Chantemerlière

Just to update and close this post.     I phoned Brittany Ferries and they have booked us into the HOTEL KYRIAD CAEN MEMORIAL at 36 Ave Montgomery, in Caen. It cost us £42.00, around 50.00€ at the going exchange rate, whereas to book direct with the hotel would have cost 75.00€! Thank you.

Thank you for that. In fact we looked at that site, among others, and it was one of the hotels that we were going to contact this morning, so it is helpful that you recommend it.

We are travelling through Ouistreham this coming Sunday (28th November) and we wonder if anyone can recommend a good chambres d'hôte near, or convenient to, the ferry terminal? Thank you.

Ah, so it is the wallet that is big and there was me thinking that they were tall dark and handsome with a wonderful line in chat up. Thank you, I had better get earning then! William

Ronnie Wood and Bernie Eccelstone! Now what have they got to attract a toygirl that I haven't? Good looks? Stamina? Good conversationalist? Or have they something else? I wonder! To Chancer. - Yes the security of the place when you are away is one of the things that we would find very attractive and one of the reasons why we are considering this option. Thank you, William

"McCarthy & Stone" that is the name! Do you know I was racking my brains all day yesterday for the name and it wouldn't come! It is even more embarrassing because we had a friend who was a warden in an McC&C complex in Kent many years ago. A senior moment as they say but the only problems is the 'moments' seem to get lasting longer! It is interesting that your French friends think this idea is novel because that is the reaction I get. As I said, they think that we are odd because they have the impression that we want to move into a ‘Maison de retraite’! What a great idea Sweet17 but unfortunately, as Swissie said, potential for lots of troubles and arguments. However I like the idea of some younger people to stay with us and do our bidding and if Bubbles wants toyboys - "OooH Young Mann"!! - then, as gardengirl points out,  in these days of equality we will have to provide toygirls for the old boys and maybe some old girls!!! I suppose there is there such a thing as a toygirl? Anyway, thank you all again for your help and the idea of Toyboys/Toygirls brightened this dismal morning for us. Susanne.

Thank you all for your input. Yes there are many things to consider not least the animal issue and the "management fees", which I believe can be very expensive. I have heard that in the UK these estates can be very 'regimented' with their rules & regulations and, although I would imagine that is less likely to happen here in France, it is something we would like to avoid. Anyway it  is early days so it will be a long and hopefully interesting search and you have provided me with some useful pointers. Thank you again. Susanne.

We have lived in France for 10 years now and like many expats we live in a renovated house in the country with a fair amount of land attached on which we keep animals.   However the day will soon come when we will want to move to something smaller, and more modern perhaps, where we are closer to the usual amenities and have no more wood to cut!   One of the options is moving to a house on a ‘retirement estates’ and I wonder if anyone knows if there is such a thing in our part of France which is the Charente Martime. I have asked various French friends and they all say that they had never heard of such a thing but I cannot believe that they don't exist. They all think that I want to move into a ‘Maison de retraite’ which, fortunately, I am not ready for just yet!

Ossie left here this morning for his new home so a big thank you Equine Rescue France and to everyone concerned.

Hello at Equine Rescue France. Thank you very much for your kind offer. We have sent you an email and hopefully you can help us to find a good home for Ossie.

Ossie is looking for a new home. He is a 20 year old good natured New Forest pony measuring 13.2 hh. He is in good health although he has had a bout of asthma this summer brought on by the drought. He enjoys the occasional ride out and although calm he would need a rider with some experience. He would like a companion but at present is alone as the neighbouring horse has moved away. He is free to a good home, along with all his tack and grooming gear. He is living in the Charente Maritime. This notice is placed on behalf of a friend who is not on line. Thank you. [IMG]http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt91/Ballinamallard/0ssie003.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt91/Ballinamallard/0ssie001.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt91/Ballinamallard/0ssie002.jpg[/IMG]

