Fay

I leant a friend the 8-hour Michel Thomas course many moons ago, and it's been returned at last - minus disk 2, which was in the CD player of her car when it got stolen. *sigh* I asked for it back so that my partner can brush up his rusty French skills but 'it's not worth it' apparently if disk 2 isn't there... So, just a vague hope that someone out there may have moved on from MT and might be prepared to sell me disk 2 from their set? I've looked online to see if single replacements are sold, but it seems not. Anyone got one they'd be prepared to part with for a negotiable sum?

Further to my previous post (in 2006!), when the converters arrived at my Toyota dealer, they required a degree in mechanical engineering, a couple of hours and a toolkit to fit - even the Toyota engineer admitted they were hugely complicated and not a 'clip-on' option at all. So I didn't buy them.

I've always wondered about that auberge, Gillian - will give it a try!

Like Hannah and Just John I have lost my soulmate - a very fit, slim and (apparently) healthy 49-year-old who died of a heart attack when we were in the middle of fulfilling the dream of buying our house in France, five years ago. And loss is absolutely what it is - I lost everything that was important to me on the day he died. So when people said 'I am sorry for your loss' it was fine by me - better than the people who stopped calling or crossed the road to avoid me because they 'didn't know what to say'. And had someone said "I'm sorry Simon has died' it would have been acutely painful to me when my emotions were as raw as flayed skin. His darling Dad was a tower of strength for me (both my lovely parents had died a couple of years before) even in those terrible circumstances of having outlived his son. Phoning him with the news was the second worst thing I ever had to do in my life. But life goes on and is happy - as Sheila Hancock quotes in one of her remarkable books, "Its doesn't get better, you just get better at it."

I have a Vodafone dongle in the UK for occasional use. When I was skiing in Haute-Savoie a couple of weeks ago I saw the equivalent SFR dongle on PAYG in the supermarket, so I got one. Unfortunately it turned out to be a rebranded Vodafone one and every time I tried to load the French version, and to top it up, it 'reverted' to the UK software so it was a bit of a waste of money. However, I think if I hadn't already had a UK one, things would have been simpler. As others have said, there does need to be a decent mobile signal for the thing to work.

No I haven't, Dog, but just checked it out online and it looks well worth the short jaunt. Thanks for the tip! Also looked at your artworks, Erica - fabulous!

Hello Erica - I'm another adoptive Northamptonshire-ite (also an adoptive Picard), living in a village near Towcester. And I'm an editor and writer. Moved up here to work for Thorsons in Wellingborough in the early '80s, but have now been freelance for many years so can divide my time between here and France.

Terribly shocking... We were told by our neighbours that there would be a 'tempete' at 11am and sure enough, on the dot, half the Sunday market right on the waterfront started to take off into the air. By high tide at noon the normally tranquil bay was a raging sea. I think all fine in the town, however, and it is so calm and sunny this morning that it's hard to believe it even happened. Going out for a look around the town but I think we got off very lightly in comparison to what others are going through.

I always swear that I passed my French O level because I worked the work crépuscule into my essay - my dad told me that word and I loved it so much that it stuck, which is more than could be said for most of my grammar at the time! I think they thought, well, she must be good if she knows crépuscule and has clearly forgotten everything else due to exam panic...

I bank with Caisse d'Epargne and can recommend it highly. Their online banking is ideal for me, not being in France all the time, but I also have a personal banker at my local branch who has always been incredibly helpful. Plus, they pay interest (now much better than that of my UK bank) on a current account, because they are officially a savings bank.

For the standard prices I quoted it simply says a charge 'may apply' if you change dates or times but, I think I recall correctly, that's just if you move your dates/times into a more expensive slot. On the crossings to which I am referring (on what I suspect will be a very quiet Tuesday and Monday), the price comparison is what it is. The number of FT crossings allocated to each journey is limited - if you try to make a booking close to the date of your crossing it's quite common for FT to say 'sold out' when there are standard crossings still available. That is fair enough, but it does mean that 'last minute' bookings on the FT system will always be a gamble.

I don't think so - half term, even for public schools, should be over by those out/back dates... Hence, I assume, it being cheap for non-loyal customers!

Copy of an email sent to Eurotunnel this morning: "I would be interested to know how you can justify Tuesday 23rd Feb (outgoing, early afternoon) and Monday 1 March (incoming, mid-afternoon) as 'peak times' at a time of year when the result is that the saving over your normal price is a mere £10 for the return journey (£118 FT price; £128 standard price). You clearly don't consider it a peak time for standard travellers. If this a way of putting up the Frequent Traveller prices then it would be more honest for you to simply increase prices and let customers make a more informed decision. Thank you for your attention and I look forward to reading your response."

My husband died very suddenly between our signing of the Compromis and the Acte for our French house. We had opened our bank account just a couple of weeks before he died. The bank - Caisse d'Epargne - was immensely helpful and kind during the whole process of my completion of the purchase; there was no issue about the fact that it was a joint account (it was an 'ou' on the name line). I used joint card/chequebook for a while (and yes, it was a bit heartbreaking for me) and in fact it was my persona banker at C d'E who suggested issuing me with them in my name only, which in itself was heartbreaking too at the time! Also, the money transferred for the purchase did not get tied up with UK probate. It was 'in transit' via Foreign Currency Direct at the time, who were also wonderfully helpful. Sorry if this may not be of huge help to the OP as we were not French residents, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

The Baie de Somme is gradually filling in with pré-salé marshland - Noyelles-sur-Mer is quite a way inland and I imagine that within the century St-Valery-sur-Somme will be like Rye in Sussex. And yet, about 10 km down the coast, Ault is falling into the sea - as graphically shown in the episode of Coast where they visited Northern France. However, as sea levels rise I am wondering if this will counter the marshification (?) of the Baie - will have to see if sea or sand win the day! If sea, then my house is two short flights of steps up from the water's edge currently, so may be in trouble one day. Doubt I will be around to see it, though.

So very, very sorry to hear this awful news.

Blimey, Dog, were you a local once upon a time?

True on both counts, Dog!

Dog - yes I did! A long, long time ago before it got swept up into the Murdoch empire...

Way back when I edited a bunch of French veggie cookbooks with a wonderful elderly French Master Chef called Jean Conil, for a publisher that used to specialize in vegetarian cooking. Long out of print but you can still find copies of them on sites like Abebooks. Search on Jean Conil - bless him, a man ahead of him time. (BTW I have no financial interest in this!)

Really glad it went well, Tawny! Thanks for letting us know the end of the story (or the start of many!). :-)

Good luck, Sweet 17!

Yay, liking this post very much. Well done Sweet17, and keep searching.

Ummm.... is this a trick question? Because, strange as it may seem, I am getting the feeling that the answers you want are 'no' and 'yes' and 'yes' and 'yes'. Just checking, because I can't abide biased polls, in any shape or form.

Ah, I'm sorry about the tear, glad about the inspiration.