Gardian

Well yes, but did you really think that you were going to get the round trip for €20 - €30 each?  Is there anyone out there who isn't aware of how the other charges clock up?  Obviously there is. Even with the taxes, it's still 60 quid or so: peanuts compared to what you had to pay for a flight to anywhere not so very long ago. Why so shocked?

There was a thread a week or two back asking about the Rendez-vous aux Jardins weekend (which actually took place this last weekend.) As a result of the info on that thread, we visited a garden local to us. It was simply stunning, started from scratch just ten years ago and built on steeply sloping ground, but where the owners had used the topography to their advantage rather than have it as an impediment. The place is open daily (except Tuesdays) from May to the end of October and is called Jardin des mille et une fleurs. Entrance fee is €4 and worth every centime. It's situated between St Julien de Peyrolas and Salazac (Michelin p151, F2) and details can be found at: www.jardinslanguedoc.com If you live in the Gard, Herault, Ardeche, or over the river in the Vaucluse or Drome, or if you're just down here on holiday this Summer, it's well worth a visit. Charming, friendly and enthusiastic owners. Don't be put off when you first arrive - it reveals more and more as you progress.

Good idea - Forum Admin pls take note.

I don't know about the 'legals', but if after 18 mths, your solicitor is still floundering, I would dump her and find someone who really can help you. The 'France Mag' ads may give you a contact person who, even if they can't help you themselves, could point you in the right direction.  This is a different ball game to straightforward conveyancing (with respect to those involved).     

Can't help feeling that with andouillette, black pudding etc, we may have moved just a gnat's whatsit away from the original thread.  No change then.  

So, we're all round to KKK's for lunch on Sunday eh?  Lamb or faggots - sounds good.  Can you lay on some redcurrant jelly for me with my lamb pls? I certainly agree re the Welsh guy's main course: it really looked appetising. Hope he wins but doubt that it'll be as good as KKK's. Hope that the West Country chef's pud comes through: can't imagine treacle sponge after all the other things and I've never been a custard tart man. Overall, we've really enjoyed the series. It's always easy to knock these sort of programmes, but it's been informative and (seemingly) genuinely competitive. p.s. Dick - I thought you were a bit hard on Chauffour. Seemed a reasonable post to me. An apology would gracious and worthy of you.   

Well folks, that stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest!  Not intended - just meant to convey a 'good news' story about life over here. Although it read that way, it wasn't meant as a 'slag' against the NHS - more to recount a good experience as it has just happened to us over here. Poppy's posts speak for themselves and can't be excused in any civilised society. We moved over here 20 mths ago.  Our UK medical experiences shortly before we left were less than perfect. Minor heart attack for me: immediate and exemplary action by my GP, angiogram (privately) in what I can only describe as chaotic conditions at a major London teaching hospital. I said to the consultant, "I can't believe how you're trying to work here". He shrugged his shoulders resignedly. For my wife: MS undiagnosed for 15 months. Virtually lost her sight in one eye and 40% in the other. Whether an earlier diagnosis would have made any difference, is hard to say. No bitterness, but it ought to have worked better. Anyway; I'm doing it now (starting to moan about the NHS!). On a positive note, my wife sees a charming and supportive consultant at Montpellier, who has continued her UK originated treatment. his fee is €60 every time we see him, as opposed to the equally charming and supportive consultant in the UK, whose fee was £80. Dressing off for the dreaded cyst today: all fine, no further charge. I told the doc that he was undercharging. He chuckled and said that not all his patients were British (i.e. he couldn't charge what he liked) and anyway it only took 2 mins (actually more like 20). 

Reims hotel; www.grandhotelcontinental.com (Not as grand as the name sounds, but alright - ask for rooms on the Place, rather than on the main road (noisy))   Troyes hotel: www.relais-st-jean.com  

When you view this site, it's clear that many people are understandably concerned about health problems that can occur if and when they move over here. Over the last 10 days, my wife has had a cyst 'appear' on her cheek. Nothing unusual, nor serious: happens to us all.  Not particularly painful either, but worrying nonetheless. Saw our GP on Mon evening: prescriptions for cream & antibiotics + ref to the local Clinique. Phone call from GP at 09.45 Tues, with appt at Clinique for 16.30 today. This afternoon (Weds), done and dusted in 20 mins. Big dressing on the cheek, but fortunately no instruction to avoid wine this evening! Return 2moro for dressing removal.  Bill: a staggeringly minute €40!  Couldn't believe it. Just wanted to say that if this had happened in the UK, we'd have been mucking around for ages / seeing the GP / getting it done / bill for £100+ (??) if privately (which effectively, this was).  By the way, we'll probably get 70% of that €40 back from CPAM, but if not, why worry? I'm not saying it's perfect here, ........... but it aint bad!

KKK ......... Forum - thought you'd disappeared anyway Football - forget it Big Brother - give it a rest & spare me pls.   If you really need telling what to do for the Summer, then just relax with the red stuff / husband / parties. Much healthier.

