hastobe

[quote user="hoverfrog"]I remember reading that in gardening terms the french are a nation of plonkers... they have a large area of lawn and they plonk plants all over it! [/quote] OMG that is so true - we are gradually digging up randomly planted shrubs... Kathie

Not sure what the legal distances are but I believe that it is perfectly acceptable in France to have a mains socket in the bathroom - provided it is an appropriate distance from the bath.  In fact shaver sockets in France often come with a second (i.e. mains) socket for a hairdryer.  The idea of plugs in bathrooms freaked us a bit (being used to UK regs) but seems that this is ok :S Kathie

[quote user="oglefakes"] The average Frencj person isn't looking at the Welsh, English, Union flags (or for that matter, a Moroccan one) flying in their country from a (reserved with regards to flag waving) British point of view, but a French one. [/quote] Not sure what you are saying ogleflakes - that the average Frenchman would be happy if the British residents of Eymet publically burned the French flag and demanded that the flying of same be prohibited? Kathie

Echoing Chezshells really.  Peace and quiet (we have had serious problems with criminal damage to our home in the UK / burglaries / intimidation and violence  / race riots / local yobs etc so France is heaven for us) A big (and imho) beautiful housePretty village only 5 minutes walk from a beautiful river Traditional markets Lovely old townsGood reasonably priced food (eating out) Easy access to a large town / city (without having to live in it!) and without needing a mortgage the size of the National Debt Neighbours whose names we know and whose doorsteps we regularly cross and who are incredibly kind and helpfulWe don't have the acres of land - but we never wanted that - quite happy to look over someone elses acres (which are beautiful woodlands, farms and vineyards.) Against: Feeling of having not much in common with neighbours (different socio group - basic school education v university / professional education, not travelled much beyond their department etc) so not many common points of referenceNightmare getting work done on the houseSometimes have the feeling that we are expected to 'become more French' (I'm English and always will be!) Although I love the restaurants etc - if we were there all the time I would miss the local pub / girlie nights out - not really an equivalent in France - bars seem very much for the men.Although cheap to eat out - we haven't found it to be universally cheaper than the UK  - in fact in many  ways we find it more expensive.Weather is a tad too hot for me in summer and a tad too cold in the winter - shoulder seasons are much better than UK though I'm sure there are other points but that pretty much sums it up. We are in NE Dordogne (quiet, still very French and at least an hour and half from Eymet and the major 'Brit' areas!) Kathie

We have yet to find out!!  We are having a new central heating boiler installed over the summer (another 5500 to 7500 euro into the French money pit!) and renewing all the insulation so, hopefully, next winter will be a little cheaper.  If not, we'll just stay put in good ole blighty! Kathie

[quote user="Chief"][quote user="hastobe"]Local residents in the Cobridge area of Stoke-on-Trent were banned from flying the Union Jack in a public place a couple of years ago (decision of the Stoke-on-Trent City Council as a I recall) - because the local muslim residents found it offensive.  I searched for the local newspaper reports (there was a lot of publicity at the time) - but unfortunately the local online newspaper archives only go back six months - though if you google it you will find a number of referenecs to the incident.  Similarly, local school children were told not to wear England shirts / carry England flags during the world cup in case it caused offence to people of other nationalities.  So I have no doubt Georgina's comments are well founded. Kathie [/quote] Does the article quote muslims who found it offensive, or english people assuming muslims would find it offensive and passing dictate to that effect.  There are so many of these stories and i have yet to come across one where a member of the so-called 'offended community' has actually complained.  They seem to be pre-emptive strikes by well-intentioned but perhaps misguided officials.  Had a similar thing at my sons school, and it turned out to be exactly as i described above. An over-zealous official assuming. [/quote] Yes there were protests from the muslim community - the flag was burned down three times before the council edict to ban the flying of the Union Jack / Flag in public places.  We also had 'You might have your flag but we've got your country' painted in spray paint across one of the major bridges in the locality.  Given that, I agree that often these events are misreported and are actually the result of overzealous officials and PC taken to extremes - but in this case the banning of the flag was as a direct result of serious protests by the local muslim community.  As an aside Cobridge was the area of the 2001 race riots where the police were petrol bombed by local youths. Kathie

Local residents in the Cobridge area of Stoke-on-Trent were banned from flying the Union Jack in a public place a couple of years ago (decision of the Stoke-on-Trent City Council as a I recall) - because the local muslim residents found it offensive.  I searched for the local newspaper reports (there was a lot of publicity at the time) - but unfortunately the local online newspaper archives only go back six months - though if you google it you will find a number of referenecs to the incident.  Similarly, local school children were told not to wear England shirts / carry England flags during the world cup in case it caused offence to people of other nationalities.  So I have no doubt Georgina's comments are well founded. Kathie

