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Moves at Limoges and other French Photos


jamie92208
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18 hours ago, Stephen Freeman said:

There are more than one type of snake to look out for. Worst of the bunch is the grass snake, usually black in our experience, very long and as has been noted very aggresive. Then there is the Western Whip snake, tends to be much quicker but not aggresive towards humans, thirdly the viper which is really the only venomous snake you are likely to encounter. I believe there are nastier ones further south. No adders this far south, probably the Western whip snakes have eaten them all. Personally I have only seen the Western whip snake there, though my wife has seen more than one grass snake, quite common apparently.

 

Arguably the worst creature is the processionary caterpillar, unfortunately these have apparently now spread to the UK (even to parts further north than you might think), where most people are unaware of the danger.

Recent worries have been 'Tiger' mosquitos and Asian hornets; 'our' mairie in Beaujolais has issued a reminder to try and avoid having stagnant water near habitations in old barrels etc, to try avoid the mosquitoes laying eggs. The Processionary caterpillar has been a feature of Kent summers for the last few years; the Eurotunnel terminal has notices everywhere advising people not to touch them.

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Snakes - the eyes are the clue.  If the pupil is round then it is one of the harmless (to humans) French varieties.  If the pupil is a vertical slit/ narrow oval then you are probably a lot too close.

 

Yes grass snakes are aggressive but they are also harmless.

 

http://www.planetepassion.eu/SNAKES-IN-FRANCE/Snakes-of-France.html

 

 

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Almost all snakes (here, in France anyway) run away, very fast, if disturbed. It is only if they are cornered (such as in an enclosed garden), or have eggs to defend, that they can get shirty.

 

In my nine years plus here, of dog walking, I have never come across a snake in the wild, but I have met several in my garden!! In one case, in the kitchen. He stayed to tea and we had a nice chat, but he had to run for the bus...... no, I made that up. We don't have any buses.

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2 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

Snakes - the eyes are the clue.  If the pupil is round then it is one of the harmless (to humans) French varieties.  If the pupil is a vertical slit/ narrow oval then you are probably a lot too close.

 

Yes grass snakes are aggressive but they are also harmless.

 

http://www.planetepassion.eu/SNAKES-IN-FRANCE/Snakes-of-France.html

 

 

Oh like I'd get close enough to look into its eyes.

Nope.

Retreating at a decent pace.

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I've handled a snake (at a combined aquarium type place and model railway, at Poole many years ago), and it was a beautiful creature, warm and not slimy as some think ! Sadly, I've never seen one in the wild however (not that we have many in the UK, and especially Scotland). 

 

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On 02/06/2021 at 16:55, Stephen Freeman said:

There are more than one type of snake to look out for. Worst of the bunch is the grass snake, usually black in our experience, very long and as has been noted very aggresive. Then there is the Western Whip snake, tends to be much quicker but not aggresive towards humans, thirdly the viper which is really the only venomous snake you are likely to encounter. I believe there are nastier ones further south. No adders this far south, probably the Western whip snakes have eaten them all. Personally I have only seen the Western whip snake there, though my wife has seen more than one grass snake, quite common apparently.

 

Arguably the worst creature is the processionary caterpillar, unfortunately these have apparently now spread to the UK (even to parts further north than you might think), where most people are unaware of the danger.

 

Not heard of a Western Whip Snake before. I will have to look it up because I saw something in my garden this week which I did not recognise. But it was not agressive. Snakes rarely are, if ever.

 

Adders occur as far south as the Corbieres. I had a very close encounter with one there a few years ago where it had been sunbathing on a friend's terrace. I almost picked it up.

 

Across the south one can encounter the Montpellier Snake. A fine specimen can reach up to 3 metres in length. I saw one once that had been run over on the road. It stretched across most of the carriageway. 

 

Add: Western whip snake = couleuvre, a name that I do know, but I had not come across a dark green one before.

Another example of how I am not bi-lingual. There are things that I know in French that I don't know in English.

 

I think it may have been on QI that I learned that all snakes are venomous. But only a minority have fangs located in such a way as to be a danger to humans.

 

As I recall, only one adult has died of adder venom in the UK in the last 100 years. The others that allegedly died from snake bite were in fact killed by the first aid proferred.

