Welcome

Welcome to the website of Le Commonwealth Dining Club. This site will hopefully let us share whereabouts, good (or bad) dining locations, suggestions of day-trips and whatever you think might be useful or fun.

If you are updating things like trips, restaurants & dates, use the pencil to edit the existing message so it shows up without having to dive into the comments. Comments are best for replying to existing posts or perhaps for the new Gossip page! To start a new post, use the "New Post" link hiding up in the top right corner.

The most common pages can always be reached easily by clicking on the links to the right.

Receiving UK TV

There's been quite a bit of discussion about this since the satellites changed in January. As I see it you have at least 7 choices.

1. Read a good book instead. A really good option as there is precious little on the tube worth watching anyway!
2. Get a huge dish - if you had a working Freeview system, but lost it with the satellite changes in February, you can get it back. Apparently all you need is a 2 metre or larger dish! The mairie and your neighbours might not be so pleased.
3. Get a UK Sky HD box. Various companies such as Céret-based www.skydigi.tv will be able to supply the kit and help you get this going. You need to get a Sky HD box as it uses a different satellite to the standard Sky but it still comes in fine for now. You don't need to subscribe to the HD version of Sky. This option requires a monthly sub to normal Sky, and a heavy setup cost. If you have one, your old dish will be fine. If you want UK Sky Sport or Movies, this is the only option I can think of.
4. Get an IPTV set-top box (normally Android-based). There are a number of outfits (skydigi.tv included) who will supply a set-top box at €100+, which will send through all the UK Freeview channels in HD. You pay something like a €20 monthly fee to subscribe - some providers will let you turn this service on and off (possibly at a slightly higher monthly rate), others you have to subscribe all year. Some of the providers are better than others apparently and you might get stuck if the one you have chosen folds, or the rules change or their service becomes oversubscribed and the quality drops. The box will be sent to you and it sounds relatively easy to set up. It needs a connection to unlimited internet, but most French internet is unlimited already.
5. Get your own Android set-top IPTV box. You can pick these up from sites like www.aliexpress.com or www.dx.com (great sites for getting gadgets at super-low prices, sent post-free worldwide - I've bought gadgets, LED bulbs etc). These boxes work the same as Option 4 above but the original cost is half. You have a wider choice of what you receive on it, but there will be precious little support apart from using Mr Google. It turns your TV into a huge Android tablet screen so you can run any Android applications on it. I'll probably try this option sometime. You can use it to run FilmOn as below.
6. Use FilmOn. This is an app that is available on Android, iOS or Windows. It will pick up dozens of UK Free-To-Air (FTA) channels, and hundreds of rubbish channels. You can watch it on your phone, tablet or computer, or possibly directly on some of the newer Smart TVs. Standard definition is free, but you may have to wait for some quick ads before you start seeing your chosen programme.
   
   For €9.95/month you can subscribe to their ad-free HD version, which also gives you 20 hours of recording space which you can use to record channels to watch later. You can pay a little more to get more recording space. There's a button labelled HD that lets you try the HD version for a few minutes so you can see if you think it is worth the money. There is a possibility FilmOn might get banned at some point, but it has been around a while now. It's not like you are investing much in it!
   
