Martin963

Indeed,  it was fascinating.    Given that Peston is described in some circles as "a bit left-wing" I could find nothing to confirm that in tonight's offerings,  I thought it was remarkably fair. How I longed to show it to a lot of our French friends round here,   a vain hope as none of them would be able to follow it (and I don't just mean the language barrier). I didn't think Macron came across as anything other than flimsy,   and I'm not sure I think he'll be in government for long.....

Well I had a feeling it probably wouldn't have passed without someone with eagle-eyes on here spotting it.....   Thanks for the link. Excellent news anyway. Renewed thanks.

I suspect many (most?) of you are already ahead of me on this one,   but if this article is to be believed Hollande's additional taxes on property sales for non residents have been dealt quite a blow.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11468615/French-tax-on-Britons-second-homes-illegal.html No doubt there will be those on here who immediately question the veracity of the article as it's from The Telegraph,  but on the face of it it seems good news.

I must say that, having had to "draw in our horns" financially post 2009 and the consequent deliberate devaluation of the £ via QE and ZIRP, I'm getting a teeny delicious sense of well-being from these figures. Maybe trips to the restaurant can resume....! Doesn't make up for the inflation in the meantime of course, but even that is now deliciously low. Governments inflating their way out of debt (?) - not at the moment...! Sadly I doubt this more benign scenario will last, and I'm conscious that what for us is an improving situation will have others (converting from Euros to £) feeling less joyful.

and now 1.33 to the £.

1.32 to the £ this morning.

Of course it may not be universal, but on our system (hole in garden with concrete lid) there is a very simple stop-valve the supplier's side of the meter. It's a quarter-turn jobbie. This in addition to taps our side of the meter. In our case this offers added protection for when we are away. We turn it off and then bleed down the whole of the rest of the system Glad your story had a relatively happy and non-costly ending.

Maybe it'll come back down to the FF1.80 that we paid when we first got our place in 1999. Our boiler was installed (when the house was done up previously) as a swimming pool heating system. Even in 1999 I thought it wildly extravagant at FF1.80 for heating a pool, and we had the system extended so that it would heat the house as well. Then the price of oil rocketed and it's been moth-balled ever since.... In Devon the price during our time here has gone from 11 p per litre to 65 p, it's currently I believe at about 42 p.

Well indeed.   My mother was taught never to say anything as a child without running it through the following checklist: Is it kind? Is it true? Is it necessary? As she herself said,   there would be little conversation at all if everyone stuck to that filter!! (and yes,  I'm sorry,  I have a very childish sense of humour when it comes to passages).

Shows how behind the curve I am!!   Laters:   I had no idea a back passage was involved in all this.   It just gets better and better!

It seems the rumours continue,  in spite of Norman's legendary diversionary tactics (above).... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/francois-hollande/11215492/Francois-Hollande-and-Julie-Gayet-Its-started-again.html Of course,  it may just be tittle-tattle.   We'll see.....

Thanks again folks.   Someone else has recommended the a2z school in Manchester,   and I have passed this thread and that recommendation on to our friends.

What would you do Norman if you were in charge of France (and not subject to co-habitation)?

Thanks everyone.   I shall tell our friends that it's really probably going to have to be a Language School. As someone said,  "The modern world eh?"

I'm hoping someone here will have some ideas on this - it's got us fairly stumped. Some French friends would like their sixteen-year-old daughter to spend some time (a few weeks,  probably holiday time) in Britain in order to kick-start her use of the English language.   As far as I can see they'd be happy to pay something for this as any sort of reciprocal "exchange" might be quite difficult as they work unsocial hours.   They would I think like her to stay with a family and be if possible actively involved in things that would enhance her language skills. So they've asked me if I've any idea and frankly I haven't as we don't have children and therefore don't have the sort of contacts that are needed,  eg local schools etc. I'd be really grateful if anyone here can recommend either an organisation that arranges this sort of thing or places where I could ask (with the proviso that I have no contacts with schools etc so it's not going to be easy, given that we're not parents).    I have tried googling and one organisation came up but (and maybe I'm being over-cautious here) there seemed to be very little on their website about vetting or safeguards and I wouldn't want to recommend anything that wasn't 100% safe.    Hoping someone has some bright ideas or pointers.  Thanks!

