Stan Streason

Have now booked my flights for this.  (4 returns via Poitiers for £8 total cost - thank you MO'L.) To anyone who has been previously, what is the day actually like - does one just wander round, get allocated seats or take chairs?  Can I buy tickets in advance - whats the difference in prices reflective of and are car parks allocated?  Presumably the bars and restaurants are set up to cater for the crowds. Sorry but I cant find any of this practical stuff online.

Where do all the vegetables in supermarkets go to?  Certainly not served up in any of the variety of restaurants near us.

I thought it was mildly amusing.  The point of the article (I thought) was not so much France v England but some of the frustrations arising from living with what was thought of as a good friend. Once went on holiday together with my best friends family and it was very frustrating - their family habits were totally different to ours (getting up - meal times etc etc).  Wasnt the whole article knocking his friend rather than knocking France (or unrealistically praising England)?

I know its the easy option but my Britline account has worked very well for me.  I dont pay in anything but reasonably large top ups when I think the rate looks ok but I have internet access (including a "generate a new rib" function) cheque book and debit card.  I pay about €30pa for the card and under €2per month as the minimum account running costs.  Have had no problems whatsoever.

[quote user="NormanH"][quote user="Stan Streason"] I understand that everyone needs a life but I work in a service industry and you do whatever is needed whenever a client wants it in order to get the job done. Perhaps my visits are not long enough for me to chill down to the French way, but it bugs the life out of me. [/quote] Without twisting your words I have to say that one thing I often notice is that people often give as a reason to buy in France is that 'We love the lifestyle', and then promptly say how irritating such and such a feature is.[:)] [/quote] I dont disagree.  I had hoped that my post gave enough indication of my awareness of the incongruity of what I was saying however it does not have to be 100% unthinking acceptance of everything to like the lifestyle.  We are in the first 6 months of second home owning and even though the property is in reasonable condition there is much decorating to be done and many things to be purchased.  During my visits there is so much to be done that at present I find the differences in attitudes to doing business very frustrating.  And yes I know that says as much about me as it does about the French.  (But I doubt I will ever think that the attitudes to customer service couldnt be improved).

I find steak in French restaurants quite average really. My son just got married near Narbonne and the caterers did fillet steak for over 100 people.  It was wonderful - it was neither rare nor well done - you couldnt really define it in that way.  It just fell apart it was so tender.  The caterer said they had been slow cooking for 5 hours.  Never heard of fillet steak being cooked like that before - certainly hardly needed a knife at all let alone steak knife.

Opening hours is the biggest difficulty I have coming to terms with French life.  My holiday home is roughly half an hour from any major commerce so if I'm not on the road by 11.00 its not worth the effort until later on.  I cant even get up early and get it over and done with because they dont open till 9am. Couple of weeks ago, having identified a lawnmower I wanted I set out but was held up by a minor accident between a combine and a tractor.  Got to Mr Bricolage at 11.55 to be told no one would assist me to buy (and I couldnt buy without assistance). In a fit of pique I spent €535 on a lawnmower somewhere else. Was also turned away from one reastaurant because they stopped serving food 3 mins previously at 2pm and another did not open for dinner till 8pm.  I understand that everyone needs a life but I work in a service industry and you do whatever is needed whenever a client wants it in order to get the job done. Perhaps my visits are not long enough for me to chill down to the French way, but it bugs the life out of me.

What kind of swimming pool needs the water left on to function - mine doesn't.  So if there is a choice of types then they had the wrong type installed for a holiday home.

It is possible to rely too much on the sat nav.  I take a group on golf tour each year and always plug the courses into the tomtom.  2 years ago aiming for Platja Doro golf club just north of Barcelona it took us to Platja Doro tennis club (which turned out to be on a completely different hill a couple of miles away).  At least I can always check now with google maps on my phone whereas at that time we were completely stumped.  When we eventually found the golf club they said the equivalent of "oh yes lots of people get lost like that". Also once heading for the tunnel near the M25 between junctions 3 and 4 in Kent it took us onto the motorway through a gate, up a small lane and straight on just as a police car passed us.  I must have looked pathetic blaming the sat nav because it is no excuse for not using common sense but we got away with it mainly because the gate was not marked with a no entry sign.

I dont know if different cars have different types of windscreens and I think that I remember something about the Ford heated windscreen causing problems but I just sort of waved mine in the general direction from both passenger and driver side and it seemed to work. (BMW)

Thanks to you both for the quick reply (although I like pork with honey - so goat may not be too bad).

Am ordering a menu for 20 from afar and just need this starter translated please. My main concern is does it include meat or not?  (ie is it goats cheese or goat?) Pièce Montée de Chèvre de Combebelle au Miel de Pays Thanks in advance Just noticed - my 100th post.

