Aude & Ariege Flyer

Bonjour

I wake up in the morning and put the news on, and over the last few weeks I have been half expecting that Kim wotsis name from North Korea had nuked Guam.  But thankfully no.  Whenever I hear the name of the country’s capital I have a mental picture of it written in a bubble on a Batman cartoon, either as a richochet from a gun or a double knuckle sandwich. 

Yes I know it’s very busy in my head.

So that man in the French government involved in cutting down on tax fraud, who it turned out,  had his own Swiss bank account on the QT, made his money he says from his old day job. That was as a gastric surgeon and hair implant specialist.  Jerome Cahuzac by name, has resigned as you know, and there is still no confirmation of whether he did have another 15m€ tucked away in Singapore. His other task was to cut fat out of the system and theoretically he had the best credentials to do the job.  It seems he got himself in trouble with URSAAF in 2007 by employing a Filipino housemaid for cash.

Thankfully the funeral has now taken place and I must say that about 10 minutes into the news broadcast which announced that the Baroness had died I already thought it was being given too much coverage.  I am sure I can remember people saying similar things at the time of Churchill’s funeral, but for that I disagreed and thought that no end of pomp was befitting the man.

Julian Assange still appears to be living in the back office of the Ecuadorian embassy.  The most recent thing I saw was that he is planning to stand for election in Australia.  I would have thought he would have been best to sneak out today while the funeral was going on or over the weekend when the marathon is on, surely there aren’t enough police to have some hanging about outside the Embassy?

Don’t forget that May 1, 8, 9, 19 and 20 are public holidays so if you were thinking of getting much done I suggest be quick or June

I was in a chemist in the UK and saw a pack of tablets called Imigran, I did a double take because I thought I must have read it wrong, but no. You will be pleased to know that rather than warding off immigrants (my first thought) they are actually for the treatment of migraine.

Does anyone know when the high speed train link will be functioning between Narbonne and Barcelona?

Oh and how quickly it goes from needing the heating on in the car to having the A/C on?

Steve

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The Great Cypriot Bank Robbery

Not very often, but now and again the financial markets manage to surprise me.  I wonder how many people out of a hundred actually even knew that Cyprus was in the EU, and used the Euro?  A lot less than half, I bet.

Cyprus may look on a map as though it's part of the Middle East, but it is very much part of Europe, and could play a huge part in our financial future.  Cyprus is a tiny economy, just 0.2% of the Eurozone economy, but with a massive banking sector worth over seven times the national GDP.  If America was structured like that there would be another 45 banks as big or bigger than Bank of America.  A lot of very rich people have their money on deposit in Cyprus, but unfortunately much of it has been lent out and has become bad debt.  Hence the need for a banking bailout of €10bn.

OK, we've heard all that or similar before, so why the fuss now?  Simply this.  Bailouts come from Brussels (well Germany actually), and this time someone thought up a jolly good way of cutting down the amount they were going to have to pay out.  The original offer from Brussels was dependant on the Cypriot government sanctioning 'haircuts' on bank deposit accounts.  For 'haircuts' in this case think 'getting scalped'. Various figures were reported, but in the main, up to 9.9% of all money in all deposit accounts stood to be stolen by the government.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the politicians found this too hard to take.  Not the money of course, just the dramatically shortened life expectancy that came with it.  They rejected the deal, and for a while it looked as though Cyprus would be declared bankrupt and would have to leave the Euro.  Bothered?  Brussels were.  This had to go through in some form or other, so Brussels came up with another idea.  One that didn't need a vote from the Cypriot parliament.  They could invoke a new banking act that had coincidentally been passed very recently to handle bank failures.  Laiki Bank (now known as No-Laiki Bank) and the Bank of Cyprus were to be largely restructured.  Many of the deposits held in these banks became non performing bonds.  Useless pieces of paper.  Complete and utter robbery.

Now why should we care about this?  A lot of that money was of Russian and Greek origin, and quite possibly reflected money laundering on a large scale.  Some of it though was the life savings of Cypriots and expats alike.  But there are two very big reasons why we should sit up and take notice.  The first is that these outrageous policies were dreamt up in Brussels, or Frankfurt, it doesn't really matter which.  The second is a throw away remark from a Mr Jeroen Dijsellbloem, the Dutch finance minister, who let slip that he thought this would be unlikely to be used in mainland Europe, but it was 'certainly an efficient mechanism'.

