Tony F Dordogne

Crikey Clair, just had a look at the web site and it's perfect.  The name of the guy that owns it crops up in J's family tree and the fact they specifically do Armenian food (although it's the same as a good number of other folk's food) so it's likely he's an Armenian in origin.  Little rascals creep in everywhere I'm pleased to say. 

Excellent, thank you Clair. Bit far John but thanks anyway.

Could also try the death index on the UK National Archives site, should be the most up to date records because all the other search engines take their information from that one. http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro This link may help.

Does anybody know any shop in 24 that sells it please?  Tried the Chinese supermarket and Grande Frais and they didn't have any, nor the small Chinese food shop in Perigueux.  Can get it from the Uk but would rather source locally.

This subject has been done to death over the years and comes up regularly.  If you search the archives, there are dozens of threads, some quite recent, with comments, suggestions and places to go or to avoid.

Sorry, should have quoted him and not taken it from you!

[quote user="Russethouse"]Give them training, education, skills so that when things do pick up they can get and hold down a job. More carrot and less stick but that isn't the Tory way. [/quote] How many graduates are currently unemployed, some horrendous number according to HMG?  My grandson was unemployed after he graduated for a year, applied for over 250 jobs, finally got a job on a government funded project and one of the first things the new UK government did was ........ stop the funding to this job creation scheme, even tho it was seen to be working. Luckily they are honouring the contracts in place so not only will he see out his 6 months on the project, the County Council he is working for has offered him a full-time contract now.

[quote user="Hoddy"] I cannot find anyone to do it at any price.[/quote] Hoddy, will give you the number of our tree guy when you come back next year - assuming the tree hasn't fallen over by that time of course, in  which case, know a couple of guys with chain saws who can cut it up for you ;)

[quote user="Braco"]Smoke and mirrors. Almost every government has promised similar actions without delivering.[/quote] Although it pains me to say so, the Thatcher Government had a good go at this.  I was a manager for an Agency that managed a previous project of this type (MSC as was based) to get people off unemplyment benefit and into work.  Two problems, getting them to even come to work and then finding them a job afterwards. Although there were a good number of 'positive outcomes' for the people on the projects when many became paid work projects in themselves, the problem was the administration.  There was a huge bureaucracy involved, the agencies got paid by the number of people they took on for the various charities involved (the agencies organised the projects and managed them for charities, which were in the main too small to do that for themselves) and then to keep the people involved, effectively on their books.  There was a huge financial incentive to be a management agency, massive monitoring systems in place and the bottom line was that for every person you took on and kep on the books, you got paid. My biggest problem was actually getting people to come to work.  A good number were very motivated and did some great work.  Many (this was based in Hackney in East London and covered the whole of London, 200 people worked for me) however, had never worked and trying to motivate a person of 23 who had never had a job was a nightmare, no work ethos or discipline and all sorts of disruptions to the working day.  Ended up within a few weeks of people being told be in by 8.30 or don't come in and when that happened they were docked a day's benefit. But the real incentive was not to get rid of people because the project funding per se was so poor that the per capita the agency earned was hit for every vacancy so if we sacked somebody or had a vacancy, the projects themselves had no money to function with and therefore the participants wouldn't have any work to do - vicious circle. But, these projects worked and we managed to place a good number - from memory, 40% of the participants, into full-time work when they finished their 6 months on the project. Current government says 1 month - no chance of working, you need at least that time to get the long-term unemployed people's heads where they need to be, a generalisation I know, but true, even the better outcomes still needed a period of adjustment.  And I'd like to see the cost benefit on this brainwave, how will people be monitored, outcomes measured etc and with the current HMG conceding that there are 5 applicants for every job on the governmen work agency's books, how do they expect people with little or no work ethic to achieve what's needed in just a month.

[quote user="woolybanana"]Yes, definitely, Tony, plus a whole host of other trades, often paid for by the State in some form or other.[/quote] I find it really bizarre that the discussion about the strike has generated so much heat among British people, a good number of whom are likely to be living in France because they got good deals and early retirement from a government or employers that clearly, according to UK television and newpapers, are in an equally difficult situation with all the talk of the black holes in UK pension systems, the need for bale-outs and pension schemes running huge defecits. So who's under statutory retirement age and drawing down their pensions from their previous employers and are willing to give up their gold-plated early retirement deals (or any of the other descriptions used to describe what the French get) to help out their government which is also in dire straits or their pension schemes? This is, of course, a rhetorical question .............

