leray

Help... why is that I can longer pick up beloved HeartFM on the internet, neither Magic, but I can get Capital FM ( I input a UK postcode, you get access for 90 days!)  and of course all BBC radio stations which use BBCPlayer. Why is this and why not exclude BBC stations if you are not allowed to connect to other UK Radio staions such as Heart etc.... seems daft to me but then I am only a simple blonde or so my husband tells me!! elaine in 56    

I didnt know about Richard and Judy last night, thats interesting, another good read I think would be Isabella Queen of France by Alison Weir I think, im waiting for the paperback which probably wont be till next year. Tomorrow Im off to Borders to order Anthony Burgess; The Eve of St Venus, issued tomorrow in paperback but was unable to pre order it, I loved his Earthly Powers.      

Having travelled down to Spain many years ago and passing Carcassonne on the motorway the sight of which took my breath away, we did stop on our return and explore the city. I thought I would share the above book with you all and recommend it, written by Kate Mosse, its a parallel story from 1209/2005 with Alais/Alice revolving around the Cathars and Pope Innocents crusade on the Langue d'Oc. It isnt as obviously 'graily' as the da Vinci Code but the historical background is very interesting and informative, its also abit of page turner and having visited the area the book really comes alive. Its a quick read despite in being a thom and can recommend it. elaine currently back in uk    

Did anyone else watch the Europeans in Lyon last night, the judging system may have changed for the better as demonstrated by the ladies competition, but the dance as usual causes a bit of controversy. The french couple were magnificent, you can always rely on the french to come up with innovative and ground breaking choreography, and the french are really knowledgeable with their skating and made their views known to the judges and referee. It was also good to hear that icon of skating music Bolero, not once but twice last night, the skaters werent even born when Torvill and Dean did their Bolero in Saravejo. Cant wait for the Mens today, as long as eurosport dont change their schedule again. elaine    

In answer to your basic question, I have to say that we had no problems getting my daughter into Lycee, this is in the Morbihan 56. Though we were already part of the community. She got her A* in french and you are right,nowhere near enough,  the first three months everything just went over head. She did however go straight into premier, and not seconde, she took the BacL, which is the Languages and Literature Bac and though she would have had to repeat premier had she stayed, she decided to return to England for further education. I have to say that our situation was different, it was only a years experiment, gap year if you like at 16, husband stayed in UK while we were in Morbihan. We would have stayed if she wanted to. The biggest problem for her was the culture change, lack of mobility, french kids dont have the means to go out and about as freely, transport being the biggest problem and during the winter months nobody does anything or go anywhere. That was our experience. She did try, she signed up to continue flute lessons, theory lessons, joined the orchestra etc. But in our case 16/17 was too late for a teenager to move to France. She is now at a school here (UK),  The Anglo European at Ingatestone, doing an International Bac, the IB group is about 40 strong, and 80% of her french class are fluent, 90% of the kids have a european background and she has a real zeal for her school work that I havent seen in the past year, and just as importantly she started her Saturday job this week in a well known 'sensible' shoe shop! Something which French kids aren't able to do without a Bac+2 (opps I didnt mean that!) Good Luck if you decide to take the plunge but both kids will need huge amounts of support to keep their self esteem going which I am sure you will give them. elaine

Does anyone know when the bac results come out have tried searching government websites sans success   elaine56  

1. Just put the radio on and .... Cricket is on the long wave !!!  argghh and my computer speakers won't reach outside to listen to Radio 4FM or Heart FM   elaine56

I too have decided to shift a few stubborn pounds and this very morning checked out some websites found a nice bikini/shorts for summer and stuck a picture of it on my fridge with the logo 'Did you do your sit ups this morning??' though I did think it would be easier to morph my head onto the picture than go without butter/cheese... but Hopefully it will work and when I feel hungry I tell myself its my metabolism working or my stomach is shrinking.. hopefully.. A food diary is always good then around 8pm when you feel hungry read everything that you have eaten and you dont feel so hungry after all. Good luck tout le monde, summers around the corner... elaine  

Sorry dont have connection with the commuters group but interesting to see that the new administration have got rid of another travelling scheme. I hope it doesnt inconvenience you too drastically. Apparently the attitude of staff particularly the french side has also suffered lately. A friend arrived on sunday afternoon 3 hours too early and was escorted out of the terminal (with 9 other vehicules) and told not to come back until the appointed 2 hours early!! apparently the french have discovered Health and Safety and cannot have people on the premises more than their allotted 2 hours too early policy. This would have been fun at the Folkestone end a couple of weeks ago when I had a 5 hours wait because of a t*** that walking along the tracks early Saturday morning. Something is going on but cant get to the bottom of it Elaine

or White Rabbit to the rest of us, go on SB your lad can go in today with his plastered up arm and do a bit of Pinch Punch...,  oh sorry Sir its an old english custom that we picked up at Agincourt!!! elaine

