...and i always thought the postie was always going for a digestif or two with our retired old farmer!!! Red faces were always apparent!
Are you serious ? Royal Mail Group is a PLC which means that profits come first, second and everywhere. Which plc do you know that actually cares about anything other than making profits ? Sadly, Uk Plc ( for that is what we have become) is a nasty third rate car dealership.
Morning all. Bright and breezy at the moment, but the storm warnings are in place for this afternoon. Yesterday Mme spent a couple of hours sitting and chatting to the friend who has just lost her husband. He died on Friday and the funeral is today, so none of the family have had a chance to get over. He expressed wishes that there should be no getting together of people to mourn his passing, so he will be taken off to the crematorium alone. Over the years being at funerals I did see a lot of shared sadness, and maybe the sharing helped out those that were the nearest to the deceased. Meanwhile I am waiting to see if we do get some rain that will save me getting the watering can out again. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Grey, but dry and fairly warm at the moment, but rain and storms predicted for this afternoon. We had one hell of a storm yesterday afternoon, the full works of thunder, lightening and torrential rain being driven on a howling wind. At one point you could not see more than 25 metres up the road. It has been the strangest year weather wise that I can remember since I came to France, with many of the seasonal changes becoming really blurred. It has meant that there have been some wild price fluctuations in seasonal produce such as vegetables. A cauliflower, that I cannot grow, can be €0.99 one week, and €3.29 the next. At least the local melons are plentiful. Have a good day whatever the weather brings.
A tale of woe from me this morning. My wife, a Primary 1 teacher, had to send one of her pupils home the other day because he was displaying all the symptoms of Covid. The boy's parents had him tested and reported the result back to the school this morning - sadly positive. We're now both confused. We both have been doubled jabbed, but my wife still has to go to work whereas I've been told to self-isolate. I really can't work that one out... And I've been banished to one of the attic bedrooms...
Morning all. Bright with a gentle breeze, but there is a risque of storms forecast for this afternoon. That is a strange situation BB, one that I don't understand. Yesterday my daughter was passing, so called in for a cuppa, and was saying that our granddaughter who has just started Uni. is not allowed to sit within 2 metres of anyone in a lecture or in the dining hall, even if it is the person she shares a flat with. So far there have not been any new outbreaks within the Uni. that she knows about, but it is certainly creating a strange environment for the students. Have a good day wherever you may be.
Morning all. Bright and sunny day without any rain forecast. Need to do some work before the game starts. Yesterday evening The French Football TV channel had Chateauroux v Sete as one of the games you could watch. It is a good service with HD quality streaming, and free to watch. Entertainment? This was comedy gold standard with some of the defending and missed opportunities to score. A final score of 1-0, yet it could have been 6-5. Brum v Derby was very dull in comparison. Have a good day, and three points would be very nice.
Morning all. Bright and warm, so a good day to be out and about. Decided that we wanted to watch the tennis final last night, but found that Channel 4 had moved satellite positions and there was no signal from the old position. My signal decoding box is different to the first one that I had and doesn't allow you to select one channel, you have to do a full scan, that takes about an hour, and accept whatever it finds. I now have 1,596 channels to choose from in addition to the French ones. Haven't a clue what most of them are, and cannot find out how to delete them. Something to do on a wet afternoon. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. Warm at the moment, with temperatures expected to rise during the day, with the possibility of storms this evening. La Poste has delivered a letter from the bank to inform me of the latest security measures when ordering something via the internet. It used to be a case of place your order, then receive a code via text message to complete your order. Now I have my very own code that I must remember instead of waiting for the text. With different banks in France and England having their own security systems, I wonder how many more random combinations of numbers and letters my brain will hold before going into clean up mode and deleting them. No wonder I watch some elderly folk searching for a scrap of paper that holds the pin number for their bank card. Have a good day whatever you will be doing.
I think my Aussie bank has the best system - it issues account holders with a 'security token' for any online banking. Similar in size to a pen drive, it's really just a code generator - and I've no idea how it actually works, I just know that it does. Whenever I log in, I generate a code which lets me in, if I want to transfer money I generate another code to allow me - the same for paying a bill or making a purchase. I assume other banks offer the same system, but I've met anyone here who has used it.
