Dunton4

Most companies who sponsor MBAs have a "lock-in clause" in their contracts to try to ensure that the person stays with the company for a specified period of time.  I'm not sure how binding this is legally, though, so you may have a good point!  

I have an MBA from one of the UK's leading business schools and have, post-MBA, worked as part of the programme team for the same MBA, although I'm not involved with MBA programmes now.  I now earn far less than pre-MBA, but I took my MBA to broaden my business knowledge, generate opportunities and to gain the confidence to become self-employed, not to get a leg-up in my existing career and that has worked for me.  After 17 years in industry (as a qualified accountant) I paid for my MBA myself and the return on investment is difficult to gauge.  In pure financial terms it was a poor investment, once you have considered loss of earnings whilst you study and fees, but in terms of personal growth, development of opportunities and confidence-building it has proven to be invaluable.  You will learn a lot about yourself (not all of the things I learned about myself were positive!) and meet lots of interesting, motivated people. Advice I would give?  If you want to maximise opportunities do it at the right time in your life.  I don't want to be ageist, but 28-34 is, in my personal opinion the best time to take the MBA if you want to exploit traditional "MBA" type jobs.  Of course, you can take it when you're older (I did) but many traditional employers of MBAs will not consider you for their MBA recruitment programmes (I know there is legislation against this in the UK and increasingly throughout Europe now, but it happened then and I've no doubt will continue to be an issue in the future)   If, like me, you're more mature, think hard about why you want to take it - there are many good reasons, but be sure you are comfortable with them as a direct financial return may be harder to find.  Make sure you attend the best school you can get into.  The rankings do matter.  I personally wouldn't have made the personal and financial sacrifices I did to get an MBA from a school with anything less than an excellent reputation.  Be prepared to work harder than you've ever worked in your life before.  Recognise that for every employer who values your qualification there will be others who think you're over-qualified.  The majority of people on my course wanted to change career direction and I think it is generally considered to be true that an MBA may enable you to work in the same function, but in a different industry sector, or to change function within the same sector, but that to attempt to change both function and sector at the same time is too big an ask!  Really research the market for MBAs in your country/sector - will your qualification be valued once you've got it?  Some MBA programmes enable you to study in two or more different countries and that may be useful to you and attractive to potential employers.  I agree that for French employers  it would be essential to have studied at a French school for at least part of your MBA. Doing my MBA was life-changing for me, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  for me it was worth doing just for the opportunity to work with people from 60 different countries, but it didn't make me rich!  It's not a passport, but can be an enabler.  Good luck, whatever you decide. Hope you found my thoughts useful. Sorry to have rambled on.

I have used WWCurrencies too for the past year and have found them very professional and efficient.  David Foster is very pleasant and helpful.  They don't charge a fee for their transfers. Sue

We have ordered a couple of items from Darty (www.darty.com) and have enjoyed excellent service.  We have found them very convenient because you can order online from the UK and specify a delivery date for when you are in France.  Delivery and installation has been free.  We shall be using them again. Sue

And sometimes the not so young too, Gay

I think if you just opt for showers you risk limiting your potential market.  For example, I think families with small children would want a bath, so unless you want to specifically exclude families with children, I would advocate at least one bath, preferably in the main bathroom.  Many young children (mine included) hate showers.  For what it's worth, we are preparing our three-bedroomed house and we are planning to have a shower in our en-suite bathroom ( a sanctuary for the adults?!) and a shower over bath in the main bathroom serving the other two rooms.  I think you then have all options covered.  Don't know about bidets - we're not planning any, but not sure if you are targeting French clients whether they would expect them? Sue  

Gosh, yes, you wouldn't want a non-French speaker to be in there without a translator or translation, would you ?  I didn't mean to imply that!  We speak it to a reasonable standard, but still wanted someone fluent to be on hand in case we got into difficulties, and at the 75 euros we paid it was a fair price for the reassurance it gave .  Good luck with your purchase Peter! Sue    

Peterw, I am really shocked that you were asked to pay 4000 euros for what seems to be an unnecessary translation !!   We felt more comfortable with an independent supporter as the Notaire was working for both parties.  When we went to sign the Acte our fluent friend couldn't make it and recommended someone who would accompany us for a small fee.  It cost us 75 euros, which we were more than happy to pay.  If you ask around you might find somebody who would do something similar for you.  Sue

