Ron Avery

Thousands of ferry passengers have brought all sorts of paint emulsion, gloss, enamel, spray etc over to France in vans, cars, and lorries and none have ever had it confiscated by French customs. Sorry but whoever compared paint to pool chemical is just "badly informed ".  In any case, if you get actually got stopped by any French Police or customs, I would be very concerned as you would have to be on a list of wanted criminals. What goes to France has naff all to do with UK Customs and there are no checks by them on outward journeys.  In fact there are no checks at all going into France.  In all the years of going Dover - Calais I have yet to see a customs post at Calais actually manned,  the only checks made are of passports by the Border Police at Dover and they never leave their boxes!!

re the adkins rant Could you repost that again with paragraphs and spaces after the fullstops, I had to get my asthma kit out whilst reading it.  On second thoughts............ don't bother its totally irrelevant to France, the thread and the real world[:P].  It probably also breeches copyright laws.  Best to post a link so that those who are really interested in white power stuff can go and read it there.[8-)]  

After 14,000,000 post on Forums across the world (10,000 of them by Tegwini alone), and acres of trees being cut down to add 17 extra pages to the Torygraph and Wail's letters section, it turns out that Thatcher's daughter didn't actually say the G word at all and its been a big misunderstanding. What she actually said  was "Gwolly gosh adwian that tennis player looks awfully like the wobertson'e Gwolly rog"[:D][:P]  So on a technicality she has been reinstated......... as has Wossy [:P]   EDIT  Great fun reading the on line Daily Wail's comments section,  the green arrowed ones are the best, they want Thatcher reinstated whilst calling for Jo Brand to be sacked for suggesting on the BBC in a comedy show that people should post poo to the addresses on the BNP membership list.  Can't have their readers confusing their letters with their daily paper can we [kiss][:P][:D]

McCulloch's are known in the trade as "one season equipment" so if you have had yours for 10 years it has done very well.  Mine has lasted 5 so far and is still OK but it was a lot cheaper than a Stihl Its like a lot of things you get what you pay for, Stihls are double at least the price of a Partner or McCulloch, are easy to start and maintain and will  last for many years.  If you are using a chainsaw a lot then invest in a good one as the next cheap one might not last half as long.

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="Ron Avery"]  If you are told you have no entitlement as my OH was, appeal and take it as far as you can.  You may find to your surprise as we were, that you are actually entitled to a pension, but no matter how small it is, it does entitle you and O/H to that E121 which in these difficult financial times is worth its weight in gold.   [/quote] Oh to have that chance, who exactly does one appeal to? [:(] [/quote] You appeal to the DWP who sent out the letter telling yoiu that you were not entitled to a pension.  You have to give a lot of information including your entire employment history, dates, addresses etc, should not be too hard, unless you have had hundreds of jobs or cannot find your NI number.[Www],

Thanks for that, it must be wehen the mobile and fixed aqctivities split, although both are branded with TELE 2. Its hard to keep pace with all the various operatorsd, I recently had a problem with my fixed phone and phoned TELE2 for a repair man and on the repair note I noted that the repair was listed as to  Orange who I thought were the mobile phone and internet arm of FT or is SFR the mobile side of FT?  My entire bill for my fixed phone is with TELE2 who took the FT line over as well, so I thought there was no longer any connection with FT or Orange.  

[quote user="sueyh"]Have been with tele2 for about two years and have had no probs. 34.90€ per month includes all international calls all day every day, plus internet and (if we lived in the right area) TV. Don't pay for line, thats included. Very good. They have now been taken over by or have amalgamated with SFR. Suey[/quote]   Suey does the Tele2 package include calls to UK mobiles as well?   Tele2 have certainly split their fixed and mobile phone companies but I was not aware that SFR had taken either or both over.  When did this happen?

[quote user="Weegie"]MOH, who reaches that age in a couple of weeks, had her E121 sent automatically with her letter notifiying her of her amount of pension. She received it mid-January.  She has been an "ayant droit" on my E121. If this helps. [/quote] Same here,  O/H got the E121 with pension notification although I was originally not included on it as "family",  this has now been corrected and we are out of the CMU base w/e from last year.  Just a note for any ladies aged 60 who have been refused a pension  on the basis of paying a B stamp.  If you ever paid an A stamp and took time off to have babies, ask for a pension quote  NOW.  If you are told you have no entitlement as my OH was, appeal and take it as far as you can.  You may find to your surprise as we were, that you are actually entitled to a pension, but no matter how small it is, it does entitle you and O/H to that E121 which in these difficult financial times is worth its weight in gold.  

