying of boredom. Here is a list of things it is perhaps best - sadly - to keep shtum about:

Ireland;
The British in Ireland;
The British anywhere;
The British;
The British Empire (including, "What did the British ever do for us, then?"
The British Constitution;
The British not having a constitution;
The English in Ireland;
The English anywhere;
The English;
The B-Word;
No Deal B-word;
Putting it (anything) to the people;
The Next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern (sorry) Ireland;
God - in any manifestation whatsoever (apart from Greek ones - they're OK);
Moggies  (MM's cat is expecting again).
Being Too Hot.

I would invite others to add to this list, but probably no one will say a word. But then we should remember the maxim in law:

Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit (he who is silent, when he ought to have spoken and was able to, is taken to agree).

Temperance wrote:

Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi loqui debuit ac potuit (He who is silent, when he ought to have spoken and was able to, is taken to agree).

At least no one can accuse me of that ....

I was going to change it to "she", but can't remember if the Latn always means "he".

You're safe enough with "qui". In Latin we're all men, even when we're "who".

You left out the important bit though - "consentire videtur" at the end.

So I did - me trying to be clever, as usual. I only know it from A Man For All Seasons ("O"-level Latin from the previous century all forgotten now): I hope Bolt got it right - Thomas More too. I expect he did at least.

The maxim is "Qui tacet consentit": the maxim of the law is "Silence gives consent". If therefore you wish to construe what my silence betokened, you must construe that I consented.

Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons

Therefore I must be seen to have agreed with all you say on all subjects recently.

I return with some haste to the shelter of my stone.

I think it's nice to see your name once in a while, Temperance.

Re those Latin sentences, a teacher once told his class of one starting with, 'Vir puris non contra ventum ... ' [Ihave forgotten the rest] and told his students that it meant, 'A wise man once said that it's a bad idea to p. against the wind', one student commented that it wasn't all that smart to do it on an electrical fence either.

Pardon me for remaining in this area of the world, but 'a patient was at his doctor's clinic, and asked if anything was wrong to which the doctor replied, 'the prognosis isn't too good as Mercury is in Uranus', 'come off it, doctor, I don't believe in this astrology mumbo-jumbo!' 'Well neither do I, but how else do I tell you that the anal thermometer just broke?'

If this kind of talk is too low for the serenity of this place, Nordmann, then please move the post to Tumbleweed Suite or just remove it.

Anyway, I'd better get me coat.

Crossed posts with LiR

I'll bear that in mind, Nielsen.

As for Temperance's comment about a decrease in animated discussion on this site, I don't think it's so much that Res Historians have lost their appetite for debate (as long as it is polite of course), it's just that there is so much nuttiness on the internet in general these days.  From what I recall, nordmann was exposed to some nasty emails off-list as it were when the topic of the Eire/Northern Ireland boundary featured on the board.  Speaking for myself, I do sometimes try to phrase things in such a way that they won't trigger people (and not necessarily thinking of commenters here but people who may visit the site randomly).

It's quite true I try to "keep off" religion.  I have my own thoughts on the matter but only occasionally mention them.  I don't think cats are a forbidden topic though.

LiR wrote:

  From what I recall, nordmann was exposed to some nasty emails off-list as it were when the topic of the Eire/Northern Ireland boundary featured on the board.

One of my friends is driving us all mad by randomly saying "Poor Boris" at every opportunity. I think I might start saying "Poor nordmann" to everything now.

Seriously, happy and friendly debate has been stifled everywhere: we are all so weary of it all here in the UK. Brexit and the internet trolls are to blame. Things used to be funny, but not any more. You have to watch everything you say and to whom.

The comedian Henning Wehn (he's very popular here because he is remarkably funny for a German) says he cannot understand our Brexit fatigue. He confessed  he finds Brexit really exciting. He told the Have I Got News For You audience a bit ago that every day he wakes up and wonders what sort of a Brexit day it will be: a good Brexit day or a bad Brexit day? Henning adapted Doctor Johnson's famous remark about London in 1777, noting that "When a man is tired of Brexit, he is tired of life."

Well, have all lost the will to live here in the UK.

MM's cat is a forbidden topic. Tostig is presumed to be the father of the kittens she is expecting, but if the little ones  arrive and are found to be all ginger, we shall have to assume the worst.

Can't find the exact clip, but here's Henning: I think his saying "Not on your nelly" with a German accent is really funny.

PS I wonder what is the origin of "Not on your nelly"?

Temperance wrote:

MM's cat is a forbidden topic. Tostig is presumed to be the father of the kittens she is expecting, but if the little ones  arrive and are found to be all ginger, we shall have to assume the worst.

But, unlike with Megs, Harry and Archie, you'll at least get some photos ... and I can even do all the reportage in classic 'Daily Mail' style too...

PROUD mum-to-be, POSCA, puts her feet up on her loved-up beau, TOSTIG, in the garden of their exclusive 'Love-Island' retreat in the SOUTH of France.



... and so forth.

