Keni

I've just started a French Language Course with OU (L120) and bearing in mind I'm nearly 56, it was a few years ago I left school. I have been at evening college studying French, but I am having the devil of a job trying to remember the verbs/endings/ past, future and the rest - has anyone got a table/ easy reference to try to help me remember verbs etc? Many thanks. Keni

Thanks to all of you for clarifying that - I will pass on the message to my friend who gave me the information. I also hope Cooperlola that this finds you on the road to recovery?

Has anyone heard this? I was told by a friend in France that the French Government is looking to close the Auto Entrepreneur status in a couple of months. I was given the information that they had now 'sucked' in over 200,000 new businesses that were previously believed to be 'on the black' and now are looking at them all having to become Micro Bics'. This is to ensure the government will continue to get the tax and cotisations. Any news from anywhere please?

I agree, all are worthy causes they are supporting, the ex was a fireman (we're on good terms) and I have lost mother and others in family to C, thank you for highlighting it Bugbear.

We are talking 2012 here or do they mean this year?

At present we are on the top floor of a block - so can't get the bikes up the stairs (no lifts). Winter definitely means casseroles and puddings - sticky treacle or syrup with custard for the OH. Roast beef dinners on Sundays instead of chicken & salads. T-shirt on under the top & SOCKS - my friends all say they know winter is coming when I put on my socks again!

He reminds me of a lost puppy or child - he has an incredible mind but like all genius's he is I think on a different planet - think Robin Williams in WD 'Flubber'. He understands the working of most things, or takes the trouble to do so, I think he's ok! And like you say, he likes bikes.

781.4 on my first 'lethal pingu'! Only 151.4 on the other game - I still prefer the ballons though, that kept me away from work for hours!

Thanks Cat  - I wrote on that post about Thomsons stuff, as the wall was dry - this has started up on another wall - against the garage of an empty house and our linking wall. I presume it is damp and now there is a new roof this might stop in time? I will check up what saltpetre looks like. Thanks.

Had mine out about 25 years ago. Until this year, no problems, then I started finding I could not eat after around 7 at night as it was taking so long to digest the food, it was keeping me awake at night. It appears that once through the menopause, everything slows up, so I think I understand why the French often have a larger meal at mid-day, allowing everything to digest, with a smaller meal in the evening! I understand some of us ladies do have a problem at a certain age with digestion and having had a gall bladder op can make it worse.

We bought some purpose built under cupboard lights from a well known DIY store in the UK. You simple screw them up under the cupboards and plug them into an existing socket - the cable was just clipped around the corner of the unit and the plug is a standard  3 pin. We have a double unit on a big cupboard run and a single in the smaller. We simply unplug the socket when not needed - for can opener (I'm left handed and can openers are a bind).

We have started having a line of what I what could a fuzzy white fluff appearing along our bedroom wall. It started with a crack in the paintwork, which is now about a metre long, the paint has cracked and the fluff appears to be coming through this crack. Is this lime plaster having a tizzy fit, and what can I do - I had used water based emulsion to allow the wall to breathe, I thought, realising it could be lime based. The problem starts about a metre up the wall, towards the corner and working now towards the middle of the room. There appears to be no problem with the wall below the fluff or above it. Can anyone confirm what this is and how I cure it please?

On our woodburner, the top of the collar is 160mm and we cannot find any 160mm fittings - we are told by the manufacturer that the top of the woodburner collar is 150mm, designed to fit a 150mm fitting, but we have measured it and it is definitely 160mm! Also the woodburner only has a top exit, so we are looking for a fitting with an elbow - not 90 deg. almost from the top of the fire to be able to join up with the chimney fittings - answers on the back of a postcard please to..... Or are we being stupid again?

We were over in St.Mathieu during Aug/Sept and they had a farm fair there. There was a milking demonstration and the farmers were giving away half litres of milk all day. They were basically milking the cow, putting the milk into a chiller and then selling the milk once they had bottled it. The farmer explained they would rather give away the fresh milk because of the price they were given by the supermarkets and other purchasers (where has that been heard before I wonder?). The fresh milk was a taste of my childhood - fresh (brucellosis tested) milk. We were talking to a farmer who has/is setting up a milk machine of her own - she supplies the milk daily and you purchase it - fresh and chilled. I think she was setting it up in Chasseneuil or Cherves Chatelars? She was a British farmer, now farming in France, met her at an evening market at Champniers, she now sells her own cheese and was starting making her own clotted cream. We wished her all the best and I think the milk machine would be a great idea for our small village as well.

