Ac50

obviously too much plonk this end again tonight! You forgot your r so it's not just me!!

Guess what!!! I crept back to the post office this afternoon, hanging my head with shame (or was it the hang over?) not expecting any luck in finding my passport, only to be greeted at the counter by a smiling clerk (the same one who'd been at the end of my french tantrum yesterday).  He told me he'd been on the phone for hours and the document had been returned to them this morning.  I almost started to cry, but kept that stiff upper lip, thanked him profusely when he handed it over.  I am not sure what has surprised me more - that the document turned up, or that I obviously know more french than I thought.  I think for the next few weeks I will be driving 10 kms to the post office in the next village.  Wonder if I'll ever get post delivered at the house again! So, all ye of little faith, take heed, miracles do happen!

As some of you might know, last year we moved to Canada.  I hated it so much that I now spend half the year here in France and the rest back there. As my passport expired this coming December,  last week I went up to Paris with all the documents and applied to have it renewed at the British Consulate there.  They said it would take about 10 days and would be sent back by registerd post.  When I got back from the shops today there was slip from the post office to say I had something to collect and it would be ready after 4 pm.  Have just been over to collect it, only to be told it had been sent to Canada!!!  When we first moved last November, we filled in a form for post to be forwarded from France to Canada, but that expired in May this year and I have been receiving post here at the house in France ever since, in fact 2 letters arrived this morning.  No problems.  I asked the man at the post office how this could have happened, especially as it was a registered letter.  He couldn't explain, got the famous shrug of the shoulders.  My problem now is I am here and at the moment there is no-one in Canada, my husband is in the Phillipines!  From there he is travelling to Germany and then meeting up with me here.  Also will the letter still require my signature in Canada as it's registered post?  The man at the post office here said he would phone the main office in St Lo and try to get it stopped and sent back but he wasn't sure if they could do that.  Do I phone the embassy here and tell them the tale and will they be able to help me?  I know I will be more rational in the morning, I've never lost my temper in public in France before, sure I'll be the talk of the town tonight.  Will I end up like that person in the Tom Hanks film - stateless!!![:(]  Good job all the wine is on special at the moment, knew I'd been stocking up for something special.  Any suggestions kindly received.

Can anyone recommend a tiler, close to Carentan (Manche 50).  Need to put down tiles in kitchen and lounge. Thanks  

unfortunately my husbands dream turned into a nightmare for the rest of the family!

Although it helps to speak the language I don't think that is the most important thing, as we've learnt by moving to Canada.  They all speak English there - a form of it anyway!!!!  Seriously, I really think it is about attitude.  We couldn't speak a word of french when we arrived, and I am sure I often sound like the policeman from Allo Allo when I talk now, but we were so excited about moving to France, were so positive and felt so safe that we just embraced everything thrown at us.  None of our neighbours here speak English but we get by, they seem really happy to have us as neighbours and want to help us settle in.  Often a smile can get you further than a million words.  I am really not being naive, it's not easy, but language really isn't the only barrier.

Mitzi you should look in Normandy, close to where we are.  We have been here 5 years now, seen children through school here, renovated and sold a house etc.  We love it and have found many friends in our small town.  Even the lady in the bank comes round the counter to kiss us when we go in!  My husband made a big mistake last year and accepted a job in Canada.   Where he is based in Nova Scotia they have an expression to describe immigrants - "from away".  There was a obituary in the local newspaper for a lady who moved there when she was 3 years old, but they still described her as being "from away",  yet we never experienced that here in France, despite the fact that none of us spoke French when he accepted the job here.  Thankfully when the decision was made to move to Canada, we were in a position that we could buy a smaller house here in Manche, and now all the children are at university, I can come back to France more often.  I miss it so much and know we will never find the same lifestyle we had here. I am back for 2 months again now, and feel a different person after just a week of being back. If you really want something enough and have a dream, only you can stop it happening.  Take your time and look around - you will know when you've found the right place for you.  Good luck with your search.

Have just used sncf for the first time, booking on line.  What a pleasure.  They have a special on at the moment "France for 10 euros" go to voyages-sncf.com Site is in English.  Managed to get a ticket, Cherbourg to Paris for 60 euros return, 1st class.  Found website really easy to use and you can print your tickets at home.  Just going back now to see where else I can go.  At those prices it's cheaper than taking the car!

Has anyone flown this route recently?  If so, how easy was it to get from the airport into Cherbourg?  Are there taxi's at the airport or do you need to book beforehand?  The quote I have for the airfare is half the ferry fare with Brittany ferries and it leaves at mid-day instead of early morning so it sounds much better. 