[quote user="tegwini"] .....  No doubt the BBC has such a dept. for the likes of Adrian Chiles to tell tales to.  More cost to the licence payer, and to what benefit ? Very little benefit. Tegwini [/quote] Where is it claimed that Adrian Chiles made the complaint?  The media only say, as far as I can find: "She was having a conversation with the presenter of the show, Adrian Chiles, which was overheard by several other members of the production team on the show". Not that any of the presenters complained.  Although in the Greenroom, the BBC decided that the "offence" took place in a "workplace" and contravened their internal policies on such matters.

[quote user="Wilko"] I think the chances of R/Air pulling out of Stansted are extremely slim, non existant. FYI They announced in our local rag that they are opening 3 new routes out of Marseille............to Nantes, Lille and Gatwick. I understand that these new flights will commence end of March 09. Happy flying Wilko [/quote] In one of the SW papers Ryanair announced they would be flying from Carcossonne to Bournemouth instead of Stansted and then had to withdraw the annoncement when Carcossonne airport told the paper it was the first that they had heard about it!![:$]

Post edited by the moderators. Isn't that advice a breach of the Forum code of conduct as it incites an illegal act which would deprive the French Government of tax revenues which could be used for the improvement of the lives of the less well off amongst our adopted countrymen[:P]? 

[quote user="Frederick"]Am I the only one that thinks the British Airports Authority bosses should be hanging their heads in shame today ..The UK's main airport and they cant keep the runways open with over 50 snow clearence machines ....and only had one shift on duty de iceing aircraft.. No excuses there are plenty of airports that get snow to show them how its done Canada the USA for example ...they should have been ready for it ![/quote] Probably Gordon Brown's fault as well[:P] But bit of a buggar to get a plane down when there are 50 snow clearers on the runway.  Snow clearing was actually why a lot of runways were closed for short periods but that translates in the world of 24 hour news dumbing down to a closure. Just seen the normally sensible Simon Calder say that other European Cities cope with snow every year, pehaps he should tell that to the people of Marseilles and Toulouse, both recently brought to a grinding halt by unusually heavy snowfall as was London yesterday where they had snow of a depth unseen for 20 years.  The key word here is every, of course cities like Praque, Berlin etc can cope because they get significant snow every year,  in the UK it was last as bad as that 18 years ago, are the council tax payers of the UK going to pay for staff and equipment that might get used once every 18 years??

Just shows how places differ, in my limited experience with funerals in rural France, there was no collection at all,  seemed rather like a UK funeral where the priest is usually given a donation by the family.  I would also add for those who seem to think its a take it or leave it situation, if you have been told of the funeral,  you will be expected to go to show your respect, its also a celebration of the life of the deceased and not as sombre as one might initially think it to be. 

.....anyone holding a valid English HGV licence will be able to go to their prefecture and be given a FIMO. But not a job, a friend of mine with UK HGV and PSV licenses tried the local haulage  and coach firms and was told without a French license and CGT membership, he did not have chance of getting a job.  Might just be their local policies but I doubt it somehow.

As 101-06 is mentioned its probably the SKY EPG numbers and they mean free to air.  With all the power outtages recently a lot of boxes have been "upset", we had exactly this problem a few weeks back, we gained BBC 1 London at 101 instead of the previous BBC 1 Scotland and lost other channels.  Best thing is to turn off the box completely and leave for 5 minutes or more, take out and clean the sky card and turn it back on.  That usually does the trick and your usual EPG regional variations will be restored.

[quote user="Dog"]I'd go theres bound to be a drink or 8 after....[/quote]   And you would be totally wrong.  Its not Ireland.

