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Scooby

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Everything posted by Scooby

  1. I was thinking about sweet peas Sweet!  What about parsnips?
  2. But I have had my Nationwide visa credit refused a few times - when I know we have available credit of >£5k.  On a couple of occasions the girl at the checkout has said it was because the card wasn't French.  The refusal has never been an issue because we have always been able to use our carte blue - but if it was we would resort to plan B...
  3. I have had this happen before because the card is 'foreign'.  I just put it down to French lack of understanding of credit cards / protectionism and use my carte bleu.  Failing that you could always walk away and leave them to put all the groceries back.  There must be at least 4 euros worth of labour charges to do that...
  4. [quote user="Sunday Driver"]As we all know, the English are far better drivers than the French, so in John's case, it was certainly petty of the law enforcement authorities to enforce the law and book him for breaking it.... I wonder if the the overtaken driver was thinking 'just look at that and not a gendarme in sight' - until 10kms further on when he caught up with John being booked.....[;-)]   [/quote] LOL - I think we all know what I was referring to!  When legal techicality points mean prizes we all know which way the gendarmes will bend....
  5. Whether or not they were technically right (and from John's description it sound's like there was only a gnat's whisker in it) it also seems like it was a safe manoeuvre.  It's a bit like those speeding fines handed out for doing more than 40 mph....at 3.00 am on a clear dual carriageway.  It would be nice if they focussed on those situations where the driver is actually driving irresponsibly...and then throw the book at him.  (You know, the Spanish / Portugese lorry drivers that think it's great fun to race each other around the periphique, weaving in and out of traffic...with not a gendarme in sight.)   The other stuff is petty money raising antics.
  6. I thought it was a requirement to carry your passport?  I always have mine with me...and I guess, faced with a burly gendarme demanding money with menaces I would probably hand it over too.  Sounds like the public fund raisers are branching out.  Who said the french weren't entrepreneurs!
  7. LOL - exactly Frederick.   Next thing they'll be requiring daily checks before you can report for work....just in case you were up to no good the night before!
  8. The new rules on CRB checks are a farce.  All they do is provide more bureaucracy and discourage volunteers (volunteers that were difficult enough to find before the changes!)  The biggest risk to children from pedophiles are the ones those that haven't been caught, the ones in their nice suits, in professional jobs, in nice middle class homes. The ones you wouldn't suspect.  It's already a nightmare for the professions that require CRB clearance without adding to the work load / cost.  The backlog is ridiculous and, if you apply for another job and are already doing a job which requires a CRB (and so have had a clear check) you still have to be checked again.  A civil servants dream... As an aside, I think the disclosure rules should be changed.  We currently have the ludicrous situation that people who committed an offence in their teens, have since pulled their socks up and haven't re-offended still have to disclose that misdemeanor twenty and thirty years on.  What sort of an incentive is that to 'go straight'.  The world is full of paranoid people with a government and media that feeds the paranoia. If you want to organise an exchange don't go through the school; arrange it independently.  We have an ongoing arrangement which we organised via a hospitality club.  Our boys stayed with a family in Brittany (total immersion!) and their son stayed with us (likewise total immersion!).  We have since cleared it with the respective schools for the boys to attend each other schools so on their return visit they will be doing lessons in each others' languages too!
  9. I think many European countries don't start formal (compulsory) education until children are 6.  We had a Swedish student staying with us a week or so back and she told us that this was the case for all Scandinavian countries.  I think it's the UK that is out of sync (again!)
  10. [quote user="Hoddy"]That sounds just like the Shrovetide Football Game at Ashbourne. Perhaps our forefathers knew a thing or two. Hoddy[/quote] Now, now - there are some rules Hoddy.  Murder / manslaughter is not allowed and you have to hit the ball three times on the goal to 'score' (but that has to be by the 'nominated' scorer).  Oh and you can't win the leg before 6.00pm! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKDjFEtLV88 Scooby - who loves a good home derby....
  11. Likewise Quillan.  It's the sort of thing that can make you very angry if you allow yourself to think about it too much.  I used to work with a national charity supporting people with a serious (incurable) illness and saw the same scenario repeated time and time again.  Those defrauding the system are not only stealing from the taxpayer but their behaviour is the cause of trauma to legitimate claimants, many of whom do not have the physical resources for a protracted battle. 