Following an advert from a Forum on another website, we made the trip up into the Deux-Sèvres to buy a young male. After a 2½ hour journey we found an élever and it was not a pigmy goat that he had but a larger variety. Still, never mind they seemed nice people and we decided to have him. He was fine when we got him home and was soon following our ram around and settling in well. However, 6 days later he seemed unwell and we took him to the vet. The vet diagnosed indigestion and gave him some medicine. The next morning he appeared to be back to normal and we let him out. Some time mid morning he went into the shelter, which was usual for him, but when I went to look for him at around 11:30am, he was dead. We had had him one week. We took him for an autopsy and apparently he died from something called Enterotoxemia or Pulpy kidney! This is a common disease affecting young goats and it causes sudden death. There is no cure and anyway, due to the short course of the disease, treatment is generally not possible or practical. The only answer is vaccination and an effective vaccine is available to control the disease. Young animals should be vaccinated when they are a couple of weeks old and all good élevers should do this. The following day I phoned the élever (who by the way, is English) and spoke to the wife. “Oh dear, theses thing happen”, she said and when I went on to explain the disease she seemed to know all about it. She said that her husband doesn’t like injecting the animals but that he would email us when he got in. That was a week ago and we have not heard from them since. We have since emailed them and again no response. So, be warned, if you want to give a good home to a “pigmy” goat find out a bit more about their background and get proof that they have been vaccinated.

[quote user="nomoss"]  We feel very cheated over these pension "increases" which are being treated as special allowances for UK residents only, especially as they are exportable once they have been paid out. In spite of EU rulings, the bureaucracy seems to sift through the small print to find a way out of any payments. We are seriously thinking of moving back to UK, stating we are doing so permanently, renting for a few months until we get the allowances, then changing our minds about staying there.     [/quote] I don't think that these "allowances" are "treated as special allowances for UK residents only"; they are for all pensioners, wherever they live in the EU. We live permanently in France and my OH got the £60.00 paid directly into our bank, no problems. We do not however get the heating allowance and that is purely because we were living outside the UK when we both reached 60. I don't agree with this but that is the how the system works and we knew that before we came here. We have friends who live here permanently and they do get the £250.00 heating allowance simply because they moved here after their 60th birthday and therefore qualify.

OH received her £60.00 on Christmas Eve paid in under the heading of "State pension & widows benefit". This was a nice surprise because we were not aware that it had been promised.[:D]

We have already discussed something similar NormanH and I am currently awaiting a reply about joining a local society. Also, a nearby village organises weekends away (the last two were to Amsterdam for the tulips and Toulouse to see the Airbus works) and we are awaiting the details of  the next one. A French friend always goes and she is encouraging us to join them next time. I do lack confidence and I think that something like the above, or as you suggest, will be a big help. Thank you.

[quote user="odile"] (just in case anybody is wondering about my motives, I am very happily married to Englsih OH (39years now)). [/quote] Your motives were never in question as far as I was concerned Odile and I do think that it is an excellent idea to swap skills/labour.

[quote user="odile"]Shame you are not a plumber, and shame you want to go to Poitou. I would happily take a student free of charge in the Jura against help with installing 2 shower rooms next year.  I love the idea of swapping skills/labour without money exchanging pockets via the tax-man! [/quote] What a pity Odile. The plumbing part would be no problem, but I live in the Charente-maritime and unfortunately the Jura is just too far to commute, but thank you for the offer.

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"] Mrs IG is a highly qualified & experienced French teacher to adults and she is no great believer in immersion and crash courses. Spending the same amount of time & money spread over a year or two is likely to give better results because the student has more time to absorb and apply their learning. The only reason I have known her to recommend a short intensive course has been to deal with a very specific need, such as how to chase French customers for late payments. These usually work best with students who already have a decent general level in the target language.  [/quote] This is a very interesting point of view and one that I had not considered. My French is not too bad and what I am looking for is to have the rough edges taken off. I can read and understand an article in a magazine, although not every single word and I can follow conversations on the radio station "France Culture". I have to add here that I am not a highbrow; but they do speak very clearly and they cover a wide range of topics including current affairs. My problem is one of confidence in speaking the language and this is why I had thought that an immersion course would be best for me. I am always open to suggestions so thank you again to everyone who has contributed; all very interesting.

Thank you for your encouragement and yes, I quite agree with these sentiments but, it is not my age as such that would prevent me taking up a course in Poitiers. I was just trying to say that, for the moment, I do not want an academic course, rather just a couple of weeks immersion to enable me to more comfortable communicate with people whom I come into contact with on a daily basis.

