Bassman

Never, ever, ever, ever,  install Norton if your PC has a Computer Associates AV prog installed as you WILL end up with a non-functioning PC, believe me it happened to me and about 3 weeks later my father -in-law [:$]   The whole PC just locks up and it won't even let you into anything to un-install[:(] Luckily my mate is a techie and talked me through how to get it back, which involves re-starting in safe mode and deliberatley corrupting files[:O]   It made me look good though when my f-i-l did the same with his brand new 1 day old PC [:)] I went over and within 15 minutes had it back up and running fine [;)] he now thinks I'm a genius [H] instead of just lcuky enough to remember what to do LOL

Hey don't get me wrong I love France for the largest part, I wouldn't have bought there otherwise [;)] but like anywhere it's not perfect I suppose , It's just that there were a few seemingly common misconceptions there  esp the way women dress thing [;)]   I love some of the food not all but I would be strange if I did we all have likes and dislikes, the quiet roads, the coffee, the empty beaches in some parts...hmmmm it's difficult you see it's a big place and what I like in one place someone can say "well it's not like that here" like comparing Northumbria to London I suppose [8-)] it makes it difficult to generalize about a whole country i.e. what I like about France. I can say what I like about where we are and other places I've been to but that isn't France as a whole.   An example :- we were in the Auvergne? a couple of years ago and we came across an area where everything was red , the ground, the stone houses etc. now some folk love it but we thought it was hideous and one of the few places I didn't like. We once took some friends to the Dordogne and the male half of the couple thought it was "very middle England" [8-)] and criticised Rocamadour for being "touristy" well of course it is and we were the tourists LOL As a very good friend of mine (French) said when we bought our house in Brittany...... "It's not France you know" [:D] At the time I thought he was being a bit derogatory but then a while late I found out he is originally from Brittany LOLOL He lives in Normandy now and has just bought a maison secondaire in.... the Vendee LOL   I suppose what I like about France is the space and it's France [;)]

. Gorgeous countryside, from fields to mountains to coast. Well it is where we are but I have seen some awful bits and some stunning bits just like anywhere else, but I suppose the beautiful outweigh the awful. You can be on the beach one hour, skiing the next. Again where we are ....... if you fancy skiing down a grass slope . The cheese, bread and wine are amazing. And cheap. The bread is great especially the next day when you can build walls with it. But I will agree when it is fresh it is lovely.You can get decent cheap wine but not as cheap as it used to be. I suppose it depends on what you are used to More reasonable property prices. Away from the cities yes, Paris can give London a run for it's money. Our place was very cheap compared to it's equivalent in say Cornwall but prices do seem to be rising and the valuing seems to a think of a number game at the mo' Dogs allowed in shops and restaurants and pets accepted in most hotels. Mmmm just what I want a dog trying to nick my food or slobbering over the merchandise. Women aren't afraid to dress like women. In fact both sexes try to look good (of course it's a pain if you feel grotty and just want to pop out for a baguette!) Where have you been????  A true Urban Myth I'm afraid LOL I have seen one stylish lady in our nearest town and she runs the bar/resto. There were two fashion statements in the hotel restaurant last week and they stood out like sore thumbs..... obviousley not locals cos' theye were missing the crimpeline and tabards. Will's description could be our neighbour(lovely lady) but she is living and working on a farm so isn't really into Dior, Versace and DG it would probably last about 5mins before it fell apart [:D]

Our house in Brittany is Kerblezic or Kerblezeic ,It varies depending on where you look [8-)] But apparently it means Wolfhouse [:O]

[quote user="Jsey"] Hi Paul. You can't hide mate, I would agree with your statement all the way, when I ordered all my gear from a local shop the man asked when I would like delivery this being 11am, so, knowing how the UK works I said as soon as they were able, he nearly gave me palpitations when he asked if 2pm would be ok, at 1.50pm there they were. [/quote]   Hi John   Jeeez you just can't get away from some people can you [;)] LOLOLOLOL   How are you doing mate??? I have to say I was amazed at being given so precise a time and that it was adhered to, especially as our house is not the easiest to find[:D]

