Logan

There has been a lot of publicity recently about the low broadband speeds we all receive compared to the advertised rate by ISP's. BBC radio 4 has been inviting listeners to tell them what rate speed they actually receive. I decided to check mine through this web site. http://www.journaldunet.com/vitesse/ I am paying for 1 meg with Orange.fr and I actually receive between 300 - 400kbps. My question is if I decided to switch provider which I can do and pay less for 1 meg will the speed I receive be any different. Or does the speed you get not change with provider or the type of equipment they use? What apart from geographical distance from the telephone exchange effects broadband speeds.

[quote user="Chris Head"]Sounds OK to me...so there is hope for those of us who have no religious or political beliefs, no superstitions, little sympathy for trade unions, have a healthy disregard for rules and titles, don't have a yearning to follow the madding crowds and tend to head north when everyone else is headed south![/quote] You would also not need to be part of any group that gave itself a label. Humanist or otherwise.

Learn more here:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanist_Movement

My avatar is a photo of my brave uncle. He fought right through the First World War with distinction and took part in all the major battles. Then a week before the armistice was declared he was killed aged 31 years. In using the photo as my avatar it keeps his memory alive in a very small way. I could not be content at all if I did not understand myself and my relationship to the world. Very often it is said that thinking too much unsettles. It does that for a while. If the process continues throughout a lifetime that feeling of being unsettled passes, often after a eureka moment. I sometimes take sabbaticals and retreat from the world when I feel the need for more eureka. I return refreshed almost empowered. If you asked me if I was happy. I would ask you to explain what you mean by happiness. It’s such an abstract thing which needs explanation. Pale Pink Specs is confident she is happy. However what she regards as ‘happiness’ might to another seem very mundane, dull even. That’s the difficulty we all have understanding ourselves. I believe our lives are a voyage of discovery. Discovering who we are and how we relate to the world in which we live. Thinking about your state of being can only bring that realisation closer. In writing here with reference to others my meaning is abstract. I don't mean in anyway to suggest that the happiness PPS feels is not genuine or real. Health warnings seem to have to be added to help understanding. Some of your responses to my posts show I have not explained myself so well.      

Geordie girl wrote:- My god Logan where're you coming from. Not all of us move to france because we were leading miserable lives elsewhere. I dont think I quite said that. However if you have a fullfilling and satisfied life elsewhere then it's unlikely you would emigrate to another country. You might take your holidays there but why would you risk undermining a beautiful life? Not likely. I believe what we are talking about here is awareness of self. Being actually brave enough to admit to ourselves that things are just not right in our lives. It's a big step forward. Hope you like the font!   I don't think I quite said that. What I did mean is if your life is fullfilling in your country of origin you are unlikely to have the inclination to move elsewhere. 

I think most of you will agree that education, science and human development have brought us to this our modern state of being. It’s taken a long time but we are an advanced civilization compared to our early ancestors. That’s self evident almost an absolute truth but not quite. Yet there are some aspects of our behaviour which belong to that time. One of them is denial. Denial keeps us within a comfort zone. We can create a bubble around ourselves which becomes a defence against the cruelty, disappointment and sheer randomness of daily life. I believe that in facing up to the realities and disappointments we all have to face is a crucial aspect of our self development. Many people try new lives in countries other than their origins. It’s been going on a very long time. We subconsciously create certain pressures and expectations for ourselves. Imagine how our lives will be different. Most of us take our personal problems with us. Then after a while we realise things are pretty much the same as before. Yes the views may be better there is less traffic and stress and your neighbours friendlier. The climate is an improvement and you do different things. The problem is however is you are fundamentally the same. The same person in a different place, with different challenges to face. The risk here is disillusion. We develop in childhood and quickly become who we are for most of our lives. Moving to another country will not change that very much. Someone once described happiness as “having something to do, someone to love and something to look forward too”. In other word happiness is fundamental to our being not produced from moving somewhere else. As I have written many times before France is a good country among many.

