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The Canary Dave

Discussion in 'Watford' started by geitungur akureyrar, Feb 1, 2014.

  1. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Big decision when you have lived for 35 years in the same village and are totally embedded in the life of the community. Too many things on the go, meaning that I spent more time out at meetings than putting my feet up after a day in the office. Trying to run a company, do all of the voluntary things, and make a cottage in France habitable became too much. Four or six weeks working in France, followed by four to six weeks in England getting the garden back into shape.
    French social life is there, but not obvious. My English neighbour was on the town council until Brexit put an end to that. I have joined up with the committee that organizes the annual fete day, which was cancelled this year. Not too arduous until the day itself. Several groups meet, organized by Brits, but with a healthy number of locals. Mme is the Treasurer for one group that have monthly meetings, and 50% are local.
    Of course there are so many things that are different that you wonder about sometimes. Three times I sorted out paperwork to prove my residency following Brexit and before I had chance to submit it found that it was on hold. In the end it was very simple and free. Had a night in hospital when I was sewn up and a spot of day surgery when they checked me out for a possible cancerous hole that appeared by my eye. Each occasion the experience although unwanted was very good.
    So settled and spending time for us. As for covid, get a decent internet with phone supplier and you can keep in touch easily with the wealth of info in both French and English.
     
    #20601
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  2. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Morning all. Bright but some white fluffy clouds at a high level. I was reminded today that tomorrow is our youngest daughters wedding anniversary, and I had better get something sorted pronto. Done, with another job for a white van man. I hope that our gift will cheer them up as yesterday they had to have their dog put down. She had cancer and all the vet could offer was pain killers for the few weeks she had left. Never a nice decision to have to make as I have found out too often. One vet in a nearby village here had a plot of land that housed a multitude of injured wild animals. I think he spent as much time looking after them as he did the paying clients. Sadly he retired and the enclosures are empty. Have a good day, and three points would be helpful thank you. <ok>
     
    #20602
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  3. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Morning all. A lovely morning, warmish, blue sky, and my wish for three points from yesterday was granted. Reality however is often not far behind and while I was having my first cup of tea a strange sucking sound started outside. Sticking my head around the front door I found that my neighbour was having her fosse septic emptied. I am not sure why they think it a good idea to have transparent hoses to suck out the contents and I am not sure why someone would choose that as a profession. Still a valuable service to the hamlets that have no chance of ever seeing mains drainage. On that note I hope you all have an enjoyable day. <ok>
     
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  4. yorkshirehornet

    yorkshirehornet Well-Known Member

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    I am not sure about the 'strange sucking sound' !
     
    #20604
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  5. Bolton's Boots

    Bolton's Boots Well-Known Member

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    On the subjects of tea and strange noises - my head is still buzzing after last night, but not only because of the Norwich result. Gettin gout of bed at 5:00am yesterday to fetch my wife a morning cuppa, I had a sudden dizzy spell and fell back into bed - where I ended up staying for most of the day, being unable to stand up. Was fortunate enough to arrange a home visit from out GP - who had no idea what the problem was but threw an array of pills and sprays at the problem. One, or all, of them seemed to help - or perhaps it was just my determination to watch the game last night - am now only slightly giddy, but able to walk around the house without hanging on to the walls. And my good lady wife served me breakfast in bed before heading off to work...
     
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  6. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    It sounds like vertigo which is brought on by a viral condition often in an ear, but not exclusively. An English friend in the next village had it and you knew when she started to feel dizzy as she would shake her head. My middle daughter also had it for a short period. In both cases it just stopped without any clear reason, but presumably it was when the virus cleared up.
     
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  7. yorkshirehornet

    yorkshirehornet Well-Known Member

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    My wife gets it...... comes and goes every few months and she gets very dizzy getting up in the morning
     
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  8. Bolton's Boots

    Bolton's Boots Well-Known Member

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    It had me worried. A few years ago I was sent to a school in Fraserburgh to cover for a staff member who had come down with labyrinthitis - she was off for three months. I left when she returned, but was only gone a week - another teacher came down with the same thing and I had to cover her class for three months too.

    I really didn't fancy three months of feeling like I did yesterday.
     
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  9. yorkshirehornet

    yorkshirehornet Well-Known Member

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    Feeling Ok now?
     
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  10. Bolton's Boots

    Bolton's Boots Well-Known Member

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    Much better thanks - just left with a headache now.
     
    #20610
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  11. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Morning all. A lovely day here, temperature into the 20°C 's and a gentle breeze. Pleased to see that when we went to town yesterday for the shopping the largest supermarket had some really good discounts on some of the wines. Over time I have learnt which ones to avoid, and they are normally the ones with the largest price reductions, but yesterday one of my favourites had 30% off. Just as well it currently is cheap, €1.60 a bottle, as it received a bit of a hammering on Tuesday. Saturday will be different as the game kicks off before my self imposed 6.00 pm drinks time. I just hope we are not trying to hold onto a single goal lead for the best part of 90 minutes. Have a good day whatever you have planned. <ok>

    PS. Glad you are feeling better BB.
     
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  12. yorkshirehornet

    yorkshirehornet Well-Known Member

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    All set up for the final three games.... WHATEVER happens on Saturday........
     
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  13. Toby

    Toby GC's Life Coach

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    Choosing wine in France is a nightmare, much easier here (you just have to pay x5 more).

    In the local supermarkets around my area in France there's dust on the expensive bottles <laugh> They're just for the Brits that buy whatever's expensive, the locals know which ones to choose. It's crazy that a 2€ bottle is nicer than some £10-15 ones here...
     
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  14. Bolton's Boots

    Bolton's Boots Well-Known Member

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    That's something that gobsmacked me when I came back here from Oz. A couple of my tipples of choice over there were Banrock Station Shiraz & Merlot, which could be bought for $9.50 for a two litre cask - that's somewhere between £5 - £6. Over here, the same casks retailed at £15 - bloody outrageous. I haven't looked for them for a long time now - but have noticed that other cask wines seem to retail at around £19 now - in Oz the two now retail at $15.
     
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  15. Toby

    Toby GC's Life Coach

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    I can't imagine things getting any cheaper with our newfound sovereignty either :frown:
     
    #20615
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  16. Bolton's Boots

    Bolton's Boots Well-Known Member

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    I've been thinking about going back to making my own. I used to make a rather tasty babaco & grapefruit wine - a tangy spritzig - but haven't a clue where to get babacos over here.
     
    #20616
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  17. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Morning all. A beautiful sunny warm day here. Bordeaux risque très gros, screamed the headlines this morning, which made me think that there had been a covid outbreak down there. In fact it was about the football club that is €80M in debt, and the owner is saying that he will no longer keep the club afloat. Administration beckons, followed by relegation to the second division unless a new buyer can be found very quickly who will take on all the debts. Looking at their current position they are in danger of relegation anyway, so it seems unlikely that buyers will be rushing to take on the debt. Football is in a very difficult position across Europe where living beyond your means has been an accepted practice. Maybe salary caps should be introduced, but it has to be more than one country to try it. Rugby in England introduced one, and the players simply went to France that didn't. Recent events with the ESL suggest that to get clubs to work together will not be an easy thing. Have a good day wherever you are. <ok>
     
    #20617
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  18. Bolton's Boots

    Bolton's Boots Well-Known Member

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    Rugby League in both England and Australia have salary caps - probably France too, but I'm not sure about that. In England, player payments are capped at £2.1 million per club, whilst in Australia the cap is around twice that at $9 million. So movement between countries is possible, but not actually that common. Top players in Australia would be lucky to get $1 million a year - the equivalent of around a month's pay for many EPL players - but, not unnaturally, seem to manage quite well on that. For me, something similar in football here would make far more sense.
     
    #20618
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  19. oldfrenchhorn

    oldfrenchhorn Well-Known Member
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    Morning all. Another beautiful day here, and very warm now. With no rain in the forecast before Wednesday it looks as though I will be doing a daily watering of the seedlings that are just popping through and cannot be allowed to dry out. I have some strawberries in for the first time in several years, in a cage that stops the birds getting at them. The first of the French crop is now appearing in the shops, that are grown down south. Spanish and Moroccan ones are available earlier, but are flavourless in comparison. Although the flowers have set on mine and there are tiny fruits, I guess it will be a few weeks yet before they become larger than peas. Have a good three points day everyone. <ok>
     
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  20. J T Bodbo

    J T Bodbo Well-Known Member

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    I am uncomfortable about suggesting this, as I am an engineer , and not a doctor . Our son is a GP and is very open to alternative therapies, but is not open at all to 'amateurs' like me making suggestions outside of their knowledge. Still , here we go...
    As my wife suffers from an occasional condition where she feels quite giddy, after lying down (i.e. in the morning waking up) the following cures it. They are called Brandt-Daroff exercises. They are safe to recommend as they involve no medication, nothing strenuous, and are simple to carry out.
    They seek to solve a problem to do with 'crystals' in the inner ear.
    Whatever - try them if you wish.
     
    #20620

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