An efficient mechanism indeed, and indeed he did withdraw the remark very quickly, but it should get everybody thinking.  Just how safe is my money in the banking system?  In France all of the first €100,000 is protected if on deposit in a French bank.  So we're safe, right?  Well, all of the first €100,000 in a Cypriot bank deposit was protected too, and although the politicians voted it down, it had still been proposed, and proposed by no less than Brussels (or Frankfurt).

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Anyway, enough of this financial doom and gloom.  A quick anecdote for you.  I was back in the UK for two family funerals last week (I know how to enjoy myself).  Both sad events in their own right, of course, and the memory of both will stay with me, one for a slightly unusual reason.

The City of Birmingham is a very large place, and I suppose they have lots of Crematoria.  One of those establishments, Great Barr Crematorium, obviously does a lot of business, for it seems to have been deemed suitable to open a coffee shop for visitors and mourners.

I'll never be able to order a Café Crème again without thinking of my dear departed uncle John Norman Hadley.

If you have any questions on this, or any other subject, please don’t hesitate to contact me, Rob Hesketh:

By phone on 0468 247758 or mobile 0631 787647

Or by mail at rob.hesketh@spectrum-ifa.com  You can find out more about Spectrum on www.spectrum-ifa.com and www.france-financial.com

Email: helplinecsfsud@gmail.com;  National Website: www.cancersupportfrance.info

Forum: http://csf.forum.org     Local Website: www.csf-suddefrance.webs.com

 Local Association No : W112000594

   Want to advertise but cant do the artwork?

Just email and i will try to sort it out, at no extra cost.

 Tech Talk

Automatic Rebooting

Do you dislike the way windows reboots your computer automatically after its downloaded Windows update. If like me you leave your computer running 24x7 and often leave documents you are working on open, it can be very annoying to have reopen everything after an automatic reboot.

There is a way to turn off the automatic reboot without disabling the automatic update.

BACKUP before you start!

 Windows XP:

1. Start -> Run -> and type: gpedit.msc and hit enter
2. Now drill down as follows: Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
3. Now double click on “No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates Installation”
4. In the dialogue box that comes up, select “Enabled” and click “OK”.

Windows Vista/7/8:

1. Start -> search for gpedit.msc or search Run, select it, and then type gpedit.msc
2.  Now drill down as follows: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
3. Double click on “No auto-restart for scheduled Automatic Updates installations”
4. In the dialogue box that comes up, select “Enabled” and click “OK”

Follow up to Internet TV

Many thanks to all the readers of the Flyer that emailed me after the last article to tell me about French web sites that stream TV.

The most popular is http://pluzz.francetv.fr/

Another http://www.programme-tv.net/programme/programme-tnt.html

It can happen to anyone!

I regularly talk about backups, and thankfully I do take my own advice and backup regularly. Thank goodness I do as I had a complete and total hard drive failure on my main computer – no warning – no SMART drive failure notification – nothing – Working one minute and completely gone the next.

Fortunately my backup is done recently and I was able to fit a new hard drive and restore all the data without losing anything.

Even the expert can have a major computer problem, but it does not need to be a catastrophe. I was without the computer for two days while the new hard drive was delivered from the supplier and while the data copied from the backup (I do have an awful lot of data so it did take some time?).

Backups are easy to do either to an external hard drive, a USB memory Key or an online backup system.

A good program for backing up your computer is Genie Timeline backup

http://www.genie9.com/free_products/free_timeline.aspx

Safe reliable online backup that you never have to remember to backup.

http://www.carbonite.com/

If you need help or have any questions about your computer please give me a call or send me an email for FREE advice. Bruce@mirax.org or Telephone 05 61 60 84 23.

