Richard T

[quote user="dave21478"]The assumptions, generalisations, jealousy and plain nastiness in this thread surprise me, and have changed my views of several posters on this forum. I would have thought most people here wouldnt drop to these sorts of comments, but evidently not.  [/quote] You shouldn't take everthing you read here too seriously - it's just good humoured banter. Look, a smiley to prove it! [:)] Richard T

[quote user="Jura"] ... who wants to sit in a dining room with no sound at all...? [/quote] Sounds like my sort of place. [;-)] Richard T

[quote user="cassis"] Richard - I always wear ear plugs if I don't like the owner's choice of music. Or shove some bread in my ears. [/quote] But they'd probably charge you extra for the bread! Richard T

[quote user="Jura"]We provide a stereo in the dining room where I often put on some nice classical music whilst guests are eating - always played at an acceptably discreet level - however we have had some people walk in and turn it off ...[/quote] Ah, that could be me - even though I love classical music! [:)] I often ask for music (or muzak as we used to call it) to be turned off in restaurants as I resent other people assuming that I like to listen to (or more acurately hear) their choice of music which they always seem to play at what they consider to be an acceptably discreet level! Acceptable to whom? Not to me! Richard T

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="Val_2"] The chap was just an ordinary bloke who had saved hard and got his dream car, [/quote] Worth repeating from the OP as it sure doesn't indicate to me any reason why this should incite such derogatory comments of the owners of this type of vehicle. [/quote] You forgot to quote the next part of that sentence: "The chap was just an ordinary bloke who had saved hard and got his dream car, even his girlfriend said he tucks it up with a kiss every night...". Sounds like a tosser to me.[:)] Richard T

Not knowing what a TVR Tuscan looks like I just googled it. Yep, it's a tosser's car. Richard T [:)]

What sort of music do you play? Richard T

[quote user="JMB"]Could someone tell me how to join your holier than thou flog and hang them society?[/quote] You already have: it's called France Forum. Richard T

[quote user="Quillan"]We don't allow TV's, mobile phones etc in our house as it often offends the other guests. Why people would expect a TV in their room when on holiday in a B&B I just don't know. [/quote] Then let me explain. Sometimes when on holiday people like to spend their leisure time exactly as they want. That might include, for example, watching the news on TV before they go to bed. If they were looking to improve their French then tuning in to French TV is both fun and educational.Sometimes, if they have children, they might like to let the children watch cartoons in the morning whilst the adults have a lie in. And I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons to have a TV which would now doubt meet with your disapproval. [quote]I just found it very odd that they should bring a TV and three games consoles on holiday, nothing so strange as folks. It won't ever happen again I can assure you. We now have a 42" plasma and two games consoles and charge the over 14's 5 Euros a hour to use them (they bring there own games as it's illegal to loan games for cash).[/quote] So it's odd that people might want to bring their own entertainment but not so odd that you want to charge them for it! Nothing so stange as B&B owners. RichardT

Try the international section of your local Champion supermarket - you'll find some Sarsons there. Richard T

[quote user="Rose"] My friend rang the insurancec company again when she returned home and explained her situation and also asked for them to tell her where she could find the exact clause in her policy that said she must have these forms... they couldn't and apparently there isn;t one... so they have agreed to pay... less the £50 excess of course [:)][/quote] It's always worth challenging insurance companies as they will do all they can to make it difficult to make a claim. I once dropped and irretrievably damaged a PDA ( palmtop computer) when I was on a cycling trip in Holland. The insurance company tried to insist that I produce a police report (as if the police would be in the sightest bit interested in a bit of broken technology). They also insisted that I get a technician's report that the PDA was irrepairable and then refused to pay the £10 cost of that as they said it was an incidental loss and therefore not covered by the policy. I argued that it was not incidental as it was they who insisted on it. But they refused to pay and at that point I lost the will to live. Richard T

I too was quite interested until I saw the cost. I have a smallish rural proerty in 87 which has no mains electricity (nor water for that matter) and no possibility of getting mains electricity as the cost would be exhorbitant. We currently rely on a small solar power set up for lights, satellite TV and CD player and use a £200 petrol generator for power tools and for pumping water from the well as and when required. The house is wired with power points and light sockets for use with a permanent generator but when I look at usage I start to feel that the solar power's doing pretty well so the only additional thing we'd need a generator for would be kitchen appliances - although with a gas cooker even that seems a bit unlikely. Sure there's a few inconveniences in not having mains power but I doubt I would want to overcome them by using a 10k euros generator. My ultimate plan is to by a half decent diesel generator with a remote start which can be used as and when required rather than be running constantly. I epxect the cost to be less than a thousand euros. Richard T

And don't forget "bof" meaning "dunno", "whatever". Richard T

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]I don't know the Thomas course, but my tame French teacher says that it is good for learning set phrases but poor at giving a structure to build understanding on.[/quote]'Sfunny - my take on MT is the opposite. It's good for learning structure (even if it's a bit formal in places) and weak on set phrases and general niceties. Richard T

