MooN

wife's boss ( pharmacist) does testing regularly at the pharmacy, cos the number of people needing testing is growing and there are no testing centres anymore, says that the autotests are not very reliable either way and can give false negatives and false positives simply because of the parameters of the test. With the best will in the world, most people doing home tests don't or can't respect all of the parameters exactly, the depth of specimen in the sinus + the transfer to the test + temperature and humidity conditions + sterile workspace + time critical results etc etc etc. The tests are designed to be as acurate as possible and as supple as possible with the base parameters but any parameter adjustment will reduce the accuracy of the test results a little, add them all together and add into the mix the inherent inaccuracy percentage and you have a load of false results. If you test a number of times with the same result it's probably ok, if not get a PCR to be sure. Then again, he sells the bloody things and gets paid for testing so how reliable is his opinion...?

Bonne Année to all of you.

that's what I would do naturally, but would have no way of knowing without asking, wether I was adressing a Huron or an Alonquin. Also, if you follow the logoque fully then "Cheyenne" ( for example) would also be incorrect as it was the French trappers who referred to them as Dog indiens or "Chiens" which was rapidly mispronounced by the English or Americain traders as "Cheyenne". is that a derogatory term? is it impossible to have a collective noun for a race that is not sooner or later ill percieved by either those directly concerned or by someone not concerned but sufficiently "WOKE" to feel they have the right to be offended by it. I doubt it.

fixed.

Isn't the PC term " First Nation" now?

Yesterday I drove back from Oxford to Auxerre. Today I am mostly recuperating from 5 days in the UK. ( is it me or have the roads all gone to shit rcently? )

" Function is Form" as they say and much as I dislike the idea of Bobo neleg doing the grand slam and being Mod AND MOTY AND BOTY , his DR is clean in every sense of the word, and functional. It also gets used properly so I'm voting for that one. If i'm around for the last minte vote swapping I may have to swap for Fred's Affy twin, but we'll see. Ummm, there's Pedro's beheme there too.... oh fuck it, I dunno, pick one out of a hat?

I'll admit I had to look that one up.

Plenty of people have high IQ but can't be allowed out in public unaccompanied...

last pic on my phone in the show room at work, I'm still trying to learn all the different models and makes we deal with

WTF?

I'm not sure that being certifiably insane doesn't count as cheating due to unfair advantage, so for me Marcel is out. I think Six's Van reports take the biscuit, so I'm going to nominate @Six30

I'm going to nominate @Sir Fallsalot. Despite disparaging comments from certain quarters about his camera skills, when he does do a ride report its always good, he does some really sketchy shit on his bike and always writes with humour, be it a ride report or a work anecdote. He also always replies with useful info in the workshop bit.

I still have vivid memories of the first bike trip I organised to the uk with 4 or 5 mates from here. We visited my parents, my mum cooked and we had hours of fun trying to explain "Toad in the Hole" ( Le crapaud dans le trou) before moving on to cheesecake, which is neither cake mor cheese...

there's no meat in a mince pie Marcel.

Paris ( which doesn't really count as part of France and the south west mostly

@Tango, any round your way?

I'm sure there are some Bob, in the midi or dordogne I imagine where the big Brit ex-pat communities are / were.

no, thank God. qctuqlly I think there's a "comptoir Irlandais" in Dijon where N01 daughter buys the occasional pot of marmite, or gets me a packet of custard creams from time to time.

ca't get either mince pies or Christmas pudding here, the French just cqn't get their heads round them. They all seem to eat oysters for Christmas, along with other seafood.

that's a Folland Gnat, the Red arrows flew them till the late 70's I think. Apart from the GIss ( General Impression, Size and Shape) Pedro's already mentioned thegiveaway clues... the most obvious being wing placement. No I'm not a plane nerd, but spent my school days surrounded by RAF kids who talked planes 24/7 and like most useless information, I seem to have retained much of it

I'm sure you can Pete, what with Brexit making stirling stronger and worth more than ever... Oh, wait a minute...

24th drive to oxford 25th meet up with the AP's ( Aged Parents) on Christmas day at Church which will make their dreams come true ( yes I'm a vicar's son) and thence on to sisters for Lunch, from there on and untill we drive home on the 29th, it's anybodies guess.

minus 6 here too this morning, but just a deep frost, no snow.