Judith

Montpellier seems to have a good reputation for something to do, student city so lively etc but less so than say Toulouse.  Other than travelling through via train cannot say more. Depends how much "life" you want and how much you want to balance it with peace and quiet. It's the age old town vv country question that only you can answer.

I was told when I asked at the local aga place earlier this year (in London not France) that aga don't do woodburners with cooking facilities, but that Rayburn (part of the same group) do, and they gave me a leafet about them too.  The web site itself is not all that helpful, but a local stockist might just be. That said, we have decided that if we do go down that option we will be buying in France and not the UK, we just wanted to get the info in English first.

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]One for the OP - where are you?  I know somebody (Brit) who both restores and makes long case clocks, a wide variety of same, and all using proper parts.[/quote] Does he also do ordinary ie not long case, but old clocks - we have two that need attention as they don't work, but have had no success in finding anyone (yet) locally who was interested or knowledgeable.

[quote user="Bones"]I saw a gadget the other day, a hand-held screen that you can add digital books to. That's where we're heading, and I for one would go for it! No more lamps in the bedroom, no more struggling to keep the page open. Authors could distribute their own work too. [Www] Hard copy print will go the same way as vinyl records.... [/quote] Can't remember how long that old chestnut has been around, the book is not dead yet - in spite of every assumption to the contrary since pc's first came on the scene.  [Being a professional librarian for over 30 years, I've seen many of these sort of predictions in the professional press, and it's amazing how many times this one has resurfaced and been shown to be a no-no].  Oh, and, I gather that vinyl is now back in high demand, so Bones, you seem to be wrong on both counts!  Now back to cataloguing the books and papers which never stop coming in ....... so much for their demise!

[quote user="Hoddy"]That's not a tango - that's a quickstep. You're right about the forum speed though. Hoddy [/quote] It's also the timing of a slow foxtrot - possibly more applicable to describe the speed of the forum which this morning doesn't seem entirely to have quickened its step yet!

[quote user="Mel "] So, what do other folk think? Ferry or Plane?                       [/quote] Living in Central London, I don't keep a car there, so for preference I use the train - city centre to city centre - breakfast, quick tube or when St P opens, walk there,  a nice relaxing journey with someone else driving, changing once at Lille, arriving in Narbonne just nicely in time for the evening meal!  Wheeled suitcases mean I can carry and leave things each time.  So do not forget the third option!

[quote user="Spg"][I've just had another look at your site and it's looking much better than before; it's already much brighter, easier to navigate and altogether snazzier. Congratulations. Sue [:)] [/quote] Must agree with Sue, just had another look, and yes, vast improvement already - immediately leads to the info you need to find out.  Well done! Judith

[quote user="Tourangelle"]Just from a punter's point of view, having had a look at your website, it is not very clear what you actually do.  Do you do basic chambres d'hote, do you do the evening meal?  None of this information is leaping off the page at me.  ...... So, basically, I can see why people don't get past your website, it's extremly off putting. [/quote] Catherine Just also looked - I gave up as soon as I got to the text - too wordy, too long lines, paragraphs etc.  Web attention is measured in seconds not minutes - no-one will read beyond the first line - so re-design, bullet what you are selling, space the information out so it is more readable, price appropriately, then cross fingers. I'm sure what you are offering is good - but not much use if you don't sell your message in the first few seconds.  (Tip:  think job interviews - 7 secs to sell yourself,  etc). Information first, uncluttered pages, quick to find and then make it look nice.  Information should be available in the first half of a screen, people do not scroll down to look further, but want to click on a link to find the next piece of info.  Think screen sized bites of info - the flowery descriptions come later.  The info people want on - size, price, location etc all need to be easy to find. Look at other B&B sites, and see how they do it. This has been written by someone who spends much time searching for info in many different places, web sites etc - and the quicker the site gets you the info you want the better! Judith

Stayed in Marseillan itself (not plage) one Christmas / NY before we bought.  Mixed weather, windy, sometimes cold, wet, not esp busy and many restaurants shut up for the season.  (About typical for  the season both weather and services available I find).  Confirmed our decision not to buy on the coast or in too large a town.  I imagine it is impossible in the height of summer with the influx of French (and other) holiday makers.  But as other say, you need to decide what type of place you want before making a decision.  I found it not especially convenient to get to other places as being on the coast, there  was ever only one way out. 