[quote user="red"]suggest you read again the first posting under this heading 'insanity in action '[/quote] Well I read it again and I can't see that it justifies your response in any way. The OP was asking if it is stupid or not to have two signs relating  "opening hours" with different messages. Yep, that's stupid and it doesn't matter whether it's in France or anywhere else - it's still pretty stupid. Nowhere did the OP suggest this was a perculiarly French problem, nowhere did he suggest that the "UK is paradise", nowhere did he suggest that all French people should speak English. Perhaps it's you that need to re-read the OP's post. Richard T

I agree with others about Michel Thomas. The style is quite different from any other language course and approaches it by teaching you how to string a sentence together on the basis that once you've grasped the grammar the rest is just vocabulary - some of which you can probably guess anyway. What it lacks for the beginner, in my view, is the simple everyday words and phrases - bonjour, une bière s'il vous plait, il fait beau n'est ce pas?, merci bien etc - which make social interaction a little smoother. So if I was beginning again I'd probably plump for a mixture of MT and, say, the bbc course mentioned above. Although my own French is reasonable I have just listened to the whole of the MT course (all 8 CDs) along with my wife who is just beginning. I have to say that although most of the grammar is not new to me I certainly learnt a few things which hadn't been obvious to me before such as the rule for use of the words "en" and "à" in relation to countries: en France, en Suisse but à Japon. Richard T

[quote user="Cookie"]Will apologise now for my grammer[/quote]Why? Richard T

[quote user="Framboise"]Slap 'em??    I think it deserves more than that.  [/quote]Slap 'em?? Make sure you do an elf and safety risk assessment first! Richard T

Merci. Richard T

[quote user="Chas"]Try googling "solar powered pool pumps". There are a lot of hits[/quote]Thanks, I hadn't considered solar powered pumps. The google results are all American - I can't find any UK or French web sites which include solar powered pool pumps in their range of prouducts. However one US site provided some useful technical specification which I could apply to my situation but the bottom line is that the capital cost of installing a solar powered pump is so high that it might be cheaper to have EDF erect a dozen or so pylons from the nearest village and supply me with mains electric! Well, perhaps I exagerate a little but certainly an arm and a leg would come into the cost equation. [:)] Richard T

I'd welcome some advice. I have a house in 87 which has no mains water and no mains electric (and no possibility of ever getting either of them!). I'd like to install a smallish above-ground pool but have only well water with which to fill it. I am aware from previous threads that it may be inadvisable to use well water but if I wish to have a pool then I have no option other than, I suppose, to buy it in a tanker load. I don't know if that's possible in France although I have a friend in Portugal who has all his water delivered by tanker. My real concern though is the lack of mains electricity for filtering purposes. I have a generator which supplies the house with electricity as and when needed - which is not too often as lighting and TV is provided by solar power - but I would not be keen to run that for 12 hours or so a day due to the cost. My question is, given my constraints how could I efficiently operate some sort of pool? Would it be possible to run a filter for say just one hour a day? Would this seriously restrict the size of the pool? Are there any other options I should consider? Thanks in advance for your help. Richard T

[quote user="Cerise"]The fussy gentleman took one look and ran screaming from the place!! [/quote]What is all this shrieking and screaming at the sight of a naked human being? What are these people scared of? What do they think is going to happen if they see fail to shriek and scream? Does anyone know the answer? Richard T

[quote user="Grecian"]We have been looking to open a French bank account, before our move to France at the end of September. I have looked at CA Britline's webpage, on there it is asking for evidence of income documentation, if we wish to open an account with them, i.e. pension statements, proof of investments etc. Can anybody tell me if this is standard practice, when opening a bank account with any bank in France.[/quote]I also looked at CA's Britline and decided that there was far too much bureaucracy involved - they wanted references, proof of income, utility bills, birth certificates and what I had for breakfast - so instead I went into my local branch of CA in France and the young lady on the till opened the account for me there and then and wanted only my passport and birth certificate. I paid in a small cheque I'd had from the notaire and went away with a shiny new account in less than 10 minutes. Richard T

[quote user="Rose"]I let out a loud shriek and ran from the bathroom!  [/quote]Why the shriek? Did you not realise it was just another human being you were looking at? Richard T

[quote user="Clair"]Her application was refused for "lack of assimilation to French society". The objection is that her choice of a radical religion is incompatible with the core values of the French society, specifically  the principle of gender equality. During interviews conducted for the purpose of her application with social services and the police, she was covered from head to toe with a black dress, showing only her eyes. The couple volunteered that they follow a rigid version of Islam based on a strict and literal interpretation of the Koran, that she dressed that way at her husband's request and that she did not contest her submissive status. There is no mention of "her victimisation by her husband and male relatives".[/quote] Perhaps you don't understand the concept of brainwashing. Richard T