   If your TV can't run FilmOn (most can't) then you might want to look at ways to get the phone/tablet/PC signal onto the TV. Four choices I can think of here...
1. DLNA direct - if both your phone/tablet and your TV support DLNA (or Airplay or Allshare or MiraCast) then you can probably send it direct to the TV, full-screen, with no more gadgets required. Newer tablets and phones both Android and Apple, and Windows 8.1 computers, can probably do the sending, many smart or recent TVs can receive it. Open FilmOn on your phone/tablet and there is a little button top right of the live window which looks like a little rectangle within a larger rectangle. Click on this and if your TV supports DLNA, you should see it listed. If so, touch the name of the TV and all should work. Best thing is that you can keep using your phone to do other things, such as check programme guides, and the TV will still be playing in the background.
2. DLNA via an EZCast gadget - this is a way to make an ordinary TV into a DLNA-capable TV. It's a gadget that plugs into an HDMI port on your TV, and mine cost under €20 delivered ex amazon.fr. Once plugged in, it works as above. The EZCast gizmo will also let you show photos, videos and more on the TV. This means you can watch all kinds of other stuff such a rerun TV shows if you can find them on the internet. The gadget is supposed to do screen mirroring, but I struggled to get mine working well from my older Android phone and tablet , both 2+ years old. It's OK from the computer.
3. DLNA to your FreeBox/OrangeBox/Bluray player or whatever else you may have connected to the TV, provided of course these run DLNA. My Freebox accepts it, but then locks up in a few minutes.
4. Cable - your tablet (probably not your phone) may have a mini-HDMI port and with a suitable cable you can connect to a spare HDMI port on your TV and Bob's your uncle, your TV will mirror your tablet screen. Not a great solution as you have a cable to trip over (I tried this, and did this), and you can't do anything else on your phone or it will appear on the TV hiding the FilmOn programme. You can also connect a PC to your TV, but it's a bit clumsy.
7. Just watch UK TV replays. This includes BBC iPlayer, Channel 4's 4oD, or ITV's ITVPlayer. These services let you watch programs which have recently played - they are sometimes called "catch-up" services. You can view these on your computer, phone or tablet. The main problem is that they are blocked to non-UK internet addresses, so a French-based person will have trouble using them. Also you may want to send the pictures through to your TV - see the whole section above.
   
   To get round the location restrictions, you need something called VPN, which fools the BBC and others into thinking you are based in the UK/US or wherever. There are some free ones (programs or applications you load on your machine) but in my experience they are pretty bad - they break down, and all your internet is slowed down. I use something called SmartDNS from www.overplay.net, which only costs $4.95/month. It lets your computer/gadget pretend to be from wherever the website expects you to be from, and seems to be very fast.

Hope this all makes some sense! For now I am using FilmOn HD version on my phone or tablet, with the EZCast gadget beaming it onto the TV. For things such as seeing the ball in tennis I found I needed HD, as SD is a bit blurry depending on the channel I'm watching.

Gossip!

Hi All,

Meet William (Billy) Mark Halyday. The new edition to our family and our 1st Grandchild.

He is a left and right foot kicker, has great guitarists fingers and a great set of lungs - in other words...just perfect. Cheers

Ross & Liz

Added by popular request!


Kiwi House-Warming
Our first house-warming was at the end of August. We were keen to capture those friends about to depart Ceret for home pastures. John and I had moved into the apartment not many weeks before and were still sans kitchen and furniture, but upturned 10 litre paint cans make great seats, provided they have a cushion atop.

House warming No. 1 , complete with bucket seats and recliners  kindly loaned by Sue and Jonathan

The second house-warming turned up the heat a little and our new pad was 'warmed' in fine style on Saturday night. With around 20-odd people tackling a bonanza of food (thank you so much to everyone who brought a plate), copious amounts of wine and conversation, an evening of very bon bonhomie was enjoyed by one and all. Thank you to everyone who came - it was a delightful time for John and I.

House warming No. 2 

Sam telling another joke.

The Swarbreck tribe - didn't they have a great time!

For those of you who have been offshore and missed both events, I'm sure we can arrange Round 3 some time next year :).

Quattrocento, 22 Oct 2014. The pneumatic drills are pounding away on the floor inside, a small digger is carting the rubble from inside to out, the windows have disappeared and all is in disarray. New improved version should be up and running in only a few weeks' time. Rumour has it that Le Pied dans le Plat has bought La Fontaine and will turn it into a tapas bar.

New Book Done and Dusted - Now I need a holiday. The book I've been working on all year is finally at the publishers, and being printed as I write this. This is what it will look like. I'm very pleased to be able to tick it off the "To Do" list. Unfortunately the list never ever seems to get any shorter?

