Living on next to nought - is that the key?

Busymumofthreeplusdog

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Good Morning :hello:


Busymumof3plusdog - *from our very own correspondent in mainland Europe.....* So the bit of France that you are in, how are the prices comparing to the UK? Are they dearer all round? Or are they about the same, but the exchange rate mucks it up? Or are there plenty of markets where fresh produce is in abundance for fair prices? We shall welcome you back to the bosom of Blighty when you see fit to return Even if you are thinking about 'trading us in'.... sniff



Greying

To quote a certain someone "I'll be back.." :rotfl:
Correspondent, always fancied a career in journalism...... So here is the report......

I've been trying to figure out the prices as it's rather mixed. Some things like the good old French stick is very cheap but if it has the word artisanal in front of it add a 0!:eek: got caught out a couple off times buying pate at the deli counter!! there was lovely looking bread at the market but the prices were marked per kilo:eek: in the supermarket even given the not bad exchange rate prices for basics seem to be much the same as home. Meat and fish seem pricey but think that's also to do with prices marked in kilos. Did some shopping at the local Ldl and it seemed cheaper than at home especially for croissants, bread, cheese and cold meat.
Oh course the red wine (actually any wine) and spirits are much cheaper than at home so there has been a few wee holiday tipples consumed...:o


Dinner this evening will be dependent on whether the avocados ripen a bit more in the day.

That's certainly not a problem here - lots of cheap ripe avocados available.

Busymumofthree..... french correspondent signing off.:eek:

Hopefuljoy

Hello everyone! Two sleeps to France (will just miss you Busymumofthree!) and today has been slightly taxing on the MSE front. :cool:

I'm driving solo to the South of France (1000m door to door) accompanied by DD. Lo and behold my engine management light came on last night...:eek::mad: Needless to say there wasn't much sleep and I was calling garages from 0800 pleading for space. Finally spoke to a lovely man at Horsham Sk**a and limped over there with the offending car while DD texted every five mins from school afraid we weren't going to go on holiday!! :eek:

However, the garage was amazing and two hours later and muchos money lighter Humphrey was fixed. :j:T:T Was so relieved and enthralled with their service that I bought bottles of wine for them (not totally MSE but they were reduced and incredibly well deserved!) So my emergency fund is depleted but for the first time in six years I at least had one to draw on. Thank you MSE and CAP!!:money:

NewbieJosh - thank you for the link to MrMoneyMustache. I've been reading it avidly and enjoying the challenge. Like a lot of us I have had to start again financially however, nothing keeps me down and I am going to use his recommendations!:A

Is it just me or is it exceptionally clammy this year? I like the heat but not the feeling I'm breathing underwater in a hot bath!!

Worse still is the idea that anyone could find it funny to nickyerfigs and leave paltry fig rolls as a so-called joke. A real shame as figs are delish.:cool:

Tomorrow is designated official packing and panicking day as we leave at three am for the ferry on Friday. I have used the patented Hopefuljoy method to adjust my body clock this week and get up at three am tomorrow so I will go to sleep at five tomorrow afternoon. Sounds slightly loopy perhaps but it does work.... have persuaded DD that this will be an MSE holiday and am going to see how cheaply we can live for the next two weeks while also having lots of fun!

This seems a bit long so I shall sign off with lots of love to you all!!:rotfl::rotfl::o:j

supersaver1000

little_sweetie wrote: »

................... Well it just shows what they know, GP, my neighbour has some beautiful courgettes growing in a pot on the patio

Thank you. I've grown toms in pots this year and would love to do the same with courgettes, but wasn't sure it would work.

:cool2:

beanielou

Someone kindly planted me a brill courgette pot last year.
It was awesome.
Sadly I dont have one this year

Pippilongstocking

supersaver1000 wrote: »

Thank you. I've grown toms in pots this year and would love to do the same with courgettes, but wasn't sure it would work.

:cool2:

You need to be canny on pot size but they work a treat and you often tend to get less crown rot as they're up aff the groond.

I'm growing 3 in 'deep' window boxes - one to a box and the courgettes are a coming.

They need a regular feed and a canny eye on the watering but they work like a charm. And you don't have to just grow 'patio' varieties any old courgette will do.

beanielou wrote: »

Someone kindly planted me a brill courgette pot last year.
It was awesome.
Sadly I dont have one this year

Remind someone to plant you one again next year and pop it over.



BMOT great French review there

Hopefuljoy - eek to engines and enjoy the drive if you can. Have a great time. Thanks for popping over the fence and well reminded to thank NewbieJosh for the link - very interesting it was too.

Have a good un, and safe trips for those travelling, I bet Greying is knee deep in her TV mag.