Have just driven from our home in Normandy down through France to Spain and back again.  Although we didn't have time to stop at many places, it was interesting to note the differences between depts.  Also, reading comments on the various forums, it is noticeable how different experiences can be when dealing with officialdom, banks etc. in the various depts.  We have always loved it here in Normandy, and I am so glad we kept our house here when my husband recently accepted a job in Canada.  The weather never really gets too hot or too cold.  The people are lovely, house prices are reasonable, it is easy to access other parts of France and Europe from here.  Food is great, there is so much to do and see, great beaches, etc.  This weekend of course we have all the D-Day celelbrations to enjoy.  Personally I think Normandy is the best department in France, but would love to know what the rest of you think.  Is there really a area that is so bad it should be avoided, or is there somewhere else even better than what we have here.

After 5 miserable, long months in Canada, I've finally escaped back to our little house in Normandy.  It's hard to put into words how I feel now I'm back.  It's the little things that have the biggest impact.  French friends came to meet us at Cherbourg and drove us down to our home.  They had arranged for the house to be heated, provided supper and took us shopping the next day.  The local garage gave me a car to use, free of charge, whilst I decided what car to buy.  Our neighbour came round with a bowl of home made soup and fresh farm eggs. Going into the bank, the cashier was so pleased to see us, she came out from behind the counter to give us a hug.  On Sunday, going into our favourite restaurant in Carentan, we were greeted like old friends by the propieter, who insisted we have an apperitif on the house.  How many other restaurants remember you after a a5 month absence.  Everytime we thanked them, they replied it is normal, not realising it really isn't and that their kindness and care is rarely experienced outside Normandy.  The colours in the gardens are overwhelming after the dreary Canadian winter, who would think you could get excited seeing green grass!  The blossom on the fruit trees, the multitude of plants in flower, the busy markets etc.  all make me realise we made the right decision in keeping a house in France.  My eldest has just finished 2nd year at university and has come back with me for a few weeks.  Her french friends are phoning daily, even though they are still in the middle of exams, and they have made her so welcome, it is as if she has never been away.  My husband arrives today so we are just off to the airport to collect him - unfortunately he now only has 3 weeks holiday a year so will only be here for 2 weeks.  I, on the other hand, have so much to do, I might just have to extend my stay a little bit longer!!! For all of you hesitating making the move to France, don't.  Make the most of it, and enjoy it whilst you can.  It's good to be back - can't wait for a visit to our first vide grenier this weekend.

we lived in SA for 20 years and have many friends there, quite a few have been to visit us here in Normandy.  We just go along to our local Marie and get the form stamped by him, confirming we are providing accommodation for them etc.giving our details.  They then submit this to their local embassy to get their visa, none have had a problem, and it has never taken long.  Never a problem when they enter into France.  Far from being unpopular, we have found just the opposite reaction from local friends and neighbours, and the tourist offices we visit.

Didn't know there were so many Poms around Carentan! Can highly recommend La Maritza, 4 rue Torteron, down by Societe Generale. Have the normal or special menu. The galettes for starters are very nice. Good, French food. When we get into spring a couple of the restaurants on the coast road heading towards Cherbourg will be open and they are also worth trying.   Cheers Alan

Dear Mazan, Cat and Grs . THANK YOU . Back online! Followed instructions and we're back on. Downloaded the upgrade to Spybot and deleted a couple of suggested files from that too! Much appreciated. Cheers ALAN

Thanks , we do run Norton Antivirus. But no firewall.

Dear All Good day . Yesterday we had a problem with the old steam driven (Win 95) machine. Logged on and got email ..son then went and surfed. No problem...  Logged off. Came back and tried to dial up. Kept getting a Telecom error message (French voice saying number was unattainable). In the dialup dialogue box I noticed that the login name had been changed, plus the number dialled?? After this we  reinstalled the correct number for the provider (Free --its an 08---number) ...and then we were able to make the call through the modem  --- BUT  --- when we got through a Chinese voice answered!!! We have cleared out all previous information in the dialup network boxes and these bally numbers keep being reinstalled.  and it still keeps going through to a Chinese voice.. Son swears blind he did not go to anything other than previously accessed safe sites and  -- no, we did not open any dodgey emails with attachments either. I have run Spybot since (there were a couple of cookie tracers that were suggested we should erase but that's all) I have heard of these redialler viruses to premium numbers?? maybe this is one , but how would it have got through? I have tried  to do an internet search for dialler hijackers but have not found anything that seems to match. However,  I now cannot connect back to the internet provider through this machine .. Any suggestions as to where we have to look to make the changes (permanent) and why if I correct the dial number to Free does it  (presumably) dial to another number? We know that Free is working since we accessed the internet via another machine using the same dial up and login. Any advice much appreciated.   Cheers ALAN

Have you had any "surpises" on the account? I note they announce that you start paying immediately on connection and then you have to dial the number required. I have had a couple of attempts where there's been no reply but assume I will still be charged. The problem is we have not had the telecom bill yet to check. Thanks for the info.  

