Annsven

Hi Dawn We're moving to Fursac in mid September (I have a year off work to test the water). Fursac is a lovely little village/town and our neighbours have been so, so lovely. None of them speak English so the conversation is fine until alcohol is involved - then it gets a little more difficult to try and understand everything! I have a daughter of 18 at University here in the UK - so she'll only come out for some of the holidays.

We're also moving from Scotland (with dog) to La Creuse. Because of the higher prices, we've travelled mostly on the Hull - Zeebrugge ferry rather than the Rosyth. However, my other half did the Rosyth- Zeebrugge ferry earlier this year and he does say it's really quite nice. We took advantage of some discounted P & O fares earlier this year and so booked up for our mid-September trip then (Hull - Zeebrugge). The Rosyth route is something we would consider again in the future, depending on prices. Simply because of the long drive to Hull and then from Belgium to Creuse. During the September trip, we will, unfortunately,be travelling with the other half of our worldly goods in a large white van AND the dog - I'm dreading it - he loves to travel in a car or a van but he gets very excited - I mean the dog - not my other half.

Could anyone recommend any in La Creuse? We're moving across in September and may consider leaving him for a week at around Christmas time but only if we have a good recommendation. Thanks a million. Ann.

Could anyone recommend any in La Creuse? We're moving across in September and may consider leaving him for a week at around Christmas time but only if we have a good recommendation. Thanks a million. Ann.

Thanks for all your replies and help (again) - don't know what I'd do without this forum at the moment! Cheers, Ann.

If anyone could help with this - I'd be most grateful - I've had a look on previous threads and I can't find anything to answer this specifically. I am, at present, translating my CV into French in the hope that someone really kind(!) will think about giving me a job when we move out there in August. Although I've been divorced for over 13 years, I chose to keep and use my married name so as not to complicate matters at school etc etc. When Steve and I bought our house in France last year, and we were warned about this,all legal documents from the Notaires, our immobiliers, our banks, our insurance company were addressed to: Steve and me but they used my maiden name instead of my married name. I don't care less about this but should I still continue to use my married name on my CV and any job application forms I may fill out? I thought about using my maiden name - to keep things easy but then I started thinking that my passport, credit cards (current ones) all have my married name on it. To complicate matters even further, we're getting married in France next year and I'll be changing my name again - last time, I promise! If anyone could offer me some advice, that would be great.

I wonder if anyone would be so kind as to help with a bit of a dilemma. My partner Steve is currently across at our little village house for two weeks doing a bit of work before our planned move there at the end of the summer. When we were last there in September, he noticed that some of the roof tiles were a bit dodgy/out of place and needed to be straightened. He tried to do it himself but lack of time (and tools then) meant that it was going to wait until this trip. He arrived a few days back to a lovely friendly welcome from some of the neighbours - they've all been so helpful. And, the retired man across the street has, in our absence, been on a ladder and fixed the roof problem because of the strong winds at some point over the last couple of months. Steve's problem is that he's not sure what to do to recompense this neighbour. Do we offer him money - would that offend? His first thought was to go out and buy a huge bottle of whisky (as that went down well with another neighbour just after the house purchase last year!). However, Steve has ascertained from speaking to one of the other neighbours that the man who sorted the tiles doesn't drink! Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we could repay this man's kindness? Steve was so, so grateful but he doesn't know what to do for the best. Any suggestions gratefully received. Ann.

Thanks so much for the advice. It sounds like a lot of work but sounds like it should be worth it (that sounds quite bad, doesn't it). Because of an impending birth just announced here in Scotland, there is a chance that we may HAVE to have it here - neither of us really want to! I will contact the Embassy soonest. Thanks again. Ann.

Myself and my intended are due to move out to our house near La Souterraine next summer. We would love to get married in our town and were wondering if anyone (especially those of you who are already living there) has any advice on how easy or difficult this may be. We popped into the Mayor's office the last time we were over (September) and the lady in the office told us that it would be easier to arrange 'once we were living there permanently). I'm beginning to feel that the beaurocracy will be a bit of a nightmare but we'd still like to try. The date of the wedding would be Sat. 9th July 2005. We realise that we have to have the ceremony in the Mayor's office (of our own town). We don't want a religious ceremony. Ideally, I'd love to get married in the evening and then have food, dancing. I'd be really grateful if anyone could offer any advice, i.e. how to go about arranging the ceremony, how much notice we have to give, what typically is eaten at a typical French wedding, is there dancing??? Has anyone been to a French wedding? Thanks, so much, in advance. Ann

Myself and my intended are due to move out to our house near La Souterraine next summer. We would love to get married in our town and were wondering if anyone (especially those of you who are already living there) has any advice on how easy or difficult this may be. We popped into the Mayor's office the last time we were over (September) and the lady in the office told us that it would be easier to arrange 'once we were living there permanently). I'm beginning to feel that the beaurocracy will be a bit of a nightmare but we'd still like to try. The date of the wedding would be Sat. 9th July 2005. We realise that we have to have the ceremony in the Mayor's office (of our own town). We don't want a religious ceremony. Ideally, I'd love to get married in the evening and then have food, dancing. I'd be really grateful if anyone could offer any advice, i.e. how to go about arranging the ceremony, how much notice we have to give, what typically is eaten at a typical French wedding, is there dancing??? Has anyone been to a French wedding? Thanks, so much, in advance. Ann

In order to continually TRY to improve my French before our move across to the Creuse next year, I thought that I would start to read French books - fiction, rather than text books. I bought the adventures of Sherlock Holmes in a charity bookshop today and opened the first page...read the first sentence and became 'stuck'! Could anyone help? The sentence is, Isa Whitney, 'frere de feu Elias Whitney.....' The literal translation, as far as I know is '....brother of fire???????' If anyone could offer any sort of help for what this actually means, I would be most grateful. Otherwise, I'll probably give up again and redo all of my Michel Thomas CDs. Thanks, in advance. Ann.