[quote user="ChezShells"] Hi On one of the AI forums I had my signature (http// only) removed because they said it was advertising, on another AI forum its ok! Noticed a drop in posts on ere tho, probably people bored with the - I'm better than you and I know more than you attitude. Oh well, we just try to plod on. [/quote]   Well being a newbie to all these French forums I have had a look at as many as I can and so far I am liking this one the best [:)] I found "the other place" somewhat rude and lacking in humour the above quote seems to sum it up quite well [;)]   Had a good browse on "the other place" and found the attitudes quite disconcerting generally in fact I have just had my 3rd and final post deleted for calling a "pompous ass " a "pompous ass" (is it OK to say that on here? [:$])This person presumed to know what my post said although they stated they had not read it all ??? and was exceedingly rude in their response to me .What else can you call someone like that????? In consequence I don't think I'll be going back there LOL Maybe their problem is a lack of emoticons ??? this can make all the difference to how posts are perceived !

[quote user="SaligoBay"] [quote user="Bassman"]Maybe that's whats wrong in the UK??? Nobody strikes anymore, nobody dare, they have forgotten how??[/quote] After watching the French at it for the last 6 years, I have come to the sad conclusion that in France, the right to strike is just bread and circuses.  People let off steam and go straight back to work.  As a piece of worker psychology, it's brilliant! .    [/quote]   I tend to think the letting off steam point may be a good thing, here is a very recent post from a car forum I help run in the UK   [quote]The step daughter, she's 21 and a wee slip of a gal, was beaten to a pulp by a bloke and a woman last night  There was some fracus in the pub where she was having a drink last night, some complete twonk thought he was hard waving a gun around in the car park. So she went outside (stupidly) to see what was going on when some woman jumped her and started to punch her in the head, a bloke came over and she thought he was going to help her but he STAMPED on her face    and the pair of them carried on until they knocked her out !She's now in Burnley General intensive care unit, transferred over from Blackburn, with internal bleeding and may possibily go blind in one eye  How the hell can a man do such a thing to a woman ? It beggers belief I hope to god the courts throw the bloody book at these two     [/quote]   This sort of thing seems to be getting more common by the day  [:'(]  

[quote user="SaligoBay"] [quote user="Logan"]I actually think people power in France is more powerful than government and has more effective control over any excess by those elected to govern. Perhaps that's a form of democracy working? However the 'people power' tends to be either union or vested interest group organised and far from spontaneous public action. [/quote] Logan, you're talking a complete load of.......... sense.  Anyone who moves to France because they like the French right to strike is dreaming.  It's just a right to let off steam.  If it made any difference to anything at all, they wouldn't need to keep doing it. They just LIKE doing it, it's built into the system.   What do you do when you're annoyed with something?  If you're a cat you'll hiss and scratch.  If you're a dog you'll bite.  If you're French you'll manifest!  Or go on strike.  In extreme cases you burn cars and destroy buildings and try to kick a few CRS members (and I use that word deliberately!).  Everyone expects it, it's just the natural thing to do.  Then it's as-you-were, and life goes on until the next time. It is a kind of democracy, I suppose, but at the same time it's also a very effective means of social control. It's neat, because everyone thinks they're getting their way, so everyone's happy!  [:D]      [/quote]   Maybe that's whats wrong in the UK??? Nobody strikes anymore, nobody dare, they have forgotten how??

No Bovrils a drink [;)] LOL    I noticed it's now a yeast extract so how can it still be Bovril it's Marmite in disguise [8-)]

[quote user="jond"] I reckon I could live without marmite now. I don't want to, but I could if I had to. [/quote]   Oh no you couldn't  [;)] You think you could but if it came to it .......... LOLOL   Heinz Sandwich Spread is the work of Satan and evil monstrosity the name of which should never be uttered in civilized company...... OH damn I just did [:$]

