found a great little site that's a real help if, like us, you're new here and learning every day!
google translate is my first 'go to' but this one is much more intuitive...
http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-french/pebble
we call it pebble - that's the translateion we were looking for - and it's much nicer than the actual name - (in all honesty i thought it was called pebble for the longest time) my builder husband kept hearing it at his (french) work...
keeping warm
xteresa
"cale" is any old wedge from the verb "caler" to wedge and so can be any old bit of wood to wedge something."coin" is normally a wedge used for splitting wood not for wedging something in place, just checked with French OH and she agrees, perhaps they've got some wood splitting wedges on site and use them as cale...!
I was pretty sure that they were using cailloux (and not gallets) for stones etc - some dictionaries give pebble as the translation which is why I wanted to point out the fact that many dictionaries are full of mistakes - gallet being the translation for a pebble - just a word of warning, some translations, especially on-line, and especially technical stuff are way off the mark!
Stay warm and enjoy the snow ;-)
ooh "chantier" slang! as specific in French as it is in the uk! but you're right, you cn get a long way with ça, là-bas etc!
actually, also andrew - (we're snowed in AGAIN here - so at home chatting) husband asks... 'cale' and 'coin' -they're using both for 'wedge' - would it be that coin is always small, and cale can vary???
thanks!
(here endeth today's building site traduction)
... interesting - they were using caillou - they're renovating a big old stone farm - rebuilding most of it. the guys he works with use lots and lots of slang, and also a 'building site' vocab... ca & la bas being most often heard... it's all good and him being irish they're impressed with his ability to swear more often than them...
Hi Teresa, which were they using caillou or gallet... gallet is a pebble but not often used in building, caillou is a stone from the ones you get in your shoe to big bolders ;-)
Just had a quick look. Seems pretty good.
Yes, I know this thread is ancient but I was about to start a new one and found the title I wanted already in use.
Some time ago I agreed to have remote controlled gates installed outide my current home made affair, thinking about increasing age and infirmity and not just of me, the large gate I made myself may not see me out.
I was assured that all the work would be done just outside the current one so that it could all be carried out without banning the dogs from the garden. The man arrived, as promised, first thing this morning with a mini digger on a trailer ready to start digging out for the first phase, installing the concrete gate posts. We shook hands and just to make sure, I confirmed with him that he would have no need to open my gate, so I left him to it.
Sometime later, because his bucket was very near and just inside the fence, Jules decided enough was enough and began darting at it barking loudly as he did so. So I ordered him indoors along with Hades who was in the supporting role. Normally my back door is open for them 24/7 so I took the precaution of shutting it for once. I carried on with my jobs, glancing out of the window now and again to watch progress. Imagine my horror when I saw my gate wide open because the man was leveliing the ground inside of it. What a stroke of luck that I had shut them both in, I had made it very plain to the man that, at the slightest scent of interest, Jules, along with his offsider, would be halfway across the valley following it.
Later I saw our friend unravelling a spare roll of fencing and later realised that he was erecting it around the place where he had made a gap under the fence. Very good, very responsable. As I was getting ready to take the 2 of them out into the forest, leaving them inside I walked to the gate, which was closed, and mentioned that I was about to go out through the rear gate for our walk and just wanted to make sure there was no escape when we returned. Again I emphasised the importance. He confirmed my confidence and accepted my appreciation of the re-used fencing. So off we went.
On our return through the forest gate we went through our procedures, lines transferred to their clip locations on the fence ready for the next outing and, homecoming treats given, I wandered back down past the house to hang up my bag and take up the bucket for my morning ‘collections’. As usual, Jules headed for the house and Hades headed towards the front gate, which I can’t see ‘till I round the corner of the house at the bottom. Imagine my horror as I did so, and saw the gate wide open again, and Hades nowhere to be seen, to make matters worse, Jules had bucked his normal trend and come out of the house again to race ahead of me. 
Happily my frantic cries and whistle blowing brought them both to me and I wasted no time in getting them back in the house again and, racing through, shut the back door too.