Licences: no idea, but ask around at your intended marketplace (not with the food guys!) - they'll tell you. As for offerings, anything better than greasy burgers / dogs / anything else nasty, would be welcome & potentially profitable I'm sure. Personally, never fancied anything on offer. However, you're not going to make your fortune on it. Pitta breads with some tandoori chicken / salad etc. Maybe some 'Chinese' type noodles with beef shreds. I don't know - almost anything would be better than most of the rubbish offered around here. Try it: best of luck.

This thread reminds me of the old local newspaper headline: "COUNCILLOR FIGHTS ERECTION IN HIGH STREET" It always made me chuckle.

Liz is 100% correct.

Jo ............ Having 'holidayed' in Provence for many years on the trot (and now living down here), we know the run fairly well. Suggestions Night 1 There isn't much between Calais and Reims, so my suggestion would be to press on to there - say 3 hrs with a fuel / loo stop. It's a nice place, with plenty of accom & restaurants to choose from. I'll post the link later for a place we've used before, which is OK (but not brilliant) - the advantage of it is that it's v central, cheap and there's an adjacent underground guarded carpark (important when you're travelling with all your holiday kit) I believe that the Ibis next to the station (also central) is aircon'd, so that might be worth a look. If you choose to go a bit further (+90 mins), I'd suggest Troyes. Excellent hotel there, but not especially cheap (€80+) - again, I'll post the link. Plenty of restaurants for all tastes in a pedestianised area. Night 2 Perhaps Beaune?  Loads of the usual chain hotels on the edge of town and just off the main motorway exit. Novotels are good, because there are no nasty surprises and they do family rooms + the kids get free breakfast etc. If you want to go a bit further, why not Lyon itself?  Lovely city and one which most of us simply hammer through in a pele-mele dash for the south. Again, pedestrianised restaurant area with loads of choice. Can't help much with hotel names I'm afraid - ages since we used one, but look for something central. Google it & get a city map for hotel location. The advantage of getting as far as Lyon for nt2 would be to leave yourself a nice gentle trundle down to Arles. there are big roadworks south of Lyon just now and you'll inevitably get a bit delayed through that lot. It'll be better at 10.00 on a Saturday morning (which I bet it is) than 14.00. Reckon 3-4 hrs Lyon - Arles.  Finally, if you've never been before, you'll love Arles.  Nice town & loads of other good places around. Hope that helps. 

Re "Impec(c)", it isn't just kids ....... when we took delivery of a new car at a VW dealer (our Brit-registered car gor written-off, so had to buy something), the very elegant 55-ish lady owner said that when we took delivery, it would be "Impec".  Trying to be smart, I've used it on occasions since. "Nickel" seems to be used in much the same context, but I sense in a more mundane way, i.e. "The ceiling that I've just newly built is nickel".  Any French nationals out there who can help? 

Dick ....... Well, a fairly normal, customary and healthy diversion from the original thread, I'd say! To further digress, I've noticed (other than the unrepeatable / unspellable) words which some of our locals come out with, some other colloquial bits: (pls forgive the spelling, if incorrect): "Impecc" "Nickel" Are these 'Southern', or do you hear them 'up North'? 

............... oh, and what's the betting we get completely stuffed in Australia ?  (RU, of course)

I don't know whether I'm going to be able to get through the next 6 wks or so. Firstly, all the World Cup bollox, overlaid with more than a passing smidge of: "Come on Tim" at you-know-where "Come on Andy" at you-know-where Everything is "Tough" at you-know-where At least Schumacher got his just deserts yesterday - they should have had the guts to ban him for the rest of the season. Grump over.

Thanks Ron. I must admit that I wasn't exactly losing sleep over it - just a bit irritated that I can't get the bill out of the way.  Funny isn't it, how we can fret now over paying our bills that we know are due when we've got the money, and when we were younger and skint, we'd have been happy if they never turned up (but they always did!)   

Anybody with any experience of the above, or for that matter any other ferry company operating to Corsica out of one of the southern ports? Just that we've always fancied a few days over there and we're pretty handy for Marseille / Toulon. Accommodation quality on overnights?

Wish you luck. Finally managed to pay my Tax F for 2005, but despite letters & phone calls, am still struggling to get anyone to take my money for tax d'h. 

Yes. Negotiable (depending totally on what they're going to do, ranging from just drawing up the plans, to a full project mgt job). Separately. (my advice would be a negotiated fixed price, because if then you overspend, as you inevitably will, you're not in to a % of your overspend).

Oops, sorry about Le, or rather La Loire - but it makes my point.

Cathy is absolutely right - these people are dragons (Welsh origins??!!) Whatever the opposite of charisma is, our one's got it. I remember a recent lengthy conversation with all the 6 of us in the queue as to whether Cyprus, then Portugal and finally Spain were in Europe!  Seriously. All a question of the frankage to put on the envelope. Just as well I had all morning to listen to all this nonsense. Come to think of it, I reckon that she has got a touch of Welsh in her Provencal accent.  

I'm sure they do. It may well be 'top-stopped', but even so, the turnover in our local place is mind-boggling. There are deliveries twice-daily (though that's probably no different to the UK) - but we are pretty rural. If I drop in my wife's prescription for a quite rare and pricey drug before 10-ish in the morning, it'll be there by 14.00.