Imay be that every other UK resident driving in France except me already knew this – but on a recent trip with a French driver at the wheel I was puzzled as to why she kept giving way to traffic from the right on unmarked crossroads. Apparently this is common practice, especially in rural areas where the old French system of giving priority to all traffic from the right is still used.

Road signs can override this ‘rule’ and one should never assume, when approaching a junction, that other drivers are aware of this convention – they might be English ;-)

It seemed like a strangely ‘wrong’ thing to be doing. If traffic is driving on the right and you approach an unmarked crossroad you naturally look left. Made me wonder how I’d avoided a dent in the driver’s door for the past 20 years…

More info on driving in France can be found here…

Wikipedia - http://wikitravel.org/en/Driving_in_France

Since July the first 2008 it has become a requirement for all drivers and motor-cyclists to carry a reflective vest in or on their vehicle when travelling in France. This was already the case in several other European countries. Road users face a substantial fine if they are found not to be carrying one inside the vehicle for each vehicle occupant. More information is available (amongst other places) on the Norfolk Line website.

We recently wanted to take some ‘spare’ plants from our garden in the UK to our newly purchased French holiday home. Trawling the net produced lots of the same questions but many fewer answers. Even official sites like DEFRA are a bit impenetrable on the subject.  As far as I can make out, this is the basic situation…

Moving personal household and garden plants between EEC countries is mostly fine with some restrictions on plants known to harbour aggressive diseases. Between the UK and France – for example – there are restrictions on Vibernums, Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Camelias which can carry ‘sudden oak death’ disease – ‘a deadly disease that kills trees by creating cankers which girdle the trunk and clog up their water-carrying veins’.

More info can be found here…

Sudden Oak Death - www.rhs.org.uk/advice/sudden_oak_death.asp

Restricted Plants: http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/publicat/impguid.pdf

Most airlines now make provision for ‘special’ in-flight meals. Special meals need to be booked when you purchase your ticket. Some airlines accept later meal bookings but usually no later the 48 hours before the flight.

The food options on offer varies between very little (EasyJet?) and extensive (Emirates!). The In-Flight Food Service Association, an organization consisting of airlines, caterers and suppliers, is pressing its members to use the meal coding used by the Association of European Airlines which may make ordering easier and more reliable. Their codes include the following…

AVML: Asian vegetarian
DBML: Diabetic
GFML: Gluten free
VLML: Lacto-ovo vegetarian
VGML: Vegan / Non dairy / Vegetarian Meals - suitable for pure vegetarians