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Scooby

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Everything posted by Scooby

  1. For the numpties...the typos were deliberate [Www]
  2. http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1298626,00.html  - so sad.  
  3. [blink] - and here I was thinking it was a French grammar test..... My sun (13) just done it an got 100% to!?
  4. [quote user="groslard"] If coming here and relying on a certain stability in exchange rates is a gamble, so is coming here and relying on a temporary (2000-2007) arrangement for health care. [/quote] I agree.  I am not judging someone's gamble - I am simply saying that that is what it is - a gamble.  As I have said already in another post, I have friends who emigrated to a non EU country 25 years ago and who have had the trauma of seeing their UK pension frozen so that it is now worth a pittance.  They face the prospect of working until they are 75.  Having seen them struggle, we had no desire to 'join them' as a member of a another marginalised foreign community.  Others may have felt it was worth the risk - but that is their choice.
  5. Anyone else get the local 2008 Almanachs des Terroirs de France for their region?  Fascinating read and a great gift.
  6. [quote user="groslard"]Not quite accurate, since the Euro didn't exist, and the UK might have joined it. [/quote] But you were still moving from a jurisdiaction with one currency (sterling) to a jurisdiction with a different currency (Franc) - with the hope, i.e. taking the gamble, that both jurisdictions would move to a common currency.
  7. [quote user="Iceni"]Are the parents trying to do anything to prevent teenagers getting addicted to smoking? Or, as in England, are parents absolved from any responsibility for the fruits of their loins ? [/quote] I'm probably going to start a back lash here but - between the ages of 0 to 12 (maybe 13 for some children), parents exert 90% influence and  friends / general peer group / the media exert the remaining 10%.  By the time children reach 14+ that position has reversed. At that stage you just hope and pray that something of the values you tried to instill have been retained and stand by to pick up the pieces...
  8. A side of salmon and a few tiger prawns are small compensation for all that dunking.....I'll stick with my turkey sandwich ErnieY [:)]
  9. I am sure that the concept of co-operatives exists in France - I have definitely heard of them and am trying to remember where (age!!).  The whys and wherefores I have no idea about.  Maybe the CdM themselves could advise?
  10. We were so stuffed from yesterday we had a sandwich!
  11. Our mortgage payments are in euros funded from sterling income.  However, due to the difference in sterling | euro mortgage rates, sterling will have to drop significantly before we are worse off.  Had we borrowed in the UK, although our repayments would be fixed by reference to our income, our monthly repayment would now be 30% higher than it currently is.  It will take a massive drop in sterling to erode that...especially when you take into account our (already significant) cumulative savings.  Nevertheless, it must be very worrying for those with UK source pensions who will see their spending power eroded considerably over the forthcoming months.
  12. My brother rents out properties in the UK and the worst exeprience he had was a crack addict who literally stripped the house of anything and everything saleable.  This wasn't just furniture and appliances - he stripped out the entire kitchen: the kitchen units and worksurfaces, sink, taps  even the tiles, bathroom likewise, even the central heating system and immersion heater etc were removed.  When he had no heating he simply lifted floor boards etc and burned those.. 
  13. We did a naked calender shoot for charity last year - http://www.britannia.co.uk/news/news_releases/2006_11/society_staff_bare_all.html. Was great fun and we really got to know our colleagues better [;-)].  I'm just wondering if we have any pompiers in our membership - there's just something about a pompier pointing his nozzle....particuarly a half nekkid pompier [:)].  à poil boys...[;-)]
  14. [quote user="Panda "]Ha, might be dazzling my wit that scares them off [;-)], I did indeed think you were a man, now I am confused!  Do you and OH post on here then or have I completely got the wrong end of the stick. Seriously though, French neighbours are not known for the impromptu visits around these parts, is it just me do all you others have to fight them off??  Now I'm getting a complex.. [/quote] No just me posting Panda - I have obviously achieved that unattainable goal....and become as good(?!) as a man [;-)]  Seriously - I'm not sure whether our experiences are typical, I just posted our personal experience.  We may have just been lucky (??!) - though there is something in your analogy to Mrs Bucket! For those making sweeping statements about the French as a nation - http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1109821/ShowPost.aspx. There are good people and there are bar-stewards in every race
  15. We are obviously such charming, fun people that the neighbours can't keep away [;-)].  Not sure why your neignbours avoid you though Panda...[;-)][:)] ps - Given I'm female, I hope to goodness I don't look like George Clooney!
  16. Just ask your bank to issue you with an electron card et voila - no fees [:)]
  17. [quote user="cooperlola"]Profuse appologies Scooby - this was not aimed at you, merely the general tone of this thread!  As is no  doubt the case for you, I find both pleasant and obnoxious children of all nationalities all over the place (and have definately suffered from the unpleasant effects of appaling kids in the neighbourhood - not here as it happens, but that is only because we only have one neighbour in the immediate vicinity! - safety in lack of numbers, probably.)  Having a severe allergic reaction to children myself, and being a fully paid up member of the King Herod Society, I'm not the best person to comment, Sweet 17, but you certainly have a point.  [/quote] No problem Cooperlola!