MASSAGE PART 2   FORMS OF MASSAGE / BODYWORK

Bodywork is a fairly recent term which serves to cover various forms of touch therapies that may use manipulation, movement, and/or ‘re patterning’ to affect structural changes to the body. Massage is a type of bodywork (other therapies involve reflexology, Alexander Technique etc.) – below are a few descriptions of the most popular and widely-know forms of massage:

MASSAGE & MASSAGE THERAPY
Massage or massage therapy are systems of structured palpation or movement of the soft tissue of the body. The massage system may include, but is not limited to, such techniques as, stroking, kneading, gliding, percussion, friction, vibration, compression, passive or active stretching within the normal anatomical range of movement; effleurage (either firm or light soothing, stroking movement, without dragging the skin, using either padded parts of fingertips or palms); petrissage (lifting or picking up muscles and rolling the folds of skin); or tapotement (striking with the side of the hand, usually with partly flexed fingers, rhythmic movements with fingers or short rapid movements of sides of the hand). These techniques may be applied with or without the aid of lubricants, salt or herbal preparations, hydromassage, thermal massage or a massage device that mimics or enhances the actions possible by human hands. The purpose of the practice of massage is to enhance the general health and well-being of the recipient. Massage does not include the diagnosis of a specific pathology, the prescription of drugs or controlled substances, spinal manipulation or those acts of physical therapy that are outside the scope of massage therapy.

BOWEN TECHNIQUE
Developed by Thomas Ambrose Bowen of Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, this hands-on, light-touch body therapy consists of gentle rolling movements over muscle bellies and tendons to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms. Originally intended to help people suffering from muscular-skeletal problems, Bowen Technique has also been successful with many other conditions, including asthma and respiratory ailments in children and pre-teens.

SHIATSU
Developed in Japan, shiatsu is a finger-pressure technique utilizing traditional acupuncture points. Similar to acupressure, shiatsu concentrates on unblocking the flow of life energy and restoring balance in the meridians and organs in order to promote self-healing. With the client reclining, the practitioner applies pressure with the finger, thumb, palm, elbow, or knee to specific zones on the skin located along the energy meridians. The treatment brings about a sense of relaxation while stimulating blood and lymphatic flow. The benefits of this treatment may include pain relief and a strengthening of the body’s resistance to disease and disorder.

THAI MASSAGE
Thai massage has been taught and practiced in Thailand for approximately twenty-five hundred years. Although the origins are somewhat vague, credit for Thai massage is given to a famous Indian doctor, Shivago Komarpaj, who was the personal physician of the Buddha and Magadha king. Historically, manipulation was one of four major branches composing traditional Thai ceremonies or magical practices. This is based on the theory the body is made up of seventy-two thousand sen, or energy lines, of which ten hold top priority. Thai massage also involves peripheral stimulating, meaning it acts as an external stimulant to produce specific internal effects. This point serves as the main division between Thai and Western massage. Thai massage is practiced on a firm mat on the floor instead of on a table, instrumental in the effective use of the practitioner’s body weight. Except for the feet, the client remains fully clothed, so draping is not necessary.

SPORTS MASSAGE
Sports massage is designed to enhance athletic performance and recovery. There are three contexts in which sports massage can be useful to an athlete: pre-event, post-event, and injury treatment. Pre-event massage is delivered at the performance site, usually with the athlete fully clothed. Fast-paced and stimulating, it helps to establish blood flow and to warm up muscles. During the massage, the athlete generally focuses on visualizing the upcoming event. Post-event massage is also delivered on site, through the clothes. The intent here is to calm the nervous system and begin the process of flushing toxins and waste products out of the body. Post-event massage can reduce recovery time, enabling an athlete to resume training much sooner than rest alone would allow. When an athlete sustains an injury, skilful massage therapy can often speed and improve the quality of healing.

SWEDISH MASSAGE
One of the most commonly taught and well-known massage techniques, Swedish massage is a system of treatment designed to energize the body by stimulating circulation. Five basic strokes, all flowing toward the heart, are used to manipulate the soft tissues of the body. Therapists use a combination of kneading, rolling, vibrational, percussive, and tapping movements with the application of oil or lotion to reduce friction on the skin. The many benefits of Swedish massage may include generalized relaxation, dissolution of scar tissue adhesions, and improved circulation, which may speed healing and reduce swelling from injury.

DEEP TISSUE MASSAGE
Techniques that utilize deep-tissue/deep-muscle massage are administered to affect the sub-layer of musculature and fascia. The muscles must be relaxed in order to effectively perform deep-tissue massage, otherwise tight surface muscles prevent the practitioner from reaching deeper musculature – deep work forms only part of a ‘general’ massage session – perhaps when specific areas / problems need to be addressed. It helps with chronic muscular pain and injury rehabilitation and reduces inflammation-related pain caused by arthritis and tendonitis. Contrary to popular belief, deep tissue work should not be painful as it is achiever by extremely slow and focussed work.