[quote user="woolybanana"]Well, it was obvious that most of the strikers were special regimes - in other words, people who by hook or by crook were determined to hand on to their highly priviledged positions, regardless of the needs or abilities of their fellow citizens to pay for it.[/quote] Like a lot of the early-retired Brits living In France perhaps?  Like people from the higher and further education sectors from the UK?

Keith, I also have recent experience of this - twice - with new neighbours and it was a positive experience. Do you live in France, if so, things will be much easier.  If you do or don't, get in touch with your Mairie and ask for an extract from the plan cadestral of your property and find out whether the plot next door is designated as CU, ie, buildable, this IS very clear and any plot that is designated for building will clearly be identified as such at the Mairie. You may have this information already in your deeds, we actually got a map when we bought with all our boundaries marked on them and had worked out where they were - roughly - quite easily but after the two geometre had visited we found we had more land than we thought. Both the geometres that I met for my land (and others I have helped with for other Brits locally) have been fine, they're not there to rip you off, take your land or make life easier for the person that has engaged them.  Their job is to mark out the plot accurately and if they don't or if there's seen to be anything untoward, you can make life quite difficult for them. As Gardian said, when he or her's finished the job, they will send you as many copies of the plot they have marked out for all the bordering neighbours plus one for the Mairie and you have to sign all of them, as do all the other people who are sent the copies.  If you're not going to be there, you need to make sure that your post gets forwarded or you make arrangements for the geometre to send you the copies in the UK because holding this up can cause bad feeling too. That, as Gardian has said, is when you kick up a fuss if you need to but if you already have the information in your deeds, write to the geometre in advance and let him/her know that you have a - rough - idea where your boundaries are and that you're willing to so-operate but can't be there in person - he wont rip you off, it's not worth his while! Edie:  I think it's likely he may be selling the plot as it's now a legal requirement to have the survey done as part of the transfer of the property to STOP disputes after the event.  And it doesn't necessarily cost thousands unless you have a huge plot, high several hundred each time my neighbours did their's and our plots are not easy to sort out at all, even with all the hi-tech kit they used.

I was in Perigueux today and the whole town was being effected by the strike and demonstrations.  Just driving round the town was really difficult but not one horn being sounded except in support of the demonstrators.  It was heartening, lots of people out in the rain, singing with the demonstrators, all sectors involved (including the police and fire services) and a rally at the Prefecture to round it all off. Told J about it when I went to visit her in hospital and the only thing that annoyed us both was that the fact she had a new knee fitted yesterday, it stopped us from joining in with the demonstrators, ok, it doesn't effect us directly but after the DLA fiasco - which incidentally is STILL rumbling on, it's yet to be finalised so more to come on that - a measure of solidarity would have been indicated. It would have been nice if there was some similar action in the UK, especially after the coalition took an axe to the military today, 7,000 soldiers, 5,000 each from the RAF and Navy - didn't hear once on the reports how many civil servants were going tho, perhaps that bombshell will drop tomorrow.  And apart from some mealy-mouthed Labour opposition, the British public just seem to be accepting what's coming down the pike. And at last seeing some form of socialism on the streets, not Socialism but people acting in common in a socially supporting way. Frenchie, good on you girl, stick with your principles, some people here would be joining you if they could !

Coops, just ignore him, he's just bloody ignorant and enjoying something like the clip - and wtf has that to do with the Chilean miners, keep up Mods - on top of the enjoyment of bull fighting says it all. He just has no idea how offensive he is.

I have a print out from a French gardening mag which explains all the rules very easily and in diagramatic form. Send me a pm or email with your email address and I'll send it to you.

One of the major problems with this thread is that we only have one side of the story.  Whilst what the OP said may be true, it's only his/her take on the issue.  We don't know ehether some local or central governmental body took a lein on the money and until we heard the other side, it's difficult to comment. As for the comment on having money in the bank too long, sounds like an apero story or bar chat, where's the backing for that one?

Perigord Noir has other rules and regs above the norm.  In our commune, where there is a chateau which is listed, you cannot make changes within 1km without permission and because it's an historically listed village, the rules are very strict and are harshly imposed, not necessarily by the commune. A chum who lives just on the limit recently asked to improve their home.  There's no way the house can be seen from the chateau (it's round several bends, behind a hill and a quarry) and the Batiment de France guy refused permission on the grounds that the owners had ideas above their station - I kid you not, he even put it in writing!! In the Perigord, which is full of chateaux, it's not as easy as it may be elsewhere and that's from personal experience too, you MUST maintain 'the Perigordine style' and any permissions will be with held if the various authorities think you aren't doing that.