If they have told you of the death then they want you to know and you will be expected to go to the funeral.  As to what to do and wear, its very hard to generalise, but don't get your best black suit or dress on as you may be the odd ones out.  In rural communities its normally a bit more casual than in the UK or towns in France, and people come as they are but best to ask your neighbour.  You will not need to go to the cemetery though if you don't wish to that is often the close family. For funerals in small communities, as many of the villagers that can get there will do so. Best advice is to try and follow what others do,  you may find that a large number standing outside waiting for the hearse and then they will follow the coffin in, there may also be a book of condolenses to sign in the entrance.  We stood outside at our neighbour's funeral and followed the coffin in to find the rest of the village was already inside so we stood at the back, not knowing we were expected to have gone to the front of the church with the family.  At the end of the service you may find that the congregation will file past the coffin and leave by a front door, try not to be first and see what others do, but they do lead out from the back not the front, but again this may not be the case.  Some places they kiss the coffin, at others they touch the coffin, you can be "english" if you wish and just bow as a mark of respect, nobody will be taking notes!!

Just to reiterate, the Fuel allowance is only available to the low paid.  If you pay income tax in France you are not entitled to it. If you don't declare income in France you won't get it either as you have to provide a tax return.  You can get it if you do not pay your tax in France and "qualify" that way but that would be morally wrong if your income is actually above the tax threshold.  For some it might be better to leave the new 4x4 and/or motor bike round the corner when you go to Mairie to collect the forms

Someone on here had to abandon ship from his car and be rescued by the Gendarmes when it got stuck in rapidly rising floodwaters along his namesake river. Word is he' ll never say a bad word again about the Gendarmerie as they were marvellous, more than the car though that is a write off  but that can be replaced. Apart from long power outtages and many of the tributary rivers bursting their banks on Friday, on Saturday on the higher exposed ground the wind was vicious and caused a lot of damage all across 12 particularly in Rodez, but the notable story was of one old boy who ignored the red alert on Saturday and went out in his car to see the swollen river Serene, he ended up with an very large oak tree across his back seat, bending his car like a banana but he escaped unhurt, any one in the back would not have survived.

Frankly Gluey, your long posts bore me and I will not bother to respond to any more, I have a life to get on with.

B- a- f. There are two sides to this, a friend of mine had some replica uniforms made for a specific company and period, despite the fact that anyone who wanted one would have known exactly what they looked like, a photo was requested, mainly by those who had no intention of buying the uniforms, in this case what was on offer was quite clear.  However in your case I think its quite reasonable to ask for photographs of a car and the stones.  Its normal on Ebay and such sites for pictures of cars to be included and few without pictures sell, no matter how complete the description is, often there are several views of the vehicle, a picture tells a thousand words they say and helps back up your description and builds trust. With the stones, maybe people do not want very large 1m3 + or very small stones,  I have stones discarded from my build because they are too big,  broken or mishapen and not suitable to be used for the finishing stones, nobody doing an exterior finish would want those, so its not unreasonable in my view to not to waste your and their time by just taking a picture of them.

[quote user="Gluestick"][quote user="Ron Avery"] Funny that your mate Peston blames it all on the Chinese!!  [/quote] It was probably Dr Fu Manchu, Ron. [/quote] No it was Peston, one wonders whether you are so full of your self importance that you bother to read anything other than your own words.  Outside of that tube that you live in are other people who have opinions which they are as entitled to as you.  In my experience people who can recall a lunch with a bank CEO  were probably standing there with a tray in their hand....[kiss]. Google Pestoned, then grovel with an apology.

[quote user="Russethouse"]But the NHS PAID ![/quote] Quite right RH, it shows the flexibility that now exists in the NHS that allows hospitals to take up the slack in the private sector but it matters not where it was done, just under what system and that the outcome was a success. I know from bitter experience that private hospitals are not always what they are cracked to be either.  Yes its nice to have your own room and gourmet food, most NHS hospitals allow visiting at reasonable times, but at the first sign of anything going awry in the operating theatre and the staff are on the phone for an ambulance to take the patient to an NHS hospital.  Local NHS A&E staff around East Kent will readily give chapter and verse on the cock ups made in a couple of the private hospitals on the Kent Coast that have to be put right by the skill of the A&E staff of the NHS.

Funny that your mate Peston blames it all on the Chinese!! 

I can see why you like Peston Gluey, apart from coming from the Sunday Torygraph, he also talks down to people as if they are beneath him and IMHO has one of the most annoying voices and delivery style on TV except for the geordie twat who does Big Brother.  Peston is actually credited with talking down the shares of HBOS when he could not keep his big gob shut when given some confidential information.  In the City shares can now be "pestoned", so good bloke to have around in a crisis or not.....[blink]  Peston is however marginally preferable to that other self promoting bag of wind and doom merchant and also a torygraph staffer Geoff Randall.