[quote user="Iceni"] Are there any equivalent products ? John not [/quote]     In a word....NO !!!!     As said Vegemite is disgusting and I've tried Lidl's version almost as disgusting, S'funny cos' it's really just a waste product of the brewing industry i.e. old used up brewers yeast [:D]   We went to a car meeting in Merlimont Pas de Calais last year with our sister French car club and we took various British cheeses and beer with us and whilst the Sage Derby, Double Gloucester and a few others took a while to be liked by the French folk the Colliers extra mature cheddar went down a storm my mate Phillipe said the cheddar they usually get is coloured waxy mild stuff [:(]

[quote user="Gluestick"] Having only just joined, I must say that this forum is really a breath of fresh air! Excellent assistance and technical information. Now I have discovered this thread I'm at home! I was beginning to wonder if it was me: brits relocating and the first thing seems to be how to fiddle a moody Sky card and satellite: next is the strange compunction to watch moronic (sorry) TV soaps; then insist on buying a UK newspaper every day. Then as has already been mentioned, the "Where can I buy; English sausages; marmite; bacon; cheddar cheese; English beer; the list seems endless................. can't quite understand this one, with all the fantastic food france has to offer. Personally, I tend to avoid many of the local Brits in our bit of France, part from the nice ones. Luckily, we are far enough away from the local brit concentrated areas, although have to venture into the nearest large town here and there. I hope Admin don't kill me, but as an ex-member of another sort of forum, which seems infested with the brit prototype, well no names no pack drill, but I was beginning to wonder whether it was me? And as for some of the "Information", it was hilarious. Dozens (it looks) of guys selling up, relocating, doing the renovation and thereafter whinging about not being able to get a job. Didn't they actually work all this out before they left Blighty? Strange.   [/quote]   Must agree , yes we have a TV and a DVD /video player and that's all we watch, after a hard day working on the house it is nice to sit and veg out with film but I can live without the "moronic" drivel UK Tv seems to shovel down our throats which is strange cos' that's the industry my wife works in LOL If we want "normal" TV we have a small French set we can watch the F1 Grand Prix on etc LOL   Newspapers.... hmmmm don't buy 'em in the UK so no chance in France [;)]  English sausages; marmite; bacon; cheddar cheese; English beer; Mmmmmmnice I must admit we have a LARGE jar of Marmite sorry but it's addictive can't live without it [:$] cheddar, english beer,sausages and bacon weelll we take some with us but when it's gone it's gone [;)]   I think most of the foodstuffs are OKish after all we take French food back to the UK with us as well and I'm pretty sure that French folk living in UK will do the same sort of thing , once we move to Brittany full time we will ween ourselves off it........ except the Marmite of course as I said it's addictive [:D]    

[quote user="Alcazar"] Ours was done about two years ago, and no probs yet, touch wood. We also have a sort of burial mound in the large-ish back garden, ours is only about a foot high, (300mm), and wifey has prettified it with some bluebells and cowslips on the edges of the bank. Hardly a problem, and better than what we had! BTW: ours was connected to the kitchen water outlet, (sink, washer, dishwasher), but NOT to the toilet, as we first had to empty, (have emptied for us), and remove, fill in etc, the old fosse, which was in one of the barns, then I laid the connecting pipework. We still have no bathroom, only a toilet, but work is in hand to remedy that. Alcazar [/quote]   Ours is about 2'6" - 3'  high and we are learning to live with it , when we first saw it it looked huge like a mountain, now it's doesn't seem so bad, luckily we have 3,000sqm of garden to play with[:)] Last week my wife threw a load of seeds over it for low growing stuff like alyssum and lobelia in the hope they will make it look a bit better- my idea she's a keen gardner and said nooo they have to be planted in pots and started in the greenhouse then thinned out and potted on etc. etc  I said since when did nature supply greenhouses and pots just chuck 'em on if they grow they grow if not [:|] LOL   The fosse that was there when we saw the house was just for the toilet all other waste went into the ditch so we would have got pulled for that soon and it made sense to have it done before we took over the house [;)]