  12. I'm here - no Euphytose in the UK, unfortunately.  My ami-wotsit was working fine until my daughter came in at 12.30 chattering to her friend...then stopping by my son's room for a natter.  By the time she reached her bedroom I was wide awake.  I'm now listening to the sound of her gentle snoring as I type.....
  13. [quote user="Benjamin"]I agree entirely but if you know you're a genuine claimant it's just a matter of waiting for your assessment. [/quote] Not necessarily so straightforward Benjamen.  My mum applied for disability benefit when she was 59.  At the time she applied she had breast cancer, severe heart disease (she was waiting for a triple bypass and an aortic valve replacement) and advanced arthritis in her spine (collapse of three vertebrae) and both hips.  The latter was inoperable due to deformities from childhood rickets (she was one of the war babies who didn't benefit from rationing!). She had worked her entire life - despite having four children and had never claimed any benefits before.  The assessing doctor insisted that she walk upstairs despite both my parents advising him she had been told by her own doctors that she was absolutely not allowed to do this. (Her assessment was done at home where she had, and still has, a chairlift installed for this reason.)  My mother is one of the generation who trusts all doctors and will try and oblige all their requests.  She always plays down her problems.  The assessment triggered another heart attack and, within hours of the doctor's visit, she had a blue light ambulance to the cardiac ward where she spent the next few days.  Her application was turned down. My mother found the experience so traumatic and humiliating she has refused to consider ever claiming benefits again.  At one point they were living on less than £50 a week because my father had to give up work to care for her.  She said she would rather starve than go through the process again. The system tries to weed out rogue claimants by incentivising the benefit assessors (I refuse to give them the dignity of calling them doctors) by awarding bonuses for each claim turned down.  They assume if you are really sick you will appeal.  Rather than ensuring that benefits are awarded to the most needy, this process ensures benefits are awarded to the most persistent / hard faced.  IMO benefit claims should be assessed by an independent doctor (i.e. no bonuses for removing claimants!) who should be required to take into account evidence from the claimants own doctors / consultants.  At the moment there is no requirement for the assessing doctor to seek a report from the claimants own medical team (this evidence is often only seen on appeal / tribunal).  Further, the assessing panel should include a disabled person with the same / similar condition.  There should be strict penalties on doctors or other health professionals who provide false or misleading information.  It has always struck me as bizarre that the benefit agency's 'cited' rationale for using an agency 'doctor' and not seeking medical reports is that 'it is not the medical condition per se that gives entitlement to benefits but how the condition impacts on the life of the claimant'.  Firstly this creates a dramatist's charter: the blacker you paint the picture, the louder you moan, the more you limp / wince the greater the chance of a successful claim - regardless of the medical evidence (or lack of it).  The truly disabled stoic (like my mother) is on a hiding to nothing.  Secondly, if this is the case, why is the claimant not assessed by an occupational therapist rather than the 'doctor'?  That is an OT's job surely? The other major flaw in the system is that it assumes a black and white scenario - you are either sick or you are well.  There is no halfway house.  Many of those on here who have a disability (or know someone close to them with a disability) will know that it isn't so simple.  Depending on your condition you may have good days and bad, or you can work for part of a day but then need to rest, or that occassionally you will have nights where you can't sleep for pain so you may not be able to work the next day, or you can sit for so long but then need to move...the list goes on.  I would also add that most disabled people I know would love to do some work  It gives structure to your day, it is a distraction (it's amazing how slowly times goes when you are in pain and all you have to focus on is the pain), it gives you a social network, (some) financial independence and dignity.  But for many there is no choice because you have to be on one side of the line or the other.  Even if you felt you could work how many part-time flexible jobs are there for the disabled?  How much better if the Government could fund initiatives for companies to offer such employment - particularly with all today's technology that would allow more home working etc?  Further, the process of applying for the benefits is so onerous and convoluted that, even if a job was offered to them, many disabled are frightened of taking the risk of moving off benefits in case they find the job is too much for them and they are left with no income while their claim is assessed.  Indeed, many of those who try to work and then find they can't, find their benefits cut when they return to claiming disability. IMHO there are far, far too many benefit cheats who need to be identified (but who will, in any case, probably just move to job seekers allowance or similar!) but the proposed approach isn't going to help the genuinely disabled.
  14. But how is their manufacturing measured?  My brother has a successful 'high tech' business that would probably be classed as manufacturing - but he only assembles parts made in China.  Ok the design is done in the UK and the production control is from the UK but the actually labour intensive bit is done in China.  Little bro' tells me he would make no money if he had to pay the UK minimum wage.....  (And, before anyone pounces on me, I don't agree - but this is a capitalist market economy.)
