Beryl

Hello Tia Oui can help are the ones that I think you mean. I am not sure that the service they provide is quite as comprehensive as you suggest. However, they are not too expensive and have been a great help to me. There details are [email protected] uk no is 0233 385 012

That's sound advice. You really need to get a good work : home ratio even if you are on your own. It will give you the time to join clubs and associations etc and get to know real people. Even if you are nervous at going to places on your own as a single, you can find friendships in the most unexpected of places, eg being able to just go for a walk in a park at the same time every day. Do you mind me asking what if any connection you have with France? second home or just holidays? May be if its the latter you could do an activity style holiday in France, cooking or painting and make new aquaintances that way also. You job and long hours are probably driving you to drink and you may have an addictive personality, we just need to get you addicted to something good for you! [:)]  

A couple of suggestions. Small steps. Put your whisky in a smaller glass, seriously, I bought some new wine glasses recently and the bottle now goes a lot further.But stick to two glasses. If you don't have it neat, dilute it a little more . Change your routine, so that you get away from your 'whisky' time. Do a crossword, buy a dog or a Play Station. Make sure your thirst is quenched . You may drink less whisky if your natural thirst is sated before you start; Best of luck  

Thanks for the replies but it is none of these.... I will let you know if ever I find out an you can criticise my taste in music [:D]

Could you offer to make or provide a shelter for it? Perhaps it's the photo but it just looks to me like a wet shaggy dog rather than an undernourished/ mangey one. If you succeed in getting that dog, might they not just go out and get another? Education rather than confrontation may be the best route.

Male singer - record played fairly frequently on local French radio although I don't think it's in the charts. I can't catch the title but the singer, I think is called Victor Malloire , it sounded like Mal- wah when the DJ said it. Any one any ideas please?

[quote user="Dotty Trois"][quote user="beryl"] Have you tried doing a search? I think that might be a good place to start. There are lots of new members today with some very demanding questions - did you all meet up on the ferry?[:)]   [/quote] The original poster has been a member as long as you have, was that comment necessary? [/quote]   I didn't mean anything untoward, hence the smiley face. Rather that I was under the impression that the poster was undecided as whether her partner should go self employed or try and get a job. I thought doing a search would help her narrow down those options a little bit. I know when I hadn't a clue about filling in my tax form this year, I could have listed a great many questions that I needed answers to. However, I found that by doing a search, I could find the answers quicker than waiting for my post to be answered . I then limited my questions to what was unclear or things that I couldn't find the answer to. I apologise Dotty Trois  as you clearly have taken offence at something that didn't really concern you.

[quote user="Craig"]Hi BJSLIV, thanks for the reply. We were hoping to sell the property after completion. the 'shell' refers to the footings, drainage, mains, fosse, walls and roof. kind regards Craig[/quote]   As this is a new house , are you aware that you will have to pay a hefty tax on any profit you make if you sell this property within 5 years? [:(] I don't know if the rate is even higher if the owner lives outside France.

I believe that if you are in any way touting for business then you have to be registered first.

I am not a builder but I too would be amazed if you could get the DO cover and do the work your self. Think about it, you could do a really bad and cheap job and then get it put right at the insurance companies expense. I am not suggesting that you would dream of doing this, but I bet plenty would give half a chance. There are companies around that construct the shell and then you fit the interior walls, electrics, plumbing etc yourself ( if confident or competant) which would save you some money. But you would need to have DO but you would get the 10 year guarantee.

We have several UK life assurance policies but the French company were insistant that we had a French policy assigned to the mortgage, which makes sense really as they have no control over my UK policies. I did see an insurance company advertising on the LF website some time ago that does provide a copy of the house insurance in English. I don't use them myself, but it may be of help.   http://www.french-insurance.com/french_property_insurance.asp

Ah yes, I do have French Telecom. However, I don't think this was sent en masse like most junk mail, some poor so and so has probably had to wade through a list or disk to seek out the names of those most likely to suscribe.

The supermarkets by me (29) do a good trade in bottled water but I thought nothing of it as I drink bottled water and only use tap water for cooking and hot drinks.

I always found that Sainsbury's and sometimes Waitrose were one step of the game when it came to sourcing hard to find ingredients. Indeed creme fraiche has been available at Sainsburys for a few years now...perhaps it's because a famous Norwich supporter writes for their magazine?

I received through the post a copy of a Brittany magazine aimed at expats. It was free and a pleasant read but I am at a loss to know how they found me. The only Brits I know in France are in cyber space and I have never subscribed to this mag, yet it came addressed to me. I was used to getting unsolicited mail in the UK and don't mind getting it in France, but I don't know how they found me, short of trawling the phone book for foriegn names! Am I on an ethnic register somewhere?[8-)]  

Have you tried doing a search? I think that might be a good place to start. There are lots of new members today with some very demanding questions - did you all meet up on the ferry?[:)]  

There is no stamp duty in France. There are just notaires fees and agency fees and these depend on the price you pay for the property that you are buying. The fees have been given before - try a search to see if that is the information you are after.

We have similar caravan plots in our village and they definitely CANNOT be built on. Check with your mayor, they have details of all the plots and what can and cannot be done with it.

Yuk! Still he can make a nice curry when he's finished...cheaper than a divorce.

I don't speak fluent French and I have lived here now for nearly a year. I don't let it worry me any more, I am getting better and I can make a little language go a long way. If I had waited until I was fluent, I would have never got here and life would have passed me by. I am hopeless on the phone.  I can understand one French person fine but then find I cannot the person standing next to them.  French is a hard language, even my French friends acknowledge that, but if you try you will find that most French people will meet you at least half way.

Is it something to do with animated cartoon characters on the Internet?[8-)] That was all I could find anyway.

We got off on the wrong foot inadvertantly with our neighbour. The builder shrugged his shoulders and said he was known in the village for his bad attitude...which didn't make us feel any better. On speaking to our neighbour the matter was resolved without further ado. In my short time here, I have come to the conclusion that people just like to be consulted and things cannot be taken as read. Good idea to give them  a petite cadeau but II bet by that time they won't even remember what all the fuss was about.[:)]

At least, Twinkle you can recognise that you are different for part of the month. My mother used think the whole world had a problem once a month and could never figure out why.[:@] Me? I just used to cower under the kitchen table and my Dad would hide all the cutlery!

One of my favourite books  is Dear America, letters from the Vietnam War, which as also made into a film. It is incredible to sense the change in tone as the war drifted on.  One young man wrote words to the effect that ' I would rather fight Communism in Vietnam than on Main Street, NY'. Later on in the book it was '...I don't know why we are here....fighting an enemy we can't see ... people who don't want us here'. Of course even after the Americans lost, they did not have to fight communism on the streets of Main Street and the Cold War was mainly fought via propaganda and trying to win over hearts and minds eg West Berlin. What a pity that the current administration in the US and UK could not try a little harder in this respect. Imagine what a coup it would have been for the USA if they could have influenced in a positive way an Islamic country without having to attack them first. Surely, Turkey with its EU aspirations would have been an ideal candidate as they are more tolerant / Western to start with? I know that historically the USA have wooed Turkey but if I was Bush I'd have made them my new best friends! 

I know this has nothing to do with France, but I used to enjoy his programmes and his passion and enthusiasm. Sadly, he has been killed by a stingray barb whilst filming  off the Australian coast. His 'hands on approach' was not without its risks, but it's still a great shame.