DaveLister
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Posts posted by DaveLister
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Apparently it originally meant making use of the services of "ladies of the night" without paying.
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22 minutes ago, betise said:
Being asked to be on the council, passing my driving test, becoming a pompier (can I have 3 things)?
OK, that's all impressive but you can't honestly say you did all those things straight away ( can you? ). I was looking for the little thing that gave you a sense that "yes I can do this"
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For me, it was figuring out what a K7 was. Had me baffled for months.
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Leaving it in the hard case will be fine. Much better that letting a four year old play with it😀. If the guitar is lying flat in the case and there's no pressure on the neck it won't warp. Sounds like you've got this covered in more ways than one🙂.
If you do decide to buy a tripod stand at a later date, check out the reviews as some of them have a coating that can react with newer varnishes.
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Just make sure your guitar sits in the hard case correctly and there's no pressure on the neck. I rarely put my guitars away. Instead I use wall supports like this.
Personally I would be very wary of cleaning. Distilled water only on the body.
I don't bother de-tuning.
If you're going to be storing the instrument for long periods keep an eye on the humidity as the body can dry out and the veneer craze.
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21 minutes ago, alittlebitfrench said:
Thanks Dave… you said what I wanted to say.
Does that mean it's now OK with you if I get the vote? 😉😀
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The reluctance of employers to employ mature workers is a world wide problem but I agree with ALBF that there does appear to be a particular malaise in France that begins with the schools. The learning by rote and reluctance to allow free expression and independent thought produces a workforce that is incapable of adapting to change. I know countless young French people who hate their jobs but wouldn't consider looking for alternative employment. Instead they go to work every day, detesting every moment of it, waiting for the weekend when they can let rip. There are a few who can think outside the box and, like Wooly's example on another thread, move on and obtain a sense of fulfillment but most are just waiting for a retirement they see slipping further and further away from them.
As to elderly British couples clogging up the system, I'm not old, I'm not married, and I don't have a dog. So I suppose I'm alright😉
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Quick, where's my railcard😃
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14 minutes ago, DaveLister said:
Personally I have great sympathy for most of the strikers. They see their parents or grandparents enjoying retirement with a good pension and a full social calendar and want to aspire to the same.
BUT,
The country as a whole cannot survive with increasing social costs and an inflexible workforce. Advances in medicine means most people are now living longer, and more active lives than before. The proposed increase in retirement age is not unreasonable. In order to have a country fit enough to pass onto the next generation I hope it is brought in.
I should also add that I am below the current pensionable age.
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53 minutes ago, alittlebitfrench said:
Big strike next Tuesday. Historic they say. The whole country will come to a grinding halt…so they say.
So who’s side are you on ?
Personally I have great sympathy for most of the strikers. They see their parents or grandparents enjoying retirement with a good pension and a full social calendar and want to aspire to the same.
BUT,
The country as a whole cannot survive with increasing social costs and an inflexible workforce. Advances in medicine means most people are now living longer, and more active lives than before. The proposed increase in retirement age is not unreasonable. In order to have a country fit enough to pass onto the next generation I hope it is brought in.
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15 minutes ago, alittlebitfrench said:
One thing I have learnt as an immigrant/expat /Johney foreigner is don’t get involved in French politics, French social issues…or just anything related to how France is run.
I think that might just say something about the company you keep. My French friends love a good debate.
16 minutes ago, alittlebitfrench said:Complicated is France…and the French really don’t like others sticking their noses in. Even Mrs ALBF.
I don't know why but I find that very sad.😔
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I'm not talking about Brexit. We're talking about France. Should I have a say in your kids or your other halves future? Absolutely! After all they have a say in mine. It's called democracy. You personally may choose not to take part but as someone once said 'the rules are made by those who turn up'.
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So by your logic, anyone who doesn't have children should be excluded from voting. I'm assuming you would extend that to French Nationals as well.
We all have our vested interests, that's what makes universal suffrage so important.
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So I guess you can't stand me ALBF. I'm one of those 'self serving muppets' in that I am in the process of applying for French Nationality. Two reasons really. The first is that I want the right to vote. I feel I should have a say in who gets to spend my taxes. Secondly I can very well imagine myself ending up in an EPAD. I've no family and, as for moving to the UK, I spent ten years there once & didn't like it. My right to live in France currently requires me to apply for a residency card every ten years. What if I became too infirm to go through the formalities? I read recently about a woman with dementia in Sweden who is being deported back to the UK because she was unable to complete her residency application despite being in a care home for the past seven years.
You are right, not having French Nationality doesn't have that much of a bearing on my life currently but who knows what might happen to any of us in the future. As I intend to die here, I'd rather apply now instead of waiting until it does become life threatening.