I thought the requirement was for the Notaire to be confident that the documents and process had been understood in order that the contract could not be declared null and void at a later date because the signatories claimed they didn't understand it?  I was told that some English buyers had tried to use this as "get out" when they had second thoughts some time after the cooling-off period following signing the Compromis.   Maybe each Notaire has to assure him/herself of understanding in whatever way they deem appropriate? Our Notaire asked us to sign a declaration (in French) to the effect that we had understood the contract.  Our process was all in French and we speak reasonable French, but chose to take along a fluent friend in case any difficulties arose on the day.   As Will says, if the Notaire is confident that a bilingual "interpreter" is there, then maybe written translations are not deemed necessary?  I guess the interpretation may vary from Notaire to Notaire, but I am no expert, just telling of my own experience earlier this year. Sue

On our last visit to France we parked illegally through ignorance and were issued with a standard parking ticket.  No excuses, it was a fair cop, so we took the option to pay this by post, using a cheque from our french bank account, as we were returning to the UK and it was inconvenient to go to a tabac to pay (the payment was posted in France).  The forms said that for postal payments, proof of payment would be the appearance of the deduction on our bank statement.  Well, that was 6 weeks ago and it has still not appeared.  Does anyone know whether it is usual for the authorities to take this long to bank a cheque, or should we assume the payment has gone missing?  If it has gone missing, is there any way we can rectify the situation?  Can we expect any nasty surprises if the authorities believe we have not paid our fine? Thanks for any advice.   

Charlie has raised a good point.   In the past two years I have bought (in the UK) a washing-machine where none of the first THREE delivered worked (fourth is still going strong x-fingers)  Also a dishwasher that needed FIVE call-outs from the engineer in the first two months and eventually had to be replaced.  I dread to think of the implications if I had taken the appliances to France !  Of course, I could just have been unlucky, but I am very cynical of any white-good appliance working first time these days! In my opinion, this is just one of the hidden costs to consider when deciding where to purchase your white goods, over and above the straight-forward ticket price comparison. Whilst it might be difficult to get French retailers to repair/replace (I have no experience of this) the alternative of having faulty UK-purchased goods in France would be more than I personally could cope with! Good luck with your purchases, wherever you might make them!   Sue

We decided that it was more cost-effective to buy white-goods in France, rather than go to the hassle of transporting them across, adding on van-hire and so on.  We were very impressed with ordering on-line with www.darty.fr We were able to order our goods and stipulate a delivery day for when we would be in France.  Goods were duly delivered within our requested half-day timeslot and installed for free by very pleasant delivery-men.  The only problem we came across was needing a French telephone number to get through the ordering screens (it wouldn't accept our UK number or mobiles)  As we don't have a phone in France we just used a friend's and had no problems at all. Sue

Sorry to continue the unpleasant topic of ticks, but I found a large baked bean-shaped tick in the middle of my kitchen floor this morning .  It's really weird because my dog had a tick treatment (Frontline ) in France last Friday, was checked over by a vet in the UK on Monday and has been groomed by me every day since.  Unlike the tick the vet found on Monday, which was flat and dry-looking, this one was large, hard and shiney .  I think it's unlikely that the tick had been present on my dog all the time and we failed to notice, so wonder if it could have been hiding (in bedding?) and came out to play just today.  Do ticks live for long away from a host?  This one looked very healthy, although it wasn't attached to anything and was hardly moving.  Of course, its source could be the UK, but I have never seen a tick like this over here and my dog has not been out of the garden since she came back from France as she is in season.  It all seems very curious to me... I am now paranoid about ticks and have all doggy bedding in the washing machine.  Is there anything else I should be doing? Sue

I decided to stop using the diminutive of my name in France as when written down it looks rather too close to the french for sweat for my liking! (suee....)   I don't want to get an unfortunate nickname at the Mairie, so have opted for Susan, which, as the earlier Susan points out is always pronounced Suzan.  However, at heart I will always be Sue... My OH becomes a rather exotic Adrien and my daughter is Emi-lee, both quite nice really.

Thanks Sarah, that sounds like the collar my vet was recommending.  She did say it repelled flies as well.  Re the Frontline - you may be right about it killing them, rather than preventing them attaching, although I would have thought the tick would have fallen off in that case.  It did look rather flat and empty , but was hanging on in there!  Still, with a combination of Frontline and the collar we should hope to have some respite in future. Sue

I came back from Normandy yesterday after taking my dog for the first time.  She was treated with Frontline on Friday night according to the regulations and the vet checked her over.  The first thing I noticed when I got back to the UK on Sunday was a large grey tick on her chest!  It's been removed ok, but how come it was there after that Frontline..... My vet has recommended a special collar which she says is the latest in the battle against ticks.  When I get it later in the week I will post its name, if anyone is interested. Very disappointed with Frontline....   Sue

