Cat

Down here in the "Sarf" you'd have to tie them to their chairs to stop 'em dancing! When I arrived, it was Bastille day (cue lots of singing and dancing). 2 weeks later was the village fete (and not a cream tea or vicar in site). Cue 4 nights of dancing until the wee small hours in the square in front of the church. Up until that point, I mistakenly thought I could dance!  Not like that I couldn't! When term time started again, I signed myself up for the local dance class. It was then I realised that it's not something they're born with. There they all were, learning, improving, and in some cases just plain showing off. T'was difficult, me not knowing much french at the time, and I admit that on more than one occaision I made a right idiot of myself. Of course, they all thought it was wildly funny  After just about every lesson I'd drag myself home in a fit of pique, vowing never to return. I stuck it out for 7 weeks, but in the end gave in and admitted defeat.  I can just about manage the simple dances now, but I will definitely be going back after the summer (when my french should be equal to the task in hand) to give it another try.  

Oooh, where do I start (and when should I stop)? Red wine vinegar cider vinegar Lidl's pickled onions in balsamic vinegar (yummy) Those huge tins of (crespo???) olives (mix with that red wine vinegar for oh-so-cheap Kalamata style olives, or with olive oil, crushed garlic, rosemary and tiny dried peppers) Creme de cassis, framboise, mure, pêche Smoked Salmon/Trout (freezes very well) Cremant D'Alsace (every bit as nice as champagne, and a third of the price) Rhubarb Jam Dijon Mustard and, of course, cheese, cheese, cheese    

Hi Lavie I have both UK credit and debit cards, I informed my bank (LLoysd TSB) of my new address in France before I moved over here, absolutely no problems. I also have french bank cards, but find the UK ones (well, the debit card anyway) a useful way of withdrawing euros in France from my UK account to pay into my french bank account.  This generally works out cheaper for me (for small, irregular sums)  than using one of the many currency exchange firms available (and it was actually a currency exchange firm who advised me to do this). Hope this helps

My favourite way with breasts is also one that my french fella adores, and takes less than 15 minutes. You'll need duck breasts, honey, oranges and some Grand Marnier/Cointreau/Mandarine/or other orange liqueur.  Failing that, brandy is almost as good. Start by zesting or grating the peel of the oranges (about one orange per 2 breasts) you'll need this later. Then... Dry the breasts with kitchen roll Heat plates in a low oven (you'll need to bung the breasts in there later) Get a large frying pan good and hot (no fat/oil needed) Score the fat on the breast diagonally with a very sharp knife, then score in opposite direction (so it looks like a grid) Remove batteries from smoke alarm, and open window Bung breasts in frying pan, fat side down. NOW THE VERY IMPORTANT BIT, POUR OFF EXCESS FAT INTO A SMALL HEAT-PROOF BOWL (YOU WILL HAVE TO DO THIS AT LEAST 3 TIMES). When the fat side starts to look good and crispy (about 6 minutes) turn the breast over (pour off excess fat) and cook the other side for a few minutes. As soon as the breasts looks nicely browned bung them on one of the prewarmed plates in the oven, and turn the hob down a little. Pour off excess fat, leaving a little in the pan for the sauce. Add a good slug of orange liquor/brandy and let this reduce a little Add a good dollop of honey and stir until mixed Add the orange zest and stir. Remove  breasts from oven, pour over sauce and serve... yum  

Whilst not claiming to be an expert (as if...) I think I know enough about broadband to be able to offer an explanation. Think of it like electricity, it's there, you want it, but someone has to supply it to you! You don't say whether the broadband being offered in your commune is cable or ADSL, but I suspect it's probably the latter. ADSL splits your telephone line into 2 lines, one for voice and one for data, and then uses a ADSL modem or router to supply Broadband. Cable broadband does what it says on the box, it is supplied direct by a cable and modem from your service provider.  Both of these require a service provider to provide your internet service, just like dial-up.  They are the "link" between you and the internet. Just because you are connected all the time doesn't mean that "link" comes for free (again, think electricity). Even using a free email service like Hotmail will still require some way of accessing the internet. I'm more than happy for any of the real experts out there to correct anything I've said here, but I hope this should give you what you need to know.

Hurrah, at last I'm in the club! Thanks for the advice Epinay, Hoddy & Alexis I'm going to do 2 things now, lay off the rat poison (I think I prefer to listen to the monsters than smell them dying ) and keep my fingers crossed that maybe fella and Hoddy are right, and that they're really only meeces after all. Oh, and do a little jig to celebrate the fact that I'm not "lucky" enough to have moles (yet)!