Hi Saligo Oh I do sympathise, we got back yesterday after 2 weeks in UK and my daughter is dreading tomorrow, in 1er.  She has also changed her mind about going on the school trip to Italy, terrified of being trapped for a week with people who dont like her. But she wasnt very happy at primary in UK. Does this mean she was the one the problem? No, I dont think so, outside school we very involved in ice skating and the rink, she was very popular and got on with everybody adults and children. But at school there was one girl with whom she used to clash and I said to her the other day when I picked her up from lycee when it was jabber this jabber that and I said this is going back to primary schoool days. My one regret in UK was that I didnt change schools for her there, but I was afraid she would not get my choice of secondary if I moved her, even though her 2 sisters were already at the girls school. Funnily enough her primary school was a church school. So to all those of you dreading tomorrow morning, when Im thinking of my daughter and how her day is going I shall be thinking of you and yours and hoping you all have a Bon Lundi et Bonne semaine!! Im sure there are times when we must all wonder what are we doing. elaine  

I am due back Friday/Saturday does anyone know whatthe snow conditions are like on the motorways down to Rennes then Ploermel. Cant find any info and the www.traficinfo.fr website seems to be under deluge and is frozen, quiet appropriate when you think about it!!!    

I find 3131 works but only gives last missed call not last number dialling in elaine

Has anybody else experienced problems at the tunnel today. I came back Friday night no problems, my sister just phoned me from the Check in at Calais, and it seems our property owners fully flexible tickets are not as fully flexible as they used to be. We used to be able to turn up and be put on the next available train, my sister has got to wait for 3 hours as Frequent Travellers are taking priority. This means she ill be allowed on a train 2 hours earlier than booked. One chap who was late by 1 hours and missed his 2 o/clock train has got to wait till 22.00hrs!! However the car park is half full, the centre is empty except for people being held up, and the 'duty free' has no customers (no points, no customers) even the check in staff are refusing to speak english and are being a bit bolshi this afternoon. I haven't seen the score but did France lose the rugby today. Does anyone know what's going on, or have a clue, I know there is going to be another meeting this month with the banks regarding the future and finances..... elaine

Just to concur with everbody else, bienvenu Swissbarry! God bless ya!! and keep the stories and observations coming, luv 'em.. elaine

We have this problem as well, I did have cover once thru the AA but with AXA it was expensive, my last lot of insurance was direct with AXA 93 days foreign travel, but we insure two vehicules so we manage to cover all school holidays and more. However renewal time now and my husband told me last night that we have received a letter saying that AXA UK were withdrawing from car insurance and RAC would be taking over our policies. So need to check that out when Im back next week. But ideally full year cover without having to phone  everytime you go abroad would be better. elaine

HI Jks Dont know about the year bit, but as I see it for arguments sake, you cant be as a family  'permanently'  based in France (if you dont mind my saying) if your husband is in  UK earning and paying NICs and tax. You wont be able to fully integrate into systems (health) After the year you may well decide to return to UK anyway, or if your husband comes out to join you,  then, as family you you will be 'permantly' based in France, and getting into all the systems on a more permanant basis. He will no longer be in UK, so you won't qualify for any further child benefit payments. But to repeat myself, phone them, they are very friendly and I know of several of us 'separated by distance' (their definition) and in receipt of child benefit. Let us know your outcome elaine56

