No triffids as yet, nordmann.  Without getting too specific there was something about ".....beginning to impact the surrounding area.  I really cannot allow a property to be maintained with issue x and issue y without considering what legal steps are appropriate.  I ask that you take steps....."

My thought was, well yes things do need to be put right but usually you don't mention legal steps at the beginning.

I have calmed down - I was stressed this morning.  There was something in the letter about grants and loans.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

No triffids as yet, nordmann.  Without getting too specific there was something about ".....beginning to impact the surrounding area.  I really cannot allow a property to be maintained with issue x and issue y without considering what legal steps are appropriate.  I ask that you take steps....."

My thought was, well yes things do need to be put right but usually you don't mention legal steps at the beginning.

I have calmed down - I was stressed this morning.  There was something in the letter about grants and loans.

Lady,

with the bureaucrats, not only from Britain, but also overhere in the Flemish regional government (while the "ruimtelijke ordening" falls under that goverment) I guess, all over the world, one has always trouble.
We have an appartment for rent and had a check from the government about the habitability of it. And we received a document, that it was OK for ten years.
But we received a disabled woman and then it seems because she received money from the government, the government did automatically a new check.
Between Christmas and New Year we received suddenly a registered mail that the appartment was declared unhabitable and the hirer could move on our costs to another appartment, if we didn't correct the failures...and it was the city council which had to do it on order of the Flemish government. I called the city council and they said, don't worry, it's about electricity, correct it and it is finished. A lamp to close to the bath tub. And I agreed that it was right and I would correct it. And we asked for an official control of the electricity to be sure that we could come up, with a legal document...
I went with my partner to the office of the concerned "service" (dienst) and it was the friendly man I phoned with. I showed him the papers and electricity check and he said it was OK. But then came from the same service from another desk a lady,perhaps the boss, who said that it wasn't ok at all...my partner got berserk and wanted to leave the room, but as we are both responsible I could bring her back (because with bureaucrats you can't do that)...
After that pantomime, I have sent a registered letter with all the details to the Flemish government to ask what it now would be? As we had done all the legal actions to be needed...after a while we received both a letter from the government that they themselves would come to look...I had for sure invited my electrician, who had done the work...came in a tall heavy woman, you saw that she was innerly angry...but with the electrician and the documents she had to give in reluctantly that it was OK...and again for ten years...till another bureaucrat...
I have still the "dossier" 4 inches thick ..from the three months discussion...
And there is again "browing" something again with hiring but on another field...

Kind regards from Paul.

As far as I know by law British bathrooms don't have electric points (which sometimes confuses visitors to the UK from overseas).  That's probably why battery operated shavers are popular here.

I think in my case it was the wording of the letter which "narked" me really.  I mean, I had  had a conversation with the council employee in question and it had been amicable, we had been on first names etc., and then he's talking about the possibility of legal measures and "I cannot allow".  Sometimes council letters have standard phrases/paragraphs stored as "auto text" or macros on the computer (I know because I have in the past done temporary work for local authorities though not for a long time and not in my hometown).  It may be that the standard paragraphs could do with revision.

On YouTube yesterday I found a couple of episodes from a 1970s adaption of Heidi.  There were actually two 1970s adaptations of Frau Spyri's best-known (in the UK anyway) book.  I watched them (this was the dubbed from German version - not the version made in English with Nicholas Lyndhurst who later played Rodney in Only Fools and Horses playing Peter, the goat boy Heidi befriends).  I read Heidi (in English of course) when I was about 10 or 11 but the social subtleties were lost on me then.  I mentioned in the French literature thread that the author of Jacquou le Croquant had been left with another adult by his parents because they had to go away to work.  Heidi is an orphan and Aunt Diete has to leave Heidi with her grandfather when she (Diete) gets a job in Germany.  Of course when I was at school I learned something of the agricultural and industrial revolutions and knew of the drift from the countryside to the cities but have never really seriously thought about children being left with a guardian because their parents could not take them with them to jobs they found (Diete's job I think was a "living in" job as a servant but as a servant in a well-to-do family).

I read the Wikipedia article on Johanna Spyri and learned that her first story was about domestic violence.  As I say, I know nothing of Frau Sypri's other stories and had never thought of her as a writer who tackled social issues before.  She wrote Heidi in four weeks it seems.  Frau Spyri lost her husband and her only child, a son, in one year.  How sad.  She involved herself in charitable works afterwards it seems.  I think I may have greatly underestimated her.