UK Digital TV in France Herewith something of a story and a request. First the request: Does anyone in France have a second hand, off-contract sky digibox, with the newly activated free2view card they would like to sell? If so please send me a note. The story it is true: if you want UK TV and radio you should get a digibox right from the beginning - I did not! I live in Normandy , just a little too far to pick up UK TV from the Channel Islands, but in summer, on clear nights, we get brilliantly clear transmissions from Southampton (Meridian?) -- all of the UK channels - (we have a PAL TV - the outside aerial is set up for French TV!). But still, when available, the channels fade in and out. We would like an little extra UK-based TV, but do not want a sky subscription. I have neither a UK address nor bank account and I did not want to get involved with making phone calls and or asking/hassling friends. Step 1: we purchased an (expensive) high gain , whopper of a TV aerial and signal amplifierit did not work! (still sits in my roof!). Step 2: we bought a relatively cheap analogue dish and tuner.. First I had to find out what 19.2E means , this involved looking on the internet (i.e. a bit left of south) . Out came the old cubs compass but ended up pointing the dish up a bit and facing south (where the sun is at midday ) and then knocked the arm a little bit to the left. The other secret here was that the dish was low on the wall and so no ladders involved and the dish was linked via short cable to tuner and TV. (I agree this must not be done on a wet day!!). It took about 2 hrs of fiddlingbut we got Astra analogue loads of channels, most in German. But importantly, for Mom and Dad there were a couple of English news channels and for the teenagers there was Europe MTV. All went well for quite some time. However we were always competing against MTV ..and at the time Ozzie was doin me head in . And this was not the reason we wanted the TV rather be without it! We had always said wed live here 2 years without British TV so the kids can pick up the language.. blow me down , almost 2 years to the day, the BBC went free to air on Astra 28 digital!!!(I learned this though the Living France site - many thanks). We just happened to go to the brico and there was a digital box on special. With hindsight I wish I had paid the 200Fr or so more (yes, I still think in Francs!) for the version with 2 LNBs --- however, I was not absolutely sure it was even going to work and the digital version being around 700Fr was not cheap..still if only it gave me access to Radio 2, I thought it would be worth it. So we got home and duly fitted up the 80cm dish, this time we bolted that one to a post on the ground (up along the side of the house I think theres nothing worse than a satellite dish stuck on an old French farmhouse!) OK, we found south, tilted the dish a bit back from vertical , (a tad more than for the Astra 19 analogue) .. mind you, its all relative -- since the support pole itself was not dead vertical! So fiddling on the ground makes it easier.within 3 hrs we had a good picture and could get all BBC channels, ITV news radio ..(using the in built signal strength/quality bars). I now realise from some of the forum threads that we have been lucky to lock on relatively easily (it also useful to have a highly motivated teenager who will give a lot of help if they think theres extra TV as a reward ).. I can really recommend Euronews and you can select to listen in English or several other European languages using the remote control. (Woe of woes MTV was no longer available on the digital site! but there were a couple of stations called POP and originally Chart Show, but strangely sometimes they are there and sometimes they are not it only happens with the music channels). I have only had a couple of occasions in really horrible weather where we could not get the BBC picture and often if the picture on one station had gone there was something available on another. So we must have been lucky and found that needle in the haystack point. Always one to fiddle one day, I connected the digital box to the old, redundant analogue LNB and knocked the arm a bit to the left and up ( from 19.2 to 28E), low and behold , this analogue universal LNB worked to pick up the BBCso now I have two dishes set up and pointing at the right satellite. Christmas was a pleasure and we managed to watch Morecambe and Wise and the John Wayne movies, just like the old days, in fact the only good things on TV were programmes from the old days maybe we should just have bought some old tapes! .. but I digress. We managed to get a copy of the radio Times for Christmas and there we could see all of these other channels available. I have followed some of the satellite threads on Living France on and off