Marym2

If you to to the Sport, Leisure and Pastimes in France  on the Living France forum, there will be answers to the question.

Today this happened. I was coming back from shopping and as I cannot park nearby, (due to excess foreign cars as well as neighbour parking scheme, I passed a new'ish Merc with Polish plates. When I parked up I noticed a person nearby on his phone. Looking at the windowscreen there was a notice pasted on the glass. The notice said ' this car has been here for over the period allowed six months without a tax disc it is now >>>>>>>>>>>>>> I said to myself 'good at last' at that moment the person on the phone started to say Why good basterd? then the scumbag started shouting abuse. I did not look back, but continued on my way. Its about time these people started to pay their way. If I pay tax ENGLISH PETROL PRICES, 3 types of insurance  and the high rates to go to and fro abroad, I do not see why these people get away with it. The area around here is not just killers, ( re earlier post) but small time too, a few months ago there was a person selling disael out of his estate car parked on the pavement nearby,(Red) Polish, car polish plates. Many of these foreign cars are more unsafe, as well as the lorries on the main road. I have had a problem with this as they knocked me off my bike last year, and did not stop. The notice was in Polish as well as English, I hope they scrap it. rant over.  

I saw this at 12 noon yesterday as I came out of my house, looked back and saw a small black cloud starting to rise over my road. As I was going over that way, ( Hackney Wick) it got bigger. I thought 'this is not a small fire, as it bellowed out clouds of thck black smoke within 5 minutes. I pulled over at Eaton Manor old playing grounds to let the first fire engine i had seen through, Could see that it was in Waterden road and that the flames were getting quite large. When I approached the road where the fire was the traffic was pulling over to get a closer look, but as I needed to go pass I did not stop, there were camaras already there.  The fire/flames was even higher a few mins later as I was on the A106 going towards Blackwell tunnel, and smoke getting heavier. When I stopped at Charlton/Woolwich and got out to do some shopping, it seemed as it would be like the Bunsfield pall of smoke (which I also had the experience of driving through)but at 2 pm on the other side of the water it seem to have stopped. Traffic caused me to go to the Woolich ferry and that was clear. The thing about this fire was although there are a lot of problems going on at the 2012 site, my feeling that at first it was another terroists bomb. I'll omen or what?

My words of encouragement would not help all but some of my friends tell me they wish they could get away, not to France but anywhere then where they live. We bought because it will take time to, learn french, renovate the house, get to know all the neighbours, find out about the area, etc. We are getting along, slowly but it will come to fruit one day. We have had some bad times (latest was a broken leg 3 days into the next stage of renovations) but we have not despaired. I am looking foward to my next visit, and more knowledge, Each time I go I have a long journey, but what a treat when I settle in, I feel the stress and pain of living in England melt away.  I look at this site most days, its a good insight into how it works. I say try it, if it does not work then it might not be for you, but as  my last post  on  Making the Move to France From Outside the EU  Joining the Exodus from France? some of those reasons make me think sooner then later.

Just in case anyone is deciding to move back, a update from the TV series LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: BEST & WORST LIVE at http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/best&worst/index.html was shown last night. This was quite an eyeopener, just look at part of the entry for where I live in London. The borough has suffered from a rise in gang crime over the last five years, which has blighted the area with its inherent drug culture and violence. Subsequently, the borough was voted the second worst place to raise a family by Reader’s Digest, I'll not bore you with  the rest, but it sums up some of the facts for moving away. This cover most of the UK so anyone who lives in the best areas Smug mode! 1   Edinburgh 2 1 Winchester 3 8 Epsom & Ewell 4   Waverley 5   Mole Valley 6   Surrey Heath 7 5 South Cambridgeshire 8   Chelmsford 9 2 Horsham 10   Elmbridge 11   East Dunbartonshire 12   Guildford 13   St. Albans 14   Rushcliffe 15   Bath & NE Somerset 16   Mid Sussex 17   Suffolk Coastal 18   South Northamptonshire 19   Reigate & Banstead 20   Wokingham Twenty Worst Places to Live 1 6 Middlesbrough 2   Kingston upon Hull 3 4 Newham 4 7 Nottingham 5 3 Merthyr Tydfil 6   North East Lincolnshire 7 5 Islington 8 9 Blaenau Gwent 9   Mansfield 10   Knowsley 11   Blackpool 12 1 Hackney 13   Stoke-on-trent 14   Barking & Dagenham 15   Doncaster 16   Cannock Chase 17 10 Manchester 18   Haringey 19   Burnley 20   Hartlepool

We have 6 near our house ( Meneac) cannot see them all, and as for hearing them, I drove underneath one in the summer and did not hear it, well suprised!  There could be more put up (after the local debate) but so far do not impinge on my space. Would not like them too close as to spoil our veiw (one of the reasons for buying in France) but as we are in a dip it should not affect us.

Roll on the next game! oh, just seen wrong post should of been in sports, oh well I won't rub it in!

