Antonia

https://news.sky.com/story/m-s-blames-brexit-as-it-axes-11-french-high-street-stores-12409373 farewell the M&S prawn salad sandwich.

Something that raised a little warning flag with me when thinking about buying an electric vehicle was the plan to use them as a backup supply of electricity to the grid. I know the UK is heavily investing in the infrastructure to do just that  (smart meters in the home etc) but I don't know how far France has gotten yet. If we are to go completely fossil fuel free it makes sense. You can't turn on and off the wind and it's a darn sight easier to utilise all the car batteries in the country as storage rather than build new mega battery sites. However I would like to see how they plan to reimburse for any electricity they take plus I'd need to be confident that when I needed the car it would be fully charged

Just to say, I received an email from Madame de Balle this morning. It was sent to my old wanadoo address which was harvested along with thousands of others in a data breach a few years ago. I ignore anyone who contacts me using that old address as a matter of course.

Mark Cavendish is Manx.

Cajal,Have sent you a PM

I normally ignore football, even the big matches, but I have been sucked in to this tournament by one man, Gareth Southgate. His quietly understated love for his country and his game have made me proud to be British. Win or lose he's showing the world we're not all jingoistic  xenophobes. If you haven't read his letter to England yet I strongly recommend you do. I bet you'll be humming Jerusalem to yourselves before your finished.https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-england-gareth-southgate-euros-soccer

I've looked up Target 2. As far as I can tell it's something to do with Banking ( sorta like swift transfers ) and has been around since 2007 when it took over from Target 1. I, for one, would be very interested in knowing what it is you feel is so dangerous about it?

I described the Assurance Vie as 'defunct' as it is no longer actively marketed. I'm not sure what the correct term would be for that. It does hold funds and currently both the company that provided it & the Financial Advisor receive a percentage for managing it. If I want to make a withdrawal I have to go through the F.A. and I'd much rather be able to do that myself.

When we first moved to France we used the services of a Financial Advisor. Over the years, due to various reasons irrelevant to this thread, all bar one of our investments have reverted to our direct control. The remaining one 'managed' by our former advisor is a, now defunct, Assurance Vie. It's gains are minimal and I would like to keep as much of them as possible by removing the 'management fee'. My question is this, can I just write to the Assurance Vie direct and say XXX is no longer my Financial Advisor and could they please stop paying them? I know the French have a great affection for their 'conseillers'. Do I have the right to continue owning the Assurance Vie without the F.A., who originally set it up, as an intermediary? I'm not looking for another advisor, I simple don't feel I need their services anymore.

And can I also say ALBF that you and I are amongst the fortunate ones. You, I assume, have taken French nationality through your wife. If not it must be comforting to know that you can do so at anytime just as you say your wife ensured your children had british passports. I was resident in France before the signing of the withdrawal and therefore covered by it's protections. Our situations are less changed than the average UK citizen or in fact most Europeans.

ALBF you're right I did say it so, perhaps I should go first. As you've probably gathered I've a bit of an interest in politics. Not just geopolitics but the local, little, stuff. In a previous life I was a parish councilor. Shortly after Brexit we had a local election in our commune. The week before the vote our village handyman was sent to the house to hand deliver a letter from the Mayor who was very sorry to say that, despite voting for sixteen years we no longer had the right. I live in a country within the EU but no longer have the right to vote for my MEP. Brexit did that, nothing else.

Now, now ALBF play nice.You've probably forgotten the reason I joined this thread in the first place. This forum is populated by people from many different backgrounds and in many different circumstances. It's not fair to lump everybody together like that. For example, I very much doubt I will live long enough to receive a letter from the DWP. Brexit is a political act that will have far reaching consequences for decades to come. It's only natural that people will want to talk about it. Not just on French forums but all across social media. It's a seismic event.

When we swapped our licenses years ago we were told that the receipt acted as a temporary license until the new ones arrived. Perhaps have another look at the attestation you received?I agree with Guardian though Ants is really slow especially if it's something less common. When my husband died I had to transfer one of the cars into my name as it had been originally just been in his and, despite scanning in all the right documents, it took months for me to get a new carte gris.

Gave that one up after primary school ( where the pinches and punches weren't virtual ). However, for some reason, my husband always used to say white rabbits. God knows why.

Yes, I have been known to partake of the odd ficelle in my time. In fact that was how I discovered one of my now favorite wines. Happy days.

but it's the little things...........

I think, perhaps, ALBF has given us a clue as to why some people remain disenchanted with the EU. If I am right, ( and please feel free to correct me ALBF I won't be offended ) his dissatisfaction stems from the constitutional treaty of 2004 which was rejected by the people of both France and the Netherlands. Yet it was ratified nevertheless. FWIW I also think that was a shameful piece of European politics but, in my view, the fight has to be conducted from within, not without.

Yes the leaving the bottle & charging for what you consume makes sense. I've experienced that in Routiers over the years but this was different, the volume of wine was measured out by the waiter/waitress with various levels of accuracy. As I said I'm not too bothered with the pichet but when you are paying for a decent wine you don't expect to be given something that's already been opened. And why make extra work for yourself by using the additional glassware. Surely it's easier just to leave it in the bottle. Je ne comprends pas.

which I know we all weren't.I've just taken a trip to a small fishing village in Brittany. At my first meal in a restaurant I ordered a demi pichet of the house rosé. The waiter proceeded to return with a bottle from which he poured approximately 2/3 of the contents into a flask. Later, at a different restaurant I ordered what I expected to be a half bottle of a particular white wine only for the waitress to bring a full bottle, show me the label, uncork and pour approximately half it's contents into another glass flask. Is this a new trend? Normally when ordering pichets I expect them to come from a box or a barrel. On the other hand I tend to order half bottles of the more expensive wines when available & retain the cork just in case I don't finish them with the meal. What happened to the rest of the wine I wonder? At restaurant one did the next client who ordered the rosé get the remains of my bottle plus some from another? How long did my opened bottle of white wine stay in the fridge before someone else ordered it? I can't for the life of me think it's a covid thing. Has anyone else experienced this?

Mr Huge,  I was commenting on ALBF's post not yours. Sorry, even after all these years I haven't quite got the hang of this forum software.

actually that is an inaccurate précis of what I wrote. It does not deserve to be in quotation marks. I suggest you go back and reread what I said. You might find yourself mostly in agreement.

'these people' are those defined in the original question. If you would prefer I changed the word 'these' to 'some' I'm happy to do so.

Because Mint, perhaps, these people need to have enemies in order to enhance their lives. Scientific studies have shown that, given the right circumstances, people will create ‘enemies’ in order to maintain a stable or coherent view of the world. This gives them a sense of control as they can then attribute all the negatives of said world to these enemies. Having enemies ironically makes them feel safer. It’s a human weakness unfortunately often exploited by politicians p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }

Ken, Please believe me when I say I have thoroughly enjoyed our sparring over the last couple of days. It had been a welcome distraction from the gardening. However in your last two posts you have accused me of being both disingenuous and engaging in obfuscation. I feel we have reached the limit on my ability to explain and yours to understand and, rather than descend further down this rabbit hole, I yield the floor. Lets do it again sometime. p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }

Again, with the deepest respect Ken, I think you are misunderstanding UK electoral law. In order to be eligible to vote a British Citizen only needs to be resident in the UK for some part of the last fifteen years. Hence my somewhat flippant comment about Falkland islanders and Anguillians ‘popping over’ to gain voting rights. A stupid system I think you’ll agree which is why, as ALBF reminded me, plans are afoot to instigate adult universal franchise. Hopefully by the time the next EU debate comes along all interested parties will be able to have a say. p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }