MANY a postcard in France features the cute, sugar-coated, image of a kitten looking out of a basket of flowers, but behind such village scenes the problem of feral cats can be a real issue.
And whilst there are many animal rescue centres able to help out, the fact that cat numbers are rarely controlled causes problems for both local people and the mairie.
Lynn Stone, of the charity Les Amis des Chats, is involved in a project in the Lot et Garonne that aims to tackle the issue where the plan is to trap, neuter and return the cats.
LA Semaine de la Langue Française is an annual event and this year runs from March 16 to 23.
The week is seen as a way to promote the French language, with local associations such as libraries and schools organising special events to emphasise the importance of languages.
A key part of the festival is the announcement of ten words that, this year, relate to the environment, science, imagination and culture; ailleurs, capteur, clair de Terre, clic, compatible, désirer, génome, pérenne, transformer and vision.
The Semaine de la Langue Française website provides background information on each word, but also lets you search for events close to home.
HAVING received an A grade for my ceramic alligator in high school art class (so good my Mother never believed I made it) and able to change guitar strings unaided, it did occur to me that a film destined for a predominately English speaking market, should present a majority of English speakers, writes Christopher Strong.
So, in a Provençal village, one sweltering July day, I posed the non-musical question: “Yo dude. Where be da English speakers?”
Some meetings are closed and require people to contact organisers in advance, but there are open events and entrance is free, just bring along ‘a desire to stop drinking’.
THE present UK government does not like expats, they obviously constitute a huge threat, they are people with the gumption to get up and go, and tries at every opportunity to discriminate against them, writes Anita Rieu-Sicart.
The majority of people who have emigrated in the past few years, and hundreds of thousands have done just that including the younger, talented ones with skills to countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA etc. have little to lose in pension benefits.
THE seven day cooling off period that allows the buyer of a French property to withdraw from a sale contract of a residential property can prove very helpful.
Here Guillaume Barlet offers some advice on how it works and the options available if living overseas.
Enforcement of the decree of December 19, 2008 regarding the cooling-off period granted to a non-professional buyer was awaited since the National Pledge for Housing Act of July 13, 2006 (engagement national pour le logement or ENL) in order to set the practicalities of the notice and of the handover of the contract to the buyer.
THERE is a very interesting, and in-depth, piece by Jon Doust on his blog about installing a Godin stove and solar water heating in his home in the Vendée.
The opportunity to make these change to your home is sure to appeal to many, especially as the price of oil and gas may rise in the near future and people have an increased awareness of their carbon footprint.
NOW that the monthly quiz questions on all things France, put together by author Andrew Whittaker, have come to an end I thought I’d knit together some of the .pdf files so you have a bumper pack.
I have combined the questions and answers from August through to December, that’s 60 quiz questions on the arts, culture, sports, current affairs and so much more.
Some of the questions appear in Andrew’s book Speak the Culture: France, but he also wrote many new brain teasers each month, so dive on in and download your quiz questions and answers on France (.pdf).
IF you have ever wondered about the small, stone built huts you find dotted across the French countryside, especially in the south, then take a look over pierreseche.com.
The site is an treasure trove of information on les cabanes, some of which is available in English, but just clicking through some of the photographs is great fun.
You can also brush up on your architectural vocab and dive in further into what is really a website built from the ground up and set to last.
LA POSTE has a service that allows you to buy and print off stamps through your computer, for internal post as well as overseas.
The Mon Timbr en Ligne service lets you pick from over 200 designs of stamp and in a couple of steps print off a sheet or add a stamp to an individual envelope.
You can buy stamps for regular envelopes or larger parcels, and because you credit your account you can use them whenever they are required.
Printing sheets of stamps
Sheets of labels can be used, and it is also possible to print directly to envelopes or label makers and as a safety measure you can print a test sheet in advance to make sure everything is lined up correctly.
You first pick the design of your stamp, that includes areas of France or cities such as Avignon or Paris, as well as simple graphics and drawings with a touch of French life.
Small parcels and letters
You then pick the type of letter or small parcel you want to send which is based on the weight, so the lowest priced option covers a letter weighing less than 20g and that is priced at 1,13 €.
Your next step is printing the stamps onto a sheet of A4 paper, if you have paper with stickers you can provide the size of them and the online printing service will adjust the dimensions of the stamp.
You can print just one stamp or a number of stamps up to a maximum of 24 on one sheet of A4 paper, with the total number of stamps you can buy in one go numbering 500.
How to stick the stamps on
There is a small help notice should you wonder how to attach your stamps to the envelope and that is to cut out the individual stamps and then use a glue stick to attach them, sticky tape or liquid glue is not suitable.
It is possible to buy stamps for letters to be sent to the UK, the US and other countries, and the price is exactly the same as if you were to use the local post office.
And I suppose that’s one of the great worries about this service, is this another blow to local postal services especially in the countryside?
Enforcement of the decree of December 19, 2008 regarding the cooling-off period granted to a non-professional buyer was awaited since the National Pledge for Housing Act of July 13, 2006 (engagement national pour le logement or ENL) in order to set the practicalities of the notice and of the handover of the contract to the buyer.
NOW that the monthly quiz questions on all things France, put together by author Andrew Whittaker, have come to an end I thought I’d knit together some of the .pdf files so you have a bumper pack.