Hi Quintain We trvel from London to Brittany, all in all, it take approx 12 hours for our journey door to door. I had a look at Mappy.com  for a route for you, and looking at the results (Boulogne Speedferries to La Rochelle, via Rouen) it came up with 6.50 hrs. We find that travelling through the night (last ferry) to our house is the best way that we go, but I know that this is not for all. We also now have a french bank card for petrol, so no wandering for a 24/7 rip off site. Try playing around with the site (mappy) and areas and i'm sure that your answers are out there.

Hi  JC We also had a policy that we used to get me back home when I broke my leg a few weeks ago, but they told me that although they could rearange my ferry, they could not bring the van back. Who did you have your policy with? if you don't mind me asking.

Hi Been doing this for years, last one was a complete house strip for a 3 year old  conservatrie sliding doors etc (ideal for the back of our french house), although I am having to bring it to France.  I have always prefered this way of exchange, but when I posted a similar thing some years ago, decorating in exchange for another trade, there were replies that was not so clear, insurance for example. Me I would love to have someone help at my house in exchange for my skills.

Hi Thanks for your replies, I have had a response from my Inurance, and we are now booked to go back via brittany ferries, they have been helpful but as we are aware we will be prepared to pay for some of the costs. Are we correct in thinking that we will have to supply the insurance company of the xrays etc, we have the paperwork from the hospital vist and the pharmacy but no x-rays and also no paperwork from the nurse who visits every day to give me my injections.

Hi. We are at our house in France, and I have broken my leg. Had to go to hospital in my van and found the break here after a  few x-rays. We are here for about 10 more days, there are a few questions so bear with me. I found it quite impossible to drive so we hope to get a ferry from St Malo as opposed to Boulogne, the insurance company has not made a firm commitnent on paying for this, has anyone had a similar problem, and what did they do? I showed my european health card at the hospital and did not receive any bill, so is this covered by that card? and as I have to have a home visit every day by a nurse for my injections, will I have to pay for that or is that covered as well by this card?  sorry to go on but the visit here was for more holiday then renovations, now we are stuck at the house all day. and only can get out for the internet  when Mary feels safe to drive this van, ( i took the risk myself today but found it very tough) Thanks in advance

Hi, over here now and had a good chat with the local farmer, who has seen it most years. The good thing is maybe it starts earlier, he has seen them s few days before the offical time, and as the skys are fantasic at the moment I hope that they come as soon as poss. Happy veiwing

B****r, have other plans that night, but will be on a boat so should still get a good veiw. Thats if the skys are clear. Thanks Fridgeman. MM

Hi I will be over in Brittany around the time this occurs, does anyone know if this will be clear, and can I see it there? thanks.

Is it just the papers again? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2045323.ece   This was on the Matthew Wright show but did not give too much detail.

On the point of credit cards, if you have  a Nationwide account use that. We use ours all the time and when we compare another one to that we get a much better deal, many forum members recomend this one.

'Ouch' Same as us, it might be better to leave (if there is one) at the long parking sites.We have looked at this and it seems to justify the price of a years stay as opposed to 1 taxi trip. Other people do this all the time on this forum so they would be better informed then me.

As most people know a lot of the the french prefer new, as we like old world/french charm. Some other reason's are space, agreed give me rural living, but again in the future it might be a case of new and simple. Sod trying to get up a roof, in a few years time, but for now 'live the dream'

[quote user="LanguedocGal"] How about the chap sentenced a few weeks ago for - yes - ripping out his wife's eyes.... Re violent crime, I get the impression that our local press seem to report a lot of crime within families too. The usual thing is a man who has taken his gun, killed his wife and kids and then shot himself. Marym2, it's all horrible but if you can find me a country where these horrid things don't happen, I'll join you there. I don't live in one of those countries; I live in France. When you put links as you did above, you give the impression that you think none of that happens here. Do you read your local regional papers much?[8-)] [/quote] On that point no,the local council has slashed the budget for languages so I have a hard time reading the locals. I too would like to live in those countries, but as you pointed out you live in France, which we intend to live far away from everday events that happen here.

Not just real, this is a day to day event, we see it all the time. The incident was opposite her day centre, our doctors clinic is in the background, this was called Cutthroat lane a long time ago.

Ok sorry, just these things are a bit to close, Corner Langthorn/crownfeild road this is my mothers social/day centre.

This is a subject that I have considered. Been watching the local pigs the last few years, as well as a program on the telly in England called Jimmies farm. The way they plough up the soil, crunch stones and clear weeds is amazing, the only trouble is we are not there yet, so would also like to see if anyone has tried/done this method Great Idea!

Some of the things that are going on regarding kids are having the effect on a lot of people. Last night lots of noise near me, this morning this was the result http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6534231.stm.

It might need spirit, what a lot of paperhangers used in the eightys was a glue that was pasted onto the wall first, then the paper was fixed so that you did not need ( or could not if wide vinyl + lots of others that I won't bore you with) to mark the material. What I do is a test patch, try a few things , spirit etc then if thats ok wash the whole lot off but being careful (flamable spring's to mind) Theres a lot more involved if it does move it, and  being sticky theres not much more then to do it slowly. Others mayc ome up with more ideas.