Hi JKs we came over after GCSEs and because my daughter left Uk education the payments stopped however I put a claim in as according to the Child Benefit website I could still claim. I filled in Loads and Load of forms 3 times (CH934/CH927/CH950)  but he got paid in december and backdated to july and will continue to be paid until a review in September, by which time I think we will back in the UK I also still get family tax credit Phone Newcastle on 00 44 191 225 1000, they are really helpful and its not an unusual request, as long as your husband is in UK paying tax and insurance you qualify Also take a look at the website I think its Inland Revenue/Childbenefit/education abroad or temporary absence from Uk I go to live abroad or visit?You must tell us straight away if you, youir child, or both of you leave the UK permanently. If you are going abroad permanently but your child is staying in the UK and living with someone else, the person they are staying with should contact us and claim Child Benefit. If you go abroad temporarily you can continue to get Child Benefit for up to 8 weeks, whatever the reason for your absence for the first 12 weeks you are abroad because you are, or a member of your family is, receiving treatment for an illness or disability or because a member of your family has died. You must tell us if you are going abroad longer than this. If you left the UK after the 6 April 2003, you will be treated as being abroad temporarily if your absence is unlikely to last for more than a year when you leave. If your right to remain in the UK is subject to a limit or condition and you have been getting Child Benefit since before 7 October 1996 you may be entitled to Child Benefit again if you return after a stay abroad of more than 8 weeks. If you want to know more about this, contact Child Benefit Office. If the child goes abroad temporarily you can continue to get Child Benefit for that child for up to 12 weeks. You must tell us if your child is leaving the UK for more than 12 weeks. If your child is temporarily abroad for more than 12 weeks you may still get Child Benefit if they are abroad for one of the following reasons: to receive full-time education in an EEA country or Switzerland to make an educational or foreign visit that is approved in writing by the child's usual school to get medical treatment for an illness that began before the child left the UK If your child is abroad without you for more than 8 weeks you must be supporting them while they are abroad if you are to continue to get Child Benefit. Top The above is from the website you will also need to change your E11 to and E109 because your partner is working in UK ring 00 44 191 225 5606 Bon Courage elaine56  

Having now got a tow bar fitted and two new bikes, is it illegal to go out on the roads without a second number plate and or light board on the back. I have a feeling that it is a requirement in UK but Ive seen lots of cars on a Sunday with bikes on back and no number board or 2nd plate?? elaine 56 ps and where do you go to get one made up??

Hi Mrs MDW I too am in France while Mr JHW is in UK, and its his birthday today!! I think there are a few of us wives 'separated by distance' as they call it in Newcastle (DHSS) I remember when I was changing over my car it cost an arm and leg for the lights to be done and I had a tiny chip in the rear light not enough to go thru to the second layer of glass under the red and Mr Jobsworth at controle technique said he wouldnt pass it. I got back into the dissolved into tears and said 'I want to go home...', but the rear light was only 50 odd euros to replace and we have stuck it out. Though I have to say my daughter has a bad day 6 out of 7 at lycee and I find it very difficult to keep her morale up alone but like you ive lit a fire and am sitting doing my embroidery listening to Radio 4 over the internet thinking of Mr JHW on his own in London on his birthday (on his own?) bon Courage elaine

Apparently Eurotunnel were conspicuous by their absence at the Vive La France exhibition last weekend, a friend of mine had a few questions to put to them. I heard someone say its a case of the lunatics taking over the asylum, I have checked their fully flexible returns and no way are they competitive or attractive to the wider market, which was what they said they were trying to achieve in their winding up letter of Property Owners. Watch that space leray

Where I am based in UK I know at 6 French women married to Englishmen, one lives opposite from me and at my daughters senior school one of the Art teachers was French

Refrained up till now in joining this thread but just to add my story. My daughter wanted to do Lycee in France not 6th form, well she wanted to come at Year 10 but I said hold on and do your GCSEs. She went into 1er in Septembre doing a bacL, she is enjoying the variety of subjects and coping with the school load, even the lessons in a 'foreign language'. (Its not easy I went to French evening classes to do Italien and that was only one subject). What she finds so difficult is the culture change/shock. I read on another forum of a young lad in lycee who has to sit in the corridor alone eating his lunch because the kids seem to be so unfriendly, although he has come thru the system and done college. This is what she too has encountered, but to be fair they all seem to do it to each other, leave people out, go off in different groups and generally have mood swings. I now have to go and pick her up every lunchtime and bring her home luckily I can do it, its only 2 or 3k away, today was a good day though she went of with a group. But most days the girls eat with their boyfriends or is that they eat their boyfriends!!! She was so unhappy when we got back after xmas that I rang my local Anglo European school in Essex which offers the IB and we have an interview at half term to see about starting September. With all the rights and wrongs, meme differences of French Education which I wont go into here only having had 5 months experience of it unlike TU she seems a lot happier and the hardest is trying to persuade her that she isnt a failure if she does go back to UK. Hubby is still working in UK which doesnt make it easy either. She also takes strength from the fact the french kids would find english school difficult, if only they knew it, uniform/smart dress, no fag breaks during double lessons, independant learning no make up no jewellery (sic) and being a city type of girl I dont want her to spend the 'best years' of her life 17/18 and 19 stuck in the middle of newhere, for me and dad its great getaway from the rat race but its not for her. Just my situation and opinion, but Im glad I got off my chest!! Bon Courage to all