Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

'Black Tie' KKK?

Terrible the bridge collapse in Genoa.....I have crossed that bridge once at least heading to France from northern Italy....mid-September 1975.....can clearly remember now....the Italians and the French, and the Swiss have built some extraordinary motorways crisscrossing their alpine countries.....some of the roads are beyond belief in areas over : valleys/canyons you would think not possible to build a road nevermind a motorway...stunning in their realisation you have to say....there is one leading from Turin to Savona....really unbelievable.....gobsmacking in its conception....so condolences to the victims families....you have to feel really sorry for Italy's road engineers who are fantastic road builders !....

RF.

If you are wandering through France have a drive on the Millau Viaduct. (Béziers and Montpellier.)

Slowed me down and made me concentrate when I drove over it.

A fantastic construction.

There is an Impossible Engineering programme about it that is shown on one of Yesterday/Dave/Quest from time to time. Beautiful.

Cheers,
KidA

Yes Freddy...KidA..the A75 is another road marvel.....been along it once...from south to north.....Norman Foster architects....superb French engineering.....and except for the bridge itself is toll free...worth a slow drive along that part of the world...puy de dome...etc....

gorges du tarn is also well worth a visit in say april/june when the flowers still abound, especially if you drive down

Fred,

The Millau viaduct is about 90 minutes away. Whenever my husband and I reach it heading south, we always smile and say 'nearly home'. It might make you slow down and focus for a couple of minutes while you cross it, but it also saves 45 minutes on the journey time from days gone by when you had to pass through Millau town and cross the Tarn valley.

The best way to see it is actually from a hang glider. About 100 € for a half hour flight - seriously awesome!

Hils,

I was driving a 7 tonner with a moped clinging on to the back of it when I ventured over the viaduct.

Also, I can remember the viaduct being built as I wandered down from the Dordogne in the early 2000s on the way down to Spain and Portugal via Sete.

(I wasn't in a hurry. and I had no real responsibilities.)

But the bridge I miss the most is the bridge crossing the river at Vitrac to a beautiful little village Domme. Use to stay there from April until June and Sept to October. (Starting getting cold then)

(But, perhaps, my favourite was a bridge in Paris near the Eiffel Tower where I slept while hitchhiking 62-63 years ago.) Slept like a log.

As far as hang gliding, I don't think so, but my 92year old brother went for a glider flight this year, to see his daughter's property in Uist Island.

He enjoyed it,

I had hoped to buy a place in the Dordogne, but France as a whole is a beautiful country.

Fond memories.


PS.

There is another beautiful new bridge on the Boulogne to Paris road.

I know Domme ..... there is a seriously vicious hill to cycle up to get into the village
however, once up there, the views are spectacular, and there also happens to be a very fine hotel too

Manuel,

Use the back entrance like I use to.

And at your age try a "scooter", it is a lot easier.

I think I know the hotel and that I played chess with the chef from that hotel " ?'Esplanade".

Funny little party with the some of the local dignitaries passing round plugs of Cannabis.

I wasn't tempted.

Well. at least, not by the weed.

If you looked around at back gardens in that area you could see cannabis plants growing between rows of beans plants or even in pots on balconies.

But that area with Sarlat, La Roque-Gageac, Bergerac,(beautiful little villages. etc.) is beautiful especially from April to July before the hordes (English) start reinvading, although it is a centre of immigration.

-=-=

Hils.

Although I am not tempted to go hang gliding, while I was in the Dauphin region with my grandson last summer, I floated above you in an air-balloon.

Interesting, to be crowded in a hot air basket looking down on the "Hoi polloi".

i've checked back, and it was 2006 that our annual cycle trip took us to Domme!

About the last time as I took part in the "Tour De France".

" Fred1new [Send an email to Fred1new] [View Fred1new's profile] - 16 Aug 2018 13:16 - 81118 of 81127
RF.

If you are wandering through France have a drive on the Millau Viaduct. (Béziers and Montpellier.)

Slowed me down and made me concentrate when I drove over it."

At least you have given me a laugh today Fred1 - LOL

Do you really think it would have made one iota of a difference what speed you drove over the bridge or how much you concentrated - If the integrity was in your mind and you had no choice but to cross it, you should have put your foot down, as you would have spent less time on the bridge. Typical left wing thinking, going slow as though you were going to reduce your risks. If your time was up, that would have just been your bad luck, and as for concentrating, if your worried you might go over the top of the bridge because your driving is so poor at the required speed set for the bridge, maybe you should hand the keys to someone fit to drive.

Lol

I did.

Great ways to to raise your kids:

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/series/home-school/

Don't know why President Trump paid those women, according to former President Bill Clinton he hasn't had sexual relations with any of them.

Tiger Woods v Phil Mickelson: Duo to face off in $9m Vegas duel in November


Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have 19 major championship titles between them

Golf greats Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all $9m (£7m) exhibition match in Las Vegas.

The Americans will face off in the 18-hole event at Shadow Creek Golf Course on 23 or 24 November 2018.

The contest, which coincides with Thanksgiving weekend in the US, will be screened on pay-per-view.

Woods confirmed "The Match" on social media, saying: "It's on".

Mickelson, who has attracted almost 100,000 followers in less than 24 hours on Twitter, replied to Woods, saying: "I bet you think this is the easiest $9M you will ever make."

At present the US Open delivers the largest winning pay cheque of the four major championships at about $2.16m (£1.68m), though the winner of the FedExCup - awarded for an accumulation of points on the US PGA Tour - can expect to earn a bonus of $10m (£7.8m).

The possibility of a duel between the former Ryder Cup team-mates has been mooted repeatedly down the years.

Woods, a 14-time major winner, has won over £88m prize money on the PGA Tour in comparison to Mickelson's £68m.

"It's an opportunity for us to bring golf to the masses in prime time during a period where we don't have much going on in the world of golf," Mickelson told ESPN.

"It's a way to show a side you don't normally see by having us mic'd up to hear some of the interaction between us."

Despite the good-natured approach, there is no chance of the duo sharing the purse, with Mickelson saying that the event had to be winner-takes-all.

"If you [don't] do that, it undermines it," Mickelson said. "The whole point is the winner-take-all thing. That's the exciting part about it."

And they say golf is a good walk spoilt. I suppose it will be for the loser.

Awwww, go on, iturama. Just admit that you enjoy playing with your small, knobbly balls.

:o)