I have just peered out of the window. The man and his wagon, and mini-pelle, has gone. The gate is shut and there is a whole line of heavy slabs leaning up against the inside of it. Fair enough, but how do I get out? It is one big gate so every one of 9 heavy slabs would have to be moved to open it just a little bit. 
I’ll have a walk down to look, maybe I can climb over with the help of stepladders, I have to fetch my car, moved into the lane first thing, to bring it round and park it outside the gate. Otherwise it will be a very long walk round out of the forest gate, up the hill across the top field and back down the lane to get to it, but even then I would have to climb over or go the long way round again. He didn’t have a concrete mixer on his wagon so I must assume someone else will be along later, or tomorrow, now that his groundworks are all finished. When he arrived this morning he did advise me to take the car out as the access for it would not be available for 2 days, but I did confirm, although I thought I did, that pedestrians, 3 of us, would be able to pass.
Wish me luck, I am going over the top. 
Well, I haven’t so far because I noticed that he was sitting in his cab having lunch and later the wagon is gone but the mini digger and trailer are still there so no point in fetching my car with nowhere clear to park it. I may go this evening rather than leave it on the lane.
Maybe leave your car in the lane and remind the chap to leave you a walking exit space!
Not much room in the lane and the bin lorry was really close to it this morning and he had 2 wheels on the opposite unfenced garden, then there’s the school bus.
The only way we could get out is if my gate opened a bit but that would entail shifting all those slabs.
He didn’t come back, maybe tomorrow with a mixer for the concrete.
Anyway, I walked the dogs out of the forest gate and up the field and down through the trees as normal but then, once they were safely back in the new forest I went out of the gate again, locking it from the outside to see if I could walk down the ancien chemin outside of my fence. Possible but not easy, very overgrown and I fell twice. As I passed the main gate where the dogs had detected I’d be I told them to wait and, with several hand signals and j’arrives continued into the lane and up to the car. Drove it back and parked outside the gate, then with several signals again to my audience set off to follow the outside of the fence to re-enter through the forest gate. I had only gone 6 metres past a tree surrounded by bushes when I was confronted with an excited 3 year old Dobermann, ‘here I am Daddy’ .
I couldn’t see where he had got out from though I do suspect and will have to check that section when all this work is done but, thank goodness for his instant response to the whistle because I kept him with me all the way up the old chemin (fell again) and safely back into the garden.
This does mean that I can’t leave Hades alone, even with Jules, in the house and garden yet because the thought of him running down the road after the car is too much of a risk for the moment. Not a big problem as I am used to having dogs always with me and he will get the message eventually, but it brings to mind our dear old Lurcher, Lurch, very many years ago. We left him in the garden not long after his arrival, with the Greyhound, Lira and Match the Spaniel for company, while we drove to a firework event in the village. Weren’t there long but as we approached the cross roads on the way home we saw this giant dog (he had legs even longer than Hades’) galloping like a racehorse towards us. I stopped, opened up the hatch and he raced straight across the main road and into the car. We reckon he must have used those incredible legs to soar right over the gate to get to us, even racing towards fireworks. The good news for Hades is that Lurch did learn he was safe at home and never needed to do it again. 
Found the hole in the original fencing where Hades made his exit yesterday and I will try and staple it to the ground with the remaining U-spikes I have. Not sure if it will work as the fencing dates from when I knew nowt and bought chain link all the way round. Only later did I realise that it unravels like a snagged pullover and later fencing has all been soldered squares, but I’ll give it a go. Perhaps in conjunction with some old tyres. I have alot of tyres. 
The gate has been open all day today because the man has been concreting and building the gate pillars. I think he is nearly finished now and, as I had a short chat with him this morning, they will fit the gates next Monday but I should be able to run the car in and out on Sunday. I thought he said (check thread title ) that he would be fitting the pillars tomorrow but maybe he meant that he would be cementing them into place because I can see that they are definitely there now.
Can’t wait, because it has been very stressful even though the 2 dogs have behaved wonderfully being confined to barracks for so long. I took them out as usual this morning in the forest and will do so again very soon now, but it is so different to the 24 hour garden freedom they have become used to.