cyclebum

Any single people out there (if there are any) know of any singles groups perhaps around the Basse Normandie region? I'm a recently singled guy and feel like the only one in the world or at least this part of France.  

Thanks for the help. I'll head that way in the new year. I grew up pre video when 10 year old films were still showed at the flicks so Bond was always a bit of a mystery to me. When my old man took me to see my first Bonds at the Odean aged around 10 during the early 70's I was completely blown away. As a result Connery for me was Bond. Ashamed to say I only read the books during the 80's and 90's. Could'nt get the image of connery out of my head. As Fleming himself would admit he had in mind Hoagy charmicheal or David Niven for the screen role. I could see Niven when I read the books but this was'nt Bond for me. I guess I must not be a literary fan. Perhaps if I'd read the books first I may not have been a fan and instead spent a life of collecting Daleks and police phone boxes or become normal.

Sorry. Should have said west of Paris.

Bit sad this. I'm a serious 007 fan (the old ones). As I'm living in Basse Normandy thought I'd visit the chateaux used at the very beggining of the 1965 film 'Thunderball.' I believe they used Chateaux d'anet east of Paris (when he escapes by jet back pack). Think I found it on the map, but is anyone out there sad enough to know if this was the chateaux and perhaps has a  map reference/local directions. Thanks in advance Kevin

Some months ago I saw an ad on the ANPE site looking for a 7.5 tonne truck driver. My UK license permits me to drive this size of truck so I got my CV and in vain hope dropped into the depot. As I handed the girl my CV the boss man appeared, asked me into the office for a chat. He said I'd need a FIMO or something, a certificate for carrying stuff. He said he'd see if he could get me on a course for the FIMO thing and ring me later. He did ring but could not sort out the FIMO thingy so that was that. Despite my basic language skills the guy tried to get me a job. He did'nt have to interview me for 1/2 an hour or ring back but he did! I now work for a cleaning agency (nettoyage d'uisine). It's rubbish pay but as my French improves they give me more work. Keep trying. If the French is bad don't phone, go in with a French C.V and letter. I am 42 with poor French, living in the countryside. It's not impossible ... Bon courage.

Thanks for the many excellent answers. I think the bottom line is I either do (attempt to do) the work myself or get a better job. (piece of cake in France).

Thanks Patrick. Helpful posting. Cheers.

Seeking sanctuary from another popular forum. Asked this same question and got pounced on by some folk who thought I was the successor to Hanibal lectur. My English friend , a REGISTERED builder quoted me his 'cash' daily rate of £150 for work on my house. I could not afford his 'special' price to me. In fact I struggle to earn that per week working for a French company. I can only imagine his 'through the books' rate to be somewhat more. Am I being naive thinking this is expensive for France? Do French builders generally charge at least 220 Euros (£150) per day? My French collegues at work are all on similar low wages so therefore am wondering who can afford any work to be done if this rate is normal. For £150 per day I would have at least expected legite gauranteed work. I will shop around but would like to know first if this sort of rate is not unreasonable. Thanks in advance.

Why does it take 10 women with PMT to change a light bulb? I don't know, IT JUST DOES!

I think it's complicated because you are actively discouraged to be enterprising. I've given up on the idea of self employment as I've been 'lucky' enough to find work with a french company. With my minimum salary I have a range of add ons and tax insentives that my french neighbour is taking me through. His tax bill for last year was 31 Euros. I'll have to see how it pans but like for like I may be better off than in the UK. In other words I am encouraged to earn as little as possible. As a capitalist and ex self employed guy I find this as frustrating as the next person. The flipside is that France, well where I live at least is like Britain was 50 years ago (I imagine) before the masses had access to house ownership and high levels of disposable income which seems to have turned the UK into a rather selfish, mean and brutal country.  Perhaps, and I can't believe I'm stating this, It may be better if France stays like this so we will all stay poor and not have to worry about the new model BMW our neighbours just bought.

What an excellent discussion. I appreciate and agree with most of Nick's views and his bxxxs for going against the 'PC' grain as it were. I also agree with Kayjay. Much of mankind would be in Dick's camp I guess. Because animals cannot speak words they are considered inferior to man (and women). Personally I always thought non verbal communication required at least the same level of intelligence as humans. I believe there was no missing link. The history of 'intelligent' White homosapians goes back hundreds of thousands of years. We have no natural connection to the animal world. We desire the unnatural keeping of animals as pets to give us a feeling of belonging to the earth. Dogs no matter how domesticated have to greater or lesser degrees a wildness in them. Cats a lot more so. We appreciate the differences within our safe domestic enviroment. Then of course we have the bad 'ownership' issues and the wildness is unleashed and quite literally bites us on the bum. Pets are here to stay. Wild animals are in decline. The human virus continues it's destruction of everything natural. The best option in my opinion is the removal of the white human kind. This will not happen voluntarily. Despite being 'top of the food chain' we have so many weaknesses and we will continue to mistreat domestic pets whilst others due to weakness will continue to mop up.    