I went to the French conversation group today.  It's been raining all day so my bag where I had my shopping and the French papers is hanging up to drip dry and I couldn't find the paper I studied today.  The article was something about whether little girls should be forced to kiss relations for example at Christmas festivities.  I think the writer was thinking about the wider family.  Some young girls it seems have expressed a preference for shaking  hands than kissing or hugging.  I think both boys and girls go through a phase when they think kissing is "soppy". But that aside there was an expression "Porclesomething or other but I can't remember the end of it.  I think the lady who brought the article in said it was something like the "MeToo" movement.  Anyway if the weather is any dryer tomorrow I will see if I can find the article with the phrase.

I briefly tried to find what you referred to LiR ... but to no avail. 

However in passing I did get to finally understand why I often seem to get the formal French kiss wrong ... and it's not me but rather it's a matter of geography. Whilst most of France does the double-kiss; first right cheek to right cheek, then left to left; in the South where I live and so where I have picked up my habits, they do it starting with the left cheek followed by the right. Thank-you, I'm so pleased to finally realise that I don't get it wrong because I'm a gauche étranger (see what I did there) but rather because I'm actually un personne du coin, a local (or at least local to le midi, ie southern France, when compared to the all rest of France).

Joue tendue en premier pour faire la bise en France:

The expression is "BalanceTonPorc" so not surprising you couldn't find it as I'd misremembered, MM.  I suppose it is something like keeping the worse side of one's nature in check - though that is just surmising.

Ah yes, I hadn't come across it but 'Balance ton porc' (literally, denounce your pig) is a French equivalent of the 'Me Too movement' and so it's a movement to attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment against women, especially in the workplace. One learns something new every day here.

Oh thanks, MM.

Somebody has been out to look at the broken window.  Someone with the firm is going to ring me back with a price.  Some other windows have wooden bottoms which have gone or are ready to go.  I've left a voicemail on someone's answer phone.  Now to see if they get back to me.  I think they are safe for the time being - I should have had someone come in to give the house a lick of paint (outside) before now (to prevent the elements getting at the wood) but I do get fatigued sometimes these days and without warning - and thus tend to put things off. I had asked someone whose husband is a handyman if the window was something he could tackle at the time when it broke but because he is good at his job he gets very busy.

I rang up Age UK today to see if they could give any advice - the lady said their list of tradesmen is the same as the county's.  I've got an appointment on Friday morning to see someone for some legal advice at Age UK (which is not too far from where I live).  I read through the sections of the relevant Act of Parliament that the person who wrote the letter mentioned and there is a duty on the council to bring a problem they see to an owner's or occupier's attention - I think the wording was unfortunate.

That's very funny, Trike.  I don't know where you find 'em.

At my Spanish class today we had to read out a couple of sentences about places or cities.  I described a country between France, Germany, Luxembourg and the sea (Paul's homeland of course) but would you Xmas Eve it I left out the Netherlands.  I did one about Liverpool and another lady in the group also wrote about Liverpool.  I gave different clues though - I said it was (according to a song) somewhere where the people spoke with an accent exceedingly rare, met 'neath a statue exceedingly bare and there was a spare cathedral.  Another lady who has relations in Liverpool (as have I) said that the statue exceeding bare (outside Lewis's shop as was) is no longer there.

I think the song may have been mentioned on the site before (I have a memory of Paul posting about the "Thick Matilda" statue in his part of the world).

Lady,

I have always difficulties with you...in fact not with you but with your slang...I guessed it as along the context: would you believe it...but Christmas eve in God's name (in godsnaam)...
But yes it was confirmed:
https://www.englishtrackers.com/english-blog/seasonal-slang-things-christmas/

And BTW The Netherlands don't lay? (liggen) between Germany France and Luxemburg...ask Dirk...

And thick Matilda (I see now that you don't write "mathilda" as in other languages?)...
Your memory is still perfect, lady...
https://www.tripadvisor.be/Attraction_Review-g188672-d12374935-Reviews-The_Sea-Ostend_West_Flanders_Province.html
"Dikke Mathille" (Ostend dialect) (fat matilda) and fat she is...


Kind regards from Paul.

