Evianers

To our way of thinking and this is only a very personal comment, he is the French equivalent of Gordon Brown

This has just been published on The Local, which is read by many in France and Switzerland. Hope it will do some good : http://www.thelocal.fr/20131102/appeal-as-british-woman-goes-missing-in-french-alps

I have just checked on Le Messager newspaper website - there does not seem to be anything regarding Carol's disappearance on there. Unfortunately, our satellite is tuned to the BBC and therefore does not pick up the local television stations - I know, we should be more active in local affairs. Will however continue to check on Le Messager to see whether anything is mentioned. Doesn't help much, but a little better than nothing.

As you know, we live in Evian-les-Bains further along Lac Leman If there is anything we can do to help, please let us know.

For an author friend, who must have peace and quiet, as well as efficient internet connection, long-term apartment required in the area between one Swiss border and the other on Lac Leman. Furnished would be preferred and not a studio - more space needed! Thanks everyone in advance.

Our local Maire, very personable and apparently thought to be an upright citizen until recently, has been caught having his inherited land rezoned from agricultural to urban constructible. Lots of lovely money in his pocket. But, the young man who works alongside him in the planning department, thought this certainly below board and so contacted the Sub-Prefect. Maire then becomes incenced, and fires the young man, who gets his own back by approaching the local newspapers. Quite what the outcome will be remains to be seen, as the Maire is about to retire [at 74] in any case. Seems there is a certain amount of corruption everywhere n'est pas?

We seem here to have become 100% off topic. Our original posting was to bring to everyone's attention the discrepancies of what one pays in supermarket bills.

Yes, it's happened yet again! Went back for the first time in two weeks to the same Lidl shop for essentials. Checked the bill most carefully, and yes, there was a mistake AGAIN - in their favour of course. Avocado pears, two in a packet marked 99c, charged at the till as €2.79. The sales assistant became quite abusive when we were proved right, but her jaw dropped down to her knees when we told her the last time we were in the shop we were overcharged €13.67. Always, always, check the bill.

here's where I read about this topic. http://www.french-property.com/news/tax_france/stamp_duty_rise/

Although it is almost mandatory to have the prospective property surveyed in the UK and people would raise their hands in horror if one didn't, but here in France it is unusual. We have bought two properties in which to live full time, and neither of them were surveyed. If you know more or less what to look for, it can save a lot of money.

Apparently stamp duty on purchases of houses is to rise by 15% next year, 2014 "to plug a hole in the finances" - well, any excuse. Just right in a falling-house-prices market!

Ah.... but it is the 1 August today, so those "sale" items which have not been sold presumably must revert to their original price? Wonder if they will sell at that? BTW, day before yesterday, went to the same Lidl and checked the bill very, very carefully! For the first time in ages........ no mistakes. Hooray and halleujah.

[quote user="Quillan"]On the other hand what to people do if they are under charged in supermarket?[/quote] Bearing in mind 99% of the time it is in the supermarket's favour, hopefully they pocket the difference

In our ongoing saga to promote awareness of overcharging by supermarkets under the title "ALWAYS CHECK YOUR BILL", yesterday our local Lidl really excelled themselves. A marked-down item had a seriously wrong bar-code: it should have read €1.45 but instead read €13.64! heaven knows why. After a huge amount of pressing various buttons at the till, the exasperated cashier finally put in an amount of €1.00 [it wasn't his fault after all] and refunded the money. The very patient customer behind us was astonished to find such a huge amount overcharged, and to cap it all, the apples were overcharged by 20 cents as well@!!@!!# ..... We give up.....

Perhaps this tells us quite a lot about Antipodeans......

Absolutely superb - if very gritty at times. Very realistic [probably] and it does not give one much faith in the judicial system of France. Cannot recommend this series too highly. Has been on BBCIV but we liked it so much, we bought the DVDs and watch them regularly.

[quote user="Cappicenno"]If I would buy a residence in France. I could get the authorization to live in france as a residence? Is that true? Do you have any details about that law ? Thanks for your help.[/quote] You beat me to it, Rabbie. I mean, how long is a piece of string?

[quote user="nomoss"]Well I never! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9846693/Richard-III-skeleton-is-the-king.html [/quote] Very interesting news indeed, having just completed Philippa Gregory's "The Kingmaker's Daughter". However, personally don't care very much for the quote by the probable Arabic-speaking person.

Can anyone please point us in the right direction to assist a young English laddie of 15 struggling somewhat with his French in the UK? Little stories, little anicdotes, You-Tube assistance. Anything that anyone feels might be of benefit so that we can pass this on - we as residents have been asked to do this for a friend's nephew. TIA!

[quote user="idun"]Is this for 'town/natural' gas or bottled? We had natural gas and a Saunier Duval boiler which worked well. We had it for 10 years and a couple of little problems just before we sold, nothing costing much. [/quote] This would be for town/natural gas to heat basically hot water and in winter the underfloor heating. Must work well without problems [as exeperienced at present]

[quote user="dave17"]thats the best site - its calculated on habitable m2 and its the prices of houses that have actually sold. [/quote] Er... sorry Dave, but what's the best site? To which are you referring?

This may not be quite the right section for posting as it is not strictly a renovation but our present Geminox gas boiler seems to be going wrong more and more frequently. As the service company charge an arm and two legs for the maintenance contract we have now cancelled this and are looking for a replacement. The technician who came last time told us that the gas boilers are all as bad as each other[!] - not very reassuring. Does anyone please have any brand that they can actually recommend so that apart from the annaul [€156!] maintenance charge, we do not have to pay intermittent bills for replacement parts. Thank you in advance.

[quote user="Mr Ceour de Lion II"]Neither wearing a burkha or a cross are religious requirements. [/quote] To rephrase.... wearing a burkha is not a religious requirement. True, but try telling that to their husbands

This is not the right place to post regarding health issues - we realise that! However, in case not everyone knows, the 'CSF' under the Health Section of this splendid forum has given us amazing support and encouragement. We fervently hope on this first year of a new year, that very few members actually have to utilise the cancer notice boards but if you do, you may be assured of sympathetic and immediate help and concern by the moderators [as well as other contributors]. They have supported us through our very troublesome time. So a huge thank you to them, and for what it is worth, others might like to know about their existence.

[quote user="Evianers"]Come back now Monsieur Depardieu, all is forgiven - well, almost. 29 December 2012 Last updated at 11:54 GMT French 75% income tax struck down by constitutional council [/quote] Or perhaps not............... does FH feel he is above the constitutional laws of France?