Knowing what I know now after my short 18 months here in la France, if, by some miracle, 750 k fell into my lap tomorow there is no way on this earth I would even think about starting a business here. I've always been self employed in the UK, but I feel this government does'nt deserve my sweat and tears of self employment. I work for a French company and thats all they will get from me until the politicians here change thier ideas. Life is short Brandon. Buy a nice second hand camper. See Europe. Take up those hobbies that you always wanted to take up. Good luck whichever direction you take

After we arrived we visited our local well known insurance office to get our car insured and rematriculated. The insurance guy stressed we had 90 days to get the carte gris etc.... After that the insurance would be null and void if not undretaken. We also recieved 3 reminder letters from this company as the 90 day limit approached. All fine and well for us, however several friends of ours have gone into the other office of the same company in the same town (English speaking) and been told there is no need for a carte gris and can drive around indefinately on UK plates as long as they have a CT and french insurance. The same company in a nearby town is telling folk as long as they get there house insurance at he same time they can keep thier UK plates forever! This has caused some friendly arguments between us as they can't understand why we've gone to the expense of new lights, carte gris etc.. when it supposedly it can be done another cheaper and apparently legal way. A rival insurance company in my town told a good friend of mine (french car) the 2 month cancalation rule has been dropped from June this year. My mate asked the guy in the office to cancell his insurance by phone, which he did there  and then and within 2 months of the cancalation period(my mate has no French by the way) and signed up to this signicantly cheaper contract. I went myself whilst I've still got over 2 months to go and got the same story but also they would require my house insurance aswell. He suggested in was obligetoire. Of course it was! I can't help thinking my bud's been stitched up and will get a renewal notice from the original insurance company. I know what is the correct way, but it could be that some respected insurance companys are being a bit fly towards unsuspecting brits hence the disparity and confusion.  

Could'nt agree more troll. Drivers, fags, booze, dirty hospitals all kill more people than privately owned guns ever did. If one does'nt like the french attitude to guns and thier use one could allways return to the UK where responsible ownership is outlawed but criminal gangs and 14 year old boys swan around shooting whoever they please with little more than a cautionary warning from the police.

A brit friend of ours found English teaching work. It started as a few hours and built up over a period of time. It took less than a year for him to find it but his French is pretty good. I'd stick to that idea. Apart from France being a self enterprise free zone it's my experience that the french don't have such a thing as disposable income. Nothing here is disposable. You have some great ideas which will work in the UK but not sure they will be as succesfull here. You could use your skills to produce things you can barter, with the neighbours. Cakes for chickens etc... Our neighbours loved my missuses chocky butter cream sponge. Forget computers it's just not happening here. Our wealthy French neighbours have the same PC as us (The cheapest we could find) for internet mainly but our friends are not interested in getting it connected. The kids play games on it and thats about it! I sell a few bits I've bought from the UK on Ebay but the customer base here is tiny compared to the UK. This is not meant to get you down. We have no qualifications and very little money but we are hanging in and getting by. If you don't set your sights too high and are fairly resilient I'm sure you'll do fine. Good luck and enjoy.  

Got the jist that RMI is a sort of dole/top up thing. I feebly gave up on the idea of self employment here but after signing up with a cleaning agency have now got some temporary regularish legit work. It's minimum salaire of course. I've been here a year. If I take me my partner and my best french to the local ASSEDIC office could I ask for RMI? Or is it more complcated than that? Sorry if this has been asked many times before. Thanks in advance. (should be able to afford the new distributer cap and leads for the Volvo soon)

Quite spooky Trishaa. T'was only last night I was thinking of lawnmower racing as something to do in our field. If any one has hotrod mowers in Normandy let me know. I don't have one, but I do have a souped up strimmer. Saw a French 'It's a knockout' the other night with games played involving being chased by a bull. Think it was transmitted live. That was wacky and great fun. If any one's got a bull...

Thanks Gary for the intelligent responce to my posting. I agree with you sort of because there is perhaps a good chance I am wrong in my thoughts. Yes I reckon if I was in a position of protecting public life I may well put 5 bullets at point blank range into a guys head as he lay prostrate on the ground. At the same time I may well do the same if I were under instruction that this person must not be allowed to reach a police questioning room at all costs. I don't believe the police are trained in the same manner as say the S.A.S. Unless this was an S.A.S operation. There is lots of stuff happening out there that we are not privvy to. Governments will do anything, assasinate anyone to achieve their gaols. As they say, 'don't believe everything you see or read in the media.'

