Gemini_man

You don't have to de-register to claim RMI you can continue working and if your last years income was below the RMI plafond then you can claim it, a bit like Income Support I expect, BUT you have to continue paying cotisations.

I've lived here 15 years but I was born and brought up in England so I am and always will be British ......however France is my home but I am not French so I think of myself as first British and second European.

Has this thread been hijacked or what ? [:(]

[quote user="Mayennaise"]On the bright side - wood should certainly be a bit cheaper in the coming winters![/quote] very unlikely - even after the last hurricane it wasn't cheaper where i live - probably something to do with the cost of manpower rather than the cost of the timber [blink]

[quote user="Higgy"]The French used to eat them as a delicacy.       [/quote] well you know what the French say about themselves: "if it moves, we eat it" which is mostly true but I must say I've never seen a recipe for slugs and with there being so many here, especially long orange ones, I'm surprised they haven't found some way to make them a national speciality to go with snails. ok, I know some smartypants will now relate how their neighbour fries them in olive oil with garlic, pepper and salt etc [+o(] erm, sorry to go off-topic [:$]

Fouine are the most likely candidates and although they are lovely creatures to look at, yes I have been face to face with several, they can make an awful mess of your ceiling through using it as their toilet area - apart from that they're noisy bu**ers especially in early Spring [:D] but if you can manage to share your property with them so much the better imo [:)]

Nice bit of work Bob T for a first attempt - how about a quick trip around Lac Jemaye, South of Vanxains? Edit: some interesting photos on your website btw and the geese were cranes (grues) flying North for the Summer, it's always good to hear them going North but SO sad to hear them going South in Autumn - roll on Spring [:D]

[quote user="Chief"][quote user="Bob T"][quote user="Chief"] Speedo not needed.  Two reference points, used with a time/distance calcuation and your bang to rights.  pretty much how a standard speed camera works, and they don't need to see your speedo either......good luckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk [/quote] Yes Chief, I am sure that the local police will spot the video and spend a day roaming around to find two trees to measure, then another day working out the times on the internet, then spend another day trying to find out which bike was being used and if it was me or Jude riding. They would then look on my PC to see if I had speeded or slowed the video before I had uploaded iit. After all this they may find that I had not broken any speed limits, but what the heck, 6 orn 7 man days to try and get a shaky prosecution, when they could go out with a speedgun and catch 10 cars per hour. A standard speed camera is a stationary object timing a moving object, not the other way round. I don't think so. [/quote] Well they might now you have been gracious enough to explain to them how to do it.......so clever......not [/quote] OMG get a sense of perspective or failing that a sense of humour [:P]

We have random disconnects with Free usually just for a minute or so but we don't normally have to disconnect or re-boot the Freebox, just very occasionally. Most people I've spoken to suffer disconnects some more than others - Wannadont/Orange for instance seems to suffer more than most, or used to!!

[quote user="Cassis"]I do wish that the companies selling spyware checkers would not exaggerate the threats, essential though anti-spyware is.  It really isn't necessary for them to overstate the threat posted by innocent cookies and it makes it difficult to see the wood when they put so many trees in your way.  I know a lot of people disagree with all cookies on principle, but they do make web navigation a smoother experience and I have no problem as long as they are not used for subversive marketing etc. Windows Defender is another piece of free anti-spyware downloadable online. [/quote] but they make a LOT of money from scaremongering gullible users [:D] in reality these days there are actually very few viruses about, malware is far more profitable but can be cleaned up easily by regular (once a week) scans - personally i use "Spybot - Search & Destroy - http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html" and "Ad-Aware SE - http://www.lavasoft.com/download_and_buy/product_comparison_chart.php" both of which are FREE and update every 2 weeks (they also have pay versions so be careful which you download) and for backup i actually paid for "Prevx1- http://www.prevx.com/products.asp" which at 19.50€ for 12 months is imo an excellent virus checker that does not try to scare the s*** out of you every other day [:D] i hope this helps some of you, there are lots of people out there trying to make a living out of your fears [:)] PS. happy to help if anyone needs it for these malware/virus checkers - PM me if you need it.

opas, two questions: 1) does your desktop look normal? 2) if it does then it's a browser setting problem - which browser are you using? internet explorer, firefox or something else?

Another is around Blagnac in Toulouse - seriously, PoD applies there much to my amazement and horror - strange but there's lots of cars with dented doors around Blagnac, no idea why [blink]

Hmm, my French claim to fame is that my arrière arrière grand'mère's family name was Poulain - I think it must be the French equivalent of Smith [:$]

benedicte your first port of call should be to your "assistante sociale" - every resident has one it just depends where you live. Your mairie will be able to give you the name and contact details. Once you get to see the assistante sociale explain your situation and your concerns and he/she will advise you what to do, who to see and your position so far as the authorities are concerned. With regards to UK or French law, my understanding is that if you are resident in France then French law rules and you need to be resident in the UK for at least 6 months before you can divorce there. I believe that if you stay resident in France and have little or no income you can obtain free legal support but the assistante sociale will tell you. I hope that helps a bit through what is likely to be a very difficult time - good luck!!