Bugbear wrote:- It started so well until the 'spanner' was thrown by a clearly troubled Logan. I seem to be wasting my time. Happy clappy it is then![:(][:D]

I do not have a 'goal' as such, other than to improve my own understanding of perplexing phenomena. To help someone else with a problem should not be described as ambition more a natural human response. Knowledge gives you the tools and confidence to counsel but only if that counsel is sought. I am afraid I cannot say I have learned anything here about our emotional reactions to living in France. What is clear is the diverse reaction to any efforts to lift debate to a more challenging level than the norm. Alas very common. I had some sympathy with Tony Blair this week when he said that expressing his Christian beliefs as a politician in public life would get him labelled as a “nutter”. I am not a Christian but I see the same reaction always when I attempt to explain situations from a psychological prospective. Yet I believe almost all human activity has that dimension. The trouble is we fear the unknown more than anything else.

[quote user="Panda "] I just can't read any of Logan's post without hearing it as a slooooow dull voice, that's the misery side, nothing to do with intelligence... is it just me?? [/quote] That's probably because I am quite old and my subject these days has become unfashionable. If you were to meet me another opinion may or may not be arrived at. I accept I am a product of another age but my experience and ideas are universal and I believe still relevant. As an individual I matter nothing here or anywhere else. If I can provoke a thought process even on a minute scale which may improve anothers life I am content. A lofty aspiration I know but we all have ambitions.[:D]

Apology if my posts make you unhappy Georgina. Not my intention. Thinking things through is sometimes painful. However there is a reward from the process. Bugbear is almost aggressively defensive. I wonder why? I use these forums in an attempt to understand other people. When we meet each other physically we tend to be either defensive or indulge in over sell or small talk. Selling ourselves seems now to be a cultural necessity. In internet forums we can be ourselves without too much approbation.  I have been interested for some time now in the motives of folks moving to France and their personal aftermath and concequences. Their responses to change and their reactions to disappointment. I see that sometimes in these forums but more often it’s enthusiasm for an ideal which seems only to exist in the imagination. That makes disappointment all the more painful. So the counterbalance to that is either defense or pretence.

Georgina writes of another one of life’s little mysteries. That is the odd idea that thinking in any degree of depth about the human state of being is regarded as being miserable or depressing. Evolution gifted us with an advanced thinking mechanism. Not using it or pushing your thought processes in new unvisited directions seems to me a waste of that resource. Psychology has been my subject. I read it in part at uni. and later through my lifetime. It has not in any way made me miserable. Ou contraire. Knowledge and understanding is sustaining. It’s a life force capable of raising your prospective to greater levels. I have been fortunate to have had the time and inclination to question the things most of us take for granted or as a matter of course. Knowing yourself and who you are it seems to me are the two corner stones of prolonged happiness. I agree with Georgina that life is too short. Not enough time to allow our minds to travel the distance they deserve. "lighten up" is the modern cliché which actually asks us to stop doing that very thing.  

What is your definition of a miserable poster? I ask because this thread seems to resemble a lexicon equivalent of comfort food. Perhaps it’s the onset of winter and ‘sad syndrome’ but I do detect a need here for mutual support, solidarity and self congratulation.  I have always thought that exuberate protestations of happiness actually indicate mild desperation. I do not mean to be unkind but France is not Disneyland. It’s a country with folks like any other. It’s full of good and bad people, happy and sad, rich, poor and considerate. The country gives a little and takes shed loads like any other. It offers some opportunity and alienates many others. It can be equally frustrating and as difficult to live in France as Britain or any where else. It depends largely on your own state of mind how you feel about a place. R.L. Stevenson once wrote that “it is better to travel hopefully than actually arrive.” I have found that a truism in my own life. The expectation of happiness and joy is always better than the painful reality. We humans need hope to survive. Hope that our lives are good and with the expectation of it getting better. Nothing wrong with that. However hope tinged with a large dose of realism is often a stronger medicine. France is a great place to live but so are many other places. Some are very much better. Rose coloured glasses often leads eventually to disappointment and regret.

