Leaderboard

Mods hat on. Seriously guys I fail to see the point of this thread which is now just going round in circles. This is a Forum on France. There are plenty of other places on the internet where these sorts of 'discussions' can take place. We need to remember who is providing this service for us and show them a little respect. Personal agendas can be taken elsewhere. This thread is now locked.

A chap walking down the road in the UK sees a sign in a pet shop window "Talking Centipede for sale £100". Greatly take by the idea he pops in and buys it, happily walking out with the purchase in a shoe box. Getting home he puts the box on the table and thinks how he can show off his new purchase. After a few moments, he asks "would you like to go to the pub for a drink" Silence More silence Thinking now that he has been scammed, he demands once more in a stern tone "do you want to go to the pub or what" "Keep your hair on" comes the reply from the box "I heard you the first time, I am just putting my shoes on"

The definition of 'normal' that I use is 'that which occurs naturally'. There are vast numbers of physical and neuro divergences all of which are products of nature. I myself, for example, am left handed. When it comes to free speech ( or should I say free opinions ) I feel we have the internet to blame. Decades ago people would stand on their soap box and be heard by a couple of dozen people. Now, with retweets, their reach is global and their capability to trigger thousands is out of all proportion to their relevance. It gives all the wrong people the equivalence of a sugar rush.

Macron has taken a very difficult decision and is being pilloried for it; whichever, someone had to do it, the Socialists are too lily livered and Le Pen wouldn't dare. Time the far left unions grew up. Oh and perhaps their links to Moscow might be investigated?

New Year’s resolution; BE NICE folks, please. No bitchin or personal cracks as it spoils the flow of intelligent😅discussion and really is not necessary.

One of the results of selling the MGB is that I've assumed the title chief chef and have become a dab hand with the air fryer. I haven't poisoned anyone yet! I've lately been making pork pies and scotch eggs.

You'll have to forgive the understandable scepticism Wally. You asked an incredibly open question then came back within three hours to complain that no one had replied. Like you most people have other things to do and don't spend all their time on here waiting to answer questions from new members. When you later received some considered responses you didn't come back so it was natural to assume you were a troll. FWIW I would advise you decide what area of France you want to live in and rent for a while. It will give you an idea of what life is like outside of the 'holiday bubble'.

Our new owners, France Media Group have now managed to get the licence for the Forum from Archant, the previous owners. They can now move forward with sorting out the posting problems we have been having so, folks, cross your fingers, the wait may soon be over. Inshallah.

No particular order… Biden, Macron, Trump, Keith Starmer.

I think it is down to the consumer. I happy to pay more for milk, potatoes, tomatoes (for example) as long as the money goes to the producer and not some suit in Paris.

This has got to be the best word salad I've seen from a bot yet. I'm tempted to leave it up just for the comedic value.

Oh well I tried. Perhaps Henry, next time you go into that workshop of yours you can fashion something out of the large chip you seem to have on your shoulder. I really can't understand why you seem determined to pick fights. Life is too short.

Yes, Loiseau, I know what blindé means. When I first heard it on the news a few years ago, I decided to test it on French friends to see if they'd understand me. So during a walk following day, and we passed a deeply ploughed field full of deep ruts, I offhandedly remarked, this looks as though a blindé has passed here. You should have heard the oohs and aahs....nobody thought I'd know the word. I smirked and looked insufferably knowing....😏

Menthe, I think I can say without fear of contradiction that Kens 'impressions' are completely his own.

That, I'm afraid, is beyond our ken.

Might I suggest introducing the procedure that a lot of private forums have, new forum members are on probation for six posts to prove that they can post relevant, sensible posts until they are accepted as full members? And no forum names accepted consisting of incomprehensible alpha numeric strings would be accepted?

I think there’s only one now sadly,but he is doing a good job

You could not pay me enough to buy a chateaux in France. Especially that one. One way ticket to bankruptcy. Back to the photo, I’m guessing it is 100 % in a place that you really really don’t want to live in. I like the three guys looking at it in the first photo. Lol. ´Who the **** could we sell that to’ ? ‘ I know, what about some Brits’. ’They could have their own Tv show’

Cats might well be easier to teach than some kids I have seen!