[quote user="Biloute"] And maybe it's just the city, Lille to be precise, although most of the people here are coming from the outskirts, from the 'campagne' of the north. Also, I suppose Leeds would not be considered as rural (well, depends on where you're from I suppose [;-)]), yet after living there for a couple of years I can definitely say it's one of the most welcoming places I've ever lived in, and you can't really say I had much of a northern accent. Even the people living in the villages surrounding Leeds (skipton, wetherby, otley, ilkley) are just as warm and open as those living in Leeds, though at the same time I guess these were just personal impressions. [/quote] Well since its where I was born and brought up (I or my family have lived in all those places at some time - deja vu!) I would say that the Yorkshire folk from there are very friendly indeed, but I can say from experience that you would find the same sort of welcome in other parts of the country (Wales, the rural south etc), BUT not necessarily in London and some big towns (though I have known very friendly big towns).  I suspect also that Lille would suffer the same big town mentality, but it may also be the language problem.  BUT, I have found the south and south west of France to vary as much as England, with smaller villages usually being friendly (ours is) but again, not as easy to tell since the use of colloquialism is not the same.  There is a very big difference between speaking the language and full understanding of a conversation, and I believe the French are also more restrained in the showing of curiosity, out of good manners, though I am sure they are just as interested in the doings of their neighbouurs as we are in England! If you speak good enough French it is then a matter of time to be accepted (usually) but I agree, you have to be there a long, long time, before you feel as though you belong! Edit:  I reckon people are friendly when they acknowledge you as you pass - say on a walk in the country.  This used to happen in England much more than it does now, but when I was on holiday in Scotland this Easter, I found it still happens there, and it does in the two French villages I am most familiar with (our evening walks can be a very good way to say hello to most of the village if we time it right!)

No they are not Tourists or smokers are they????????? Is it really [near]  the truth? Obviously don't get out enough! Ron (1) You know, actually I CAN tell the difference between tourists (enough of them in St James's park which I cross twice a day) smokers (lost track of the numbers of those I see, but they hang around office doors, not on street corners), and those hanging around with (seemingly) nothing to do. (2) I never said it was the truth, but near it - AND - as I presume most of the posters on this forum know - truth is often stranger than fiction, and that such satirical items can only come from the grain of truth which makes it possible to write it in the first place. (3) I thought I had made it clear that I was describing what I SEE on my walks in the middle of London, which are almost daily occurrences.  I do get out - every day! My post also acknowledged the media bias - but some posters have conveniently forgotten that point it seems! As with FA - since it seems yet another debate has been hijacked by someone seeing red - this will also be my last post on this topic, I feel it has gone as far as it usefully can, nad I have certainly much better things to do with my time.

[quote user="Moulin Neuf"]We have brought all our capital to France and invested in an Assurance Vie with Credit Agricole.  Not only is it protected from the eyes of the tax man as it is in a tax wrapper, it avoids potential inheritence tax.  We have taken a high risk - all relatively unrisky - and have made 7% tax free last year. Good luck - Jan [/quote] Jan Thanks - I knew about assurance vie's but you are the first poster who has made it seem simple - all the financial wiz-kids I've asked have blinded me with science (as they say), so I think I'll be talking to my local CA (where I already have a small amount invested in a compte sur livret) especially as I shall have some large (by my standards) amount in my hot sticky hand by the time I get there next month!!

