mint

[quote user="Cassis"]II'm really looking forward to finding out what the addition of 2 more bedrooms and three bathrooms has done to our taxes. [:D] [/quote] ask not what the addition has done to your taxes, ask what it has done to your finances!  first things first, eh?

ian, do you think that, when you say the forum is actually quite negative, this is because, when people are happy, they tend not to think about it but that when they are unhappy, everything "gets to them" and they start moaning? for example, if we have a good experience (with a shop, with a government dept, whatever), we are just pleased and, apart from mentioning it once or twice, we forget all about it.  but, if we have a really bad time, then it dwells in our minds and we want to tell our friends, our family, the bloke on the No 7 bus. i read somewhere, years ago when i was still a youngster, that the moment you ask yourself whether you are happy, you cease to be so. and i think there is something in that

ali-cat says about cassis "I'm sure any women's sewing circle would be proud to have you!" is cassis an honorary woman then and do sausages have any gender?  

is flying with violins more or less fun than swimming with dolphins?

[quote user="chessfou"]From the Greek - ouzo  - pron. où 'z-eau [as in "where's the water" for the pastis]. It may not be true but it's a better explanation than the stuff I've read about it migrating aqua-awa-ahwa-éwè-eau.[/quote] whilst i'd always choose the alcoholic stuff over plain old eau, i think i might make an exception with ouzo.  apologies to ouzo drinkers on the forum!

hastobe that's a great deal.  5 burners sound about what i'd like if i were to have one.  excuse me, what firm is jtf?  are they in south wales?

thank you, Dick and Paul that's decided it; a french one it is then.  one fewer item on the "to-do" list.

nick what about a bbq that uses a gas cylinder?  will the "fittings" fit?  we have our delivery van here next week and i am considering nipping down to b & q to pick one up.  we are going to have a challenge cooking as we are likely to have to wait (how long?) for a cooker that needs a special vent for the extractor hood and i thought a bbq would be a good short-term solution?

love your post, vickybear.  but then, you ARE in south devon which is really really nice. glad you've made the right decision for you.  as for us, we are going THERE.  don't know what it's like really and don't know whether we'd like it.  but then, if we don't try, we never will know, will we? i can understand all the things you have included in your post and they mean a lot to me too but then i also want a challenge and to be jogged out of my comfort zone. i'll give it at least 2 years, same as you have and, maybe, at the end of 2 years, we'll compare notes, ok?

cassis you are a most clever and painstaking sausage and i can tell you those are 2 qualities that i would put almost above any others!  very well done! (not meant so much as a pat on the head, clever old you, but more as a token of my admiration)!

vickybear thanks for going to all that trouble.  that sounds splendid, i will look him up in pages jaunes and find out his location. a good vet is worth his/her weight in gold because, you know how it is with your animals, you go into handwringing mode in no time!

rumzigal says: "I have a feeling that in spite of what people claim, France does not (and can not) fulfill all of their needs, and that is well worth bearing in mind for anyone considering such a move." can the uk "fulfill all of your (sic) needs"?  can it anybody's? come to that, can any PERSON fulfill all your needs? surely you yourself decide what YOU need to be happy and, if you're not, then you had better do something about it, hadn't you?  nothing to do with the weather or the country or the government or gordon brown (topical this) or french bureaucracy.  it's down to you in the end. don't take offence, none intended.  for "you", read "one"!

vickybear may i pm you for his number and/or address, please?

hastobe when we were looking, we came across agents (brits) who had a fixed fee added on.  i presume that this is a fee in ADDITION to those charged by the french agent and, of course, in addition to the notaire's fees. the adverts always said, "all fees included, what you see is what you pay" which meant the price was quoted gross of all fees.  when i read the small print, i could see the breakdown of these fees and the british agent typically added something like 5% (the exact figure eludes me).  needless to say, much as i liked some of the properties on offer, i kept well away from such agents.  there was no way i was going to pay the notaire's fees (compulsory), a french agent's fee AND a british agent's fee. in the event, we only paid the notaire's fees because we bought from a private seller

wow!  and i thought i had a crazy quote when i got 19 thousand euros for installing heaters in every room. there's got to be a better one somewhere.  if you say where your property is, you might get some recommendations

not being funny but do you mean 19 thousand euros or 1 thousand 9 hundred euros?  Your commas confuse me a bit.  i am sure you know what you are talking about so please don't mind me if i am asking a stupid question

ananda says "After falling into a blind panic ......" weren't the glasses any good after all, ananda? but thanks for the links.  how do you know whether the glasses will fit?  i mean the optician normally fiddles with them and puts them on you and fiddles with them some more before finally pronouncing them ok, don't they?

cassis you're in great company actually.  there used to be a bishop in leicester (can't remember his name, unfortunately) who did wonderful embroidery!  if the old boy has departed this world, he is probably doing some quite celestial designs by now good luck

i believe the geometre also has to register the "new" plot with the french equivalent of the land registry

catalpa your story has heartened me.  can't see it, but you never know, it would be absolute bliss if my OH were to suddenly show an interest in "making things happen"! i shall carry on dreaming and, if i am very very good, do you think santa might make it happen come christmas?

coco i have to disagree with you totally on this one.  it's fine to throw in the odd french word, it adds colour and variety and it is sometimes a shorthand way of saying, "i'm on the same wavelength as you" i live in wales and i WILL often use the odd sentence or word in welsh when i am speaking to a local.  i don't mean to  be pretentious, just trying to ease the communication and it also makes me feel less of an outsider as a child growing up in malaysia, we often mixed up ALL our languages.  we might start a sentence in english and end it in malay.  all the other children would know what we meant and, sometimes, there was a certain humour in switching.  at other times, we did it to prevent an outsider, such as a parent or a teacher, from understanding what we were saying!  mind you, my poor husband did find it bewildering the first time we went for visit! as others have pointed out, this is after all a french forum for people with a particular or even a general interest in france.  as far as i'm concerned, if it aids communication, gets a point across in a succinct and entertaining way , helps me feel part of the forum community, then i am all for it. je ne comprehends pas what you have against this? 

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Gooooooseberries ruin the memory, you know. That's why Mark can't find any. Why are they called gooseberries? Do geese eat them? They don't look very goosey, or taste of goose. You don't have to shave a goose, or pull that little pip out of the end. So that when you are a kid and your mother tells you to do a whole bucket of them they all split so you eat them and get sick and ... Sorry. I'll have a little lie-down now. [/quote] Dick (see, i remembered to write D in upper case) as long as you don't PLAY gooseberry, that's ok

sd congratulations!  she is a real beauty!

bobh you made me laugh all right, don't worry!  at the risk of offending the welsh brigade, i am going to agree with you and say that i found language difficulties too when i first came over to wales.  also, everyone was so small, and dark (just like me!) my OH is off to cardiff to watch the match and i have told him that he had better make the most of it because, after next month, he will have to go to toulouse to watch any rugby.  to which he replied, "well, i am going to cardiff  TO LOOSE"  i don't think he has much faith in the welsh side either, so that makes two of us! cheers bob.  have a drop of whatever it is that you drink in the east end, mate.  i wouldn't know as i don't watch eastenders!

many happy returns, russethouse!  and don't look at ANY posts today other than these birthday ones!