Pat Penny - Health and Fitness Specialist,  Massage Therapist
European Register of Exercise Professionals

info@potential-energy.co.uk

www.potential-energy.co.uk

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 After a very wet winter it seems as if the weather is finally warming up (fingers crossed) so it is a good time to plant shrubs and perennials.  Many nurseries will have sheltered young plants in a greenhouse over winter and when you are buying plants do check to see if they have been under cover (sortie d'une serre), if they have they may need a little hardening off before planting and some protection if we do get another cold snap.  When you see late sumer flowering plants such as Bougainvillea and Plumbago offered in flower now it is sure that they have been in a heated environment.  With the warm weather persistent perennial weeds such as bindweed and couch grass are starting to show, do try and attack these before they become real nuisances.

I am often asked about deadheading bulbs; in general if a bulb is a hybrid that has been bred for particular flower colour (eg hyacinths, hybrid tulips & daffs etc) then it is a good idea to deadhead them so that energy goes into the bulb, if the bulb is a pure species (eg Anemone blanda, botanical tulips etc) then you can leave the plant to form seed so that the plant can naturalise more freely in the garden.

The multi stemmed shrub Amelanchier canadensis is just coming into flower, this shrub can eventually reach a height of two or three meters and will grow in full sun or partial shade.  It is a "good value" plant with flowers in April, berries in June (which the birds love) and stunning autumn colour.

For any garden queries do get in touch with Gill Pound ( 04 68 78 43 81 or Gill@lapetitepepiniere.com ). La Petite Pépinière de Caunes 21, av de la Montagne Noire (route de Citou) 11160 Caunes-Minervois. Open on Fridays & Saturdays from 10 to 18h and Sunday mornings from 10 to 12h from the beginning of March until the end of November and at any time of the year by appointment.  Don't forget our  open weekend on the 1st and 2nd June, the programme is nearly finalised and we shall hope to see many of you there.  

The Property Page

Some vide greniers and foires!

Please check before setting off http://vide-greniers.org

They also have a sister site where you can giveaway stuff or find stuff others are giving http://donnons.org

Its all recycling - you know it makes sense!

If there are two in the same town on the same day, it could be a duplicate on the site or a second event

Black = Aude - Brown = Ariege

Samedi 20 Avril 2013      

Coursan  (Coursan)

Limoux  (salon Antiquites Brocante - 6eme edition)

Narbonne  (vide grenier dimanches et jours feries)

Pauligne  (vide Greniers)

Quillan  (Brocante de quillan)

Trèbes  (vide grenier Association GYM "V")

Villasavary  (loto "Des Maquettistes Du Lauragais")

Arignac  (vide greniers - matériel artistique - art créatif)

Pamiers  (la baraka " loto associatif ")

Saint-Quentin-la-Tour  (vide armoire spécial vêtements été)

Saverdun  (vide-grenier)

Dimanche 21 Avril 2013 

Arzens  (VIDE-GRENIERS Chorale la Malepère)

Barbaira  (vide grenier de l ecole)

Bize-Minervois  (vide-grenier organisé par l'association des parents d'élèves)

Carcassonne  (vide grenier brocante)

Coursan  (Vide grenier)

Fabrezan  (vide grenier du festival de musique charles cros)

Gruissan  (vide grenier du cos)

Les Cassés  (vide grenier)

Limoux  (salon Antiquites Brocante - 6eme edition)

Marcorignan  (vide greniers)

Narbonne  (vide grenier associatif)

Narbonne  (vide grenier dimanches et jours feries)

Narbonne-Plage  (vide-grenier des jeunes de la MJC)

Pexiora  (vide greniers)

Rieux-Minervois  (bourse de l'arme ancienne et antiquites militaires)

Villasavary  (vide grenier des maquettistes)

Dalou  (vide-greniers organisé par "Les Cartables de Dalou")

Foix  (vide grenier comité des œuvres sociales de la mairie de foix)

Les Pujols  (vide Grenier associatif)

Luzenac  (vide ta chambre... et le reste de la maison)

Montgailhard  (vide poussette (printemps))

Pamiers  (Marché et puces et à la brocantes)

Pamiers  (la baraka " loto associatif ")

Saint-Girons  (Les puces du champ de mars)

