Miki

Just once in a while it`s good to be old enough to say    " I saw the great man play" Colin Absolutely Colin, that is why I would love to see the man knighted. He brought pleasure to millions through his career. Even though I am a Chelsea supporter since knee high, he was a player that made me slope down to the Lane to watch him play many times after his return from Italy. I wouldn't do that for many players, if any !! Yes, I remember that the maestro and Gilly were called the "G" men

I might, from a red and white perspective, mention Brian Clough... (though he does have an OBE). Murray Walker has an OBE but George Cohen doesn't. There seems to be very little rhyme or reason, other than a recent televised success (the England rugby team) or retirement (Murray Walker?). Agree with you about Cloughie, I think he deserves it and of course George should get as equal a billing as the rest of the boys of 66. Murray is certainly the voice (or rather was) of Grand Prix (amongst other things) and has brought pleasure in to millions of homes, yep, certainly another candidate.

Peter (degenerate ex-IT worker and member of the Campaign for Real Pedantry) Peter, Is that better than a Youngs or Fullers brew?

Mikki, To me Socialism is that everyone who has an income contributes to the system. I only find it strange that people who do contribute a lot, the self employed, do not get to enjoy that very same system. My remark was meant to be a little sarcastic. I guess that didn't come across well. Tink, The problem is that socialism cannot pay for everything and that's when it is seen not to be working, if one feels they cannot get what they see as their "fair" share one blames socialism perhaps? The self employed can get insurance cover to help them when they are sick or claim RMI if they are in need of help. This is the same in many European countries, including the UK and that is regardless of whoever is in power. At the moment the socialist party are not in power in France. So would you like to blame it on Chiracs party and not the socialists? Same thing in the UK, it was the same during Maggis years and before in Wilsons and before.......................... I understand that it was meant to be sarcastic but the blame cannot simply be laid at the door of socialism can it.  

[quote]Hello Socialism, you know the saying, BETTER DEAD THAN RED. Have a nice day y'all Mik[/quote] Lay off the cheapo Mik

[quote]Hi Miki I thought you were a Chelsea supporter but is your actavar not the Great Jimmy Greaves wearing the shirt of the great Tottenham Hotspur. (those were the days) Colin[/quote] What Spurs shirt !! Must be late at night and your mincers are playing up Colin  Thanks to tresco (member) the maestro is now in his original and rightful get up !!

[quote]I'm doing my best to be a senior, or even a senor - this is the second time this has happened to me (pasa doble?). I shall have to resort to posting that I don't know the answers to things or telling ...[/quote] ...........or telling us when the Mrs is away or when peoples are squatting on the Ile D'oleron They all count Dick and I also think Senor sounds so much better than Senior

[quote]>>>I know that when hub was off work for 3 months last yr, he wasnt entitled to a penny (sorry cent!) >>Why is he paying more this year when he earned less than the previous year?

[quote]Teamedup, My comments above were only relating UK issued cards. It quite possible until French chip cards are updated to the new UK standards that they will not work in the UK card readers and a sig...[/quote] Baz, Won't signing be a problem for French cards in the UK? The cards are set up for pin use. We haven't signed with them for donkeys years and although we sign on the back of the cards like normal (well on our cards we do!) I personally have never known any French store or whatever to allow a person to sign if their pin or card was giving a problem. The whole point of a pin is for security, so by allowing it to be used in the old fashioned low security signature formula is completely defeating why they were changed to pin and we can never accept a card unless a pin is offered. It is pretty stupid that it cannot be unified but why am I not surprised !

[quote]Didn't Lester have an OBE which he had to send back?Trouble with Greavsie (is he Jimmy or Jimmie?) is that his little problem of a few years back would be held against him, and now he is so 'out of th...[/quote] Dick, Yes he certainly was stripped of his OBE due to his problem. I bet we could all name some, Sirs, Lords and Ladies who should have their titles annulled for various reasons but the ladies favourite and the horse race goers dream jockey (only Sir Gordon possibly knew how to ride better) is long overdue his rightful title. One by one, some of the World Cup squad have been knighted but the one person, who was not only a great part of Sir Alfs team but known by many, to be Englands greatest ever goalscorer of the team surely deserves the top accolade he can recieve, Yes he had a drink problem but if that was a criteria, then the house of Lords should have been disbanded centuries ago It's Jimmy by the way.

Because his Mother gave her husband a "Baronetcy", the aim of this no doubt to make sure her son become Sir Mark, I got to thinking about one of this country's greatest, nay our greatest ever jockey, Lester Piggott and his denial of a rightful reward. He was, say so, denied a knighthood, due to his jail sentence and tax evasion, now cleared. Yes, I am aware of the rules that govern knighthoods but this can be overturned. When I think of how knighthoods are given out "by favour" and from someone who is not entirely for awards of this nature, if they are to be awarded, then let this great sportsman take his rightful place in Lordship history. Oh, and at the same time let's not forget our greatest ever goalscorer, "Rise Sir Jimmy",  sounds good eh

Dick, I will be changing my avatar at regular intervals, I shall be proudly presenting my "senior" heros. The next one is............well you will see  

[quote]Second visit to the UK this year and for all there is a lot of fuss about chip and pin now, our french visa cards were not accepted in those shops that take pin numbers now on either visit. Will fre...[/quote] Hi TU, Our machine is recognising an average of 1 in 6 or so of English chip & pin. That is to say, the machine asks just 1 in 6 of all UK cards with the puce (chip), to put in their pin number, the rest of the time, it is still asking us to swipe the card for the client to sign. Only one problem with the chip & pin, half of the clients haven't got a clue what their pin number is ! This Europe thing can be a bit of a larf can't it !