Note to self - DNFTT

Bought a bag of individually wrapped chocolates but no visits this year. Mind you, it was raining heavily and the wind blowing lustily. Fortunately, I had the foresight to buy chocolates that I liked eating. So now have a nice big bag of TREATS to look forward to after a nice big mug of tea after lunch each day for the forseeable future!😄

I totally agree. To continue the shout-outs, I'd like to give a holler for Prince George and Princess Charlotte. I am not a fan of kids attending formal events. However, these two young people impeccably attired and exemplary behaved, during the whole procedure, which must have seemed like half a lifetime to two so young. All praise must be levelled with their parents in bringing up two children who are a credit to both of them, the royal family and the people of GB given the global interest in this funeral

Lori, as a poor sighted creature, I would suggest you get your eyes checked. Progressives in France, varifocals elsewere, do need to be corretly fitted and whilst optometrists can now test, it is still very useful to get your eyes checked up by a opthalmologist. The puffs etc are nasty, but that is checking for glaucoma and such, and quite honetly, the older we get, it probably best done in spite of your disllike. The drops a necessary evil to look at the back of the eye .. to see the health of your eye.. They check for disease also. Since I've worn glasses since I was 3 years old, I got very used to having my eyes poked at etc .. better safe than sorry. If you were any where near to me, I would recommend my opthalmologist ... a caring person, he did both my cataracts, and understood my fear during the ops .. all happily perfectly done. The minimal you can do is to go to an optemistrict, or optician, and see if they will make a new pair to your old prescription, but he might recommend you get a test, and quite honestly, it's not the route I would chose to go with a prescription so old. Frankly, your sight is precious, it's not worth messing around with.

Not only the attitude, but the continual returning variants oh the same old France/Europe/Macron bashing theme. This is supposed to be a Forum for FrancoPHILES, where we can share information gleaned from experience of our lives here, to help others.

Did I really just reset my password specifically so I could agree with ALBF? Apparently I did. What is the world coming to? But yes I agree it is tosh, very blinkered tosh. The UK has problems, France has problems, the EU has problems, every country has problems. It is stupid (IMHO) to move to another country thinking you will avoid problems because a problem-free country does not exist. Some of the problems will be different and some will be the same, they may be more or less acutely problematic at this moment in time but this will fluctuate as solutions are thought up and tried out and situations evolve. Five years down the line it could be a very different picture and what will that person do then, move back to where they came from? try a different country? There is an infinite number of valid (IMHO) reasons for choosing to live in a particular country, but shaking the dust of a different country off your boots,as you put it, is the very worst reason of all. There are bad things about the UK but there are also good things, ditto France, ditto every other country. For me it's about personal preferences and priorities - what is most important to me and what are my "red lines", where can I find the things that I'm looking for without crossing any red lines. Important things aren't the stuff that flips and flops as governments and policies change, it's things that don't change quickly like the culture, the mindset, the way society is built, the language, the countryside. Priorities and red lines will be different from one person to the next. For some it's France, for some it's the UK, for some it's Spain, and so on. France isn't necessarily the right choice for everybody. And if it's the right choice for a person, it's because France's priorities match their priorities; it has nothing to do with how well or how badly things happen to going in a different country right now. If France doesn't suit a person, they won't be happy there however much the UK implodes. If France does happen suit them, they'll be happy there even if the UK becomes the promised land of milk and honey and worldbeating in every respect. Also to pick up on a detail, you say that if you move to France you have 'the right to boot your maire out if he is useless' - well as a Brit immigrant, no you don't because unless you've taken French nationality or hold another EU citizenship, you don't have the right to vote.

Quite, could not agree more. Especially since I've just today had my second 3-month clear report - but need to go at least a year before anything changes .. but as you say, dear Menthe, one is never totally free of cancer .. until death, of course. Sorry to be morbid, but you know that is true, as see above, so does NormanH and I presume several more on here. Still, I shall celebrate my news for one evening, at least!

I have a feeling you know the perfect destination. 😉

Some folk are finding the tone and content of some posts which can be sharp personal attacks to be incompatible with this Forum and I agree. So, could some of you please tone it down, concentrate on relevant content and not take bites out of each other. Otherwise I will set my fellow mod on you and his bite is really memorable!

Surely it's much easier for everyone to simply show some respect when they reply to an individual's post.

gotta love them 😀 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2023/jul/21/vive-le-tour-a-human-landscape-across-lhexagone-in-pictures

Thanks, everybody.