Now, I wish I had something erudite to write, say, on the Mithras and Jesus thread but alas no.  Paul, I apologise for forgetting that some of the visitors to this site do not have English as a first language.  Also, I was unclear in my post of yesterday.  When I mentioned the Netherlands I meant that the Netherlands has a frontier with Belgium - it wasn't just the countries I mentioned before.  My phrasing was ambiguous and I apologise for that.

Paul chided me (not nastily) recently for mentioning a reference to the Angel (Angels) of Mons in the Wonder Woman film.  I came across a video that explains that the first Godzilla film was inspired by the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan and also the effects on sailors of the trials of a hydrogen bomb. I hadn't realised that.  The Godzilla may not be the most sophisticated of franchises but it's surprising how one learns of real-life inspiration for films/dramatisations.https://youtu.be/7B4zU8OlYGQ

LiR, no apologies needed. Instead I have to apologize, while rereading my tong-in-cheek, it appears how serious my tone was...
"I have always difficulties with you...in fact not with you but with your slang...I guessed it as along the context: would you believe it...but Christmas eve in God's name (in godsnaam)..."
At least after each item I had to put an emoticon
"I have always difficulties with you ...in fact not with you but with your slang ...I guessed it as along the context: would you believe it...but Christmas eve in God's name (in godsnaam)..."
Especially "in God's name" was to heavy, but you don't believe it in spoken language you can express with the accompanied movements and intonation the right tong-in-cheek effect... and of course as I understood it right from the beginning I could have checked it with some clicks for confirmation, without all that failed would-be humour...as was the case with my failed tong-in-cheek nit picking about the Netherlands...
All by all a complete disaster as I reread it now...


Kind regards from Paul.


PS: LiR on my keyboard, when I type for instance "Vézère" (of course I have the é and the è above on my keyboard, but there is another method), and for the accent circonflexe I have to tap first the sign as small letter and then for instance add the e, o or u. ê, ô, û. As with the umlaut, the same, but the sign¨ as capital letter and then add afterwards the o, u.ö, ü. For the e accent:
You have to start with (on my keyboard) pressing first the AltGr and type or´or` and then add the e. And if you do that you end with é and è.

Paul, I didn't take you wholly seriously about the Netherlands - I certainly wasn't crying into my cup of tea about it.  Be tongue-in-cheek if you wish, I know it's not nastily done by you.

Thinking of the mundane, no luck as yet on the price for the window but I have had somebody come out to look at the garden.  He can do the job for me but does have another job so will have to fit it in around that but I think I'll tell him to do it because I was finding it hard to get anyone.  Mind you, with it being a wet June all the weeds have grown with alacrity of late.  He knows someone who might be able to do the window frames so we'll see what happens.

I've mentioned that I was a fan of the French Canal+ series Engrenages (Spiral) but even though I have some knowledge of French I had to watch it with subtitles because of (a) the speed of the speech and (b) I didn't know the up-to-date French slang.

Lady, thank you so much for your aimable reply.

And you have to know that even I after during years to have listened to French programs and having practice of spoken French, when it are "films" in common language I too am for details lost in understanding their nearly French patois and have only a clue about the general tendence. So I prefer for such films also subtitles in French. But for instance on Arte, nowadays many programs are subtitled as overhere in Belgium and The Netherlands and all films are in the original language with subtitles...

Kind regards from Paul.

PS. I hope that all will go well with the house and that you endly will be at ease after the reparations. And I hope also without spending too much money...

Petition to alter the borders of a Province in Turkey:

Turkish Province of Batman

Triceratops,

 LiR mentioned it on the Brexit thread I suppose, The Brits are more busy and enerved with the series "game of thrones?" than with their country that is going to the "dieperik" (they translate as: going to the deep end). The same here with the ailing nowadays  Turkey...all such things are hot news while their country...but perhaps some politicians will gain from that fuss in tourism? contracts?...as the Christians in the time started a "bedevaartoord" (pilgrimage place?)

Kind regards from Paul.

I already mentioned on the Fakers thread about some impersonations of French politicians that we discussed in the weekly French conversation class yesterday.  Another lady had brought in an article from a magazine for English-speaking people with a knowledge of French France Magazine.  The feature she brought was about the phenomenon of "trottinettes electrifies" (electric scooters) which are hired out in many larger French towns*.  Cyclists apparently find the electric scooters troublesome when they are taken on bike paths and in Paris the scooters provide yet another traffic problem.  In theory at least they are not supposed to be ridden on the pavement.  I don't know if Abelard and MM have come across these.  I don't suppose they are used much up a mountain.

