This French Life

Direct sales of fruits promoted in France

IN an attempt to help fruit producers the government is to allow special sales of products over the coming days.

In a statement the Ministry of Agriculture said producers will be able to sell their stock at supermarkets, and other retail areas, between July 30 and August 8, 2010.

The products available on promotion are peach, nectarines and apricots, with promotional events set to take place to raise awareness of the sales, so it is most probably worth checking to see if your local store is taking part.

News round up: Young help elderly for cheaper housing

GET up to speed with the news that has been making the headlines in France, including a crackdown on travellers, a powerful collaboration and plenty more.

Nestoria's tech brought to French property search

AN interesting new entrant into the French property marketplace is Nestoria, which draws information from around the web to help people find a home.

Established in the UK in 2006, the French version of the site, Nestoria.fr, has just been launched and it draws in property listings from estate agents, but also provides local details such as schools, hospitals and police stations.

The site attempts to rank the display of properties depending on the information available, and makes use of Google Maps to let people pinpoint locations.

New road sign for frequent speed checks

ROAD users should keep an eye out for new signs highlighting the frequent use of fixed and mobile speed cameras.

The new signs will be placed between 1 to 2km before the cameras, and are designed to stop people slowly down upon seeing the cameras and then speeding up afterwards.

The first sites for the cameras are:

• Lamonzie St. Martin in the Dordogne (24) R & D 936 in the direction Bergerac to Bordeaux, from August 3
• Sausheim in the Haut-Rhin (68) on the A36 in both directions, August 4
• Rouffach dans le Haut-Rhin (68) sur la RD 83 dans les 2 sens le 4 août. Rouffach in the Haut-Rhin (68) on the RD 83 in both directions, August 4

The French government claims average speeds have dropped since the introduction of cameras, reducing the number of deaths on the roads.

France has 1,689 speed cameras, including 234 devices at traffic lights and law enforcement officers are equipped with 933 mobile cameras.

EU site offers overview of French legal system

FROM the European Union comes a new website which provides details of the justice systems amongst the members states called the European e-Justice Portal.

There is an English-language section on France you can read to get an understanding of how the legal system works, handy for those court stories on the television.

There is also a section that will help you find a lawyer or notaire and point you to a database of those who may be able to help with your legal questions.

More areas touched by water use restrictions

THE number of departments in France facing water use restrictions has increased, meaning an update of the Ministry of Ecology website and its .pdf map that you can download highlighting the different areas affected.

Many of the restrictions are localised and so it is worth checking with your mairie if you are in one of the areas.

CityJet to extend Brive to London service

Update: It has been confirmed by CityJet that the Brive to London service will be extended until October 31, 2010.

THE CityJet service between Aéroport de Brive and London City Airport has proven so popular that it may be extended into early Autumn.

La Depeche reports that the airline's commercial director, Patrick Edmond, said that the route may operate into October, beyond the initial plan to end the seasonal service on September 12, 2010.

The link between Brive and London has seen around 70 per cent of seats filled in August, a figure that pleases CityJet.

Translate letters through Google Docs

HERE is a handy feature using Google Docs that will let you scan a letter in to your computer and translate it from French to English.

A recent feature added to Google Docs is Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which converts the text on a scanned image into editable text on the screen.

So for example, say you receive a letter covering a health issue and you are not completely sure what it is saying then scan it and save it to your computer as either a PDF, JPEG, GIF or PNG file.

What's On in France: Add your events

IF you are tasked with helping promote an event or fund-raiser then don't forget to post your details to the What's On section.

Using the events service of the Survive France Networking, your event will be seen on that website, which now has more then 650 members, as well as on This French Life.

One of the events taking close to me is the summer fête votive in Loubejac, a hog roast with evening disco at St Seurin de Prats and an animal charity fundraiser in Linards, the Limousin.

Don't forget it's free to join the network and alongside the events section, there is a forum, blogging tools and the chance to draw on the experience of others.

September reopening for LaM Lille Museum

AFTER just over four years' renovation the Lille Métropole museum of modern art is to reopen on Saturday, September 25, 2010.

It will open with a new name, the LaM – Lille Métropole Musée, and on display will be more then 4,500 works, somw of which have never been on display before.