We had a survey done much to the amusement of the notaire [:)] It took a while for him to get round to it but he phoned me in the UK and discussed his findings before sending out the written report. He was particularly picky even mentioning things like the front door lock being sticky(just needed adjusting took me 30 seconds) some of the putty in the french windows needing re-doing, a couple of sockets being loose etc. but the main thing was the fosse septique wasn't up to scratch and we had been assured it was fine [^o)] Due to his report we negotiated with the vendor and got her to pay 2500 euro towards the cost of a new one and got her to have the work done before we signed. At the signing of the final act the notaire made some comment about us wasting 1000Euro on a survey ... he hadn't grasped that spending that 1000 saved us an additional 1500 and the trouble of arranging the work etc. [;)]

We had ours done by a local Brit couple with what looks like crushed stone which works very well and doesn't spread like pea shingle as it sort of sticks together to do the area show including levelling the ground and making the turning circle they charged me 900Euro which we thought was a pretty good price   [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/Bassman/Kerblezic/Picture028a.jpg[/IMG]

We had a new fosse septique installed before we signed the final act and got the vendor to pay 2500Euro towards the cost, When we arrived I thought we had been left with a mound of soil in the rear garden..... it turned out to be the filter bed [:$] Because the ground is very clay the bed could not go underground and we have what looks like an ancient burial mound behind the house [:'(]  just got to find a way of disguising it now [;)] As the existing loo was a disgusting brown/green/gold colour ? that wobbled one of my first jobs was to replace it and a few days later a horrible smell developed in the house, it was coming from the loo but we couldn't figure out why? a couple of weeks later sitting at home in the UK the penny dropped , I hadn't replaced the rubber seal on the soil pipe and the new pan outlet was presumably slightly smaller than the old one so next visit I wrapped some self amalgamating tape around the join and voila smell gone[:)]   Last week we found our Breton neighbour coming up the drive with a couple from the nearby village to show them our mound as they having to have the same system installed (it seems we are the first in the area to have it done) and the poor mans face when he saw what he was going to have in his garden was a picture, he turned to me and said " it is not beautiful is it" too true.... it isn't  [:(]

Unibond usually does a fine job of curing this and normal gloss will also do it [:)]

[quote user="cheminot"] You can get what is called a 'Kit de raccordement mélanger' from most bricos (definitely at Castorama) which consists of a flexible pipe with a quarter turn shut off cock ( usually called a 'Vanne' I think). The cock usually has a small handle rather than a screw slot and comes in 12 & 14mm sizes. Costs around 20-25 euros. With the correct adaptors you can easily join these to mixer taps as the name implies. Most mixer taps are 10mm connection but again the adaptors are readily available. cheminot [/quote]   This is exactly what I have done in our kitchen and what I am about to do in the bathroom( well in May) I had to do it immediatley we got the house as water was leaking  everywhere and as the sink etc. was coming out I just ripped the lot straight out and put some shut off valves on the ends of the pipes until I got around to fitting the kitchen, then when I fitted the sink just connected the flexi pipes to the valves and turned them on[:D]

[quote user="Tresco"] I agree people of any nationality can be awful Especially when they are yelling their heads off in your native tongue!  I was laughing (or rather crying) with you on that point Paul. ... I suppose there is a tendancy to notice those of your own when abroad LOL Yes, because we automatically understand everything they say and perhaps even their body language. [/quote]   Exactly LOL   I felt really sorry for the French guy, he kept getting out of his car and lifting his trailer round a bit in an effort to move out of our way but they had blocked him so badly he just couldn't do it[:(]   Once upon a time I would have just put up with it and kept quiet but as I am getting older I feel I am turning into Victor Meldrew [:$]

Thanks for the info folks [H] It looks like door frame heating next year then LOL I don't really want to remove the existing frame for fear of damaging the floor tiles on the groundfloor and our new decorating upstairs LOL. I love the way the doors have lift of hinges a friend of mine in the UK is a carpenter and he's glad we don't get doors like this as he reckons he would be out of a job[:)]   As we were leaving last week we spotted some nice doors on special at Bricomarche in Carhaix but we have two doors that are smaller than the others and they seemed to be one size [:(] I noticed they have lots at BricoDepot near Morlaix anyone know what they are like for delivering as I have now sold my Transit?   Val_2..... you pinned our area down pretty well there [;)]

