MooN

well the weather here is set shitty

depends how much people are willing to pay you to vote for them. i'm open to offers...

a series of unconnected thoughts provoked by that @boboneleg Man, as in Mankind...? When the Fuck did we suddenly go politically correct? we'll be having the 'elf and safe tea inspectors in next! it's not about gender but species...? or are we not allowed to say Mankind anymore either? Vote MOTY and TOTY, if one of the girls wins it, then change it to POTY. ? I think the non male identifying persons on here are probably intelligigent enough to not be insulted ( lets face it, they wouldn't be on here otherwise)

You're gomg to Bob's?

leave it as BOTM. read the rules of submitting a BOTM pic; It has to be your BIKE pic has to be taken in the current MONTH. QED; BIKE of the MONTH. I agree with @Tango on this. the constant is the bike. Please don't make it anymore complicated then that.

good choice. Comic books are excellent for learning the language, as you say there's some slang in them and if you don't get it the picture explains it. In french and belgian comics there are almost always at least 2 and sometimes 3 levels of understanding; the basic language, the humoristic references and often enough political satire current at time of writing. I learnt masses of French idiom from Franquin's " Gaston Lagaffe" series when I first arrived here.

" Le petit Prince" is a french classic, standerd secondary school study here. I also have " Vol de Nuit" by him. You know he was a pioneer of the french aeropostal service in north africa right?

I love the way he looks at it, like "who put that kerb there?" picks it up and gets on with it.

yeah, I seem to remember when I took the picture I thouht about taking the box off but decided that " It's my bke, it's my ride, on my terms. I take a picture during the ride, I'm not an artist, or even a photographer trying to projetct some message or image. This is me, this is my bike, in this place, at this time. " I really don' care if others think it would be better somehow else, ( and besides, I couldn't be arsed)

I'm currently re reading my way through the Patrick OBrien collection ( series of books the first of which was made into a dissapointing film "Master and Commander".) possibly not of much interest unless interested in sailing aships and maritime history. though exceedingly well written.

104 metres ( 341 ft for the cave trolls among you)

Nope, couldn't be arsed to remove the topbox either.

There was a French comedian (Coluche) who asked the question " If a Frenchman is driving a mercedes, that's classy. If a German is deiving a citroen what's that, nostalgia?..." german tourist in a mercedes stopped by the police in paris for some minor traffic misdemeanor, Policeman says " you've not been to Paris before have you sir?" German tourist replies " Ja, Ja, Ja, bot ze last time I vos here, I vos driving tracked vehicle..." I'll get my coat...

erm...

much as the idea is tempting, the reality is that a 2400km round trip on the autoroute is not my idea of fun. it would be beyond my physical capabilities to do the trip in less than a week or 8 days and I don't have the finances for that ( or the time...)

I thing "badger" must have very different connotations here...

I, like Pedro, was dead set against comms for years. I got so pissed off at people phoning me from work all the time and having to stop, remove gloves, remove lid, remove earplugs ( or at least one) get the phone out of it's case, ring them back, leave a message and wait for them to ring me again (or wosre put all the clobber back on only to have them ring back 30 seconds after I've got going...I succombed and found a cheap one on an online sale room for 50€. I can now simply pull over and talk to whichever technicien has fucked up without having to spend ages de-gearing and gearing up again. The sound quality is shit but it allows communication, a conversation if I stop and gps vocal instructions more or less. It is not indispensable, but I will invest in a vetter quality one whe this one dies. Never wanted heated grips before, but do enjoy them now. never wanted satnav before, but to use it a lot now. none of the gadgets I have, especially the electronics are so vital that their absence would pose a problem though.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but take a lok around you mate! Have you seen the folk in here?! No one normally constituted would put up with it... .

Siri just ignores me. I've tried but it doesn't react to my voice. probably just as well cos I struggle managing myself, let alone a virtuel assistant

Yeah but to be fair, you're unstable, Pete's just bizarre. around 8 to 10 c here this afternoon so I'm going riding.

I can only really speak for the part of France I live in. France is a big place and the locals, along with their Brit immigrants, differ vastly from one area to another. This part of france has it's fair share of Brit immigrants, but most of them work, rather than retiring here. Very locally the brits work on the hotel boats on the canals or in the tourist industry. on a wider scale the brits in Burgundy tend to work in the wine industry or tourism. as I understand it the Brits on the south coast are more in line with those who emigrate to the costas, wanting to retire to guaranteed sunshine though maybe not as dodgy as Pete describes in Spain, @Tango ? The Lot and Dordogne regions are allegedly heaving with brit expats ( the Dordogne has been since the middle ages and the last crusades) but I believe mostly retirees again. You then have the mountains and the ski resorts which are full of your younger brit seasonal workers during the ski season, but as dopeheaded and mindless as most of them are, they don't have the scammer reputation. I think the spanish costas attract a certain type of Brit. A hangover from the days of el cheapo package holidays, freddie laker flights and an allegedly easily corruptible police force. All of which will attract a certain type of person. The now ageing brtit expat population will again attract a certain type of brit scammer, or bring out the scammer in a certain type of person... vicious circle. As the ageing Brit expats status and income is fragelised by Brexit or whatever, they will become more suscetble to the scammers, which in turn will attract more scammers... etc...ect

WTF is a "pacified e mail?" when it's at home ( along with it's Nigerian billionaire's sons)

“rules are for the obeyance of fools, and the guidance of wise men”. Harry Day ( or possibly Douglas Bader).