* I suppose the idea is something like the "Boris Bikes" where ordinary bicycles were introduced for hire in London when Mr Johnson was Mayor of London.

Lady,

are it these?


The youngsters call it steps, but we call it "trottinettes". As many little children had one in the Fifties...
They start to be forbidden in some cities (the electrical ones) as they pile up in the centres and are not easy to remove. They will now punish the hire firms for the cost of removal.
Extreme dangerous: there are at least two dead in our region in the last weeks. As with the motors, there is a donor kidney season in spring, when the motards for the first time after the winter come on the road again. 

Kind regards from Paul.

I thought the Batman province might be a joke (well maybe the idea to change its shape is) but I looked it up online and there is indeed a Turkish province with that name.

Yes Paul, the picture  you have inserted of the "trottinettes" is accurate.  I had a scooter (non-electric) in the 1950s.  As I am dominant right-sided (right-handed, right-footed) I wore quite rapidly through the sole (or at least the part near the ball of the foot) on a pair of sandals I had at the time because I was pushing with my right foot whereas the left foot, staying on the scooter, received considerably less wear and tear.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I thought the Batman province might be a joke (well maybe the idea to change its shape is) but I looked it up online and there is indeed a Turkish province with that name.

Yes Paul, the picture  you have inserted of the "trottinettes" is accurate.  I had a scooter (non-electric) in the 1950s.  As I am dominant right-sided (right-handed, right-footed) I wore quite rapidly through the sole (or at least the part near the ball of the foot) on a pair of sandals I had at the time because I was pushing with my right foot whereas the left foot, staying on the scooter, received considerably less wear and tear.

Lady,

thanks for the reply. Yes that was with my "bromfiets" (grumping? growling? bycicle. They translate it with "moped") the same, but I did it with both feet
This is the one from end the Fifties. And bought second hand for "500 Belgian francs" of that time (some 11 Pounds of today)
http://superiabromfietsen.weebly.com/geschiedenis.html



I thought the scooter hadn't to be pushed as it had enough (couple?) (koppel) to start moving on its own in first gear? Will ask the granddaughter, who had one in the start of the millenium.

But being right-handed can also have consequences for the shape of the hand. By doing mostly heavy work with the right hand during my life, while making fists with both hands, my right fist is remarkely bigger than my left fist...

Kind regards from Paul.

It seems I may have got off lightly being asked by the local council to get my garden in an orderly state.  I was upset at the time of the letter.  The weeds have been tamed now though I am still waiting a quote on windows (some of the wood has gone so will probably have to be replaced by the more modern plastic - that will probably cost more than the garden).  Anyway, a lady it seems has been admonished in  Manchester for wearing a bikini in her own garden.  [url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk %E2%80%BA News %E2%80%BA Politics]https://www.telegraph.co.uk › News › Politics[/url]  I must admit I don't wear bikinis anymore.  I might wear a tankini if I had one - a bikini at my age, definitely not but I guess what one wears in one's own back yard is really one's own business.

I see that my attempt to copy the website address of the article about the 81 year old lady being contacted by the council for wearing a bikini in her own back garden has miscopied and I only have the generic address of The Telegraph newspaper. I can't remember whether I mentioned it before but with looking for articles/features for discussion at the French conversation group I attend some of us are finding we are being asked to pay to access the websites of several French newspapers.  I still have something on my computer about the speaking of Wallon in Belgium.  I copied it on to a word document last year though of course I attributed authorship to the writer from the Belgian paper.  I haven't taken that article into the group yet.  I think that was the method used by the lady who used the article about political impersonations.  She copied the article and pasted it into a word document but deleted the pictures/photos to make the document shorter.  Many British newspapers want a subscription for access now of course - though as yet the Guardian only asks for one.

When I have logged into Bullguard (my anti-virus software) the last few days I've received a message that it is out of date but when I click on "update" it doesn't work.  I shot off an email to Bullguard and asked if there was a "workaround" and they said it would be updating in the background just not showing it, but to contact them again if I had any further concerns.  I've been running scans and deleted anything sent to "quarantine".  Would any of our computer buffs have an idea what might be causing the refusal to "update".

Thinking about bicycles, are there cycle lanes ("bike tracks" - a track/lane on a road or pavement dedicated to the use of cyclists) in continental Europe? I was walking home along the road where I live yesterday and wondered why a young girl cycling was not using the bicycle lane but looking a little further down there were cars parked in the bicycle lane so she couldn't use it, could she?

