Keni

Yeh, I have a tendency I am told to not be able to see things that hang around for several weeks. By the way nectarine, haven't got to the original thread but have you found the box of kitchen scraps? For those of you in sunnier climes (I hope), weather here very wet & warm & windy. Here in Evesham every time it rains now everyone starts looking at the Avon and begin to move stuff upstairs! The only problem is the tips can flood, then what do I do? Do they have charity shops in France in the rural areas and would it be hard to start one? It means a non-profitable association thingy I suppose? But just think how much stuff they would glean from us removers!

The devastation is pretty severe - even when we had that tornado last year in Birmingham it did not do that much damage!

Yes, I have just done the pics bit, but can anyone tell me why the OH had aroound 30 pics of the Settle Viaduct. Yes, I know he's a Yorkshire bloke but we had a huge tin full of scenes, half of which he could not remember where they were and the other half all seem to be around the same views! Have kept just a few family pics, but the youngsters don't want to know who great aunt polly is and I think she's been dead for about 30 years! That just leaves the family heirlooms then (Ha!). So that will see me with a few early rises for the next few months doing the car boot rounds. Judith, if you are Cowoman, I expect I'll bump into you at a few of the local ones then? Good Luck.

Love the Executioer ErnieY, As to fly paper, a couple of years ago, we locked up the house in after our holiday and returned to the UK, came back for Halloween and found a dead bat attached to the fly paper! Really crispy, so must have been there some time. That convinced me the fly paper stuff really works! Never has a problem with flies though. We don't know where the bat came from though as the house was sealed and we have never seen them in the grenier.

Congrats nectarine, we are starting the long haul ourselves, as mentioned on another post - the journey of 1000 miles (or around 650 in our case ) starts with the first step. Enjoy your life

Thanks Maricopa, I see the government has already sent ministers to see what is needed, I hope they will be more use that what happened here in Evesham last year - some of us are still waiting for insurance payouts, never mind an assessor!!

Congrats DZ! We too are starting the countdown - I have today shredded 3 sacks of paper (why have I still got pay slips for 1992/93)? Having lived here for nearly 20 years Ican see it is going to be a long haul. What do I do with three very old knitting machines or a couple of tea chests full of miniatures? (I feel a party coming on)! I was once given a great tip - which I have spent my life ignoring - if it is not used/worn or touched for 6 months, bin it! Enjoy it DZ!

Having viewed the pics online from The Telegraph, I was amazed at the scale of damage from the freak tornado, as it is being described. I hope no-one was seriously injured - it does not give any information in the pictorial. Compared to the tornadoes we have been having around this area, it looks to be on a much larger scale.  Which area was it in - Normady or Brittany? Have a look on  the Telegraph web site  -what is ahppening to the weather?

Just a quick note, our local cheque exchange has today been offering a tourist rate of 1.238! - honest!!

I know our area is having theirs around end of month to beginning of Aug - could be 1st weekend Aug. Marval in 87, near st. Mathieu. If you can get to the Intermarche at St. Mat, they usually have a list of Vides etc. posted outside. With your penchant for chocolate writersblock, have you been to the chocolatier at La Rochefoucauld by the Chateau, or Truffe near Angouleme?  

Thanks gosub, that is a pretty informative site, but they are only offering around 2.75% I am sure though now I am getting the hang of this stuff, if I trawl around I might dig up some other bits and pieces, however, I am very sceptical about internet sites for banking. The postal site for general banking looks good and am I correct they are actually offering a current account with interest! That is a first for me in France.    

Hi again Shamjac Had a bug on the computer system, so took time to get cleared, Yes, I am looking to offload the sock/circular knitting machine in the near future plus the two knitmaster/empisal machines (green) with ribbers. I am going to keep the standard and chunky gauge of the two newer machines, so that leaves ooh, about only another three or four to find homes for! I think I wil phone the Cheltenham Sale Rooms and see if they have any special sales for these old machines-the green ones must be 50 years old now! I know the one stil has its plastic knitting ball for knitting from balls of yarn, those things used to be the first thing that broke! I also have a Bond (Sorry), but I think I have a home for that. Sorry again for delay, hopefully the system will now behave.

Many thanks to you all for the information, especially clearing up the assurance vies issues. We will be looking to open our Nationwide account soon, I am sure. It is still a minefield though isn't it, trying to work out now where best to put your hard-earned cash for the next 20 years or whatever, so that you can get some sort of life! As you mentioned pensions, I am self-employed and I know what you mean about pension funds, after 20 years I am told my pension will be ripening next year and I will gain the whole amount of around 5K, so that means 20 years of paying in and getting 5K back, should just about fund the petrol and wood for next year then! Does anyone know whether the French Post Office have any savings accounts? Thanks again.  