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I traveled on Eurostar last month. I was siting at a table for two and the man facing me was French. As the steward passed through the carriage he would speak to people alternatively in French and English. I was spoken to in French whilst my traveling companion got the English. We exchanged wry smiles throughout the trip.
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2 hours ago, Harnser said:
So where do the geometres get the accurate details of a property from to do their extremely expensive measurements and calculations?
By visiting the site, meeting with all interested parties, examining not just the cadastre but historical maps and satellite images. Remember a Geometre is the only person who can legally deliminate a boundary.
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I tend to take my lead from whoever I'm talking to. If they speak French to me I will reply in French. If they speak to me in English I will reply in English. It doesn't bother me either way. I know I'll never be French so why pretend.
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Ah, the English Frenchman😀. Haven't been on a ferry in years but I remember them well.
Sorta like this
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I think that if one was to superimpose the cadastre plan over most satellite pics you would find that it was, at best, a guestimate. The only way to ever be truly sure is to employ a geometre.
Another chemin story. My neighbours ( french ) bought their property whilst working overseas and when taking up residence discovered that a track that ran down two sides of their property was not their private access but a Chemin Rural belonging to the Mairie ( no I don't know why the notaire wasn't across it either ). They ended up employing a very expensive Advocate in Paris who assured them that, if no one used the track for more than 10 years they could claim ownership. So they started to make it very difficult for the general public to gain access ( parking their car in front of the house that sort of thing ). They had many an argument with the hunters who wanted to get to the woods and even demolished a wall to give the impression that the chemin stopped short of where it actually did.
Some fifteen years later we bought a stretch of land adjoining the track and were surprised to discover it belonged to the commune. We started using it ( albeit mostly by foot ) and our neighbours, on checking, found that their lawyer hadn't even begun the process of applying for it to be erased and, anyway, our new usage now made that application nul and void.
They sold the property last year to a Belgian couple who appear to have done their research and are quite happy with the situation.
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I've been a member of this forum since it was called La Mairie and have seen some wonderful people come and go but have we come to the end of the line I wonder?
This year will be my 20th year as a resident and I now come here, not only to learn, but to converse with people whose life experiences are similar to my own ie a foreigner living in France . However I feel that we are no longer the community we once were. Perhaps the time for internet forums such as this is over.
Anotherbanana now has the solo responsibility for moderation along with the ever increasing need to remove all the spam. Is this fair when I think most people, like me, glance at the active topics once or twice a day then move on?
All things change and everything has it's time.
Should we thank AB for his service and allow the forum to die?
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Sad news indeed, my condolences to her family.
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My understanding is that a chemin d'exploitation is private and therefore the Mairie would have no interest in knowing how wide or narrow it is. They would assume that your sisters plans were correct in that regard. I suspect someone saw the planning application at the town hall and realised they could earn a bit of "compensation" if they sat on their hands for a couple of years. Have you tried talking to the other parties to see if there is a compromise to be had? Maybe that's not possible but I can only second Lehauts comments. You really don't want to go down the legal route if you can avoid it. It could ruin you financially.
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I hoped you would say that. In my experience most French people can't conceive of changing career no matter how much they might hate their job. When it is forced upon them most appear to be able to do nothing more than wait for something similar to turn up. The ' c'est mon métier ' still looms large.
My car mechanic is a notable exception. He used to be a nuclear engineer at Flamanville on the French coast which he found mind numbingly boring. So he spent his free time training as a mechanic and, once qualified, resigned and set up his own garage. He once told me it was three years before they finally stopped calling him to ask him to come back. Not because he was particularly indispensable but because they couldn't conceive that anyone could make a success on their own.
Gary Linekar
in Other Topics
Posted
Gary Linekar has been active in highlighting the plight of refugees for years. He hosts them in his own home. He knows more about the subject than most. As has been said, he was referring to the language being used and, yes, he probably has read more than one book on the subject.
More interesting, in my opinion, is the actions of Suella Braverman. To all intents and purposes she's very bright. She studied law both at Cambridge and the Sorbonne and is a KC. Last year she was sent a letter from a group of Holocaust survivors asking her to refrain from using dehumanising language when referring to refugees as it was reminiscent of the language used in Germany before the second world war. In January another holocaust survivor went to her constituency and requested the same thing. Both times she refused and on the second occasion the home office office threatened legal action against the woman if she didn't remove the video of her asking the question from the internet. Numerous charities and aid associations have made the same point. You could argue the Gary Linekar is merely the last.
So my question is this, why does the home secretary persist in using such language? What is she hoping to achieve if not the demonisation of a whole group of people.
Just like what happened in 1930's Germany.