[quote]You have reduced mynumber of posts in teh changeover, from nearly 500 to 157? Not that I am competitive about things like that..... I just wondered why??[/quote] Your'e worried ! I should have been a "Fanatic" (or is it a contender, I can never remember Brando's immortal words ) like Pucette and am just any old Senior member now, even SB is only a mere Senior but Dick isn't though Miki

Will do Jake, consider it ignored Miki

Blimey Dick & Margaret, You may not be in agreement but it sure kept you two up late thinking about the beauty or lack of it for the lady in question Miki

[quote]Hi Miki, nice to be back even if the print is a bit smaller now - have put my larger eyeballs in! This seems to be a bit of a grey area in as much as the last time about 18months ago when were advert...[/quote] We haven't even gone out to the shops to get her stuff yet ! She is working full time to get some money for herself before the new start of the school year, when she knows she will no have to get serious with learning (not as though gaining the Bac isn't of course!) She has to go abroad for part of her first year to work and study one of her 3 languages, in her case probably to Spain, as her French and English are pretty good, obviously, and she wants extra dosh to take (Yeh, if she can hold on to it that long !), apart from the money she will need from us. We are hoping to sort out her new student health cover soon, have you done that yet? It seems to be the right thing to do, or is it? Agree about cheque d'emploi, it is a very grey area and so I guess the sensible thing is to avoid using it, unless you are certain of its legality in the circumstances. Miki

[quote]I'm finding this new format quite slow, quite TF'y and quite tricky. Miki, I need to know, to settle marital dispute; is that the image of Senor Greavsie you are using?[/quote] Tresco, It sure is, it's my personal little tribute to the master himself. How much would the man that George Best once described as, "the best player in the world" cost today ? Going on Rooney's estimatation, I would say £200 million at least! A lovely quote which I can never forget is one when Bill Nicholson, the then boss of Spurs said to the press after a game in which Jimmy had scored all 4 goals " Yes he scored the goals very well but what else did the little so and so do!" (allow for time and memory with that quote) Couldn't find one with him from his early Chelsea days, had to make do with him in a Spurs shirt but am still looking for an old photo with him in "Blue"  Miki  

[quote]Hi you could try www.holidayhavens.co.uk they are new and have a free trial with no commitment to be made and its all online, i had my advert with them on with images in 10 mins. ! they have cont...[/quote] Brian, Am I right in thinking you are possibly a bit closer to this site than a free advertiser? I have seen you pushing this site on a French site as well as other UK based sites, which makes me think that for someone not associated with the site, you are pushing it beyond the call of duty perhaps? Miki

[quote]Be serious, Rubberduck!!! There's a - ow you say - "friendly rivalry" between LF and TF, you know, like between Saints and Pompey. LivingFrance has been referred to as "The Dark Side" because some...[/quote] Woof woof To be fair to Kontiki I have had a PM (never put it like that before,getting techie ) from him. All is OK.  .......and I have had to drive back from McDo tonight with a "smelly" daughter again ! Certainly the grub tastes better than the workers smell after an 8 hour shift Miki

[quote]What you must do is get your accountants to draw up a proper contract of employment for a set period stating the start and finish date or else you could be in trouble with the authorities and the 'pru...[/quote] Val, I really do not think that anything to do with the building trade is allowed on cheque d'emploi. It is and as far back as I can remember, a domestic "employment" with a bit of childminding, caring etc plus a spot of small gardening thrown in and not a lot more, to be honest. Miki

JP, I agree it is b---y hard work, we have 5 rooms and do table d'hôte and we are slowly wilting after another hard season. We had rather hoped for a quieter than normal September but now from what looked quiet, the dates are now filling up. So now we may have to look to October until a possible little break (a day by the seaside even  ) but we always shut after Armistice Day (11th Nov) and try to stay that way until March 1st but last year we had so much demand from house seekers, that we opened early. Probably why we are feeling tired earlier than normal !! Miki    

[quote]You may well have an insurance certitificate but if you had a serious claim you would find it not worth the paper on which it was written;the only-repeat only way-to be legal after the first thrre mon...[/quote] I really don't know how many times this old chestnut has come up, a hundred perhaps? jc has put it, like a few of us before have done, if you have an accident without having re-registered your car within the legal time limit (and I guess the insurance company will take it from the first day one had insured the car with them) the bottom line for any insurance institution will always be, "how do we get out of paying for this one". It won't take much for them to wriggle out of any claim if the car is found to still to be on UK plates and over the legal time limit. Whenever we have insured UK reg cars, the insurer often states, "let us know ASAP once the car is re-immatriculated and bring in the carte grise for photocopying". Something they need to be on record. If they haven't asked that, then I remind them simply to prompt them for the legal side of things. So sure, you can insure a UK car in France, never found a company from North to South that wouldn't but do be aware of the regulations or be very sorry indeed if you have an accident, especially if it is found to be your fault. Miki

[quote]hi All, This refers to our b&b , not gites sorry. Well we've had a great year and its not over yet, still got bookings in place till the end of september, we started the summer season this year ...[/quote] Yes, location is all important but to make a living, in my mind you really need; 1. 4-5 Rooms 2. Table D'Hôte I must say, you really will be cream crackered if you open all year round and are full for a fair amount of the time but having said that, the best of luck, it's good to hear of success stories. How many rooms do you let and do you do meals? Miki

[quote]Miki this just isn't fair! I go away for a few days and when I come back everything's changed AND ALL MY POSTS HAVE GONE! How can I catch up now?[/quote] Dick, Please have some decorum. I am now an officially titled  member and as such I would like to referred to as   Senor Miki Oh merde, it says Senior, sorry Dick, it's still plain old Miki then............. As I said before, we are expecting big things from you this winter and SB is slowing down a bit, so with the right training, you will pass her total around January I reckon! Senior Miki (NOT Senor )