Can you recognize your own view of French rural winters? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2007/11/22/living-in-france22.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox

It is not that we see democracy through the haze of optimism. We know that democracy is a jewel that must be polished constantly to maintain its lustre. To prevent it from being damaged or stolen, democracy must be guarded with unremitting vigilance.”  (Aung San Suu Kyi).  

The profitability of UK financial institutions is very desirable and a positive factor of Sterling being outside the eurozone. The current selling of Sterling was in part caused by the problems of liquidity at Northern Rock and elsewhere. If your investments are in Sterling then a strong UK economy is very desirable and that is where your interests lie.

Listen again here:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod.shtml?radio2/r2_vine_thu You might need to wade through the prog. Edit: Sorry folks this link gets you to last weeks show. However you can still reach yesterdays I think with a little tweaking.   

During political discussions when it looked like Blair was intending to take Britain into the Euro the finance ministers of the EU debated the rate at which it was likely Sterling would be set in stone. Britain wanted 0.750 euros. The EU suggested 0.720. Today Sterling is 0.715 euros. With Sterling merged into euros anyone with a UK Sterling income would effectively be poorer in this event since it is effectively a devaluation on consistently high historical market rates. In my opinion the currency markets offer a better deal in the medium to long term for Sterling incomes in the eurozone. Interest rates are also historically higher than the eurozone producing better yields on long term investments. The current strength of the euro will do nothing but damage the european economies growth eventually. Unfortunately speculators only think short term. The ECB should act now and reduce interest rates to offset future economic stagnation. However because of the high oil price which is traded in dollars that's unlikely in the medium term.     

Salut, vous intéressant la fille ! Avez-vous un temps agréable avec votre ami ? J'espère que nous rencontrerons demain parce que j'aimerais vous voir vraiment. Avez-vous des maux de tête ou des maux d'estomac plus ? Probably not perfect but I took pity on you in the absence of any reply's.[:D]

The B of E must be fairly certain there is likely to be a collapse of demand in the UK economy next year. How else could they reduce interest rates in the teeth of roaring inflation? The weak dollar is very damaging to everyone except the US. If the euro continues to rise against every major currency the ECB will need to act and reduce eurozone rates. However this is all very familar. Remember the strong DM in the 1980's and all the eventual damage that did to the european economy. The ECB is always frustratingly very slow to react to market trends. So in my view any investments outside the eurozone in the coming short term are likely to be dire.

The current talking down of the pound by the B of E and others has everything to do with the Dollar. The low value of the Dollar is very significant to the UK since America is a major trading partner in service industries. It suits the UK economy to have a low valued pound against the Euro AND the Dollar. I do not believe the B of E. There are major inflationary pressures in the UK coming on stream and reducing interest rates is a joke. It aint gonna happen. The City seem to have fallen for it though and marked down Sterling. I personally don't believe it!

I spend the winters in southern Spain from SW France. The trip is much easier and more pleasant taking the Mediterranean route rather than via the Burgos/Madrid route over the central meseta. It’s arid and very, very boring. Madrid is very nerve wrecking to get through. There are some roadside hotels but not as many as the coastal route. That way there are some interesting stopping places such as Figueres. The route is longer in kilometres, costs more in tolls but much more attractive, warmer and relaxing. You can find many dog friendly hotels in Spain here:- www.hotdogholidays.com

Complaining about Les Anglais moving in and taking over, (this place used to be soo.... French), increasing the price of houses, not speaking French, driving around in old bangers with GB plates and working on the black, not paying their dues. Oh and going to the supermarket in my slippers.

The Med. coast of Catalonia.

Just to update the information. I have contacted Dell.fr and they will provide any computer and keyboard in another language. However it's not possible on line, you need to call their advertised phone number. They deliver free within mainland France. Thanks again for the help.

Thanks for these suggestions. I am going to try and order from Dell.fr and see if it works. There are English computer people operating here in the SW but their prices are silly. Thanks again.