I love you

'Ken' is programmed to be contrary, even with himself. 😀

Thank goodness for that DL, and I think I can say that you have hit the nail exactly on the head

Oh no, not the nature nurture debate.....we'll be here FOREVER!

On a different note, congratulations Dave (or not)! I see you have sold your soul to the woolly bee 😄

The UK government spends £7 million a day keeping asylum seekers in hotels etc because the asylum processing system is an absolute mess with over 150K waiting for their cases to be dealt with, do you think that's a good use of taxpayers money? Lineker made a comment about the language used by the government over the 'small boats' issue and likened that to what was being said in Germany in the 1930's, he is spot on and millions agree with him in the UK.

Having our neighbour turning up at our front door in tears asking us to look after her grand daughter. She (the grandmother) had to go to hospital urgently Our eldest, at 3, was in the grand daughter's class at the school at the bottom of our garden. The fact that she came to us rather than others in the village who she had known all her life made us feel we had been accepted by the community.

Came over in 2003 on a trip to view houses etc. (Moved here in 2004) - minor first success, but ordering two coffees and a box of café crème cigars at Charles de Gaulle airport upon arrival - in the first French that I had spoken to a real French person ever - and receiving said articles - result! Never did a coffee and cigar taste so good😊

I think the saddest thing is that there appears to be one or two people on this forum who wait for any opportunity to launch onto their favourite hobby horse. I started this thread and, although I admit it's hardly the most riveting piece of news, it is France related and I was genuinely interested in hearing people's views. In response I was accused of being feckless and deserving of anything that befell me. Norman answered the question and was promptly derided for his apparent lifestyle. It's no wonder people don't want to post anymore. As it is I was going to post something else today but, frankly as I can already guess what the responses would be, I won't bother.

It is impossible to have a reasoned debate with anyone when their views are so entrenched and overly negative.

My barrel is well disguised 🙂

Yes Norman, Great post! Not every day is a bad one........ We have to enjoy the good ones. Good for you. Tony p.s. good to see you back here - the voice of reason 🙂

It's good that Macron is being "called out". He really is a dreadful little creep, and personally I think the damage he has done to Anglo-French relations over Brexit won't be repaired in my lifetime. Which is a shame because ten years ago I really felt that relations were the best they ever had been, but Macron's pettiness and vindictiveness has smashed all that.

Yes. Sorry to disappoint but no, still alive and well, still gainfully employed in France. Totally agree. Also, generally, with Catalpa. One or two of the posts on this thread sent my irony meter off the scale. Either they were written tongue in cheek or some posters never look in a mirror. I used to like the friendly banter and the sharing of random experiences, it was a feelgood place to come for a bit of lighthearted chat or to discuss what was on your mind. There was the guy who used to be on call for gite guests who had endless stories- folks who called him out just to switch the TV on, and daft stuff like that - and he had a way of telling them that made me laugh. Other posters too could be relied on to bring a bit of sunshine in their posts. It's a long time since I found much feelgood about it. I find it way too serious and judgmental with a hard core of posters taking it in turn to get up on their soapboxes and ram their views down the throats of anyone who will listen. I never went on forums and particularly expat forums to get heavy about politics or French news and current affairs, I go to other places for that. I mainly use forums as a bit of a break from the serious side of life. A discussion is good now and again as long as it doesn't get confrontational and personal and repetitive but discussions on here frequently seem to me to be all those things. But I realise that others have a different perception and are happy with what the forum has become.

A more interesting question would be 'why do so many British posters on an Francophile Forum find it necessary to run down the country to which they have chosen, uninvited, to emigrate? "

All our children either have dual nationality or have applied for it for the simple reason that it makes working here easier and gives them 'freedom of movement' which they lost after Brexit, there are 0000's of Brits here that have done the same thing for the same reasons, what is the problem with that?

Not knocking it as a country! What sort of statement is that? What are you 'knocking' then, a branch of ASDA or a fish and chip shop? Johnson is doing a very good job leading in the fight against Russia. When you' knock the British government you are 'knocking' Britain. There are enough here that do that, jealous remainers in the main who would see their country harmed rather than admit the E.U. is a failure. You sound the same.

He’s been banned from all the others for being a self opinionated old Brit ranter married to a French person who knows nothing about real France!?