Thinking of what Paul said about his dominant fist developing significantly because of his work, I've read that people who have an aptitude for ballet and think they might like to seek a career in the discipline are discouraged from playing tennis because that sport can cause the dominant hand and arm to develop  more than the non-dominant one.

One thing about sign language, left-handed people use their left hands to make the signs whereas right-handed people use their right hands, they aren't forced to change.  I don't think there is so much emphasis on trying to make left-handed people write with their right hands nowadays as there may have been in the past.  A friend of mine was/is left-handed and wasn't force to write with her right hand but she did hold her pencil oddly and developed carpal tunnel syndrome in middle/later life.

I believe (and will no doubt be corrected if I'm wrong) that Arabic writing flows from right to left.  I wonder if things are easier for left-handed people in that scenario.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Thinking of what Paul said about his dominant fist developing significantly because of his work, I've read that people who have an aptitude for ballet and think they might like to seek a career in the discipline are discouraged from playing tennis because that sport can cause the dominant hand and arm to develop  more than the non-dominant one.

One thing about sign language, left-handed people use their left hands to make the signs whereas right-handed people use their right hands, they aren't forced to change.  I don't think there is so much emphasis on trying to make left-handed people write with their right hands nowadays as there may have been in the past.  A friend of mine was/is left-handed and wasn't force to write with her right hand but she did hold her pencil oddly and developed carpal tunnel syndrome in middle/later life.

I believe (and will no doubt be corrected if I'm wrong) that Arabic writing flows from right to left.  I wonder if things are easier for left-handed people in that scenario.

 
Lady,

thanks for the information about the link between the ballet career and playing tennis. Overhere nowadays they let develop the left hand writing without restrictions. I have the last years seen many left hand writers. I have the impression that they tend to held the hand and fingers pointing to their breast, but it can be an impression.
Yes Arabic right to left, as Hebrew. At least that they have in common. (No emoticon while it is too serious).  And I think as was Phoenician too, while it was the origin. As I learned by the research for the Zoroaster thread, some jingoist Hebrew "scientists", say that Hebrew is the source of all instead of Phoenician.
And as for Greek (and I believe also Persian (have to check) is left to right. It seems that as the Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician, it seems that it was easier to read that script from left to right and thus they started from left to right.

Kind regards from Paul.

I'd typed a comment but must have hit the wrong button because I lost it all.  I didn't know that Greek was maybe based on Phoenician.  I've forgotten what else I typed in my original comment but no doubt if it's important I will remember in due course.

Lady, 

excuses, my text was confusing:
"It seems that as the Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician, it seems that it was easier to read that script from left to right and thus they started from left to right."
Of course I meant the Greeks added vowels in their alphabet to the Phoenician "alphabet". I suppose you can write any language in any alphabet. For instance: my name on the Russian temporal passport was written as it is spoken out: Rykyr (рукур)
I think that you can even write English with hieroglyphs? A bit as the sign language?
LiR, you don't believe it but the first time you spoke about "sign language" I was looking on the computer for sign language with flags between ships...
I used once our word: "doofstommentaal" (perhaps that word is also old fashioned and not used anymore by the youngsters) and nordmann said that it was not a nice word, when I translated it into English in deaf-and-dumb, although it is still in my dictionary Dutch-English from 1997...
https://en.langenscheidt.com/german-english/taubstummensprache
https://en.langenscheidt.com/german-dutch/taubstummensprache

Kind regards from Paul.

I remember now what we discussed in French yesterday - someone had brought in an article foretelling a heatwave in France soon.  Somebody was saying something about having very hot weather in the UK possibly later in the week - it hasn't got here yet!

I think at one time British Sign Language used to be called "Deaf and Dumb Sign Language" with the idea that it might be used by mute people as well as deaf people.  "Dumb" in that sense did mean mute but nowadays the word "dumb" is sometimes used for "stupid" (an Americanism?) which may have led to the decline of the word d**b as having a similar meaning to mute.

I may not have made it clear but the scooter I had was one you pushed with your foot.  It was something like (but not the same as) this one which was French made (i.e. the one where I am providing the link) - not sure where mine was made - there was more manufacturing in the UK back in the 1950s.  Mine was a Triang I think.  https://www.pamono.com/vintage-children-s-scooter-1950s

[[b]quote="LadyinRetirement"]I remember now what we discussed in French yesterday - someone had brought in an article foretelling a heatwave in France soon.  Somebody was saying something about having very hot weather in the UK possibly later in the week - it hasn't got here yet!


