Roli

Thank you Ron, I will pass that on, perhaps the Britline would be the best thing for them as they can do that from UK. I was in fact hoping to find it from the search, as they were waiting to hear from me. But it brought up all kinds of stuff, that had nothing to do with banking. Thanks again

Hello All, How does one open a French bank? What is required and which is the best bank to apply to? These are the questions my friends have asked me, they will soon be moving to France but want to open an account first. I cannot help them as when I opened mine, the man who sold me my house insurance had a word with his pal the Bank manager and my account just appeared. Thanks in advance for any info.

The Landlady at my local, She is 92, she opens 7 days a week, always wears full make up, hair do etc. Her bar has not changed in 60 years and is spotless. She has time for a chat with everyone, she remembers every detail of the conversation and enquires as to how it's going the next time.

[quote]I know I'll regret asking, but what did the world do before that particular invention ?[/quote] Dock leaves

[quote]Is anybody aware of any french lessons/teachers that we may be able to use. We are in Dept 72, something close to Alencon or Le Mans would be good. How could we find out if their is somesort of expa...[/quote] Hi Katieb, Go to your nearest M.I.L (Maison des Initiatives Locales) in most large villages. If they don't offer French lessons there they will tell you the nearest town or village to go to which provides free French lessons usually called Lire et Dire (funded by the European Union). I had to go to the nearest town, but I do remember them telling me that it only required 3 people wanting lessons for my own village to provide them. Roli

Still don't get it??????? Roli

Sorry but I didn't quite get that. Do you want to bring toilet paper from England to use in France? Roli

Have any of you tried advertising with French sites? My friend is with GDF but this year found www.a-gites.com she has a very large gite (sleeps 10/12) not so easy to let. I know she was very pleased as she didn't place her ad until well into the summer and still got 4 bookings. Oh and she paid 14 euros for the ad. Roli

Pick up my bag of lovely fresh veg every morning, that has been left hanging on the garden fence by my neighbour. Unless she feels like a cry, then she brings it into the house  Roli

From past experience I would not recommend ARISTON. Go for the best you can afford, it would be a shame to spoil a lovely new kitchen with unreliable appliances. I love my De Dietrich oven and hob, they came with the house and I believe they are at least 25 years old. Roli 

Although excruciatingly painful at times, I persevere with French Tele as it is my main source of learning the language. The funniest thing seems to be throwing water on each other at the end of a chat show. For the life of me I cannot see anything amusing about it but have watched Tele with my neighbours…they think it’s hilarious. I have seen this happen dozens of times and still everybody seems to fall about laughing. Then it is all shown again on "The Best of....." In fact the worst moments seem to be shown as the best of. I saw an emission of Cauet another chat show, where one of the male guests said to Kylie Minogue’s sister: "I wanna f *** you" this guy was about 4ft tall with a deformity. When he got a laugh he went on to repeat it over and over until the poor girl had no choice but to walk of the set. This clip has been shown repeatedly as one of the funniest moments. I would have thought anybody involved would wish to forget it. Oh and someone falling over….. That always gets em going. Roli

I don’t know about damp but if you do decide on carpet I would strongly recommend you use a UK fitter!! The fitters I used here said all carpet had to be glued, I had spent weeks trying to remove the glue left behind from the carpets I had scraped up. They had never heard of grippers, they had no knee kicker thingy? In one room they put the joint in the worst possible place, when there was no need as the amount of carpet had been well over estimated they put joints in the stair carpet, one straight down the middle of a step and at most of the walls there are gaps of between 1 and 2 centimetres where you can see the bare floor. I complained of course, but they just refused to accept that there was anything wrong. I don't know if I am allowed to give names but I will gladly tell you who not to use. Roli  

Hi Pinkfluff, I agree lots of people are wary of £50's but these are 2 £20's and £10. Roli

Thanks All, There is a Bank of France in the nearest city, I didn't try that before but I did try another bank in the city some time ago and La Poste...both refused. I have asked what I should do with them, sometimes the banks suggest La poste, sometimes La poste have suggested the banks and sometimes as in the case of my own bank I have received a shrug of the shoulders (who gives a ....) From all of your replies it seems they may not be right to refuse but how could one argue they would just claim it to be their policy. As it is a small amount I will send it to Mum, but it is none the less irritating. Roli

Oooops!