[quote user="Barrym"]Having spent 5 years living in Burgundy I recommend:  - the best insulation and lots of it  - make sure you can drain all the water from your system so if you need to leave the house over winter you can drain it it gets very cold in the winter for long periods - but it is beautiful when its so cold. We used oil central heating, with an excellent wood burning stove in the main room.  For a large 4 bedroomed mill house we used about £400 a year for the oil and about 5 steres (cubic metres) of wood.  Wood is plentiful in most of Burgundy, and if you're renovating from scratch you'll have lots of dodgy beams you can cut up to supplement whatever you buy. We've now moved to the Vendee (long story) and are looking into Geothermal heating - this sounds interesting but as we haven't yet bought the house I can't tell you much about that yet except what I've read on the internet. [/quote] I am guessing that the age of the above post (March 2005) is a contributing factor BUT we have just used  870 Euros worth of oil in 8 weeks with the central heating boiler just on minimum - to keep the pipes from freezing.  Granted it has been -8 C at night for much of the time, the house is quite big (250 sq M) and the boiler is quite old (though a good make) but nevertheless that is a hell of a lot of money going up in smoke, so to speak.  We are now seriously considering not using the house from October to April and draining everything down. Kathie

Not sure whether I would agree with the teacher needing to be native French speaking.  Although I can see the point being that is being made about ensuring the teacher has an up to date knowledge / experience of the language being taught.  My experience has been that a native French speaker often knows the correct usage by gut feeling / instinct but may not necessarily have a good grasp of the rules of grammer.  Personally I find it hard just being told that you say something like 'so' but with no explanation as to why. Kathie 

Vous ressemblez à Jean-Philippe Allenbach  60% 2/ Philippe de Villiers 48% 3/ Jean-Marie Le Pen 48% 4/ Nicolas Sarkozy 40% 5/ Corinne Lepage 40% 6/ Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 40% 7/ Yvan Bachaud 36% 8/ Ségolène Royal 36% 9/ Frédéric Nihous 36% 10/ Nicolas Miguet 32% 11/ Marie-Georges Buffet 32% 12/ Leila Bouachera 32% 13/ François Bayrou 32% 14/ Lucien Sorreda 32% 15/ Dominique Voynet 28% 16/ Antoine Waechter 28% 17/ Michel Baillif 24% 18/ Jean-Marc Governatori 16% 19/ Robert Baud 16% 20/ Arlette Laguiller 12% 21/ Olivier Besancenot 12% Though not really impressed with the questionnaire - hard to see how it comes to any reasonable conclusion given 1) how few questions there are and 2) how many are TV, film, etc related.  I mean - what bearing does choice of music have on political persuasion FGS!!! Kathie

[quote user="Lori"]And whether or not the inheriting children want to live in the inherited house themselves. [/quote] I am guessing that what Val is saying is that, if they are run along the same lines as retirement villages outside France, the children couldn't live in them - whether or not they wanted to.  The property has to be occupied by someone over the cut off age (55 usually in the UK). Kathie

[quote user="5-element"]Kathie (Hastobe) - It is you who"have a ticket with him" (meaning he fancies you). (Avoir un ticket avec quelqu'un) that's the expression. You would say "J'ai un ticket avec le boucher". I love it when expressions get mixed-up[:D] [/quote] Thank you for explaining!.  My french neighbour was most confused when I started to ask her if that meant I still owed the butcher some money!! Some expressions just don't translate LOL Kathie

I got told by a neighbour that the local butcher 'had my ticket'.  Thinking this was some uniquely French administrative process peculiar to buying meat, or that I perhaps still owed the butcher some money I enquired further and was told he had been asking lots of questions re name marital status etc... On announcing to my other half that he had better look to his laurels - his response was that he hoped that meant we'd get some decent sausage next time we visited.  My dad laughed out loud and now insists on calling me Mrs Fox (re Dad's Army).  My best friend advised that I had fallen on my feet and that we had to be pragmatic when we got older - and a good butcher is a very useful admirer to have... Kathie

I remember watching pizzas being made in Venice many years ago and the dough wasn't rolled at all but stretched (dough will stretch by its own weight) and turned.  I do a mixture of the two - rolling and stretching. Btw - I agree - home made pizza is waay better than the shop bought ones.  My kids won't eat ready made pizza. Kathie

I agree - and have the same problem with plaintive cries from OH...as I vanish!  Left to his own devices he would hardly speak any French.  I noticed a similiar thing at our village fete.  We met an English couple who had moved here permanently some 10 plus years ago.  She was fluent whereas he had a very sketchy grasp of the language.  When you watched them interact socially it was obvious why - she did all the talking, made all the decisions...and he trailed along in her wake. Kathie