Lady,

"Yes Paul, the picture  you have inserted of the "trottinettes" is accurate.  I had a scooter (non-electric) in the 1950s.  As I am dominant right-sided (right-handed, right-footed) I wore quite rapidly through the sole (or at least the part near the ball of the foot) on a pair of sandals I had at the time because I was pushing with my right foot whereas the left foot, staying on the scooter, received considerably less wear and tear."


Now my small mystery is solved...I looked in my paperback Collins for "scooter"...and now I understand it, when you spoke about "scooter", you spoke about a "trottinette" and you saw that kind of "scooter", but here they know only one type of "scooter" and I saw then:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa

or Lambretta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambretta


And thanks to you LiR I learned today that both Vespa and Lambretta came from the American Cushman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushman_(company)
But the originality of Vespa and I think also of Lambretta, was that the engine drove directly on the motor, while Cushman worked still with a chain as the bycicles


And even second hand a Vespa was too expensive for me, because I had to earn first as a youngster the money, as the 500 Belgian Frank I mentioned for my "bromfiets" and even if I could afford it I found the Vespa too effeminate (in that time of my life )

Kind regards from Paul.

I think back in 1960s a popular motor scooter was the Honda 50.  There used to be an advertisement about "Go to work on a Honda 50".  There was also an advertisement saying "Go to work on an egg" - but in that case it was suggesting to have an egg for breakfast.

I've quite forgotten how to make a new thread so I will ask here.  Does anyone know of any sensible books (either historical novels or non-fiction books) describing the medieval struggles between France and England - say between the Norman Conquest and the end of the 100 Years War which describes the situation from the French point of view or from a neutral point of view rather than solely an English point of view? I read Maurice Druon's Accursed Kings a long time ago but haven't really encountered much on the subject since though I've read some of Michael Jecks's historical whodunnits featuring an ex-templar which are set in Edward II's reign and there have been other books where the convoluted differences between the two countries have featured.  Of course, between the Norman Conquest and the end of the 100 Years War is a long period of time so I don't know if one book would cover that period entirely.  Anyway, I'm open to suggestions.

Thinking of my post above, the time in history there referred is a complex one of course, because some of the (then) English holdings in France were originally held by the Normans and the Plantagenets who came from what is now France but were originally from areas outside the borders of a (then) smaller France though the people living there would have spoken if not French a language closer to French than English.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

Thinking of my post above, the time in history there referred is a complex one of course, because some of the (then) English holdings in France were originally held by the Normans and the Plantagenets who came from what is now France but were originally from areas outside the borders of a (then) smaller France though the people living there would have spoken if not French a language closer to French than English.

Lady,

I know also something about it, but I think MM is more competent in such matter. Meles meles, where are you?

Kind regards from Paul.

LadyinRetirement wrote:

I think back in 1960s a popular motor scooter was the Honda 50.  There used to be an advertisement about "Go to work on a Honda 50".  There was also an advertisement saying "Go to work on an egg" - but in that case it was suggesting to have an egg for breakfast.

I've quite forgotten how to make a new thread so I will ask here.  Does anyone know of any sensible books (either historical novels or non-fiction books) describing the medieval struggles between France and England - say between the Norman Conquest and the end of the 100 Years War which describes the situation from the French point of view or from a neutral point of view rather than solely an English point of view? I read Maurice Druon's Accursed Kings a long time ago but haven't really encountered much on the subject since though I've read some of Michael Jecks's historical whodunnits featuring an ex-templar which are set in Edward II's reign and there have been other books where the convoluted differences between the two countries have featured.  Of course, between the Norman Conquest and the end of the 100 Years War is a long period of time so I don't know if one book would cover that period entirely.  Anyway, I'm open to suggestions.

Lady,

there is still a hype about the legendary Honda Dax (I don't know why, it has perhaps some reason for the youngsters). And they cost I suppose up to 2000 pound, for the collection worth? vintage? In any case the grandson was a fan in the time and even in a club and yes it was worthwhile to buy the cheap parts in the US or elsewhere and assemble it here with the "hand"...


