BobCrox

In retrospect there have been many positive things from owning a property we return to. We have got to know the French locals. We have learnt many aspects of French life as honorary locals. Also we have used our cottage as a base to drive and fly onwards to other destinations in Europe.

Like Roger we do not rent out our cottage. Its in the centre of Brittany and cost us less than a secondhand car. I do know people who have let out properties both short and long term with success but I also know of someone whose long term tenants burnt a cottage down. All that was left was four granite walls. Mortgages work as you would expect but remember if you buy a cheap house with work doing the house does not provide good collateral. I'm not sure what the new rules are post Brexit but some nationalities have to ask Bank of France permission to buy a house in France.

I saw a model of a bridge and tunnel solution in the basement of Imperial College in the 60s.

https://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/products/colston-bassett-stilton. Ships abroad! Good grief! Is Neals Yard still going? I knew it when it started.

Andouillette Is best smoked. I will eat it out of politeness with an apero with my french neighbours but would never buy it. I quite like grasshoppers in Mexico. Cobra in Thailand I won't be trying again, too many bones. I have stopped eating frogs legs for environmental reasons. I also wouldn't eat dolphin billtong again but wouldn't say no to ostrich billtong. A few christmases ago Lidl were selling frozen reindeer which I thought was a bit tactless.

This would suggest that our negotiators read Connexion. Apparently our ministers didn't have time to read the agreement. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/13/fisheries-minister-admits-not-reading-brexit-bill-as-she-was-at-nativity

You can and collect snails from my garden anytime. Nigeria have really big ones. Taste a bit like the inside of a golf ball. Had them with a kind of pale flaky meat I thought was perhaps tuna. Only after I'd finished did my Nigerian client tell it was grasscutter. Grasscutter is a kind of rat.

I've been eating squashed fly biscuits all my life. You mean they aren't real flies?

We always took Cheddar cheese to give our French neighbours. Much appreciated

I can't find a link that far back but wasn't there a serious outbreak of food poisoning back in the 60s from one suitcase of salami brought back by an Italian restauranter?

I can remember when it was Italian Salami that you weren't allowed to bring into the UK. Times change when its UK hygene which is suspect.

You can't blame the EU. We are the ones who voted to leave the EU. We voted for Bojo the Clown to lead us over a cliff. The EU have always had these rules for people entering from outside.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-sandwiches-confiscated-uk-netherlands-b1785384.html The Dutch were always very officious but I hear the Spanish are doing it on the GIB border.

Anyone notice its the wives who do the cooking? Motorhomer men a bit old fashioned.

In our pub people who use up the dregs are called minesweepers.