There's something nasty living in my loft, or to be more accurate, several nasty somethings living in the space between the ceiling and the attic floor! Whatever these beasts are (fella says mice, but to my mind they sound a good deal heavier than that, or perhaps they are just the most immensely obese mousies imaginable) they only make their presence know at night.  Lots of skittering about, scratching etc, worryingly usually directly above my bed (eeek). Oh, and they seem to have claws and they only moved in when the cold weather started. Due to limited access (for me) to their chosen abode, persuading these unwanted visitors to leave is proving tricky.  After some conscience wrestling, I eventually resorted to rat poison, but so far it seems to have had no effect. Anyone out there have any idea what these beasties might be, and how best to evict them?  

Thanks Graham & Hegs Looks like I might be waiting awhile before it arrives in my neck of the woods.

Hi Jan Are you getting any kind of error message when you try to open the attachments?  Are you running Outlook express for your emails, or something else?  

I noticed an advert this week for a new TV service, TNT, about to be launched in France. It looks like a french version of Freeview, with 14 french channels being offered, sans abonnement, via aerial and decoder box. Their website (www.tnt-gratuite.fr)  which is supposed to allow you to input your postcode to discover when it will be available in your area, doesn't seem to be fully functional yet.  Anyone got any further information? Thanks

Hi Di You could always just try bunging it in your computer (if you have a CD or DVD drive and a video card) as Windows Media Player should be able to play VCDs. It's not exactly new technology, as the MPEG 1 format that VCDs use was developed in the 90's, it's just that (like laser disks) it is mainly used in Asian countries. Good luck

[quote]Hi Cathy,I'm really interested in this, could you provide some more details? How big is the surface area you are heating, is it a renovation or a new build? Do you have an idea of how the cost splits ...[/quote] Hi Hegs, it's a new build, about 160 sq m to be heated, all on the same level. Unfortunately I can't give a cost break-down yet, as the price is a ball-park figure given by the geo-therm company when they came to look at the land and for the initial survey (apparently they have to ascertain feasability with a prliminary visit). We decided on the 3 bore-hole approach as we didn't want to tie up a lot of land for the shallow run horizontal system (might want to plant orchard/dig swimming pool or something in the future). 

It just seems that, back in the UK, we are so used to being reminded of safety issues (the graphic pre-Christmas anti drink driving TV ads, wear something white at night, think once, think twice, think bike... even the green cross code) that perhaps we have a greater awareness. It's not just road safety, things like smoke alarms too, every time I burn the toast (sadly an almost daily occurrence) my french fella rolls his eyes and complains that they are the invention of the devil. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, it's just that maybe the very things we so like about France (the slightly old-fashioned, easy going way of life, the devil-may-care attitude, the reluctance to be told what to do by the state) are the the flip-side of the same coin. I read somewhere that the secret to reducing road accidents was not to make cars safer, but to do away with air-bags, seat belts, side impact bars and the like, and to put a bl**dy great metal spike on the steering column, facing the driver!  Not something I agree with, but it does make you think...

You're absolutley right zeb, not too many flics (vigilant or otherwise) here in the sticks. In fact, the locals here all know the favoured areas for random checks, and the only time I see some of my french friends putting on a seat belt is when they spot a flic in the distance!

A couple of years ago, I remember being struck by the number of black silhouettes on the road-side indicating fatal road accident victims. I haven't seen any of these silhouettes for a while, or at least not in my neck of the woods, but another recent fatal accident here in my village prompted me to do a bit of research. I was shocked, although perhaps not entirely surprised, to discover (according to the most recently available data from the European Commission for Transport) that twice as many people in France are killed as a result of road accidents than in the UK. Although the actual number of road accidents in the UK is twice that of those in France (as far as can be determined, due to different reporting methods) the likelihood of surving a road accident in France is far lower than in the UK.  I'm no statistician, and I know that figures can can viewed, and conclusions drawn, in many different ways, but I wonder how many of these deaths could have been avoided by the use of seat-belts.  Is it just me, or have others noticed a distinctly cavalier attitude to the use of these by french drivers and passengers? Interestingly, pedestrians are safer here than in the UK, but sadly, not cyclists. Anyone interested in viewing the underlying figures might be interested in taking a look at the site http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/care/statistics/index_en.htm

[quote]Thanks Cat46, I have not laughed outloud at translations in ages. They are not wrong, just that current usuage, is often rather stronger. In fact that I would hope that people would look at the rude ...[/quote] If you thought that was funny, you'll just love this  http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa020901a.htm  Now I know what all those bizarre french gestures mean, very informative!   Ho hum, pass the pinard somebody

Fella and me, we're going for geothermic heating, sourced from 3 (dry) bore holes (more efficient than the "snake" type shallow system, and doesn't need acres of land. Heat pump, water heater, installation, underfloor heating, bore holes et al coming to around 20,000 euros... gulp Expensive initially, but with the tax refund initiative for renewable energy, low running costs and low maintenance we figure it will be the best bet in the long run.