"I've quite forgotten how to make a new thread so I will ask here.  Does anyone know of any sensible books (either historical novels or non-fiction books) describing the medieval struggles between France and England - say between the Norman Conquest and the end of the 100 Years War which describes the situation from the French point of view or from a neutral point of view rather than solely an English point of view? I read Maurice Druon's Accursed Kings a long time ago but haven't really encountered much on the subject since though I've read some of Michael Jecks's historical whodunnits featuring an ex-templar which are set in Edward II's reign and there have been other books where the convoluted differences between the two countries have featured.  Of course, between the Norman Conquest and the end of the 100 Years War is a long period of time so I don't know if one book would cover that period entirely.  Anyway, I'm open to suggestions."

New thread: click on new topic left above. Put a title in the title frame and start your message the same as in a reply.
I have mentioned and described two overhere when I was three years ago at the kidney dialysis, reading one  or two a week of English and French historical novels. The ones I mentioned overhere were English ones. One was certainly about the start of the Plantagents: Eleonora of Aquitania?
Will seek it all back. Tomorrow feast for the eigthy years of the partner

Kind regards from Paul.

This morning BBC News led with the story that the UK has experienced its hottest June day in ... wait for it ... 6 years. To be fair, though, they did then mention that Montpellier recorded 114.6°F which is the highest ever for metropolitan France. One wonders, however, (and if the weather really needed to be the lead item) why they couldn't have just led with the French story.

Vizzer,

here too this afternoon 95°F. That is of course nothing in comparison with the 115°F. And I feel with the Belgians and Dutch on their Route du Soleil, perhaps some Brits too...
I wonder how it is now in MM's neck of the woods? Although if I have seen it right, it is more in the  centre of France.

Kind regards from Paul.

Thinking about a comment on another thread that the board might be becoming a bit bland - sometimes I read threads with interest but don't have enough (or any) knowledge on the subject to make what I feel might be a valid contribution on a certain topic.  I was interested to read about the marks of "witches" in caves but didn't feel I could comment knowledgably and sensibly on that particular matter.

I know Tricky Dicky III was discussed at length previously on the site but maybe with the said gentleman having now been interred (or was it a nun?) the subject has fallen quiet.  Or it could be with the weather being a bit warmer than in some of June (though this morning was colder here) contributors to the board are busy doing real-life things.

One of the topics for reading/discussion in the French conversation group today was the phenomenon of the American road trip.  The article dated from 1990 and said that French people tended not to travel.  I'm not sure I agree with that - I know that young people in the UK often take a gap year and some of them "backpack" to various parts of the globe.  I know that's not the same as going on a road trip driving a car.  I thought of the Rolling Stones singing "Get your kicks on Route 66" back in my youth, though before that there were versions of the same song from the swing era (though I didn't realise that when I listened to the Rolling Stones).  I know nothing to the effect that young French people DON'T travel*.  If no French people had ever travelled Louisiana and Canada would never have been settled (bearing in mind that the latter was originally "New France").

The venue for the French group is quite near my town's Sainsbury's shop so I went there for a few items this afternoon.  It seems that the quince gin and rhubarb gin and other flavoured gins aren't being sold any more.  Anyway, I've bought a smallish bottle of "Bloom Gin and Rose Lemonade" so I'll see what that tastes like.  There is an instruction to "Drink responsibly" on the bottle.

* As in travel round Europe/the world/anywhere really.

Addendum to my post above, I've tasted the "Bloom Gin and Rose Lemonade" and it has gone to my head more than the quince gin ever did.  That has surprised me because the quince gin was undiluted whereas this drink was gin mixed with lemonade.  Fear not, I'm not at a stage where I'm going to sing "I belong to Glasgow" and nothing is turning round and round but it has had an effect.  I'm not going out anywhere tonight - I have some typing to turn around by tomorrow and as I have an appointment at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning I want to get as much as I can done tonight, so I'll be slaving over a hot computer.  The original idiom was of course "slave over a hot stove" - I couldn't copy over the link for the meaning so I'll type it direct though I don't know if it will work by clicking - people may (if they so wish) have to enter the link manually.  It is:-  www.eatingyourwords.co.uk.page20.html

Though apparently the word 'stove' originally came from Dutch so people with a Dutch background or Flemish Belgian background may understand the idiom anyhow.

