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With JB on this. We paid an estimated amount for December and then emailed them to check it was received (it was). Its a Brit thing wanting to know whats going in, the French shrug works on this one ;)

Sold something on Leboncoin and the chap arrived to collect it last night. Turned out he worked for La Poste. I started a rant about the Colissimo system and losses we had. Even he, working for the post, was unsuccessful in claiming compensation for damaged goods!

Hopefully no change, slight drop in pension income if the £ suffers. We took dual nationality some years ago, mainly for our children's sakes. We have one at FAC and the other has, ironically, just been accepted to finish off his MEng at ICL in London. So he will find out what its like to deal with UK paperwork ;) Did a motorbike trip up to Mallaig and back from Portsmouth last year, what it must be like in that traffic in a car would stop me even consider going back.

LNB TWIN 0,1 DB FULL HD BEST GERMANY TÊTE PARABOLE 2 SORTIES Amazon 16.99 free delivery with Prime. Watching BBC on one at the moment in Normandie.

Most days it is fine, but occasionally it hangs. I open another tab and read the papers till it loads. Weird.

Back to earth now! It was the clip PVC flooring from Leroy Merlin, its on their site, not rubber though if that is what you really want.

That is without doubt the nicest thing anyone has said to me on this Forum. Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée.

We went down the same route as Chancer, but with a non slip resin base (Leroy Merlin), same panels in the shower, walls and shiny white ones in the ceiling LED lights so no melt problem. We built out from the previous plasterboard wall and added another 4 cms insulation to the 10 cms that was already there. Virtually no condensation in winter on the walls, unlike tiles. The floor is the newish rubberised clip stuff, again non slip, totally water resistant, easy to clean and warmer than tiles.

and on the first night she spends in the White House, she is visited by the ghost of George Washington. She asks him, "George, what can I do to best serve the United States?" The ghost of George Washington responds, "Never tell a lie." She says, "Oh, I don't think I can do that." The next night, she is visited by the ghost of Thomas Jefferson. She asks him, "Thomas, what can I do to best serve the United States?" The ghost of Thomas Jefferson responds, "Listen to the people." She says, "Oh, I don't think I can do that." On the third night, she is visited by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. She asks him, "Abraham, what can I do to best serve the United States?" The ghost of Abraham Lincoln responds, "Go see a play."

We have a second Bank Account with ING - free across the board according to the site, and our experience. Very tempted to move our CA account there.

"But I don't think they are an option if you are not UK resident." Our son cashed in his children's bonds for Premium Bonds last year, we live in France and do not have a UK address.

Personally I an with Manuel Valls in that Europe cannot take all these peoples and keep its current integrity. The EU should, IMO, establish and pay for a camp at the border with Turkey and put them all there, to be returned when the conflict ends. I am not convinced that the massive influx is the anwer to Europes prayer to top up the lack of young workers as the majority will have to be supported by indivual countries for a long time before they are in a postion to contribute, if ever. No easy answers.

We have been in the system since 1999. Last year was the first time we have sent off just our French tax return, before that we had the usual paperwork to send. We did not get a bill for the last quarter, just estimated it and paid on line. Since then I have emailed them to confirm they had received it (they changed all their bank details). Got a reply the next day, but no other info. I too have taken to carry photocopies, but in this case the Carte a Grise for our vehicles, especially our motorbike. I also have a copy of all important documents on the "cloud" (dropbox) so that in extremis, I could print off a copy no matter what country we are in.

Just a thought following the abolishment of the CMUb from the 1 Jan 2016 (we are in it as a family of 4). As I read the new rules (which are below), there are TWO conditions to fulfill. One concerns the titre de sejour, which as EU members, British people do not need. However, if the referendum takes the UK out of the EU, I presume if you have not appied for or got dual French/UK nationality (which we have), you will have to get one! Les conditions d’accès Pour bénéficier de la protection universelle maladie il faut remplir deux conditions : 1- Résider en France de manière régulière Il faut avoir la nationalité française ou être titulaire d’un titre de séjour ou avoir entamé des démarches pour obtenir un titre de séjour. Pour en savoir en savoir plus sur la condition de résidence régulière, cliquez ici 2- Résider en France de manière stable Il faut vivre en France métropolitaine ou dans un département d'outre-mer de manière ininterrompue depuis au moins trois mois. Il existe des cas particuliers, pour en savoir plus sur la condition de résidence stable, cliquez ici

Knew I had seen this somewhere. We have not seen a bill for our CMU for December either (St Lo Office). We have, however, had a letter from them changing all their bank details (we pay on line). What we did was add up the payments we have done so far this year, deducted this from the overall bill and paid that, towards end of December, on line. Heard nothing since.

My wife and I got our new Barclaycards, only change was the validation dates. My amendent went through OK, my wifes was refused. PP said it was the Banks fault, but the bank could clearly see that PP had made a trial debit. Could not resolve it so wife opened her own new PP account using her own UK bank card about 3 weeks ago.

Cracking job, they look great. What is the wood? Up here I have heard the two doors called a "porte anglaise". The reason being, if there was a knock in the night, you could open the small door to stop the "maudait anglais" forcing themselves in!

More computers in schools, but our children's backpacks never reduced in weight. Like the paperless office we were promised at the start of the informatique revolution, about a likely as a paperless toilet!

Sat in that square in May this year. Hired a motorbike to tour the south of the Island for a week. We were always conscious of being in a place where the "invaders" were not welcome. Road signs in French shot out and "French go home" (yes written in English) painted on some walls in the countryside. Sure it will all quiten down when the better weather starts. Without tourists, they seemed to have nothing, no industry, farms etc. It had better because we plan to go back to redo the fantastic roads. Burning pallets and tyres, sounds just like the A84 near us earlier this year.

The Channel 4's "Very British Problems at Christmas" did in a light hearted way give some indication of why the represive nature of us Brits makes Christmas a difficult time. Some stats show that 58% of road deaths in France are caused by alcohol." "In contrast to the UK drink-driving is not yet socially unacceptable in France," Pierre Chasseray, the head of driver's group "40 million d'automobilistes" “In 2013, drivers aged 18 to 24 who had consumed alcohol were involved in every second accident between midnight and 6am on Saturdays and Sundays.” France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Have certainly seen women urinating outside of a WC, in the UK and in France.

The woman who drove the school bus was stopped after she was found comatosed under a local calvaire due to drink a few years ago here. I generally do not drink at lunch time. Every council meeting I attended ended with drink taken, couple of measures at least even at 1200. In 2013, 3384 were killed on the roads in France, 1713 for the same period in the UK. Perhaps getting it all out of the system for few days of the year is better than constant abuse?

Speakers, do you mean bluetooth speakers? Just bought one from Amazon "Bluedio" A single unit with good sound, volume and no distortion. 50€ but you can get them cheaper (I paid 29€ when they were on offer). Connects to phone and tablets without difficulty.

Yes and I have gone over to the dark side (as some would expect). It also gives an enhanced experience for the volume control on youtube.

Perhaps we should all put up a list of those we find interesting and those we find less so? And why.....

For grass cutting I bought some blue tooth Sony earbuds. You can wear them under ear defenders. I listen to talking books to pass the time and the lack of trailing wires means nothing gets tangled starting the machines. I also have a pair of over ear headphones, bluetoothed to phone/tablet. Great if you have a lot of cooking to do and don't want to disturb anyone else. Listen and watch youtube Wheeler Dealers cooking the saturday curry - the time flies!