Edited by Joseph_Pestell
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7 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

Snakes - the eyes are the clue.  If the pupil is round then it is one of the harmless (to humans) French varieties.  If the pupil is a vertical slit/ narrow oval then you are probably a lot too close.

 

Yes grass snakes are aggressive but they are also harmless.

 

http://www.planetepassion.eu/SNAKES-IN-FRANCE/Snakes-of-France.html

 

 

Tell that to one of our acquiantences re!atives , said grass snake bite him, snake had to be chopped off and head removed surgically at hospital, Ruffec I think.

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Enough talk of reptiles.  Some days ago the subject of the line from Pau in France to Canfranc in Spain cropped up in another thread.  To stop thread drift I offered to answer some questions here.  The line was standard gauge from Pau to Canfranc with a tunnel under the frontier.  The station at Canfranc  was vast and allegedly a haunt of smugglers and nere do wells.  The station had standard gauge on it's eastern side and broad gauge on the west.  The line in Spain is known as the Goya line.   In 1970 a freight train on the French side ran away and demolished a viaduct at Estanguet.  The French closed their section of line south of Oloron and for many years there has been a bus service from Canfranc to Oloron.  There have been many schemes to reopen the line and in 2016 the French reconstructed 27km of line south to Bedous. The track and electrification had been left intact.  For many years the rather sparse service on the Spanish side has used a temporary terminus due to the state of the old building.   The Spanish have now rebuilt the station at Canfranc.  The enourmous station is being made into a hotel which is due to open in 2022.  

 

A completely new station has been built alongside to the east of the old station, a plan is reproduced here from Rail Passion magazine.

cancfranc.jpg.6e33faff25ddc48f6e02ac3d37b539e1.jpg

There are 3 tracks for passengers and 4 for future freight traffic.  All have been laid to Iberian gauge but of polyvalent sleepers so that conversion to standard gauge is easy.   The plan is to regauge the Spanish line as far as Heusca.   The work to rebuild the viaduct in France and reopen the through line is now coted and the latest plan is for it to open in 2025.   One of the main drivers for the project is for freight traffic from the Zaragoza area to France.   I don't know is any of the old Midi 4700 Bo Bo's are still operational but it would be lovely to see one on the opening of the new line. This has been condensed from articles in Rail Passion  and the June edition of Todays Railways Europe.

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited by jamie92208
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And some good news, I've just been granted a pass out by the domestic authorities so will be heading towards Ruffec after lunch, to buy sone rawlbolts....I might be sone time and see some trains.

 

Jamie

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4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

And some good news, I've just been granted a pass out by the domestic authorities so will be heading towards Ruffec after lunch, to buy sone rawlbolts....I might be sone time and see some trains.

 

Jamie

 

Hope you took your brolly?

 

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Rawlbolts?

The walls at our place are so friable I have to use resin anchors for anything heavy.

Or I did back in the days when we were allowed to visit OUR property.

I wonder how Macron would react if all Brits unable to use their properties by law, withheld taxes foncieres and taxes d'habitation while restrictions are in place?

Fair's fair, after all.....

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As mentioned above I did get out yesterday afternoon to trainspot  sorry do some DIY shopping near Ruffec. Andy and I headed south but didn't brave going up on the bridge as it was raining off and on.  Unfortunately there wasn't much traffic.  First was TGV Atlantique set 391 heading north after stopping at Angouleme.  After spotting the pantograph change we now watch carefully.  The coast for a god half mile before the 25KV pan is raised.

P6041130.JPG.e23e96cce83ca1499a637165482c44e2.JPG

Then the only freight of the afternoon, 27014 on a mixed freight heading north.

P6041132.JPG.9216d41d403baaaf693e87fd7e08af1d.JPGP6041133.JPG.f2fb9a36f54a99a737c13d784f595253.JPG

At the head of the train was a pair of  refurbished coaches, I believe from the Paris area, with a couple of Corail coaches as translator vehicles.

 

I think that these are coming from the plant at Bagnierres de Bigorre that isn't rail connected at the moment. This is at the south end of a branch from Tarbes and stock has to be moved to the plant by road.  I believe that there are plans to refurbish the branch and reopen it.

