powerdesal

I have dined in some top restaurants around the World - not bragging at all, it's just a fact. I have also dined in some places that most people would walk past with a shudder. I have had food poisoning ( real, proper food poisoning, not just an iffy tummy ) twice......both times were after dining out in France.!!!!!! The myth of French cuisine being magnificent is just that - a myth.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]In that case, your questioning of the one sentence you chose to quote is pointless, as it was precisely what I said after that![/quote] Betty, I do not consider that I questioned your comment, I merely made an observation / comment. IMHO, you seem to be very virulent in your dislike of UKIP and Nigel Farage to the point of calling those who may vote for UKIP ''poor, deluded souls''. You are, of course, perfectly entitled to your political viewpoint, as are those voters who may support UKIP. or the Tories, Greens or whoever. I personally do not believe that UKIP are looking to revert to the Dark Ages but.....that is my own view. In that respect my own views are totally irrelevant as I do not live in UK and have no vote there. If, however I did live in UK I would be very tempted to vote UKIP and yet I do not consider that I am poor, nor deluded. Each to his own viewpoint.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Presumably, you also managed to read the sentences following the one you chose to quote?[/quote] Of course I did, but did not need to requote them as everyone can see them.

''Why, days after the event, did Farage even feel the need to comment?'' Presumably he was asked to comment, by whichever reporter asked him. I can't imagine him ( even Farage ) ringing up the press out of the blue and saying that he would like his views on the subject being printed. Why would he ?

I see the anti-Farage, anti-UKIP people are out in force (again). May I suggest you read the actual transcript of what he said, not the Daily Heil / Guardian reports.

So basically, 'puter' is slang for computer, be it lap-top type or PC. Thanks for that information, or possibly Tks 4 thinfo.

[quote user="AnOther"]Now it's been posted in plain text on an open forum his mailbox will be full of spam in days if not hours ! [/quote] Ernie, the e mail address I quoted was / is available on the net for anyone to find.

His e mail address is:- [email protected] He has a dedicated dept which deals with complaints sent via his personal e mail address.

We had a recent failure of delivery from an order placed through Amazon.fr. I have no idea if the delivery was supposed to be by Chronopost but having read this thread I imagine it may have been. No info from anywhere but we complained to Amazon and got, instead of a refund of the price (debited from our account 24 hrs after placing the order) an offer of a 'credit note' for future purchases. We just wanted our money back ! Eventually I e-mailed THE BOSS of Amazon (in the USA), explained the situation, asked for help and.......within 24hrs the money was re-credited to our bank account. Result !

'' For the last 8 months I have been using Unotelly a dns service via my puter a brilliant co '' What is a ''puter'' ??????

[quote user="woolybanana"]Well, PD, the technical side of things may require much more training. I imagine you went in as a newly qualified engineer, so to enhance your own value you had to do a certain amount of time and the RAF would need several years to get value, I guess. Whereas an infantry officer, let's say, may need different skills that are already there and just need a bit of developing. Anyone any good would be offered the opportunity to have more time, I think. As regards our pleb man, he seems to have been eased out of the back door, probably by mutual consent; the forces used to be pretty strict about what they took and kept, I seem to remember.[/quote] No wooly, not as a newly qualified Engineer but as an experienced Engineer from Industry. I was subsequently offered a 'Permanent Commission' but decided to return to Civilian life.

You are probably correct Wooly, No doubt higher entry qualifications needed as well ( ducks below parapet !!!!!!)

On the subject of 'no fault' accidents. A couple or three years ago we were changing our car insurance from a UK provider to a French provider. We required proof of no claims bonus from the UK. This was refused by the UK Insurer because ''a claim was outstanding'' Apparently a person (unknown) in Oxford had reported that our car was involved in an accident, and had failed to stop. The car and we were traced via the registration number. After being contacted by the Insurance Company ( No police involvement at all) we proved that at the time of the 'so-called' accident our car was in France, and had been for some days. This was accepted by the Insurance Company. It subsequently transpired that the car reportedly carrying our reg number was a different make and a different colour !!!! Still the UK insurance company considered there was an outstanding claim, and would it would be considered as such for not less than 6 months. They continued to refuse to supply proof of no claims.

''Normally a SSC is for three years'' Is it ? I served a Short Service Commission in the Royal Air Force - it was 6 years. Is the Army very different in that regard ?

I resurrected this thread to say that the wedding ring has been found !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not in the garden as was first thought, I found it this morning when delving into a box of winter clothes ( I was cold ) and there it was. It obviously slipped off SWMBOs finger when she was tidying up. It's now safely re-united but on a neck chain as it's a bit too loose for conventional wearing.

Life certainly doesn't get simpler. A few years ago we imported a car from the UAE, as returning residents, it was a Range Rover on Dubai Export plates. Collected it at Felixstowe, customs inspection without problem, no mention of Q plates needed. We just drove it away. Registered it next day at DVLA in Swansea.

''Brits who go to foreign countries of their choosing to live are expats.'' Wrong. Brits who go to foreign countries of their choosing to live and work, with the avowed intention of returning to Britain eventually are expats. Brits who go to foreign countries of their choosing to live for the rest of their days are immigrants. Those Brits who retire to France with the intention of seeing out their days in France are deluding themselves by calling themselves expats. Those of us who were expats prior to retirement ( 25 years in Africa & the Middle East ) refer to their terminology with amusement and a degree of contempt. We are Immigrants, nothing more, nothing less, even though the French do not (necessarily) call us immigrants.

richard51 wrote: ''Isn't all war negative?'' The current 'war' against ISIS doesn't look at all negative to me. I really don't see them as open to discussion.

Re Q's post about being officially poor. Our income tax bill for the last year was....................................ZERO It was somewhat offset by a Social charges (not a tax of course) bill of a substantial number of hundreds. Am I ''poor'' as well.?

''I'm actually quite confused about why most forum members are so concerned about the UK economy and take UK viewpoint rather than the French viewpoint.'' Perhaps some of us who live in France still have concerns for our Country and family + friends who live there. Just because we live in France does not make us French - we never will be.

''Are the tories massaging figures, lying?'' Are Politicians lying ? - get real Mint, you just can't go around asking that sort of question, it's just not on.

I think I may have to set up an experiment myself. I don't have a monitor so will use the meter readings, I am a tad concerned that, at the moment, we seem to be using an average of 15kwH per day, ie approx 450 kwH per month. There are only two of us with 3 x chest freezers plus 2 x normal fridge / freezers. Not much computing kit, 2 x laptops which stay on 24 / 7 and the tv on standby when not in use. one electric heater in the bathroom and one in the kitchen, both only on as required. There is workshop use involving drills / circular saw bench / angle grinder etc. Not such heavy use at the moment as it's a bit chilly in the workshop. The test will obviously take a few days of selective switching and measuring but we will see how it works out.

''I'm on flat rate and just have a timer on the chaufe-eau which gives it power for 3 hours each night from 03:00 and having monitored it over a considerable period I know that cost's me about €10 a month.'' Ernie, is this cost less, the same as or more than the cost of leaving the heater on 24 / 7 and allowing the thermostat to control the on / off function.?

WB wrote:- ''I thought you did mean the men, who do seem to be a pretty wimpish lot these days. '' They probably think they are 'in touch with their feminine side' - personally I prefer to be in touch with the feminine side of a female :-)

'Surely they will let you have more than a month's supply at a time? I get three months at one go.' Mrs PD has to take medication daily, the Doc will give a prescription for 3 months but the Pharmacy will only issue one month at a time.