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello: et Bonjour :hello:

Ooooh, get us wif us bi-lingual fred :D

Pippi - the bird was very sleek, so perhaps not a juvenile, and I don't recall being *stunned* by the yellow lines along the back, so perhaps it was a snipe - but the measurements given on the net seemed big. And also the Jack Snipe is supposed to *sit tight* until the very last second before fleeing, in a low, quick flight, which this did. Still fantastic to get a glimpse of though

little_sweetie - I can't countenance anyone stealing food :mad: It's like that case several years ago, of kilos of food getting nicked from an allotment. Plotholders set up CCTV in their compost bins, and were flabbergasted to find that the thief was a middle-aged, former accountant - can't remember whether he was selling the stuff on or doing it for the kicks. Absolutely outrageous :mad:

Busymumofthreeplusdog - loving your *despatches* to the motherland :D I am jealous of your cheap, ripe avocado Me tea was almost lost last night, due to an avocado masquerading as ripe, when it quite clearly wasn't thankfully it worked in the dish anyways

The only part of your report that I'm not quite satisfied with is regarding the wines - needs far more research and analysis - would you put your back into that aspect of your work, please:rotfl::rotfl::D:D:D (joke )

All in all, it is sounding fab - and I'm glad you are having a great time Thanks for letting us know about the food - I'm always interested

HopefulJoy - Good Morning! Hope the packing is going well! I hope you and DD have a FABULOUS time in the south of France. I admire your capacity to drive that far Bonne vacances! Safe journey Look forward to hearing all about it on your return

supersaver and beanielou - expecting growing reports from you both next season

Well, sorry for no show last night. But I decided on the spur of the moment (DP isn't one for spontaneity) that we would have 'us tea' outdoors picnic-style at a little place, about a mile from the house that we'd never been to before. I knew it was there, but didn't realise it was public access, and DP didn't know that it existed It was wonderful (could have gone so wrong ) we had the picnic benches to ourselves, the people that walked through didn't mind us, but I think were faintly amused at us having a picnic. We were surrounded by birds and butterflies and the sun was warm but not fierce, and with the light breeze, it was the epitome of English summer-i-ness After we had munched our tea, we went for a wander and a gander. We found where one walk that we know about actually starts and we also found a new walk! We thought that a leaf was getting blown across our path on a bit of dry dusty track, only to realise that it was...... a toad! I think it was a toad, I've got a shaky shot to do the comparison, but I think it was too big/bumpy skinned to be a frog.

Wonderful

DP was absolutely taken with the evening - he's ok with adventurising, generally when we get there, but not ok with the intial idea. And had I asked him if he wanted to go on a picnic, he would have declined. As it was, I had the picnic bag/food - he had to follow me to get fed :rotfl:

We had Grilled courgette, avocado and noodle salad. It is a recipe from Adele McConnell's book The Vegan cookbook. unfortunately, I cannot find the recipe on the web, but it's a keeper Because we were 'travelling' I carried the dressing separately, and poured it over when we got there. If you were serving straight away, you dressed the noodles in the dressing entirely. I was grateful that the avocado had to be blitzed into a dressing. It turned out to be far too hard to have eaten off the bat. I had difficulty getting the stone out But thankfully, blitzed up it tasted nice and 'of' avocado iyswim the dressing is avocado, coconut milk, lime, mirin, sesame oil (not in mine, I had none), wine vinegar. Picture here - the tomatoes were an addition, not in the recipe;



Sorry for the close-up - you didn't need to see any *norty words* on the picnic bench...... :rotfl:

Right, I've gotta rush now. Going for a NSD, as spent yesterday.

Thank you for updating us on news in mainland Europe, for reading, popping by, and for being all-round good eggs. Mucho appreciated

See y'all later.

Greying

Verbatim

Our diesel particulate filter went on our drive to the Eurostar terminal last year. It meant we lost turbo power and couldn't accelerate. Basically the car went into limp home mode. We however drove over 1000 miles to south of France and got it fixed there rather than miss our crossing.
Twas very scary and we only just made our slot.
I hope your car behaves now!

little_sweetie

supersaver1000 wrote: »

Thank you. I've grown toms in pots this year and would love to do the same with courgettes, but wasn't sure it would work.

:cool2:

Go for it mi dear, they look lush!

little_sweetie - I can't countenance anyone stealing food :mad: It's like that case several years ago, of kilos of food getting nicked from an allotment. Plotholders set up CCTV in their compost bins, and were flabbergasted to find that the thief was a middle-aged, former accountant - can't remember whether he was selling the stuff on or doing it for the kicks.
Absolutely outrageous :mad:

I think it's dreadful too, GP, it's obviously a neighbour who took them and none of them (neighbours that is ) appear to be starving (in which case lots of us would chip in with gifts of food anyway) but the figs are being guarded fiercely this year.

Yay to you for your impromptu picnic last night. Wasn't it a lovely evening. We went for a walk after tea too and then sat outside until 10.45pm (in total darkness!) just talking....wonderful!

Safe journey, hopefuljoy, have a wonderful time. Au Revoir!

Have a great day, dear GP and chums x

wishus

Thanks, Newbie Josh for the link to MMM blog - another for my reading list! :j

GP, saw your last curry pic and it looks super yummy as always, even if it was a bit spicy!:eek:
I love it here, it's always so positive. Need that at the moment.

Ellidee

GP at first I thought that was a pic of the toad :rotfl:
On my tablet so not the clearest !