Bought MR73 when I was back in the Uk a few weeks ago.  Love the dark broody French policier films, not for the faint hearted tho.  Also bought both parts of Che, haven't watched that yet, tho that's in Spanish with subs.

[quote user="NormanH"]How informative   to see the sub-normal  intelligence and idiotic  intellectual level of these personal  'ad hominem' attacks against Ed Millibrand , worthy of the gutter press,  (they  would probably have been 'moderated' if they referred to a poster here)  ignoring  completely the content of what he said ... [/quote] Norman has got this just right, what a lot of very silly and wholly inappropriate comments to make about anybody.  The way he walks means this, he's too busy to marry his girlfriend but not to get her pregnant etc etc. Playground politics and stupid comments, is this what this Forum come to now after all these years?  And Mods getting involved in it too ..........  As Norman has said, if we were commenting on a Mod having a fat a**se or wearing glasses or having a speech impediment or a user here being knock kneed or their personal lives, there's every chance the thread would be pulled.

Just back from the UK, visited our local Nationwide with a letter and new Visa Debit card - which we hadn't asked for, thought they were restricting the number of credit/debit cards they were issuing?.  The letter clearly stated that the card couldn't be used at all abroad, spoke to the various advisor people and they confirmed that this is the case.  So one Nationwide customer less, just not providing the service that we want any more.

Where do you live Wendy? Different Archives have different levels of digitization and apart from the Departementale, there may be other local archives that can help you.  At the Mairie - depending on the size of your commune/town - they may have the original registration documents for births, marriages and deaths and you can often trace the history of the house back through the previous families and also ask locally, people may well be able to help you.  You might also try to find out if there is a Departementale history/archeology research group, they are also very helpful as are genealogy groups. But the DAs are the best source, if they're not online there is a national archiving system used across France at the DAs so if you can use one, you can use them all - and if there are notaire's records, they're a goldmine.

[quote user="powerdesal"] I find less points of interest hence don't post very much, although I occasionally read the various threads. It appears to be more ''cliquish'' (sp) than it used to be, at times almost seeming to be a 'private' forum for a limited number of members, however I could be wrong. In short, its become boring (IMHO).[/quote] I've been a member here for about 10 years, always used the same name but been through three of four upgrades of the system.  I agree with powerdesal, far too many threads being hijacked for all the faux flirting and nonsense, if users want to do that, send each other private messages but leave what are often quite interesting threads alone. Can't see the point of posting when the thread just drifts away into sillyness.

I've never seen the sort of scaffold planks we used to use in the UK.  I use the roofing boards/soffit boards that come in 4m lengths and cut them as needed.  They do need to be treated tho. 

[quote user="Gardian"]  I read in the S/Times today that overseas students are being offered places at good UK universities with lower qualifications than UK youngsters. Doubt that this is new - I'll bet that it has been going on for years. [/quote] J, my OH spent 25 years working in one of the most prestigeous universities in the world, leaving as one of the senior managers of a department that's actually the size of many small colleges, part of the University of London which used to cater for a mainly UK student base.  Now it's an acknowledged centre of excellence for the business and economics world and has now been completely 'corporatised', it's all high fee, overseas students which HMG has been encouraging for many years and which has transformed the college completely.  I remained active at the School long after I graduated (did all my post-grad there too) but now I wont even accept their magazine, all they're doing is asking for more money and encouraging more students to give them more money, the whole moral ethos of the School has gone, it's all high flyers/high earners/KPMG corporate types. When I was an undergrad there as a mature student back in the early 80s it still prided itself on its social background, the fact it took a high proportion of mature students who missed out first time round, when University was really a big step and not another middle-class 'thing' that all children are entitled to, like an extention of 6th form college. Can't get into a UK university - tough, it's a tough world out there now and perhaps some of the middle-class kids - and parents - who think it's a right to go to Uni should actually appreciate that Unis should only take the brightest and the best, not just anybody who wants to go there.

They've been bust for years and it's only the trade unions which have kept them afloat. What always amazes me is that when you look at their accounts, they are technically bankrupt and have been for years, it just amazes me how they've been so lucky in trading when none of their creditors have called their debts in.