LOL that sounds like me - I must have upwards of 50 cookery books - in addition to the other (100's) of books in our bookshelves.  OH threatens divorce if I buy anymore ...but I am not easily deterred [;-)] Kathie

Interestingly, there was a report on the 'Today' programme on Radio 4 this morning which highlighted how few Europeans working in the UK were actually registered as being here.  The report was from Poland and focussed on Eastern Europeans living in the UK - but the principle is the same.  Apparently there are estimated to be a million non UK residents (predominantly East Europeans) working on building sites - but only 2000 or so are registered... Seems to support the comments above - that the numbers of French registered to work in the UK is probably underestimated. Kathie

Seems simple to me.  First find out what the criteria of GDF is (sorry - wish I could help on that one but have no idea!).  If they are in breach, contact GDF as 'a concerned (aka cheated) guest'  - no need to say who you are.  If they are guilty, then I'm sure GDF will have something to say - if they are as stringent as has been suggested. If they are misrepresenting their rating, then they are guilty of fraud and theft - simple as that - and I wouldn't feel in the slightest bit guilty.  If they are new owners - and have changed the room configuration it is their responsibility to ensure that the rating is still valid.  If they have failed to do so that is their problem.... Kathie

I wouldn't rely on not getting repeat custom to deter them.  We rarely go back to the same place twice, even if we thought it was great, life is just to short.   Personally, I would report them. Kathie

But in this situation I think the French have it right.  In the UK anyone can call themselves an accountant - qualified, part-qualified - or can't even switch on a calculator.  I'm not suggesting that your relatives haven't any qualifications - but the lax approach of the UK means that  people often employ someone they think is properly qualified and experienced when in fact they have something rather less than that - in this case a book-keeper or an accounting technician rather than a fully qualified accountant.  I have picked up a lot of very costly messes from less than qualified accountants - and at the end of the day its not me that pays - its the client who had the inadequate advice. As an aside - I often wonder if this is why we get all the Brit wanabee carpenters, plumbers trying to set up in France  -  on the basis that because the UK has a lax approach - it's OK to do likewise in France. Kathie

[quote user="RumziGal"][quote user="hastobe"] Whilst I agree with the opening post, I think there is a little exaggeration here perhaps?  I don't know many 25+ year old who can afford to get onto the housing ladder - nevermind 20 year olds.  And a 20 year old non graduate accountant in my neck of the woods....is a student. Kathie [/quote] My husband's 2 nieces are doing very well in accountancy, no A-levels or anything, just straight in there and doing exams as they go along.   Both qualified to do private work now, starting at £20 an hour.  The younger one was 21 this month and is just moving into a house with her gardener boyfriend.   I know someone else who has done the same, after an abortive flurry with doing horsey qualifications. [/quote] I'm assuming from what you have said they are AAT qualified - so an accounting technician rather than an accountant - there is a big difference.   (By contrast - as a graduate and experienced ACA in a large practice - the charge out rate is up to £400 per hour - but that takes a hell of a lot of graft to achieve) Kathie

I go there regularly, when in London.  Bute Street has some great (french) book shops...oh and good coffee bars too.. Kathie

[quote user="RumziGal"] All the 20+ youngsters I know in the UK are doing extremely well, whether graduates or not.   They become accountants and are buying their own houses at 20, [/quote] Whilst I agree with the opening post, I think there is a little exaggeration here perhaps?  I don't know many 25+ year old who can afford to get onto the housing ladder - nevermind 20 year olds.  And a 20 year old non graduate accountant in my neck of the woods....is a student. Kathie

[quote user="Russethouse"]Kathie, I had a friend who was divorced from a Huntingdons sufferer and it was his choice, she was prepared to deal with whatever came but he insisted on the split. She said he became a 'different person' after the diagnosis. When I knew her the children, both girls had not had tests. What made my friend absolutely furious was that her mother in law had known the risk and kept quiet until both children had been born ! [/quote] The fact I raised the divorce was, in no way, meant as a criticism.  I was just trying to indicate the sort of repercussions that could come from knowing.  To know and then let someone go ahead and have a family is another thing entirely - and, imho, unforgiveable. Kathie

As you said WJT - it sums up what has been said before - life in the snail lane of rural France suits the well heeled retired Brits.  The UK (or more accurately London) is for the young aspiring French.  In response to zebs comment - my comment about socio economic groups was not a reference to income but rather the lack of common background, education life experience etc.  It's difficult to have an indepth intelligent debate with someone who believes that the best treatment for burns is to get a 'healer' who will 'draw out' the burn.  Kathie