I posted on the earlier London attacks thread. I suggested then that perhaps some of us were  concluding a little too prematurely that the bombers were, who the government backed mainstream media said they were. Looking at some of the earlier postings on this topic it could be deduced that as this man was shot in such a manner he must be a bomber. After the the police said HE WAS involved, Now he is not - it's a mistake. Perhaps not. At the risk of hoots of derision and sarcastic postings I believe this man may have been involved in the government bombing agenda but had to be taken out. Dead men don't talk. I find it very hard to believe that highly trained police officers, if that's what they were would kill a man in this manner even if they new he had a bomb strapped to him.  Ok. You can all start taking the mick now. But before you do consider how news papers and TV are telling us who's behind all this. The police are saying the same thing and positively identify a shooting victim AFTER he is killed, then, strangely there is no connection, so all questions surrounding who he is are not asked. He's just an 'ordinary guy'. If there is no connection then the only question is what to do with the police officers. They just get moved. In this case the public led by the media will conclude that under the circumstances this sort of thing will happen so that's ok. Right now you can take the mick.

Anneliese. You are getting your synthetic chammi in an awfull twist. I find it incredible that you can take a swipe at folks comments on something as 'communal' as the tour. The beauty of this event is that cyclists AND non cycists can come along to soak up the party atmosphere of something very French and traditional. I would bet many of the spectators and even some television followers (my better half for one and some friends) have no depth or basic knowledge of this spectacle. As someone who has raced (mostly unsuccessfully) I would never be upset at jokey conversation or leg pulling at my chosen ex sport and pastime. It is such a minor sport in the UK that any conversation about cycling for me is music to my ears.  Cogratulations again Lance. Wonder if he really will retire from the tour.

Although not a fan of moderaters, without their efforts in the case of 'recommendations' one only has to look at another popular French forum to see what can happen. It goes something like this. (names are fictitious - honest) Just been to the 'Hobbit Inn'. their steak pies are to die for. The owners Fred and Ginger were so welcoming. We will be going to the quiz on Saturday. Alice and George give us a ring to let us know if your going. Hope Steve and Elsie you'll be their again. Don't forget to book or you'll not get a seat... and so on. Then Steve and Elsie and Alice and George post similar drivel and on it goes for a page or two. The moderators competly ignore all this because they are too busy deleting posts where somone is asking for 'WORK' rather than asking for a 'JOB'.

Hi rod and Jan. I would'nt worry too much. We live nearish to you. If you experience anything like we did, they will simply turn up on your door step, look round chez vous and persuade you to buy a subscription to the Expat magazine! All the best.

I had a look back at this posting again and thought I'd landed back in London attacks! I think everyone has owned a Volvo at some time. I was at the Mont today, the bit a couple of miles before it by the beach picnicy place. Their was a brit volvo like mine and a dutch one. I thought I'd arrived at an owners club meeting. Mine's French registered and a French cyclist came over to chat as he had the same car but a diesel. Even more bizarre, I told him I was a cyclist as well and promptly showed him my bike in the back. I cycle to meet the missus whilst she drives. He'd cycled from Domfront and.... ok I'm boring the pants off you now, but just shows that the old girl may be overweight,thirsty and generally expensive but she's good at making friends. The Volvo's good too!

[quote]To discover what the change is don't look to the 'terrorists', they merely fire the bullets. One has to look higher, the bullet makers My apologies, cyclebum, I'd assumed you were out of your teenag...[/quote] Never done a quoted reply, hope this works. Why did you assume that? And why post that? What do you mean?

Many thanks for all the advice. I,ll go the distributer cap route. The car runs very nicely but I like it so much I,d rather have it running 100% than 95%. There is a volvo breakers off the M27 outside Southhampton. I've got bits second hand from there. He's not too good at mail order as he's a bit absent minded but if you're ever catching the boat..... I will Email tel no. and address if interested. The Volvo dealers at Brehal was breaking a 940 last year so that could be an idea for fuel pumps etc... I'm not sure high price of car spares is solely the demain of Volvo. Ford ,Peugeot etc.. all seem to be scarily priced. Dick smith. Had an electrical problem a few months ago. Garage in St Hilaire sorted it by repairing one of those small black boxes. But I suppose you don't have a Volvo any more. Don't think I'm allowed to name garage on this forum but the main man their is called Cyril. I will post later with progress report. Thanks to all again.