DraytonBoy

One of the funniest things I've ever read on here.😀

That's certainly not the case for the Democrats Dave which is why it's puzzling they've allowed Biden to stand again, he was meant to be a 'one term' president whilst the party found a younger candidate for 'the future'. It seems that stopping Trump is more important than anything else.

It's far more fundamental than who's the more bent Biden or Trump, these two old white men are only candidates people are likely to be able to vote for. How crazy is that?

Anyone else's Avis not available online yet?

We moved to try a different way of life, however we had certain advantages - already had a house in 17, I had a job lined up plus an additional income and we had kept property in the UK in case things didn't work out. Thanks to Brexit and the loss of FOM we couldn't do that now and although we're now back in the UK we feel very lucky to have spent 18 mostly happy years in France, the kids have certainly benefited from the experience and none have expressed any wish to leave the country.

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

Ken's holiday sounds great ... for a millionaire. Having been to the States many times over the past 30 years we came away from our trip last September knowing that we won't be going back, it's becoming so expensive now making it out of reach of the vast majority which is probably a deliberate policy to ensure it becomes the playground of the wealthy.

We sold our car a few weeks ago and insisted on an instant SEPA transfer as payment, I was able to check with the bank that the funds were cleared before we handed over the keys.

What do you think of next month's electricity price rise Ken following on from February's 15% increase, totally justified so no one should moan or outrageous profiteering given that France is a net exporter of electricity?

Moaner!😀

Is it a moan or stating a fact, summer in tourist hot spots is not always fun for residents?

Ridiculous comment as usual, why can't people just be 'accepting' of others or do we all have to be bigots to be normal?

The housing market here has changed very quickly due to the interest rate rises which has spooked the banks into tightening their lending criteria, mortgage deposit requirements have shot up to 35% from 10% just two years ago.

That suggests ALBF needs to try harder.😀

So it's the fault of the police for millions of immigrants being housed in lawless 'sink estates' across France, glad that's cleared up because there was me blaming successive governments for ignoring a big chunk of the population for decades.

First estimate of the damage repair cost is a minimum of 1 billion euros, totally bonkers.

That's been reported by several papers but I'm not sure how accurate it is, supposedly, the donations for the police officer's family have now gone past 600K.

When countries allow poor (and often immigrant populated) housing estates to grow they often end up becoming almost lawless so when police are called in they are heavy handed which breeds resentment and it's not uncommon for just one incident to spiral out of control. France has ignored the problem for decades but given the current worldwide attention it's receiving it will be interesting to see if anything changes.

The riots have been happening for years and occur in rundown urban areas all over the country, those of us living in the peaceful countryside have no real clue as to how bad it is because it doesn't really affect us but it is a massive problem for France and this latest episode will costs 000's of millions to put right. Image wise, it is a disaster with the Rugby World Cup only 100 days away and the Olympics taking place next year.

Why would any sane person who has the choice of where to live in a new country move to an inner city area (for example) where the quality of life isn't the best? You have always assumed that most of us have simply moved from one 'idyll' to another so know nothing of crime and deprivation but that's simply not the case as the UK has some of the most deprived areas in Europe.

Basically, living in the countryside has lost it's appeal so we've gone the other way and have bought a house in a decent sized city where we can walk to shops, restaurants and bars etc, I've even bought a season ticket for the local football club and can walk to the ground. We're leaving our children and grandson but as we don't often see them there wasn't a tough emotional pull to stay, we didn't plan to retire here but are moving back a few years earlier than we thought.

Despite the best efforts of Credit Agricole to prevent it we completed our UK house purchase this morning. Without boring people with a lengthy rant I will simply pass on something that we have recently learned - French banks have the legal power to prevent anyone from transferring their money to whoever they wish if they deem the transfer to be in their words 'insecure'. So if you want to move a large some of money from your account here make sure you can prove where the money come from, full details of where you are sending it to and what you're ultimately doing with the money when it leaves France.

You conveniently left off part of my reply which gave some context. I don't have an issue with your views but IMO they do show a lack of tolerance to others.

If everyone thought like you they would be. We should all be more tolerant and understanding, if we were then it would be a much better world.

When the OP said he has 'lived a life' he really means he has lived his life as we all view 'life' differently. I can't begin to understand how people with gender dysphoria feel but they need help and support rather than be labelled as 'weirdos' and shunned/castigated by society.