  15. Fortunately, we have a choice of airports at both ends.  Within an hour of us here in the UK we have Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and East Midlands.  In France we have Bordeaux, Limoges, Bergerac and (when it opens) Brive all between 40 minutes to two hours.  I think we have done most combinations of routes over the years.  We have also done the driving and ferry option (via Calais) and can do door to door in a day (ok - it was a looong day!!).  It was an important factor for us when we bought the house - as well as loving the area of course!  However, I don't think we flew Ryanair until sometime after we completed.  We used to always fly Manchester to Bordeaux - until RA became so cheap by comparison that it would have been rude not to use them!  Although many take the Michael out of those of us in 24, we are unlikely to have nearby airport closure as an issue!
  16. [quote user="ali-cat"]Having not been on a plane for a couple of years I don't know what the restrictions on liquids (e.g. shampoo, shaving products etc.) in hand luggage are now?  If you can't carry these sort of products on-board & have to purchase them on arrival & dump them before flying back, surely that could cost more than booking a bag into the hold?! [8-)][/quote] You just decant sufficient shampoo etc for your needs into small bottles.  Alternatively, you can buy solid shampoo, conditioner etc from companies like Lush.
  17. I did - and I thought it was fair.  It certainly demonstrated that it is the choices you make as a customer that push up the price from the headline one - viz that it is perfectly possible to travel for the prices quoted.
  18. The point I was making isn't that I had to take only hand luggage on Air Canada but that I could manage to travel to Canada for three weeks quite comfortably with the same size hand luggage I would use if I flew RA.  Viz that people take way more luggage than they need. Actually the transatlantic carry on baggage limit is usually 5kg not the 10kg you get on RA (but you then get 20kg hold luggage rather than RA's 15kg)
  19. [quote user="NickP"] Btw it's Mrs Scooby Mrs Scoobie, now that you have informed me that you are of the gender that has small feet, I wholeheartedly apologise for referring to you as Mr Scoobie. In hindsight I should have realised from your selective editing of my answers to your questions, that you may be of the female persuasion. Still we move on and I hope that you never run out of mint cake and that the sun continues to shine on Dordogneshire [/quote] I think, Mr P, that editing is when you delete bits not when you highlight [:D] but then, as most secretaries are of the female persuasion, I'll forgive you [;-)]  Have a piece of mint cake to make up...
  20. [quote user="Richard"]Maybe the fox hunt could be rebranded into low life hunts? [/quote] My cousin shoots and eats them (the grey squirrels that is).  Apparently they are a delicacy - though heaven knows how many you'd need for a decent meal....
  21. Good way of looking at it Coops - a bit like the adverts; usually boring and repetitive, occasionally humorous but a useful interlude between the good programmes to allow you to go and do something more productive - like put the kettle on.
  22. [quote user="Baz"][quote user="Stefan"]"If you want that, fly BA and pay their prices" Which at the moment can be cheaper than FR.....but you won't get 5* service and meals with them either......[/quote] I think this sums up why I would everytime use BA if they flew to the destination I wanted: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/value-calculator/public/en_gb Baz [/quote] But Baz - all those charges are avoidable: pay with electron card - no charge, check in on-line - no queuing twice at the airport and no charge,don't bother with priority boarding - you can stay seated until the last minute and no charge  (BA can only allocate seats in the order that people book anyway so you have no guarantee of getting the seat of your choice)don't take checked baggage - no waiting at the luggage carousel and no charge. (I managed three weeks in Canada this summer with hand luggage only - and, no, I didn't fly RA I flew Air Canada.  Most people taking way too much stuff and bring most of it back unworn / unused).  I would imagine most people on here are travelling between homes or to stay with family and so have access to a washing machine which makes the need for checked baggage even more ridiculous.) don't eat and drink on the plane - no charge.  The flights are only 1-2 hours for goodness sake...unless you are all Bessy Bunters!As aside I have never had a late flight with RA - but I have with both BA and Easyjet.  With Easyjet (EM to Prague) we were delayed by over 4 hours with no apology, no drink / food - nothing.
  23. Heard about the Danni incident but I never watch the show - I agree with Wooly that it's a pile of garbage so I have no idea / interest in the winners who will, no doubt, be moulded, plastic wrapped and marketed like all the other 'musical products' of the last few years.
  24. Nothing so energetic here - just surfing while having a large mug of tea!
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