Thank you all for your contribution. I forgot to mention in my original post that I am 62 years old and I am looking mainly to improve my oral and listening skills, i.e. nothing too academic. Also I should have provided this link to the “Le Logis Des Tours” to indicate the sort of thing that I am interested in. http://www.lelogisdestours.com/content/view/36/55/  But, what worries me about this particular course is, can you have complete immersion in a group situation? The language course at "La Université de Poitiers" looks very interesting and if I was younger and lived closer I would consider having a go. Thank you

I am interested in doing an immersion course to improve my French and I am looking for somewhere in Poitou-Charentes. I have found courses offered by “Le Logis Des Tours” in Villefagnan, which would be very convenient but I have a couple of reservations.  These courses are for small groups and therefore likely to suffer from all such group activities in that everyone will be at different levels and will learn at different rates. But the most likely problem is that if there is a small group of people they are going to fall back to speaking English to each other thereby loosing the benefits of the immersion course. Has anyone here done one of these courses, either at the “Le Logis Des Tours” or elsewhere, and what do you think? Thank you.

[quote user="Sunday Driver"]Hi William I suspect you may be faced with a problem getting the DVLA to pull your old records and provide the information that the prefecture will need to amend your licence.  This situation has come up previously and has remained unresolved.    [/quote] This is what I though when I said that it would lead to complications and be too much hassle. [quote user="Sunday Driver"] That said, given that you probably haven't ridden for some time, it would be clearly sensible to get some refresher training.  It'd be no big deal to organise a French riding test here.  You need to know the code for riding/driving  in France anyway, and the practical should be pretty straightforward.    [/quote] You are right here too. It is some years since my biking days and a spot of refresher training would do no harm. [quote user="ErnieY"]. Good luck, and remember, if it is too much hassle and all comes to nought you can still have fun on a 125 [;-)] [/quote] I am sure I can Ernie because I suspect their performance has come on somewhat since I last rode one. Thank you all and if all else fails I can always take 'woolybananas' advice and take up cycling!!!

I have a little problem with my licence that one of you regular Motards may be able to help me solve.   Some years ago I exchanged my UK licence for a French licence; and on my old UK licence I was qualified to ride motorcycles and had been for many years.   Unfortunately I didn’t notice immediately; my fault I know; that on my new French licence I appear to be no longer qualified!   Under category A1, ie 125cc, I have Depuis le 01/07/1996 but under ‘A’ I have just a row of asterisks like this *********.     When I did notice I did nothing about it because I had already decided that my motorcycling days were over and I would not need it anyway.   However!!!!! Now that I have more time on my hands the old yearning is coming back; surprise surprise!!   So, is there anyone here who has had a similar problem and sorted it, or is there anyone who can suggest how I can “re-qualify”?     For instance will Swansea have a record of my old qualifications and provide me with a copy so as I can approach the authorities here to have my French licence updated? Or would that lead to complications and be too much hassle?   Perhaps the easiest way would be to get some refresher training and take my test again!   What do you think?  Cheers, William.

Hello Jet, First of all we think that you look “très très belle” in your beautiful black coat. What a pity that you need a home where there is no other cats or dogs because we would love to have you here in the Charente-Maritime. However we already have three other cats, one of whom is Peake and he is 18 years old and like you, all he wants is a quiet time. The other two are Arthur and Marmalade who are 18 months and 5 years old respectively and they both get on very well with each other and with other cats. They spend most of their time outdoors at this time of year so we seldom see them, apart from meal times!! We also have two dogs who are no problem to the cats and everyone gets along very well together. There is also plenty of space here where you can sit quietly in the sun and watched the world go bye. If you have second thoughts and you think you could cope with us all, then feel free to get in contact. However if you just couldn't cope then may we wish you good luck in your search for a new home, which we hope you will find soon.    

Thank you both for your replies. If all else fails Ian, and you cannot find him a home nearby, we will be here and willing to have him. Incidentally we have found that cats travel much better if they can see out of the car. When we brought ours from the UK he was put in an open cage - something like a birds cage - and set at the back window on top of the luggage. Before that he wasn’t a good traveller, but he coped well with the journey down spending most of the time sitting up watching the world go by.  [:)]