JOURNAL FROM FRANCE - Blogithttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/News, food, travel and life in Francehourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00Recyclinghttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/545177Cher Lecteur, Bonjour, We are getting quite big on recycling here in France, but not as much as Germany of course, where they have separate bins for everything, everywhere. I heard yesterday that in Korea, they get their bank account credited a few cents each time they put a bit of I don't know...We have strikes in France all the timehttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/544803Cher Lecteur, Bonjour, There is almost a calendar of strikes, especially in May (I don't know why May) and September which is " la rentrée " in France, when schools go back, and parliamentarians come back to Paris from holiday and things get going again. And the strikes get worse and worse till...Oops, my computer published my piece before I had finished, so the TGVhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/544463Computers have a mind of their own, and mine just decided I had been writing long enough and published me when I wasn't ready. So this follows on from that. I was saying, thank the Lord for the TGV, the Train Grande Vitesse or High Speed Train. I live right at the very edge of France, nearest...An update on medicine in France, and a thank you for the TGVhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/544462I watched a debate on French television (Tele 5, C'est-a-dire, to be precise for those who might want to watch it on the web) about the way hospitals and private clinics are going. And I must say that after my elogious account a couple of days ago, I have to report that things are not going to...Beach glass and cockleshttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/544205Bonjour, cher Lecteur, I wanted to go to the beach with Oslo, my ancient labrador, this morning, but by the time I was actually ready to go, it had started raining, so I shall have to wait for this evening's low tide and see what the weather is doing then instead. We couldn't go to the beach last...http://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/543995Bonjour, cher Lecteur, We are blessed in France with a wonderful medical system. Of course, people complain about it, and the social security is in deficit and we keep having sneaky extra taxes to help fill the gap. But the most important thing really is that when you are ill, there is always...High days and holidayshttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/543742Bonjour, cher Lecteur, The French have a reputation, in Europe anyway, for not working too strenuously, but although it is true that the working week has for last last few years been reduced to 35 hours, and annual holidays amount to 5 weeks before counting national holidays, I think that the...The Postal System in Francehttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/543509Bonjour, cher Lecteur (well I have to put a bit of French into my writing, that is the language I hear and speak all day long...) After reading Greenfields' piece on Indian postboxes in Letter from India, I just had to follow on by describing the system in France, which isn't half as good as in...A Trip from Brittany to the Loire Valleyhttp://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/shahdlou/543377Good Morning, dear Reader, The sun is finally shining again in Brittany and it's almost as hot as it was in the Loire Valley earlier in the week. I took the car on Monday and, having left Oslo, my labrador in care, and put food out on the terrace for the cat, drove the 550 or so kilometres from...