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KathyF

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Everything posted by KathyF

  1. if your work depends on the internet and other telecommunications, my main piece of advice to you would be to check the availability of decent broadband if you're house-hunting anywhere outside a town or large village. France is three times the size of the UK with a similar sized population and many rural areas are very poorly served by ADSL and have to rely on expensive satellite broadband. We bought our second home here well before broadband was thought of and are lucky that we're close enough to the exchange to get proper broadband. Many houses only a few kilometres away can't get ADSL at all.
  2. Debra, for some reason the forum's software doesn't work properly in Chrome, which is now my default browser. I can either open IE9 and comment using that, or use the Chrome plug-in which I downloaded  and which gives me an IE-based tab, which allows the forum to display properly. In both cases I can get the quotes function to work as it should. I had hoped that the forum upgrade would remove this need to use an IE display with Chrome, but it hasn't happened. Since Chrome is now one of the most widely-used browsers and has almost overtaken IE in popularity, it does seem short-sighted for the forum to use software which won't display or work properly in Chrome.
  3. I'm another who washes every day, but not always in the shower. However I do wash my hands frequently throughout the day and am careful about food hygiene and gastric infection is unknown chez nous, with one memorable exception when the kids brought it home with them for Christmas. . :-)
  4. I'm with you, idun. I enjoy baking and eating what I bake, which is why I daren't do it too often. Sigh...
  5. No-one has been able to put in a new claim for Incapacity Benefit since January 2011. The new benefit is called Employment and Support Allowance and appears to be very much geared to getting people into employment wherever possible. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Illorinjured/DG_171894 The other point that occurred to me is that if the original poster is now chronically ill, fully comprehensive private healthcare, which is essential if they are to comply with French residence requirements, could prove to be prohibitively expensive, if not unattainable.
  6. It's not just Betty who's been having login problems. After a complete scan and clearout of cookies on my laptop yesterday, I tried and failed to log in this morning. The forum login button didn't work at all and the main website login kept telling me there was a problem with my email address or password. [:(] Only then did I notice the option to log in using other accounts (FB/Google etc) Not being on FB, I used the Google account associated with my blog and got in straight away. When I went to the forum and tried commenting on a thread, I got the same login request form as Betty and was able to log in without any problem. I can't get my head around software which can't/won't recognise my login details on its main login page, yet will accept them here on the forum when I've logged in using a different account. [8-)]   PS Not the same problem but still indicative of dodgy software: my preferred browser is Chrome, but I have to use IE9 or an IE add-on in Chrome if I want access to the smilies and formatting options on this forum. Weird or what?
  7. I would imagine that as Quebec isn't part of France, anything The Academie might say won't be of much importance to the Quebecois, Idun. I think you're right about Canadian French being an older form of French, just as there are usages in American English which have died out in British English e.g. gotten.
  8. Precisely, Clair. I gather the road from which the photos were taken was at least a kilometre from the chateau. My guess is that at that distance people would be nothing more than indistinguishable specks without the use of a very powerful telephoto lens. Hardly a case of displaying yourself carelessly to the public gaze as the editor of the magazine in question has claimed. The use of such a lens would breach almost anyone's privacy anywhere.
  9. But they take this risk every time they appear in public. Of course what you say is true, but it still doesn't excuse the gross invasion of privacy or the prurient "public interest" which makes it worth the photographer's while to do so.
  10. Thanks for this, Norman. I was interested to see that it's been done in an attempt to get the property market moving again, as is the imminent removal of CGT abattements for constructible land.
  11. I have a deeply satisfying life, thanks, Eric, during which I have been giving regularly to charities working in developing countries (Christian Aid, Save the Children, etc) for the past 50 years or so. That doesn't stop me being concerned, not only at this particular invasion of privacy (and you didn't answer my second question about that, did you?) but about a whole lot of other social problems too. In my book individuals and their feelings and dignity count, even if they do happen to be royalty.
  12. Where the food is better and you know the bed is comfortable, Betty. [:)] Hope your OH makes a rapid recovery.
  13. [quote user="ericd"]You are all making such a big dance of it. They are targets for terrorists and paparazies wherever they are in the world. No big deal, I won't be buying the mag.[/quote] So the fact that they are already targets somehow makes this no big deal? And if it was someone you loved whose privacy had been similarly invaded - would this still be no big deal? I think you should be ashamed of yourself!
  14. Chancer, we live mainly in the UK, so no cost for medicines at our age. If we lived in France and had to pay towards them, there would be even less chance of my husband bothering the doctor. :-)
  15. Chancer, I'm 66 and now I've finished 5 years of anti-hormone treatment for breast cancer the only medicines I use are twice-daily inhaler doses to keep my asthma under control. My husband is 65 and he takes nothing (mind you, he virtually never darkens the doctor's door). My GP in Wales once threatened me with medication for borderline high blood pressure, but agreed that I could try to remove the need by losing weight. It worked!
  16. Within my lifetime people were still saying the same to girls at school. Sad, but true.
  17. Says who? There are lots of British firms making household furnishings and when we put new double glazing and a conservatory in our UK house recently all the units were British-made.
  18. It does indeed work, Ian, and I have just read your wonderful eulogy to Deb. Very well done, not least for doing it in both languages.
  19. Except that the daughter was also shot in the shoulder as well as beaten. Apparently up to 25 shots were fired altogether. I know the police have to consider all possibilities, but the last scenario does seem unlikely to me.
  20. But Americans consume much more sugar and there are many indications that too much sugar is at least as bad for us as too much fat. Life expectancy at birth in France is still nearly 3 years longer than in the USA, apparently.
  21. Ian, you paint a moving and very human portrait of a very strong and loving person, with whom you obviously had a deeply fulfilling and long-lasting relationship, despite life's ups and downs. Thank you for giving us this insight into Deb's other life, before you moved to France and she joined the forum. To me it reinforces the sense of loss I feel at her untimely death. Be kind to yourself over these next hard weeks and months and please don't be a stranger on here. When you feel up to returning you will be very welcome, not as a substitute for Deb, for no-one can be that, but in your own right.
  22. I am so very sorry to hear this, Ian. I have read Deb's posts on here and elsewhere for years and learned and enjoyed much. She will be very much missed and you have my deepest sympathy.
  23. No words, just great sadness at this news. You are both in my thoughts.
  24. Some 8 years ago we got ours from Mr Bricolage and have been very pleased with them. The builder who laid them for us liked them so much that he bought the same for his own new house. They were some of the most expensive there, but not unreasonably so.
  25. Seconded or even thirded. We care and we could never be bored where Debs is concerned.
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