  18. [quote user="sweet 17"]Can't help butting in here.  What to you might be a "not polite and well behaved child" might be a child with, say, Autism, or any number of other medical phenomena affecting children that, unless you are an expert in that area, you would not be able to diagnose or understand. Problem or challenging children are not always the little devils that they are made out to be.  Years ago, I had a friend with an autistic little girl who invariably threw tantrums in the most public of places.  After many unhappy experiences of putting up with people tutting and being directed looks of disgust from other shoppers, she took to giving out a little card which said You have just witnessed a piece of typical autistic behaviour.  If you are interested in learning more about autism, please contact the National Autistic Society at .................. Don't be too hasty to form conclusions.  Even well-experienced medical practitioners sometimes have to take months and run many tests before saying definitely what is causing a child to "misbehave". [/quote] My sister specialises in caring for kids with disabilities - particularly autism / aspergers and she has witnessed his bad behaviour.  She, like me, is of the opinion that it is just that - bad behaviour.   His parents don't correct him, set boundaries or follow through their threats.  As an example he spent the whole evening trying to look up the skirts and pull down the tops of the women present at the village fete.  His parents didn't correct him once throughout the evening - they were too busy chatting with their friends and just ignored him.
  19. Cooperlola, I don't recall saying anywhere that French children are less polite than English children rather that the statement made by Sid that French children are politer than Englsh children doesn't hold water.   It depends on the child - or more importantly the parents.  In the case of the child I was referring to, he has been expelled  from two schools already - and he is only three years into his school life.  That, by any measure, is not a polite and well behaved child.
  20. [quote user="Bead"]Thank you so much 5-element, I was begining to feel that saying anything that wasn't nice nice was totally unacceptable. Just a word of aggrement here and there leaves one feeling that one is not losing their mind compleatly. [/quote] Bead I understand what you are saying and often feel like that on the CF forums  - hence my comments to wb above.  Although we have had some negative experiences (and, for a number of reasons, wouldn't choose to live here permanently) our experience with the other residents in our village (with the exception of child otherwise known as Damien (666)) have been good.
  21. [quote user="sid"] And the French kids are more polite.[/quote] Not in our hamlet - I'm afraid our neighbour's child is the most obnoxious individual I have had the misfortune to come across!!
  22. [quote user="Frenchie"]Of course I can understand the anger of some people on this forum but please stop saying it is " the French way"   " the French are like this or that"... Yes there are people who show little or no respect to animals butnot everybody's like that !!!!!!!! And we are not all rude !! In my family, friends and neighboursd, I could quote dozens who care for their animals as much as you do.. I assume the cases of ill treatment happen mainly in the countryside... And then once again, even  there there are people who care for their animals ! It hurts me to read about stereotypes.......... But no offence taken, promise ! [;-)] [IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r20/regine79/DoggyHolidays.jpg[/IMG] [/quote] Well said Frenchie
  23. Why is it that whenever anyone has a negative view about some aspect of French life we have the 'why did you come here were you unhappy in the UK' trotted out again.  Is it forbidden to have negative views about France?  France is not some kind of Nirvana - it is just the same as anywhere else.  It has unemployment, bureacrocy, high taxes, alcoholism, high suicide rates, drug abuse, racial tension, a nearly bankrupt healthcare system....and its share of morons.  Equally it has beautiful picturesque countryside, towns and villages, a wonderful language, culture and history, lovely kind hearted people etc etc...jus like many other countries e.g. the UK, Ireland, Italy, Czech Rep, Spain......
  24. On the whole the people we have met have been have been fantastic - very friendly, welcoming and helpful. Our neighbours keep an eye on the house, mow our lawn, remember all our birthdays, send us presents at Christmas, invite us to family occassions / outings, bring us vegetables / wild mushrooms - even pigeons etc that they have shot! I agree about the customer service (i.e. after sales) point though.  The attitude that is drilled into UK employees - that the customer is right and that you, as an employee, are representing the company seems totally alien to them.  The thing we have found most difficult though is the lack of privacy / personal space.  Our neighbours seem acutely interested in everything we do, invite themselves into the house, etc etc.  We have always been pretty private people and, at times, find this a little intrusive and claustrophobic.  In fact we put our car in the garage when we are in France far more frequently than we do in the UK - so the neighbours don't know if we are in or out!  Likewise, we often leave the shutters closed for the same reason - just so we can have a little private tine...without offending!  I guess its just different. Edit - Re the comment above about Parisiens.  The parisien family that run the B&B (about 10 miles away from us) where we stayed at a couple of times while we were house hunting a couple of years ago have been lovely to us.  She remembered me a year after we stayed with them and ran across the square to give me a hug!! 
  25. [quote user="47AJM"][quote user="Bugbear"] You can rest assured that I will see to it that no one will harm these two. They are in good condition and look well cared for. As with every dog I've ever met in france, they are extremely friendly. If the owners cannot be found, well, two more mouths to feed, when you already have seven, is not really a problem [/quote] [:D]Thankyou thankyou.      We found a cat had given birth to 7 kittens in our woodpile in August.   Never been cat people, always dogs for us, however, although our French neighbours said to drown them or drive and dump them, we could'nt do either.    Despite exploring every avenue to find the owner we drew a blank so had mother spayed and through posters and word of mouth and attending animal fayres/functions etc we managed to rehome all 7 kittens.    To home the final 2 took us on a 230 mile round trip, but it was all worth it knowing they'd gone to good homes with caring owners.     Mother is still here, we are told we did'nt find her, she found us. [/quote] Our neighbour bought two kittens over a couple of months ago - we would have had them if we were in France permanently but we are not... She came over later to tell us her husband had strangled them - I was really upset.  Definitely a different attitude here.
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