Thanks necatrine, Krusty and all, this is a real minefield. I should say we are in Uk at present looking to move soon. Once OH has his pension, and when (if) we sell house then money will be there for saving. I saw in the mag about the assurance vies, only it did not say what they were, how you got paid out, for how long or any of the other basics, so do not really understand what they are - life insurances I presume for an agreed amount of time, but do they only pay out at the end , or yearly or what? I am looking to this business as well about using the Nationwide to transfer monies across, a lot of those in France seem to do that. Nectarine, what you say is really helpful and I can see others are balking (great word isn't it) at what to do with the hard earned cash. the government bonds thingy seems the surest bet for some, and I did not realise HM gov. owned the bank! Any more info will be appreciated, and as was said before in English or pictures even more so!

Help needed please, if possible. We are starting to get things together now and I have been monitoring the Forum for some time, I know in an earlier thread various things were thrown up for savings, including Assurance Vies etc. What we need is something we can put or savings into that brings in an annual or monthly income - the OHs pension will not sustain us without interest. We know the problems about putting more that 35K into a British Account, does the same follow for a French account? We have an account with CA but they do not seem to want to push their savings accounts - is it because their rates are low? We are a bit unsure about putting our money into stocks and bonds, but need to be able to get as much interest as possible from the amount we are saving  for our livlihood. Obviously it is difficult to generalise and I know this is rather vague but  if someone had, (for the sake of arguments) 100K, where could you best put it? We just seem to be getting blinded by savings figures against bonds etc. When talking to financial people we just glaze over as they starting going on about figures and percentages, we are not stupid, just not of the financial section of life.  

My hubby is learning bee-keeping here in UK, and hopes to continue with it when we move, with just one or two hives. I have seen bits and pieces for sale at the local co-op, including hives and honey jars etc. How do we find out about what is happening in the Haute Vienne, can I still go onto the site you gave earlier? I take it we can not bring a live hive with us, so how do we go abuot getting a swarm in France? Thank you.

Yeah, ain't that true. My daughter's favourite black T-shirt at the mo is a black halterneck - with a Chelsea Girl label - I bought it at college in the 70's, so I paid £1 for it I think, got my moneys worth. It's stopped raining here for now, forecast for tomorrow is between 1 and 2 inches - summers here then.

My memories are of Gozo, 10 years ago, it was great for diving, Calypso diving with Georges, but I don't think he'll be there anymore. i gather the village is now a town! I too remember the mini-skirts and dresses Cooperlola, mind you in me mid-50's now. It's just the skirts have got longer. I stopped riding the motorbike for a while, hopefully when (when that is the question) we get to France I'll most probably get another small one. We have just spent the weekend (wet here in Worcs) clearing out loads of old photos to start the clearance. Some of the pics of us in our teens were scary, glad the daughter never saw them. I went to a vintage clothing sale and bought my daughter a Biba badge - she asked what was Biba, I have obviously not brought her up correctly.  

Sorry Shamjac, I have not been at the computer this week, Yes, I wrote for the mags for a few years and did various knitting exhibition tours and lectures etc. I was known mainly for picture or intarsia knitting. I was looking for an old friend of mine in the industry, a guy called Dennis Wright, but i think he might have passed on by now. He was looking to open a machine knitting museum. I thought with my Edwardian sock machine and a few others I could off-load them before I made it to France. I know I will most probably take just the knitmaster chunky and standard gauge to France when we move and get rid of the rest somehow. I sell knitting wool in my shop in the Uk and i know Bergere do give machine knitting instructions on their yanrs, the ones suitable for machine knitting. They also run mail order throughout France. Try the internet for that if you need to. Bramwell were the largest supplier of machine or coned acrylic yarn in the UK, failing that I used to get my Shetland from the yarn brokers in Galashiels. Nice to see someone else out there understand machine knitting as well. I gather the weather is a bit wet, so great for knitting!

Thank you Cooperlola for the reply, sorry I took so long to get back, but have been busy Sorry Mogs, it was just a thought. I hope you resolve the problem though one way or another.  

Having just picked up this thread Cooperola, is Mogs entitled to repayment of the money paid in, or is that another French mystification? Over in the Uk they do repay overpayment I believe, is it the same case in France, if the error is on the governments side?

hello from Dorfus Battydoodle

Bonsoir mes amies, sorry been away so long - been writing again 4 local papers I was walking down the road and I heard playing in a car la la la, la la la, one banana, two banana, three banana four.... that started me singing that song all day, then I got the images  in my head and now I can't lose it... arghh

Hello strangers, It's a P**ms o'clock  for me

I have several old knitting machine and ribbers that were my mothers. I wrote for MKN and MKM for a while in the 80s and 90s and although want to keep my newer machines, can not find anywhere to take my old machine off my hands. I know MKN has deceased, but as you are a current knitter do you know where I can sell or give to a good home the older machines - one is a Turmix and the others are old green Empisals (Knitmaster). Thank you