We used the Etretat this week for the first time.    We regularly used to go Portsmouth/Le Havre in the days of the P&O service,   but when they closed that in 2004 we started to use Dover Calais in spite of the fact that from Devon it's hardly the nearest crossing.   However,  the huge price increases at Plymouth/Roscoff with BF had priced us out of the market,  and even taking into account the extra fuel and a night in a hotel it was rare not to be quids in by using Dover rather than Plymouth. Anyway,   the Etretat served us perfectly adequately.    I'm really not someone who notices or values "frills" but even I felt I'd stepped back 30 years when I saw the interior of the boat.   I still find it hard to believe that it could have been fitted out as recently as 6 years ago!   However the retro-feel is not oppressive and all the staff we saw were friendly,  cheerful,  and I felt almost proud of their "economy" boat.   The cat was most impressed to spend a night in a cabin,  even if he felt a little insulted that the "present under the pillow" turned out to be a packet of dog treats.   The breakfast was excellent and the cabins quiet.       It was nice to have a slower night crossing,   one of my criticisms of BF in the past on Plymouth Roscoff was that at night one only got a few hours sleep before they chucked you off at an unholy hour the other side (although I realise that for some this might be considered an advantage). Certainly I would not hesitate to use the Etretat again if the fare compares favourably with Dover/Calais including all the extras.   Personally I welcome BF's shift away from the "cruise experience" - many of us just want to get across the Channel at a fair price.

[quote user="Pickles"]Were they ever "off"? [/quote] Officially I got the impression that they were "off". But it seems it may have been a convenient smoke-screen. Or what I call a lie.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/francois-hollande/10979109/Francois-Hollande-to-marry-Julie-Gayet.html I can't keep up.... (Sorry, I can't turn the link into a working hyperwhatsit - could a mod please have a go - thanks.) Done [:)]

I'm afraid you won't get them.   Due to the toothless so-called regulator (Ofcom) the independent television companies' noses are unfortunately not being held to the grindstone,  so they prefer to jump into bed with Sky and confine their HD offerings (apart from ITV "1" itself) to pay packages. Taking careful note of the colour codes used you can ascertain whether you've got everything from here http://www.lyngsat.com/Eutelsat-28A-and-Astra-2A-2E-2F.html Did you get your complicated system working in the end D D?

Well they may just be waiting to spring the same con on you....! http://www.60millions-mag.com/actualites/articles/l_operateur_de_telephonie_mobile_simyo_decoit_ses_abonnes

Please be very very very careful of Simyo. We went with one of their cards - provided you topped up every so often you KEPT your credit. And then suddenly they changed the rules of the game - they INCREASED the amount you had to top up by and REDUCED the time you had to use it. We had about 30 Euros on ours by then,  and realised that the way they'd changed things it would be VERY expensive to keep going - so in order to deprive them of as much as possible we blew our credit on overseas calls until it ran out. They had run a big publicity campaign (including prime time on TF1) at the time we joined,  and it became obvious that when they changed the rules a year later they'd known all along what they were about - not the first time that this has happened in France with Telcos. A very slimy company - be warned (and this isn't just a personal attack on them from me,   a bit of googling will show it was us and many others).

Well on one famous occasion I waved a dish around for twenty minutes up on a ladder,  having totally failed to spot that the cable had fallen out of the F connector and wondering why I couldn't get anything. I must say that if all else fails (such as checking for tree shadow) I do find dishpointer makes a useful long-stop.   I was recently setting up on 27.5 deg W (just out of interest,  I can get what's on there by the normal means!) and from our Devon site finding a suitable path in that direction through the trees is challenging.   But dishpointer allowed me to predict not only where to put the dish in the first place but where to point it. Odd what's going on with you though - try it again when you've had further beers..! As to New York,  the answer (at least for Astra 2) is no.   Partly because of the footprint and partly because it would be below the horizon.   For practical purposes you can see the satellite belt for about 50 deg either side of due south of wherever you happen to be,  so for France and Britain very roughly you can get satellites between 45 deg W and 45 deg E of the Greenwich meridian. Move to New York and you'd very roughly get 32 deg W to 122 W (quick calc open to correction) so you might JUST have got Hispasat  (30 deg W) in terms of visibility,  but the European beam would of course be too weak.   There's an American beam but I have a feeling that's pointed more at Brazil.  In any case no free to air BBC on that,  but it gives you an idea of how far east a "European" satellite is once you're the other side of the Atlantic.

I'm probably stating the obvious but you said you moved eastwards (19 -> 28).   But did you tip the dish down as well?   It's not a huge amount but if it was a little high even for Astra 1 it may well be considerably too high for Astra 2. Apologies if I'm involving grandmothers doing bizarre things to eggs.

I read this thread and had a feeling that Royal Mail don't allow sending of medicines. Maybe I'm interpreting it too strictly but their web site in fact says "May only be sent by, or at the specific request of, a qualified medical practitioner, registered dental practitioner, veterinary surgeon, registered nurse or a recognised laboratory or institution." But I imagine that if suitably wrapped it's not going to cause any one too many sleepless nights....?

Sorry wooly for the confusion - my remarks were more as a result of the previous post.