Famine to Feast

So you order a bed. You expect to get it in a fortnight like you did last time. But it doesn't always work out that way. Ordered mid-late July, email back saying it's not in stock, we don't work in August, and it will therefore be delivered 1st week in September. It never comes. End of September the order arrives, 3 bases, 2 mattresses, main mattress awol. Ring up, we can't find it anywhere, we'll make a new one. A month later while in Spain (you've told them them you be away until Wednesday night) you get a call Wednesday morning saying we are down below your apartment, please let us in. Obviously you can't, nor will they leave it for you. It takes another week for a redelivery. It arrives, but when you sleep on it once you realise it isn't the right one, and you have been fobbed off with a different one. You ring up. You get told that they have "changed the design". You think that is just so much bs. They let you know they have miraculously found an "old model" like the one you ordered 3 months back. You say good, please send it now, as we are only here another week. They don't send it. You ring again, and again, and they say they have sent it - on the Friday and promise it will arrive on Monday, before you leave on Tuesday. You get a text on Monday saying it won't be arriving until tomorrow. You ring up, just a little annoyed. You agree to leave it in storage and get it delivered in 6 months (yeah,sure). Somebody else rings. We will be there this afternoon, be ready. You are ready. The mattress arrives, it's the right one, and the livraison guy helps you upstairs with it, even though he didn't need to. You tell him about the dud one he is to take back. He knows nothing, zip, nada, and can't take it back, so on the bed it stays. You now have a really really deep base on your bed, but at least the mattress on top is just what you want...

Commonwealth Records

Group partying: May/June 2014 four nights in a row eating and drinking to midnight (zzzzzz......)

Daytrips from Céret

• Cathar Castles: You can do a loop from Céret up to the 2 fabulous castles of Queribus and Peyrepertuse, have a good lunch and go through the amazing Galamus Gorge, all in a day. John has details.
• L'Escala: A good day is a trip to L'Escala, a visit to the ancient Greek and Roman towns at Empurias, lunch at La Gruta, tapas at the little village to the south, and back in time for tea.
• Palamos: Walk the coastal track to Platja de Castell, with its 6000BC Iberian village ruin. Walk south to Platja d'Aro. Eat the superb super-fresh seafood. "Apartamentos, la catifa" is where we stayed with a great view over the marina, though the beds were a little firm (2 singles pulled together).
  
• Palau-del-Vidre. A whole town given over to glass blowing. Big workshops/galleries where you can see glass-blowers in action.
• Sainte-Colombe-de-la-Commanderie, just south of Thuir. Gorgeous village - has an annual fair with invited artists displaying their work. Well worth seeing the exhibition (around mid October).

Eating Out

Add restaurants with a comment and perhaps a cost and star rating, where Fred's is **** and $$$$ out of a possible five.

• Fred's Céret, ****, $$$$. Consistently good food, changes menu monthly.
• La Galinette, Perpignan. ***** $$$$. Upgraded from one Michelin star to two stars, expensive at night but still does an excellent value - weekday lunch which remains at €23 - fixed weekly menu posted on their Facebook page each Tuesday
• La Gruta, L'Escala. ****, $$, up with Fred's but from only €15. Best to book as it is popular. restaurantlagruta.com
• Cafe de France, Céret **** $$$ usually good food and when sunny a perfect location.
• La Fontaine, Céret. *** $$$. Can't beat the location. A perfectly pleasant and tasty lunch.
• Le Poisson Rouge, Port-Vendres ***** $$$. Stunning location on the beach round past the port, superb food.
• Le Pied Dans le Plat, Céret * $$$. Consistently awful at present. Update Sept, seems OK again.
• L'Imprevu, Céret (bottom of Rue San Ferreol) **** $$$. Good French food, cheerful service.

Visiting Dates

• Karen & John: In Céret all the time from May until 29 October 2014, back early May 2015 until Oct/Nov 2016, less a few months probably Oct 2015-ish.
• Ros & Edward: We arrive in Céret next on 30 July with our 2 granddaughters. Edward, Evie and Georgie leave on 5 August but Ros will stay on for another week.
• Ross & Liz: Arriving Ceret 27 November 2014 until 20 January 2015. We are both on a diet and off alcohol......................................yeah..........right!! 
• Ross & Liz: Arriving 2 June 2015 until about 8 August 2015.