I Belong to Glasgow is quite a well-known Scots song - the subject of the song sings about Glasgow going round and round and Glasgow belonging to him.  In Scotland the expression to belong to a town is sometimes used to mean that a person comes from, or originates from a town.  Somebody once said to me "I don't belong to Town X I belong to Dundee" as in "I don't come from X, I come from Dundee".  Anyway, a video of the song with lyrics:-  

Priscilla made a point about not commenting too much on a thread so as to kill it off.  I have been commenting on this thread quite a bit lately.  It is the thread I use if I'm not sure where to post or feel like mentioning something and am not sure it merits its own thread.

Musing on the idea that being too correct can stifle lively discussion that was raised on the board recently.  I guess there is a fine line between expressing one's views in an animated manner and being downright rude.  Temperance is right, the site isn't as vibrant as it once was*.  I don't know if that is due to people losing interest or maybe some former members sadly aren't among us any more.  I may mention courtesy sometimes - and it's true that courtesy doesn't cost any money - but I don't want to be overly sensitive to criticism and stop the board being intellectually stimulating.  I know I was guilty once of thinking nordmann was having a go at me when he used the word "You" but he was in fact employing the impersonal "You".

* Of course people may be away on holiday.

I bought some mouse bait tonight but now I realise it's the wrong sort.  It says not to put it near a drainage system or anywhere that it might leach into the water system and that it can take a matter of days to be effective.  I can't take the risk of the cat catching one (some) that have eaten bait.

And what with this device Lady and a bit of cheese...?


At least we have catched them with this many decades ago...

Kind regards from Paul.

Indeed we have Paul, and I'm reminded of an old adage, one perhaps not mentioned when these were a topic of conversation, 'the early birds get the worms, but it's the second mouse who'll get the cheese'.

Just seen the above couple of posts.  (I've actually been out in the garden and done some real life work in my old lady sort of way so not looked at the board for a few hours).  I'm a bit squeamish about the old fashioned mouse tracks (well about removing the remains of the mice).  Some people have said that it's actually chocolate that mice like rather than cheese.  Is that a Danish adage, Nielsen.  If it's British it's one I haven't heard before.

Wel, LiR, I've heard and read it in Danish but think it translates rather well.

Still reading for Nielsen's question in the Wilhelm II thread:
"A question perhaps, what were the position in Western Europe of the farmers between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of Charlemagne - the Migration Period or die Völkerwanderungen - and the rise of Feudalism. 
What I have heard of so far seem to be translations of monasterial accounts on what was owed or granted to abbeys and nunneries, but were the farmers free men or serfs or even slaves, or a mix of all three?"
This question relates mainly to the Merovingian period and above of all what I have mentioned already in that thread I am reading this evening:

The Merovingian Kingdoms

Kind regards from Paul.

Thank you for the reference to the book, having just skimmed the headlines it seems very interesting.
It most certainly goes into my reading list.

Thank you again, and kind regards to you as well.

Well, I've awoken to the water supply coming through at just a dribble.  A phone call (and attempts of turning the stop cock - well solenoid valve - on and off half a dozen or so times) and I have a visit scheduled from Severn Trent later today.  With the trickle coming through I have at least been able to make a cup of tea and I can boil the kettle to have a wash.

Well the news today seems to be mostly focusing on the resignation of the UK ambassador to the USA.  If I've looked at online (credible not silly) news outlets on YouTube from the States there seemed to more concentration on the (already discredited) American businessman, Jeffrey Epstein, and his recent arrest.  Donald Trump's name and closer to home Prince Andrew's have been banded about in connection with him.  It's very sleazy but I remembered something from about 8 years ago where said discredited businessman paid off Fergie's debts.  With these sorts of things it's hard to know what is true and what is speculation and I don't want to accuse anyone falsely.

I don't want anything too serious all the time and there have been the odd times recently I have looked at gossip sites but I think they are getting too silly even for me.  I read something on one "blind" suggesting that a certain prince had acted as a pander with his daughters.  I don't believe that though I'm not particularly pro-royal - for me they are kind of there, like the weather.  There was an article in the Daily Squib in about 2011 (an online satirical magazine a bit like The Daily Mash) intimating something of the kind but it was just a joke even if a joke in bad taste.  [url=Andrew Sold Daughters to Pay Fergie Debts - Daily Squib]Andrew Sold Daughters to Pay Fergie Debts - Daily Squib[/url]  though I did find the bit about the Duchess (Fergie) now being free to get herself back into debt funny.