Morning all. Cloudy one minute, blue sky the next. I don't think it quite knows what to do. An abortive visit to the bank yesterday to get some actual money as the machine informed me that it was having an incident whatever that means. No one to ask as the bank is shut on a Monday, but in any case they do not have a cashier who can actually hand over notes. Security is the reason for that a notice tells me. Up until last year if the bank machine was having a spot of bother I could walk down to the paper shop that had a cash machine in there. Then there was the break in one day, the distributor was wrecked, and is still not functioning. Slowly the bank service is getting worse, appointments only if you wish to talk to someone after midday, the paying in facility has gone, and the assumption is made that even the old folk who often pay small amounts in a shop with a cheque all have internet accounts and smart phones. Have a good trouble free day.
¡Hola a todos! More rains here, I've never seen it so green. I doubt, it'll be enough to fill the low water levels, but still, at least it's not been another dry year. Independence Day here Wednesday night at midnight, so Thursday is a day off. I'll take that. Take care all.
Morning all. Sunshine and showers with the risk of storms this afternoon says the man at the Météo. He has been right so far today, so maybe we will get the lights and bang show later. Just been writing a letter of condolence to my cousin in Cambridge who lost his wife to cancer at the weekend. This is a task I always find difficult while others seem to find that the words flow with ease. I have done too many in recent times, and wish it would stop. Have a good day everyone.
Morning all. A real first feel of Autumn this morning with everywhere quite misty. Off very shortly to pick up my daughter from the garage as she is taking her husbands car in to find out why it has gone into limp home mode. He was coming home from Switzerland Friday evening when something went wrong, so has left it here and has had to hire a car to get him back. It is not the first time it has happened, and no one has been able to find a permanent solution. We are hoping that our new garage man can finally sort it out. Have a trouble free day everyone.
I used to own a a rather sporty PI Triumph with that intermittent problem. Probably foolishly, I drove down to Sydney in it, and, sure enough, about halfway along the Newcastle to Sydney Freeway, it rather embarrassingly struck. Much to the annoyance of other drivers, I had to limp the final forty miles or so into Sydney. I had to leave the car in a garage there and fly back home. Upon flying back to collect it a week later, I was informed that it was nothing serious, just a butterfly valve that was on the way out, and had been replaced. Much relieved, I set off on the 1000 mile drive home - was tail-ended when I stopped at the first traffic light and my car was written off by my insurance company. A rather expensive trip as the insurance payout was for the scrap value only and nowhere near covered the cost of three flights, nevermind the cost of buying a replacement car.
Reminds me of my very first car a triumph spitfire which I bought on impulse from a didgy dealer in cornwall.... and then came back down on the train with an aussie girl i wanted to impress to drive it back to London........ got barely half an hour when the radiator went and we had to be rescued all the way...very embarrassing.. . and the car always used to break down with one thing or another...gave it a so called friend to repair.... .and never saw it again
Morning all . Overcast at present with showers forecast this afternoon. My first car was an already elderly Ford Popular bought for £70 from the garage next to the Vic. In 1964 we lived in Harlow and a garage opened up that rented out their repair shop after 6.00 pm, complete with use of the tools and a mechanic was on hand to help you out when you didn't know what you were doing. A very useful service well used with my old car, providing you finished by 10.00 pm. They also had petrol pumps and with a special offer on could buy four gallons for a pound, and get green shield stamps. I wonder what people would think about paying £6 a gallon if the country changed back to imperial measures? Have a good day everyone.
What a great service... I could have done with that. On my recent cars.... I dont do anything unded the bonnet but top up windscreen wash.... and with electric cars coming it will be all change again. I grew up to three gallons to the pound the same price as a 45 single....
This was my first 'motorised mode of transport' - an NSU Quickly. Inaptly named as it only had a top speed of 35mph, it cost just over 5/- to fill the 1.5 gallon tank - from memory, I'd get around 100mpg around town. When I bought it in 1965, two-stroke fuel was 3/6d per gallon. please log in to view this image