We have used Danish Oil on our wooden floors in the UK for many years.  You apply it with a rag and literally wipe it straight into the bare boards.  Not only does it prevent grease stains marking the floor, as Mike has said, but also it hardens the top layer, making the wood more resistent to dents.  It's fantastic stuff, imho, giving the wood a lovely natural finish, bringing out the natural patina of the wood.  And, if you do have a dent you can use a steam iron over it to gently steam the dent out like magic (it really does work!).  It should be reapplied periodically (having said that I haven't re-done my living room floor for several years :rolleyes). Sorry, don't know what it's called in France or where to get it from.  Sue

Yes, Ian, I take your point.  The reason we went to the Mairie in the first place was to try to create a good impression and do things the right way, so wouldn't want to cause offence by ignoring their advice.  We have agreed with our PM to complete both Declaration and Permis and for our PM to check with them which they want.  Re our PM, he was speaking from his personal experience and was only trying to save us unnecessary delay .  Don't think I'll change him just yet .   Thanks for your advice, which I appreciate, being a novice at these relationship issues with the Mairie . Sue

An update.  Having discussed what we were told at the Mairie about only needing a Declaration with the guy who is project-managing for us, he advises that we still submit a Permis, because he fears our application will be returned to us if only a Declaration is submitted.  He thinks the lady at the Mairie was optimistic about what we would need.  I think this is the same point that Will made earlier in this thread.  Still, no doubt about not needing Architect's plans if it's under 170 sqm! Good luck with your plans.   Sue

[quote]Thanks for your replies. I'm in 58 Will. So, you seem to be saying that if we are below the magic 170, which we clearly will be, then even if we need the full permis, it would be ok to submit plans by...[/quote] Patrick, don't know if this will help, but we are also planning to put an extra bedroom and en-suite into our grenier, with a couple of extra Velux windows.  We have had plans drawn up for our own benefit (not by an architect) and the proposed work will keep us within the 170sqm limit.  We popped into the Mairie yesterday to show them our plans and ask for advice (we are in 27) and were told that our comprehensive, but non-architect drawn plans and photos were more than acceptable and that we only needed a Declaration de Travaux, rather than the Permis de Construire we had anticipated.  Don't know if that helps you at all.  Regards,   Sue

Thanks Alan, I have received your PM.  Thanks for the information which is really helpful.  Will check it out.   Kind regards,   Sue

Ah, Alan, that is our house!  The previous English owners moved on two years ago and sold to a French lady, who has just sold to us.  The house was too small for her as she has given birth to a third son and it only has a courtyard garden.   Must admit the name we want to change to something a little more French!  I never thought we'd be buying a "Rose Cottage"! Small world, non? Sadly we can only come over for the Bank Holiday weekend, owing to work commitments, but will be returning for a week at Whitsun, with our pooch.  Good to hear about the Maire!  Down-to-Earth and amiable, I like. Sue

Thanks Alan, that would be really helpful and very kind of you.  I have introduced myself on the "Informative Forum" thread and see that we are neighbours - we are in St Georges itself, just off the square.  I was pleased to hear that you enjoyed the Hotel de France as we have yet to sample it.  Also that you have met the mayor - that is high on our "to do" list! Enjoy your trip - we have to wait until May Bank holiday for our next visit, can't wait! Regards, Sue

Hello everyone in 27, I am so very excited to say that we, too, are now officially in 27 - only part-time for now, but we have dreams...Three weeks ago we took possession of our house just off the square in St Georges du Vievre and it has been great reading about how much you all like the region.  We are so pleased to have settled on it after about 3 (happy!) years of researching where in France we want to be.  So, just wanted to say hi and thanks for all the restaurant recommendations, we'll look forward to sampling them soon. Everyone that we have met so far in St Georges and Lieurey seems so friendly and our house was left in absolutely spotless condition for us to move into, so good experiences so far, long may they last. Sue

Hi, this is my first post as I have just acquired a fantastic village house on the borders of 14 and 27.  I have found the forum very useful and I am really looking forward to spending time in Normandie with my family and dog.  Which brings me to my question.  Can anyone recommend a good vet in the Lieurey/Pont Audemer area who is able to undertake the tick and worm treatment under the PETS travel scheme?  Doesn't need to be English speaking.  I have some names from the Pages Jaunes, but a personal recommendation would be great, if anyone can help.  We are planning to bring her across for Whitsun week and would like to have everything arranged (she already has a passport and has served her 6-months "time"). Also, do French vets usually work Saturdays, or does it vary from vet to vet? Many thanks if you can help.   Sue