MM wrote:

 But, unlike with Megs, Harry and Archie, you'll at least get some photos...

And when the kittens are born, we shall expect more than a photo of a little paw, with a hint of Posca's tail in the background.

All eyes are on the Moggy thread for the expected bulletin...

Temperance wrote:

Am I permitted to think that this was aimed at my poor attempts at humour?

I shall keep shtum about that too.

There's a woodpecker on my bird table! He's hammering away at the peanuts with evident enjoyment in the evening sunshine: the blue tits are looking on aghast. I didn't know woodpeckers ate nuts.

Nielsen wrote:

Am I permitted to think that this was aimed at my poor attempts at humour?

Not at all ... although I can't really speak for Temp nor anyone else.

But just to be clear Niels ... my 'joke', weak as it was, was all about how English people see themselves, or at least how they are often represented in the popular press which, despite all the other pressing news seems more intererested in the doings of the royal family.

Thank you MM, I shall make further attempts at avoiding what might be considered comments on British governments - past-present-future - no matter my ideas could be on the matter.

I'm a blo**y diplomaniac amn't I, from putting 'might' instead of 'May' to pussyfooting around how it looks from this site of the North Sea/La Manche.

MM wrote:

Not at all ... although admittedly I can't speak for Temp...

I didn't really understand Nielsen's post, to be honest: my  was in response to MM's Daily Mail account of young Tostig and Posca's "love nest". Utter confusion is my defaut position these days - always has been here actually.

Even my posts about not discussing anything anymore were tongue-in-cheek and seem to have been misunderstood: ain't easy being a Brit around this place, you know. But that's probably just me. Back under my stone now.

PS Just for the record, I voted Green and Remain and I am very cross that some of the taxes I have paid on my pensions have funded the Duchess of Sussex's yoga studio in her "cottage". Poor Boris. Over and out.

EDIT: Crossed posts.

Temps, I was just attempting to put a bit of humour - as seen from this side into a serious situation.
Please don't feel obliged to tell where you put x'es, as long as they now are safely buried, that's your business.

Re comments on British press, I've never understood where they are/were, as far as I'm aware some of the presently most relevant are Punch of some years ago and 'Yes Minister' of some 40-50 years ago.

Recently I've collected some old 'Andy Capp' comic strips from The Mirror, telling a story of a time that once was.

Don't be afraid to say something in jest, Temperance.  I may have over thought your comment.  I'm neutral about the royal family, really, though I take what appears in the media with a grain (and a liberal one at that) of salt.  There is definitely a tendency for part of the media to bash the Duchess of Sussex - there was even before the marriage took place, and some of it I fear is because of her ethnicity.  Some of the things I've read relating to the Duchess have been absolutely barking mad statements - that she used a surrogate and wore a fake baby bump - that the first photograph of Archie was a doll - and that wasn't on conspiracy theory videos either, some of the nuttiness seems to have spilled over into other online forums.

A bit of sleuthing on the internet found this suggestion for the origin of "Not on your Nellie" but if anyone knows anything different please do say.  https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/20/messages/181.html

Lady,

"A bit of sleuthing on the internet found this suggestion for the origin of "Not on your Nellie" but if anyone knows anything different please do say.  https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/20/messages/181.html"
 The site don't work, or have I have to put the expression myself on the site?

In any case I found this and it seems to be a sitcom in the Seventies too...

    
[url=https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=not on your nellie]https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=not%20on%20you[/url][url=https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=not on your nellie]r%20nellie[/url]
 LiR, I have the same as you now. To see it type urban dictionary and the expression in google

If I understand it well it is our expression: "Nooit van z'n leven" never in life, never in your, his, my life?
What do you think Temperance and LiR?

Kind regards to both from Paul.

LiR wrote:

Don't be afraid to say something in jest, Temperance.

Nielsen wrote:

Please don't feel obliged to tell where you put x'es, as long as they now are safely buried, that's your business.

Good Lord, all this advice about how to be a successful Res His poster! Priscilla should start a "The Daily Hint" thread.

One "X" is definitely safely buried, Nielsen - not sure about any of the others!

Poor Boris is in Northern Ireland today - Lord help us: do hope he doesn't come out with anything too outrageous. I suppose his aides and advisers have him reasonably under control at the moment. He can't afford to upset any of the DUP lot...

I'm taking it your above post was expressed in a tongue-in-cheek manner, Temperance, though it would be just my luck if you turn round and say it was in deadly earnest.  I'm quite sure you can post well on Res Hist without assistance from Sincerely Thine.

And I doubt seriously that you need any help from me either. 
At least that was never on my mind.

I saw your comment on the "tip of the day" thread, Temperance.  I must have been slow on the uptake this a.m. because I didn't interpret your comment as being acidic.  "Mardy" - that's a regional word with a ring to it.  I always thought it was a Midlands word but it must be used further afield after all.

It wasn't acidic: it was just mardy.

Mardy is a northern word too: means acting like spoilt brat.

