Patf

Who wrote this? "Out of interest, Norman, did you get your 3000 back?"Anyway  I was teasing ALBF because he's always complaining about life being expensive in France. No sense of humour Richard, that's your problem.

This might help to solve your housing/financial problems and save money - shared housing:https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2018/10/31/2898205-vivre-ensemble-chacun-chez-habitat-participatif-concept-fait-emules-toulouse.html

The variation between french banks for virement limits - could that be because each regional group is individually run, makes its own rules?eg ours was CA Pyrenees Gascogne.

"Stop blaming the children."Who's blaming the children? I'm not. The explanation is much more complex than that, albf.

Thanks for your input Eric - interesting about military service. How old were you when you did this?And ALBF - your post about family problems. The UK isn't any different, that's why I said at the start that school problems in both countries are similar.If it was possible, I would reduce the school leaving age to 15. But there aren't the jobs available now that there used to be.Those last few years at school must seem pointless to many teens.  Those who aren't suited to an academic curriculum.They want to be out there earning money, trying to be independent.

re bank cards - many of the older folk in our part of rural France thought they were very advanced if they had a bank account, never mind anything else. As for internet banking - no way.Most times I was in CA one of the staff was showing an elderly person how to get cash from the machine. They had a sort of green withdrawal card. That's why it will take ages to get rid of cheque books in France.Mind I'm not much better when it comes to smartphones etc, still refuse to have one.

We got our final (I hope) tax fonc. bill a couple of weeks ago. The problem for us was we no longer have a french bank account.I tried to email the tax office, no luck, so in the end sent a letter asking for bank details. They emailed me back and I paid from my Lloyds account. There was a fee of £9.I've still got the bank details, it's a main branch in Paris, so probably the same for everyone.

I've heard of this too, probably from Hereford's posts in the past.But only from the point of view of paying for care in a maison de retraite.

I like this one:"Bonjour. Les policiers et gendarmes n'ont rien à faire dans les écoles et lycées. Ils ont assez de travail sur la voie publique et dans nos campagnes. L'éducation Nationale a une solution. Mettre deux grand " gaillards " devant leurs établissements. Afin de surveiller et de faire respecter la discipline à l'entrée. Casquettes enlevées. Le bonjour de rigueur. Pas d'écouteur dans les oreilles. Tenues respectables. Les téléphones se rangeront dans une armoire de sécurité. Et si ces consignes ne sont pas respectées, une exclusion d'une semaine sera prononcée. Non mais !!!."

https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2018/10/26/2895618-encore-affaire-braquage-profs-bientot-policiers-interieur-ecoles.htmlIt looks as if France has similar problems with discipline in secondary schools to the UK.Read the comments for some ideas how to cope.

I've lost the plot here [blink] Who is who and why? Or why not?

Clair - your story of the compost heap reminded me of a garden in our village. They had a huge heap of rubble from some building project and had planted a few pumpkin plants there which soon covered the ugliness.

ebaynut - I like your uk newspaper categories [:D] I read the Guardian and am addicted to Daily Mail online.How do you categorise french papers? I used to read the Figaro sometimes , which I thought was quite rightwing (for France). Otherwise the local paper La Depeche du Midi. I once asked people in the paper shop what they thought was a rightwing paper and they weren't sure. But left? Big smiles all round - La Depeche!Actually I don't think it has a strong political stance, but is very up to date on local news and views.Each dept has a section and they have reporters in most towns. I still read it online.

Our first house in France was on a steep slope and we applied for permission to build a pool - we had to excavate to find a level placement.We got permission, but they were more concerned with the distance from some overhead electricity wires (moyen).So even if you want an above ground, maybe if it involves excavating it's classed as in-ground.We never did complete the pool - common sense intervened. I had visions of the whole thing sliding down the hill after a heavy storm. The earth was 100% clay.

Clair [:D] Where have you BEEN?

Mint - It's not new.I read in our local paper about 2 years go that our main departmental hospital in Auch was having financial problems too. Having to decide whether to cut down on staff or putting up fees.Hoping you still get the care you need.otoh last year at this time I was in Auch hospital for 5 days for tests for a stomach ulcer and there were many empty beds in the ward (gastrointestinal.)

Betty - the one about the language school was based on the Hyman Kaplan books by Leo Rosten. Most of which I read and found funny at the time.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyman_Kaplan As for offensive language - I dislike the regular use of 'swear' words but no-one would take any notice if I asked for a ban.

The 2 main pharmacies in central Mirande combined a few years ago. Someone said at the time that the govt. was reducing the number of medicaments for which the pharmacies take a 'fee' from CPAM etc. So their income had dropped.I don't know if that's true.

I used to like Till Death Do Us Part (Alf Garnett etc.) Which would be banned now.But I think the writer's aim was to ridicule extreme racist views as a way modifying themAlso showing that other national groups have racist views. (eg Spike Milligan as an Indian - "I hate Pakis.")

re helping with car problems etc - that's certainly true. Several times I needed  to ask for help with vehicle emergencies and the french people nearby were very quick to offer assistance. And I'm no young dolly bird! Also if I had a fall in the town (3 times.)Sometimes I gave them a kiss on a bristly cheek in thanks and got a big smile back.I wondered if it was to do with the sense of communal responsibility which is instilled in rural communities, as well as genuine kindheartedness.There are kind people in the UK too, but not always so quick to rush to help.

"The French are the biggest load of snobs out there,"You're right there, Wooly - in my limited experience anyway.Even in our small commune there were sub-groups. eg those who had had a 'better' education, or belonged to an important family in that area etc. That's the kind of thing I picked up from the gossip. I've mentioned before another english neighbour, nouveau riche, who eventually went bankrupt. One of my french friends actually courted their friendship until they lost all their money. Their house was being sold at auction this week. But in a way it's easier for us, because they'll always treat us as outsiders, even though they can be genuinely fond of us as individuals. IMO anyway.

My closest friend in France was english, living in our village. We're about the same age, used to go for walks and shopping together. But I was also very friendly with our 2 closest french neighbours. And a few others - the french like to gossip! There didn't seem to be any cliquey groups of british people near us. The only time you saw that type was in the summer when the tourists came. I suppose I'm a bit snobby too, because I can't stand people who talk about their house, their car, their clothes all the time. And how much they cost.

albf - be honest with yourself please. You moved to France because you fell for a french woman and she wanted to stay in her own country.

When we moved into our house in the Gers it was damp as it had just been a holiday home. The previous owners (british) had had the walls plastered with some kind of plasticky stuff, and it was all blistered and flaking off. It all had to be scraped off and replaced by some ?lime based stuff, can't remember the name.Another solution is to leave the stone walls uncovered, just fill up the cracks to make safe.

Our local paper often had articles about this problem. One  reason for newly trained doctors to prefer to work in a town or city was that their spouse also needs to work. And rural areas don't have many work opportunities.I think I've posted this before (our doctor and his family):https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/09/27/2653500-medecin-de-famille-avec-ses-parents-et-son-grand-pere.htmlYou can see that the young man said he tried to persuade some of his friends to work in the Gers but they weren't interested.