Saint-Quentin-la-Tour  (vide armoire spécial vêtements été)

Samedi 27 Avril 2013      

Coursan  (Coursan)

Narbonne  (vide grenier dimanches et jours feries)

Quillan  (Brocante de quillan)

Foix  (vide Greniers Brocante- organisé par l'USF RUGBY FOIX)

Pamiers  (la baraka " loto associatif ")

Saverdun  (vide-grenier)

Dimanche 28 Avril 2013 

Carcassonne  (vide grenier brocante)

Castelnaudary  (printemps du pech)

Coursan  (Vide grenier)

Gruissan  (vide Grenier des crapahuteurs, place du cadran solaire)

Gruissan  (vide-greniers)

Lagrasse  (vide grenier, puériculture, bébé & enfant + Ludule!)

Lézignan-Corbières  (foire aux vetements)

Narbonne  (vide grenier dimanches et jours feries)

Puicheric  (brocante/vide grenier)

Quillan  (vide greniers)

Sigean  (vide grenier "Autour de l'enfant")

Trausse-Minervois  (la journée du jardinier vide jardin, cave et grenier)

 La Bastide-du-Salat  (vide grenier)

Nalzen  (vide grenier du comité des fêtes)

Pamiers  (la baraka " loto associatif ")

Pamiers  (Marché et puces et à la brocantes)

Saint-Jean-de-Verges  (vide greniers)

Tarascon-sur-Ariège  (vide bibliotheque)

Mercredi 1 Mai 2013      

Arzens  (vide-grenier de Printemps du Comité des Fêtes d'Arzens)

Carcassonne  (vide Grenier géant du Carcassonne Pétanque Sport)

Carcassonne  (vide grenier brocante)

Espéraza  (journee de solidarite au profit d'handi sport 11)

Gramazie  (vide greniers au château de Gramazie 3ième édition)

Greffeil  (vide grenier du 1 er mai)

Gruissan  (vide grenier de l'aviron gruissanais rugby)

Molleville  (Vide grenier)

Montséret  (vide grenier de l 'association les montseretois)

Narbonne  (vide grenier dimanches et jours feries)

Narbonne-Plage  (vide grenier)

Pomas  (Vide grenier club du temps libre)

Saint-Papoul  (vide-grenier du 1er Mai)

Sigean  (puces des couturières)

Thézan-des-Corbières  (vide grenier brocante)

Trèbes  (vide Grenier organisé par la Confrérie des Capucins)

Villedaigne  (vide grenier et marché artisanal)

Vinassan  (Vide greniers + marché artisanal)

Arvigna  (vide grenier)

Laroque-d'Olmes  (vide grenier du 1er mai)

Mazères  (marché aux fleurs et vide greniers)

Varilhes  (15ème Vide grenier)

 What's On

ALPHA BLONDY & THE SOLAR SYSTEM 17 April Bikini Toulouse

PINK MARTINI 18 April Zinga Zanga Beziers

THE BREEDERS 27 May Bikini Toulouse

TOTO 15 June Zenith Toulouse

CARCASSONNE FESTIVAL 19 June to 15 Aug

DAVID GUETTA 21 June Carcassonne Festival

LES GIPSY KINGS 28 June Zenith Toulouse

ARCTIC MONKEYS 15 July Carcassonne Festival

SMASHING PUMPKINS 17 July Carcassonne Festival

LIZA MINNELLI 18 July Carcassonne Festival

NAIVE NEW BEATERS & TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB 20 July  Carcassonne Festival

GEORGE CLINTON & THE BLUES BROTHERS 21 July Carcassonne Festival

Benjamin Biolay + Patti Smith + Lou Reed 22 July Carcassonne Festival

MARK KNOPFLER 24 July Carcassonne Festival

ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN 8 Oct CASINO THEATRE BARRIERE

STEEL PULSE 9 Oct Bikini Toulouse

LIL WAYNE 12 Oct Zenith Toulouse

FOALS 3 Nov Bikini Toulouse

SUEDE 4 Nov Bikini Toulouse

ROMEO ET JULIETTE 15 Nov Zenith Toulouse

OUI OUI ET LE GRAND CARNAVAL (NODDY) 15 Dec Zenith Toulouse

WITHIN TEMPTATION 20 Jan Bikini Toulouse 

 On a Lighter Note