[quote user="KathyF"]Is it an urban/rural divide then, Judith?  I see you live in WI and I'm in Mid-Wales.  From my perspective the original diatribe bears no relation to reality at all, but it's possible that in London things look different. Mind you, from my perspective, life in our big cities seems far more foreign than life in the French countryside.[/quote] KathyF It might be - though I have seen less out of London than in.  But it doesn't take much to hear and notice the large number of foreign accents (and more and more E-European) and the groups of (usually) men standing around at times when most would be in work.  And I am not talking about areas which most would consider to be "immigrant gehttos) but the West End and City where most of my activities are based.  Like you, when I travel to other parts of the UK, never mind rural France, I feel much less threatened and insecure - and for those who do not live in London (and even working there is not the same) (or the other large cities where these populations tend to concentrate eg Glasgow has a similar problem my nephew (who is based) there tells me) you do not see it on a day-to-day /live with it basis, so perhaps most people on this forum who do not seem to live in large cities think we are making it up.  Even my husband who has been back to London once since he retired has forgotten what it was like, and it has not improved in the 18 months since then.  So your analysis of rural / urban (especially larger urban areas) could indeed be quite correct.

A grain of truth - from someone who actually still lives in the UK (I see several posters seem not to do so - how can they know in comparison to those who still do live in the UK other than by hearsay) - it is part of my job to keep myself informed about the social problems the UK is facing, and whilst I am quite happy to admit the bias often shown by the media, it is also part of my job to analyse what I find for quality and accuracy to the best of my professional abilites.  Unfortunately what I read, hear and analyse (and in some cases experience personally) is why I made my original statement in support of FA - bias apart - it IS scarily nearer the truth than one would like.

[quote user="Ford Anglia"]Would any of the posters that find it so utterly wrong, care to point out any specifics? Certainly, some of the stuff rings true at least to me. [/quote] Indeed, it does.  Seems that some of those against this have not experienced some of the stupidities which have been obvious for some time now to those of us who still live in the UK .  Over the top of course, and too long winded for true effect, but there is a worrying grain of truth in what it purports to joke about.  I only wish I didn't think that it is scarily nearer the truth than those posters who object to it believe it is.

[quote user="TreizeVents"]Or you could buy your regional paper.  My Midi Libre has the results down to the smallest commune.  I should think that all the regional papers do the same. [/quote] But only if you are actually in France - the link above [thanks, Cat] gave me what I needed in three clicks, so now I know how our village voted, even I we ourselves couldn't vote.  Lots of UK press comment this morning of course, but no results by commune so this was a treat for morning cof fee break!

In the UK press yesterday or the day before - Barclays are to send pin and chip type terminals to a proportion of their online customers which means you have to put in the bank card AND also type in a number which will be randomly generated on the screen to access your onine account.  From memory, but that was the gist!

I kept my maiden name after marrying for the second time, [in England] as getting my own name back again when I got divorced was legally only possible by using a change of name deed, which I felt insulting (considering you can just show a marriage certificate to change your name, surely the converse should apply on divorce, show divorce and birth certificate should be all that is required). In our case double-barrelling made a nonsense of both names so we quickly threw that idea out.  Perhaps unusually for most contributors on this forum I use my maiden name in all instances with the title Miss (and don't start me on titles!) and have never used my second married name which confuses all who do not know us, but allows me to determine if the caller asking for Mrs .... knows us, and take appropriate action.  This highlights the need to have some sort of naming and title convention that does not discriminate either sex, or indeed one's maritial status - in the end you are you and sometimes also by chance happen to be someone's spouse, mother, etc (I use the feminine as in  most cases  it seems to be the woman who is most discriminated against here.)  However since this is all down to culture and attitude, and these are the slowest things to change, I don't expect to see a sensible solution for some time to come.  And - I throughly enjoyed using my own name throughout the purchase procedure and had to make sure that was the name used in all the deeds!  (English agents being notoriously stuck in the English naming tradition in most cases!)

[quote user="Bugbear"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6521295.stm[/quote] Not awesome - frightening - according to a journalist in the Times.  No, though I use the TGV regularly, I am quite happy with its current speed - going tooooo.... fast disturbs the equilibrium!

[quote user="Forum Admin"]Middle Ages: Eleanor of Aquitaine [/quote] If only we could have gone fowards from Eleanor (one of my heroines it goes without saying) and not backwards, perhaps equal opportunities might have arrived decades before they officially did - but don't get me onto that topic - we are nowhere near it yet: "The gender pay gap in the UK is one of the highest in Europe (Bellamy and Rake, 2005) and recent women graduates earn 15% less than men who have the same qualifications (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2004)."