Now I am worried as we have no sign of a Fonciere or Habitation!

So how does the 'East' regard the present 'Business Tzar', Mandy? If anyone saw what he said to a paper the other day - about him offering to work for other political parties if they required him to - or in other words if the Cons want me, I'm in! I have a friend who works for a French company, with an arm in the UK. They, I believe saw growth across both markets last year, and that was in sales/manufacturing. Interestingly the items sold are also covered by the French eco-tax, which I gather will be reduced to 40% next year from 50% this year. They are looking again to a growth next year I suppose on that. If we had more benefits in this country for eco-projects - solar hot water etc., that would surely create a growth market, mind you the company on the Isle of Wight that manufactured wind turbines was Danish, so the government haven't even supported the eco-parties on that front, unlike the French. I agree, make them repair the damage and then try for a coalition, that should make sure nothing happens!

I am mindful that if the house was soo bad when they bought it and described it as so, what did they do to renovate? Would that not have been a better thing to have shown prospective purchasers? I understand it is poorly edited, but are there no good times, or is it the usual from the 'daily'? Mind you the Sunday one did a lovely piece a few weeks ago about my cousin Brian and his photos, that was a shock - opening it to see a pic and article of your cousin!!

Thanks also Syntax I did not realise there were so many places with this information. All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks Bob T - I am sure though this is something to do with taxing the pension - something about qualifications to pay less tax.

When we come over to France for our holidays, we just have to tell the insurer what dates we will be driving abroad, they make a note and I bring my usual piece of white paper - the so-called Certificate. We are apparently covered the same as at home - a lot of drivers though only seem to have 3rd party insurance when driving abroad, unless they have specifically told their insurance company they are going! Our company says you must let them know what dates you are out of the country for them to update the information. That is all.

Can anyone tell me where I can get any information about transferring/have paid a pension in euros - I think the acronym (?) is something like QROPS? I know it is a recent thing that allows a pension to be paid directly into a euro bank. Where can I find simple information about this? Also, I have a friend who actually wants to retire to Cyprus and I am not sure whether this would help her. Is it only for a state pension or can a works pension be paid via this? If anyone can help I would be grateful.

So when we are driving, I get told to either turn thingy or whatsit - usually for left & right, lucky after 20 years of marriage I have sussed that one out!

Of course going back to the thread - I don't suppose the drop of the euro against the pound is anything to do with the present Irish Referendum? Or is it a coincidence that the pound loses against the euro when this malarky is being raised again in Ireland - surely someone somewhere should have realised that the Irish no meant no, rather than let's try it again next year?

I agree with what you say - I just found it strange that it is always mentioned that we are scots, because of the flag on our car! In the France we have met many Parisiennes who are on holiday and/or have holiday homes and are travelling about. I find from some of the British though that this is said about those from Paris, but have not yet heard it from the locals, as it were, so cannot add or negate that point. The main topic of hate in the Haute Vienne seems to be a guy from Lichenstein who has developed a beautiful area into some sort of weird park and castle, incorporating what appears to be a prison, going by the design - now his Mayburg (car) seems to be the only car everyone would like to damage, going by conversations.

I can only offer the following two items relating to France: 1. The Anti-British thing I have found tends to be more Anti-English. I have always had the Scottish St.Andrews flag on our car due to my Scottish descent, not a GB, relating to the Auld Aliiance. This has always been noted in car parks and the discussions are usually always friendly. 2. Always park your car in a car park next to a more expensive car - they'll target that one first - I work on the principal if they are going to nick/damage a car it will be a better one than mine! Sorry to hear about your experience though. There are crass persons that do this, but they exist all over the world - those who have not want to have without working for it and see anyone with what they think they they should have with jealousy. Don't lower yourself to their standards, the world would be a poorer place if we all stole/damaged/hurt others because we wanted their goods/lives.