[quote]Also in vocabulary - voiture/bagnole, travail/bulot etc.Does anyone know of an online dictionary of such?[/quote] Hi Dick There's not a lot out here, but searching on argot found this, which seems to list a lot of the words in most common use http://french.about.com/library/vocab/argot/bl-argot.htm (don't worry, it's not too rude, and it has usage examples).  The search feature didn't seem to work too well, but the alphabetical listings were useful. Or you could try http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/french_cool/  as this lists words in different categories of usage. J'ai la banane

[quote]Ok being thick and new to this and my french is poor only just learning what's the difference ?[/quote] Hi Andy 'français familier', the unguarded, casual language used by speakers in informal, everyday talk 'français soutenu', formal french (Ok, I admit it, I looked it up). An example I often notice is that the dialog will say something like "Chuis <quelque chose> and the subtiltes will use the formal version... "Je suis <quelque chose>"

I always have subtitles turned on, if they are available.  I can just about manage without, but I do find it difficult having to concentrate so hard on what is being said all the time. I can grasp the context, but often feel as if whole chunks just go straight over my head. Whenever I watch telly with my french copain/fella/boyfriend (yuck wish there was a suitable word... I mean, really... it's not like we're sixteen, and companion just sounds so lame)...  anyway, whenever we watch TV we have the subtiles on.  If we're watching UK TV it helps with his english, and french TV helps me with my french.  There's invariably something in the translation that has us reaching for our "bible", the trusty, dog eared, french-english dictionary.  I quite enjoy spotting the differences between the spoken words and the subtiles, makes me feel quite proud of myself if I can recognise, and understand, both. 

On the subject of clauses suspensives (me being the one with the immobilier friend), there is no legal reason why a clause suspensive can't be added for a dependence on sale of another property.  While it is true that they don't do things this way in france in general, you just might be able to find someone to agree to this.  On the whole though, the "once bitten - twice shy" french immobiliers want nothing to do with this clause suspensive, and will simply refuse outright. In fact, my immob. chum here says he won't be allowing them either from now on!

It kind of depends whether you are still in the UK or not. Assuming that your phone is over a year old, and not still on contract, the easiest (and by far the cheapest) way is to wander into your UK orange shop, and ask for a UK pay as you go SIM. You don't even need to get your phone chipped.  They will post you one within a month, and then you just phone orange to get the SIM enabled. These work perfectly well here in france, with no risk of losing credit as you need only make one call in a six month period.  True the actual cost of any calls you do make will be higher, as you will keep your UK mobile number and so would be charged international rates, but if you really only plan on usung it a couple of times a month it is laughably cheap. The other benefit of this is, if you plan on viewing UK TV here in france, you can call Sky on a genuine UK number if you have any satellite problems (This mail should probably have been posted in the Satellite, Internet, TV forum).   Good luck  

I watched it too, and so did my french friend (who is an immobilier here in france). We simply could not believe what we were being shown (fed???). It might make compelling viewing, but I'm certain that if all had gone smoothly with the project then it would never have made it to our tv screens. And did I get it wrong, or were they really charged 1,300 euros for that plastic shower?  Have they never visited a DIY shop here it france, what a rip-off. As for the house sale falling through back in england, my immobilier friend says that this is the bane of his life, and hates having to put in a clause suspensive for this, as they fall through so often.  He also says that permission is definitely needed in order to put in a new "opening" (the velux windows) and that dear old Didier the builder would have known this, but that it is apparently fairly common in rural areas to assume that no-one will notice and just to get on with it. Ho hum

Hi Alan I had a very similar problem back in November, my dial-up connection was hi-jacked and rerouted via a premium rate mobile number in Austria!  Sadly I was only alerted to this when France Telecom actually contacted me to warn me of my dramatically increased phone bill, nearly 100 euros per day . I had never heard of Spybot before this, but needless to say found out about it and had it installed and running PDQ afterwards.  It found and dealt with a large number of suspect issues, and since then I have had no problems. This may be a daft question, but do you regularly check for and download the Spybot updates (the last detection update was 28th January) as these include the latest known web-dialler problems, and do you have TeaTimer (the dialog that alerts you when a registry change is attempted) running?

Hi Mary I don't know if this will be of any help or not, but I have a french (Orange, non contract) mobile, and I use a UK Orange Pay as You go SIM card.  The card cost £5 when I bought it in the UK, and works out by far the cheapest option for me for an occaisional/emergeny phone.  As long as I make at least one call in a six month period, and keep the credit topped up (by phone, using a credit or debit card) it works just fine here in france, with no expiry. Probably worth pointing out that I still have my UK mobile phone number, so this would perhaps only be useful if you kept yours, or for anyone else moving to france in the near future and facing a similar problem. Although any calls I make work out more expensive this way, I use it so rarely that it's well worth the cost of the calls to avoid heavy monthly charges or expiry of credit.