[quote user="ErnieY"]Hope I'm not jumping in uninvited. Car clubs are an idea that's catching on in UK. Ideal for those who only need a car occassionally. http://www.carplus.org.uk/ [/quote] Of course not, ErnieY.  Useful if you live in a big city where parking (and congestion charge etc!!!) is a nightmare.  There are now several around, City car, streetcar are two I know of, not quite as convenient as having your own, you have to book it and get it back on time etc, and for long trips a hire car is better priced, but I like the convenience that as long as I book in time, I have a car within 5 mins walk, (outside the congestion zone, whereas I live inside it!) and if that is booked there is one not far away - but I am talking about the centre of London where I would expect such choice.  I don't use it very much - only for trips where I cannot use public transport (eg carrying large objects) and it is not exactly the best value, but convenient it can be.  Can be driven abroad (at some excessive cost I suspect) but the intention and pricing is for short trips so I have never tested bringing one to France for my hols! Hope that helps!

[quote user="Andyphilpott"] So I have been doing some research on the net and I have found an insurer (www.insurance4carhire.com) .... I have not used them yet so would be interested if any forum members have any experience, good or bad, of them. [/quote] I used them for 2 years whilst we were still hiring cars, but never had to claim so cannot say how that would be.  They did stop sending renewal reminders when I told them that we no longer needed the insurance (as we now have a car in France so don't hire any more).  It does only cover "abroad" - I would have liked it even more if it covered UK car hire, but it specifically doesn't.  I use a car club in the UK now, so that is that problem solved.  Can't see that they are any worse than any other insurer, you have to ask is it worth £50 a year (or so, might have gone up a little by now) for peace of mind??  They do seem to cover items which most car-hire insurance packages won't.

[quote user="Val_2"] Give yourself plenty of time to return to the airport though as if you are so much as 5mins late they will refuse boarding.[/quote] And make allowances for the trains - at Christmas the fog seemed to affect the trains more than the planes - several just did not turn up - and there were lots of people trying to get to the airport on the only one which did, so the bus from train station to airport was not large enough to take all in one go - so allow longer than you think. 

[quote user="Tresco"]Ian, what was the item on Antiques Roadshow that prompted the question? [/quote] An OBE, a hunger strike medal when in Armley Jail, and photos etc from Leonora Cohen (when she was 100 years old and still looked superb!) who was one of the Pankhurst's right hand women.  It was valued at £7000 (if I remember correctly), as the hunger strike medals are very rare.  What worried me is that the young daughters of the mother who had these family medals had very little idea about the fight for women's vote.  I have a memory that I know of Leonora Cohen from my days of living in Leeds when I first became involved in one of the organisations involved in helping women in what was in the 70s still a very male dominated and attitudinal society.  The hundred year's old photo would be from about that time.  How many of you remember that even as late as the mid 70s a women who was married could not take out a hire purchase agreement in her own name - it changed pretty rapidly as the equal pay and sex discrimination acts came into being, but as someone said, attitudes take much longer to change.

I stopped considering a coach when I saw how long it (can) take.  My preference is now to opt for a prem fair on TGV.  Book in good time, asap, chose time and day sensibly and it can be achieved for a sensible amount.  Also Eurostar can be well priced if you don't choose busy periods.  Book the journey in two halfs - the Eurostar separately from the TGV.  That way you get chance of the TGV prems (midweek unless holidays usuall best prices) and can travel for £20 if lucky.  Look at 1st class fares also in prems, they are very well priced at times, and if travelling on your own you are likely to get a "solo" seat, very comfortable.  The system will always give you trains routing via Paris if you don't specifiy (and if you try to book from London to wherever in France) - but I would never consider going to Paris, the change at Lille is platform only, lifts or escalators, and no metro to contend with.  The 8.39 from London connects with most TGVs at Lille whichever route, they all seem to leave about midday.  Much pleasanter than flying - for me comfort is as important as cost, and a coach is not that confortable when you have been on it for anything over 5 hours!  And trying to sleep on a coach does not enthrall me, no way to start a holiday I think!