In the midlands "mardy" has the sense of being petulant - much as you say Temperance - sometimes the expression was taken further and a person who was stroppy in a 'mardy' fashion was called a 'mardy-bum'.  I found an explanation on urbandictionary though it describes the word as coming from the east midlands but it can be heard in the west midlands also.  https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mardy

Tip of the day - freeze your wild salmon, unless you want to risk worms


https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/wild-salmon-parasite-warning/

We seem to  forgotten all about this thread . It is a useful place for the strop. stroppy and stropped. 

Looking up our local Dr's surgery on line I see that there are 8 Doctors for 14500 patients and two receptionists to man the telephone - one being part time.  Nothing whatsoever can be done unless one goes through reception.  How is this in other places?

At the clinic which I haunt there are two qualified MD's, two student doctors working part time, two nurses and three receptionists. 
I'm not quite certain of how many patients it caters to. This is part of our NHS. 

I have been told that the past - first - half of this year have been a sad one for the old people who are used to come in and swap stories of their illnesses with the other oldies - they've been told to stay away until the virus is a time of the past.

In my commune, comprising a small town and 3 outlying villages with a total population of about 3,500 there's a medical centre staffed by two MDs and a receptionist, plus a nurse who visits for a couple of hours three times a week. That puts us somewhat below the average number of physicians in France, which was 3.3 per 1000 population in 2018, but I'm guessing that figure also includes a very large number of medical specialists in hospitals. I'm not sure how things are now with covid but in the past there was no need for an appointment (though they were available, especially to discuss results etc), and you just turned up for one of the morning or afternoon sessions and waited in turn. I was always seen within 45mins or so, sometimes almost immediately.

The nearest big clinic/small hospital with an A & E department is in Cérèt (population about 10,000) some 45mins drive away, which was where I went when I mashed up my hand. Admittedly I went on a Thursday afternoon in early Autumn, but I waited just 20mins before I was seen by a doctor, then went straight to X-ray where I waited perhaps 10mins, and then with my results was back with the doctor and a nurse for the wound to be dressed after a further 20mins. I was out and on my way home, with the wound dressed and with a prescription for antibiotics, within the hour, which I thought was very good service.

But I've also had the misfortune of having to go with someone to the A & E in the main regional hospital in Perpignan, on a Saturday evening when there was a big international rugby match in town. The wait to be seen by a triage nurse was short but was rather longer for treatment, although it was certainly quicker if one had a French Carte Vitale medical card, than if one was a foreign tourist without insurance, a credit card or mutually recognised national medical card.

Cubbington Pear Tree, England's tree of the year in 2015, cut down to make way for HS2:



how it should be done:

This is sad, Trike.  It hasn't reached my part of the country yet but the HS2 is scheduled to run a few miles (it might only be two) to the east of where I live eventually.  Some people called me a NIMBY because I said I was against HS2 (not that anyone takes any notice of me).  I think NIMBY is supposed to be one of those words where one is supposed to put up one's hands in horror and deny it. I said that too flipping right I was a NIMBY.

Meanwhile Belgium has announced its 'tree of the year' to be a venerable chestnut near the Menin Gate in Ypres, that has survived almost against all the odds. The tree is now 20 metres tall with a 30-metre wide crown and the trunk at the base has a 9.2-metre circumference. It is one of only two trees in Ypres to have survived both world wars. It was reduced to just a stump by the bombardment of the town in WW1 but managed to resprout, and it then avoided being felled for firewood during the German occupation in WW2 because it was too close to surrounding buildings.

Here it is today;


... and as it was in 1919.

MM, if I can find anything online about that tree in French I might copy it to a word file (attributing its provenance of course) to use in the zoom meeting for the French conversation class I do weekly via U3A.

LiR, I was quoting from an article on The Guardian website Ypres chestnut tree battered but unbowed by wars wins Belgian award which was obviously in English but from its Brussels office. I've had a search for something in French but if you put in "l'arbre de l'année belge 2020" I only seem to get the 2020 list of all the nominees from the whole of Europe, including Belgium obviously (la concours de l'arbe de l'année Européen). The Ypres tree, having only just been chosen to represent Belgium, is for the 2021 European concours. However if you just want something to kick off discussion, this site rtbf.be : Concours de l'Arbre belge de l'année : nos 3 provinces en bonne position ! gives a bit of info about three contestants from 2019 - it was the horse chesnut (marronnier d’Inde) from Eghezée in the Wallon Province de Namur, the so-called "l’Arbre de la Liberté", that I think was finally chosen to represent Belgium in this year's concours de l'arbe de l'année 2020.

Thank you for the information, MM.  If the worst comes to the worst I can always do a search on 'courtes histoires' (that was how I found out about the machines which disperse short stories).  There was such a machine being installed at Tours Station and the C..... H..... website had an article about it.  Our group leader sometimes searches 'Fait Divers'.  I thought an article about the tree would be current.  I'm sure there will be something.  Still I'm not ranting here am I?  Must be careful not to be accused of derailing the thread.