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chessfou2

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Everything posted by chessfou2

  1. I find it fascinating (well, no I'm not really that sad, but there are sometimes surprises - in both directions) to compare prices between www.lidl.fr and www.lidl.co.uk
  2. "Certains ne connaissent même pas d’où vient le lait (remarquez c’est la même chose pour leurs alter ego de Londres, Birmingham ou autre grande ville). " . Mais non! Au moins en Angleterre, M. et Mme. Toutlemonde sait que le lait vient soit du "milkman" (qui le laisse devant leur porte; quelque chose de mythique qui n'existe pas à Paris), soit des grandes surfaces. Ceux qui sont mieux informés, ils savent que le lait vient de l'île de Wight (Cowes).
  3. Bonsoir toutes et tous, Ou des photos des champs-Elysées passés au vert - 2.400.000 kilos de terre, 150.000 plantes, 700 arbres - parce que les jeunes agriculteurs ne peuvent pas gagner leur vie (le coût de ce truc publicitaire? - €4.200.000 selon Le Monde).
  4. "In a few short months, Nick Clegg will be a blip in the nation's memory." Huh? I do hope not. I have been a total cynic about UK politics for 30-odd years (with two extremely brief exceptions - moments of almost inexplicable euphoria) until now. However, I do currently feel some optimism (triumph of hope over experience? maybe) because both Cameron and Clegg have dared to take enormous political risks which might, just might save the country from its untenable debt position - realistically worse than Greece and much, much worse than Italy (each man, woman and child currently shelling out about £60/month* to service the interest on the national debt while also borrowing about £215/month* to cover the shortfall on unsustainable spending, assuming they don't have any personal debt to worry about on top of all that - national income is about £540bn a year and expenditure is well in excess of £700bn). I sincerely hope that they may be closer to Disraeli and Lloyd George than many others I could name and if they do end up scuppering their parties, that's fine by me if they achieve the improbable and succeed in saving the country (which has no £750bn Euro/IMF backing to fall back on). * £43bn divided by 62 million, divided by 12 months & £163bn divided by 62 million, divided by 12 months.
  5. Surprised to see fish and chips mentioned only once - should go down well - perhaps you could get some English newspapers (probably just to go underneath the plates). For dessert, there was a mention of Victoria Sponge. My wife made one of those (raspberry jam) and a Dundee cake for the grand picnic at the village vide grenier the year before last - they were both much appreciated, especially the sponge.
  6. Our friends were amused/astonished to hear that UK councils cut verges at the side of roads. I suspect that it would be dodgy for some to talk about the game/sport of Quilles de Huit. Personally, I still try my best to avoid asking for a spoon (just in case).
  7. Cooperlola, Could be. I rather thought someone might ask me "does your chewing gum lose its flavour on the keyboard overnight?"
  8. If you want to follow SD's example, make sure you have an appropriate response from the taxman. Last year I was told by them (dgfip.finances.gouv.fr): "Bonjour Madame / Monsieur Bonjour, lorsque des revenus ont été encaissés en monnaie d'un Etat extérieur à la zone euro, ils doivent être convertis en euros d'après le cours de l'euro à la date de l'encaissement. Je vous invite à consulter le site de la banque de france banque-france.fr qui vous permettra de retrouver les cours de change quotidiens de l'euro." But it's no big deal - downloading the daily exchange rates from the BdF and sticking them into a spreadsheet does not take a huge amount of time. You then know that you have done your duty and "tout marche comme sur des roulettes" . edited to stick in the 'e' that got stuck in my sticky keyboard. You may use your imagination to determine why my keyboard is sticky - a small prize to the best suggestion (which does not contravene the forum's T&Cs).
  9. I have been receiving quite a few emails telling me that I am entitled to CAF benefits. Anyone else? It is, of course, a scam, linking to a web site hosted in the Ukraine. [DON'T click on the link!]
  10. Gardengirl, really? Do you think the UK does better? Here's what emerged from a Select Committee in Westminster: "149. Sir John Bourn, Comptroller and Auditor General at the UK’s National Audit Office told us that, were he required to issue a single Statement of Assurance on the UK Government’s accounts in the same way as the Court of Auditors does for Europe’s accounts, he, like the Court, would be unable to do so (Q 192). This is because last year he issued a qualified opinion on 13 of the 500 accounts of the British Government which he audits." Have a read of a bit of the report: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldselect/ldeucom/270/27010.htm
  11. Sprogster, You said: "At the momernt the Uk has to pay only about 1.2% on its soverieign debt" How do we reconcile that with the figures of £bn 43 p.a. for Debt Interest (2010 Budget) and a supposed "total government debt" of £bn 890 (various sources). Prima facie, it looks to me like either (a) about 4.8% interest rate (43*100/890), or (b) total govt debt is understated and is really in the region of £bn 3,580 (43*100/1.2); or maybe (c) some mix of the above (different rates of interest on "sovereign debt" and other stuff (PFI?), e.g. £bn 43 debt interest £bn 890*1.2% = (ca) £bn 11, leaving £bn 32 of debt interest at ?% on £?bn. Have you any sources to clarify the position? PS. I also wonder if AnOther could tell us when was the last time that the UK gov had its accounts signed off ... We know the EU accounts generally can't be signed off because of failings of recipient govts of EU payments.
  12. Ah, thanks for the explanation.
  13. Krusty, can you enlighten me. My understanding has always been that you have EITHER an EHIC card (if you are in the UK health system) OR a CEAM card (if you are resident in France and, therefore, in the French health system). Have the rules changed in some way so that it is possible to have both?
  14. "Chess, tu es en forme maintenant?" Oui, et non. Peut-être je suis en forme de poire (Satie), mais ce n'est pas la grande forme.
  15. Je reste encore ici dans les coulisses ... "Il parait que le mot 'tchatcher' vient de l'arabe" C'est magnifique: "Maggie Tchatcher à la berbère" ??!! et son fils qui se perd dans le désert pendant le Paris-Dakar de 1982! et Suissie, merci bien de (pour? - c'est vraiment une difficulté du français) ton courriel (bien reçu, mais dans une boîte que je n'utilise jamais - uniquement parce qu'il y avait un problème avec le logiciel du forum).
  16. Je suis dans les coulisses, mais il me semble que le logiciel du forum est fou2 - c'est pourquoi je suis devenu chessfou2. Bien sür, j'ai perdu l'année entière aux problèmes au niveau de la santé - presque fou2. En cas de nécessité, je deviendrai chessfou3 (dans le recyclage!). Après, je sais pas ... - chessfou4 (miaou/miaow) - chessfou5 (Titanic) ... edit: Ah, la plaisanterie chessfou3 (trois) et le recyclage ne va pas (je pensais à la Russe - 3 = "tri") ...
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