Finally TGV 511 headed north on the chord but I've hit my upload limit.

 

Jamie  

Edited by jamie92208
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5 hours ago, JeffP said:

Cones up as page not found.

Sorry for that it was there last night.

 

Perhaps this helps but it is undated but we have to assume is up to date.

https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/le-ministere-et-son-reseau/actualites-du-ministere/informations-coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-les-reponses-a-vos-questions

 

Toute entrée en France et toute sortie de notre territoire à destination ou en provenance d’un pays extérieur à l’espace européen (Union européenne, Andorre, Islande, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norvège, Saint-Marin, Saint-Siège et Suisse) à l’exception de l’Australie, la Corée du Sud, Israël, le Japon, la Nouvelle-Zélande, le Royaume-Uni ou Singapour, est interdite, sauf : motif impérieux d’ordre personnel ou familial, motif de santé relevant de l’urgence ou motif professionnel ne pouvant être différé.

 

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11 hours ago, JeffP said:

Rawlbolts?

The walls at our place are so friable I have to use resin anchors for anything heavy.

Or I did back in the days when we were allowed to visit OUR property.

I wonder how Macron would react if all Brits unable to use their properties by law, withheld taxes foncieres and taxes d'habitation while restrictions are in place?

Fair's fair, after all.....

 

Macron would not react, but the Tresorie might well give you one year to sort out the payments or seek to re-possess your property (as is sometimes threatened for non-payment). As it is, you can only use the property for three months out of any six now, due to Brexit. Are you going to withhold 50%?

 

But as Andy has said, you can come in now, if you have had two jabs (or one if you have had Covid). What they haven't detailed is what evidence will be acceptable.

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Still unsure.

The Eurotunnel site asks that you fill in a form which lists only 13 compelling reasons to enter France.

None of them cover us.

 

And living five hours from the tunnel, with my poor wife not able to travel much further in one go now, we are unwilling to commit to travel and risk being to turned back at Folkestone which would be a disaster for her, leaving us needing a hotel with an accessible  room at short notice

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1 hour ago, Mike Storey said:

 

Macron would not react, but the Tresorie might well give you one year to sort out the payments or seek to re-possess your property (as is sometimes threatened for non-payment). As it is, you can only use the property for three months out of any six now, due to Brexit. Are you going to withhold 50%?

 

Of course not, we've only ever gone for three months.

We did have intentions of moving there, but sadly, my wife's illness and paraplegia put paid to that.

 

But I do object strongly to being told I cannot go at all, simply because the UK voted leave.

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20 minutes ago, JeffP said:

Still unsure.

The Eurotunnel site asks that you fill in a form which lists only 13 compelling reasons to enter France.

None of them cover us.

 

And living five hours from the tunnel, with my poor wife not able to travel much further in one go now, we are unwilling to commit to travel and risk being to turned back at Folkestone which would be a disaster for her, leaving us needing a hotel with an accessible  room at short notice

That remains the situation until Monday.  So they are applying current rules.

Edited by Andy Hayter
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2 hours ago, JeffP said:

Thanks to all responders.

We'll just have to wait it out.

Sorry for the topic drift Jaimie.

No problem Jeff.  We are also waiting it out to see our family.

 

Jamie

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On 05/06/2021 at 23:42, JeffP said:

 

Of course not, we've only ever gone for three months.

We did have intentions of moving there, but sadly, my wife's illness and paraplegia put paid to that.

 

But I do object strongly to being told I cannot go at all, simply because the UK voted leave.

 

Sorry to learn of that. My wife has MS so we face much the same problem, but for us, it's in trying to get to the UK to see our family. This is not about Brexit, but about the pandemic. The rules may have been easier for EU citizens for the last several weeks, but that all changes this week. It will be harder for us to visit Britain, than for you to come to France now.

 

I don't know your situation, obviously, but it is a great pity you did not decide to move here before last December, as the health system here has been phenomenally better than we had in the UK, but you, or your wife, would need to be entitled to an S1 (or you would have to work here). I am sure you looked at all that before you made your decision.

 

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we did.

we also took into account things like accessibility, which, given that both countries were subject to the same laws and rules until recently, is strangely far better in the uk.

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