Woah!!! don't get me wrong I may have put that badly [:$] we have met and are friends with some very nice ,very helpful Brits  but there does seem to be an element of the "ex-Pat" brigade that are very loud and brash and seem to want to live in a Brit ghetto not mixing with anyone else and spend their time being super critical of all things French [8-)]  I would avoid these whether I was in France, UK or anywhere for that matter and they seem to stand out in a crowd wherever.  A recent example    Last week we went to the Brico Depot in Morlaix, we came to leave the shop with a trolley with a couple of large boxes on, the exit doors had been blocked outside by a French mans car and trailer who in turn had been blocked in by a couple of Brits with their car and trailer, when the French man saw us trying to get past he tried to move his car and couldn't because of the Brit car, they could see the situation and deliberatley spent an eternity tying stuff down onto their trailer and messing about, they seemed to think this was funny  I didn't! when I remonstrated with them they just sneered and carried on their arrogant selfish behavior when all they had to do was move their car a few feet[:(] To me it is this sort of behaviour that is going to get resentment built up against the Brits in France as nobody notices the nice , quiet, polite majority [:(]   I agree people of any nationality can be awful just I suppose there is a tendancy to notice those of your own when abroad LOL

[quote user="JohnM"] I'm happy to be corrected, but I think that the "little(?) thank you" would have been paid for out of the "Well we've got to put some sort of programme on, so why not this one" budget and not from the money raised. However, this not not mean that I am not equally annoyed by the fact that people with more money than I know how to dream about, demand these things for doing a charity gig.   [/quote]   It wasn't so much that they were given a little "thank you" it was the demands for particular items that was galling, they may as well have demanded their usual fee and this was just a way of disguising it. TBH this wasn't all the celebs, many did it without claiming a penny in ex's or costume allowance's, it was a few notable big names that were errrm greedy?, one particular female STAR demanded a designer outfit that would have bought our UK house at the time[:O]

I remember when my wife worked for Thames TV doing artist payments she was prettty annoyed at the amount some of the celebs were getting for doing the Telethon at the time, Although they weren't paid a fee as such the expenses payment were huge and some demanded very expensive designer clothing be provided which they would be allowed to keep after the programme. So yes the hidden costs of some of these things are fairly outrageous [:(]

[quote user="le bouffon"]No snide dig,not my style,Having just paid best part,enough to say a large wegde for doing very very little,3 views and putting our names on some forms and then sending them to the notaire some 100m up the road.Sure I resent paying them.Glad it worked out for you,just goes to show want the quaility of some of the brit immos over here in france,we had the similar things happen to us years ago when looking for a house,in the end we went straight to the vender and cut out the immo.[/quote]   In which case I apologize for the suggestion that it was, it was just the manner of your posting that led me to that conclusion[;)] TBH I resent paying estate agents in UK even more as they seem to do even less for their money and often become more of a hinderance than a help in my experience. They have never accompanied us on viewings when we have bought houses nor brought viewers to houses we have sold, the 2 houses we have sold in the UK sold themselves to the first viewers the EA sent round, in the first case even before the detail sheet had been printed and approved, this was a person they had already shown 50 properties to without success , I think maybe they should have paid us for getting her off their books [I]

[quote user="Opalienne"] For once I agree with Le Bouffon.   I am one of the few too - I don't see why it should be assumed that you are going to be friends with someone just because they share your nationality. I also agree with Will.   What sloppy journalism!  It would be hard to stand up a single fact in that piece.......   [/quote]   [8-)] Me too!!!!! there are quite a few Brits in our area and they seem to congregate in a Brit bar/restaurant so we tend to avoid the place like the plague esp. when I found that some of the Brits had lived there for years but never used the French bars or restaurants.Seems strange to me to go and live in France and then avoid anything French [8-)] Also overhearing some of  their conversations when they did use the French bar( only cos' the Brit one was closed at the time) made me more determined to avoid them, I wasn't eavesdropping by the way it was just a natural consequence of being within 100metres of them[:(]