I was thinking more about reading the bloody list…
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As I live <2 mins from an excellent midi-size s/mkt I do use a list. But if I’m elsewhere and doing a substantial stock-up in a big s/mkt I just zig-zag up one ailse and down the other till I’ve gone up/down the lot. There are ailes I know I can skip - ‘free-from’ is one, sweets/chocolates is another. Regrettably dog food is not needed now…
Then I carefully inspect the stuff in other people’s trolleys for further inspiration.
Ask if you could give him 2 or 3 cheques?
Has anyone else noticed that before ‘cristaux de soude’ became trendy you could get a 1 kg box from Carrouf for about a Euro.
Now it’s been ‘rediscovered’ as an environmentally sound cleaning agent, Carrouf only sells it at best 500 g for 2 EUR. Even the ‘pro’ version in Castorama is a similar price. 
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Thanks for the tip, Sarah. But I stopped writing cheques in UK about fifteen years ago and I’m reluctant to start over, the idea makes me shudder rather! 
It seems so cobwebby 
Ah well… that’s a shame… I have seen many shops/businesses offering to help folk pay for essentials by using cheques… which will be banked at agreed later-dates. 
I’m sure it suits some people, Stella, but I prefer to have personal control over my account, and post-dated cheques just don’t do it for me. I’ve seen too many notices in local businesses - saying they no longer accept cheques - to risk a possible default due to a mix-up. But thanks for the tip 
Personally, I would rather go without/wait for a while… but life is not always that straight forward for folk…
anyway… what news of your “cooker”… will the old one last until you can buy a replacement ???
It’s good to go for the year, but it’s a bit of a struggle to change the gas bottle under the sink (and the enamel has lost its lustre).
I can manage to change the bottle, but it’s not fair to expect Berlina to. Her wrists are slim, although she’s very strong. We intend to go electric with our new one.
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I often pay for things in stages. It’s very common practice here. And cheques are still very much in use!
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I agree. But over the past five years I’ve been here they are used less in shops, and more people seem to be paying by card now.
It might be a regional thing, Peter. 
I guess so, Stella. The north-west seems quite distinct from other regions we’ve seen. France covers a lot of territory and climates.
Peter, I’ve bitten the bullet and changed to electricity - and that from town gas, rather than bottled. The induction hob and oven are more expensive, but I’m hoping to save on fuel costs and induction is said to be much quicker and efficient. We’ll see: it arrives next week!
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And of course you don’t need to buy yeast if you’re making sourdough.
Thanks heavens for that - I can’t stand them.
You’ll change your mind when you go to the dentist for thousands of euros worth of work and they ask how many postdated cheques you’d like to pay with so that the money ends up back in your account from the Mutuelle before it has gone out… 
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Just brush your teeth more!
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That’s the stuff, Mat. I haven’t visited a dentist for twenty five years and I still have most of my teeth in good grinding, tearing and slicing order at 82. The last bit of dentistry, pulling out a loose molar, I did myself. It was still in good condition and I keep it in the hand of a Buddha on a bookcase, for auld Lang syne. 
I put it down to a war-time diet of bread and dripping and vegetables, and never sweetening my drinks with sugar.
Oh my word!