Tom Tom is good but you need to update it.  Because of the time lag in computerising the data even new maps are 18 months out of date. You do need to test it out however.  It insists the quickest route for me from near Potiers to the tunnel is via Paris yet everyone goes via Rouen. Need to have some idea where you want to go and I often use google maps and compare its view on routes first then put in waypoints to tomtom. (some asides - my Porsche inbuilt satnav is much better than tomtom (apart from no postcode option un UK) and go to google earth and it will tell you your grid coordinates)

sorry my fault I meant cement was all I could find. If I understand you I should look out for "beton" which is a ready mix and only requires water.

Thanks for this.  I am not particularly bothered about fast setting its just that when in France everything has to be carried in the boot of the car and applied without access to a full range of tools etc unlike in UK..  Therefore want to find ready mix stuff that is as easy as possible.  All I could see at various Mr Bricolage type stores was bags of ordinary concrete.

Its posts blown down by wind I am replacing

Yesterday I booked Limoges - Stanstead - Limoges for the beginning of July for a total of €10 all in.  No priority boarding, no cabin baggage, used an electron card. I cannot get a return to Liverpool Street (about 40 miles) for that. OK, they are rude - but so what?

Does such a product exist in France - I certainly couldnt find any when I looked a couple of weeks ago. I need to concrete in a few fenceposts (and a washing line).  In UK you can get a quick setting bag of readymix for this from diy stores.  Failed to find anything similar at all. Thanks

There must be many but you can also get a euro account from any of the leading UK banks.

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Not all the transponders have the same signal strength, some (don't ask me which) have much more Ooomph than others.  I don't know if Movies 24 and 24+1 are on the same transponder but I doubt it, that way if you lose a transponder you haven't lost all the channels.  Eggs in basket etc.[/quote]   That makes sense thanks

Fitted an old 60cm dish at the weekend.  All of the main channels come through fine but some of those down the scale say "no satellite signal received".  Whilst not particularly bothered at not being able to receive Movies 24+1 (when I can get Movies 24 ), I am mildly interested in the reasons as I had assumed that as all channels come from the same satellite they would come with the same strength and it would be all or nothing.  On the set up I am getting signal strength at about 2/3rds and picture quanity at just over 1/2. Is it the dish size/quality, varying signal strengths for different channels? Or is it just one of life's mysteries? Thanks 

[quote user="Panda"][quote user="Stan Streason"] The OP asked for advice and got opinions in spades.  They need to work out what kind of people they are.  Optimistic, flexible, hard working, resiliant, clever etc etc and they should be ok.  "Life owes me a living" types, probably not.  In my view, their success or otherwise will probably be more down to their own skills and attitudes, planning and fortitude than outside factors.  [/quote] I would like to think I am all of those things (optimistic, flexible, hardworking) but it wasn't enough for me.  As you say it can depend on many factors and for me it was the state of the french education, if you don't have kids this of course won't be a consideration.  Funding for euipment and apathy amongst teachers being the main problemsI have encountered. Out of interest did you meet anyone working if so what did they do?  Panda [/quote] Most of the English people we met in the restaurant were working (4 couples - 1 with children).  There was of course an obligatory builder, one couple run an estate agency, the family run gites with riding stables for riding holidays - can't remember what the other couple did (if anything).  I guess those not working couldnt afford to go to the restaurant, so may not be a representative sample. Each said that they started off catering for either expats or English holidaymakers they are gradually becoming less reliant upon the English.

Hello again.  Have just come back from 5 days in France and find this thread is still going (my last contribution was on about page 12). Many of the posts seem to be parading entrenched views yet they are probably all correct.  France is a big country and there will be a mix of people doing well and people doing badly just like virtually every other country. Have found out some facts about the small village I purchased my house in. 30% of the full time residents are English.  A couple of years ago the mayor defended the number of English coming into the village citing how much money was brought in. Since then the Marie, church, park/playing fields/village green have been renovated/repointed etc out of public funds.  Traditionally this is one of the poorest areas of France. We went to the village's single restaurant during our stay and the composition of the diners seemed to match the village population.  We were introduced to everyone as the new owners of our house.  French and English alike, about 25 diners finished the evening toasting our arrival with a free cognac from the restaurant owner.  Everyone mingled in a mixture of english, french and franglais (presumably there is an opposite to franglais coming from the french side). Certainly in this tiny sample the English full time residents were very happy.  I heard one person say they miss Yorkshire (her husbabd disagreed) and that was about it for regrets. The OP asked for advice and got opinions in spades.  They need to work out what kind of people they are.  Optimistic, flexible, hard working, resiliant, clever etc etc and they should be ok.  "Life owes me a living" types, probably not.  In my view, their success or otherwise will probably be more down to their own skills and attitudes, planning and fortitude than outside factors. 

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="Stan Streason"] I certainly do not feel the need to share my problems with anyone (not even my wife of 30 years). I accept that my "just pull yourself together" attitude does not go down well with everyone [/quote] I'm with you Stan on the second part, but not on the first. We are a team, but each to his/her own on that one. [/quote]   My wife is a worrier - I am not.  Unless she can help resolve the problem in some way any solace I would get from sharing a problem causes her many times greater distress.  I was also brought up to be very much the alpha male. Not a pretty trait at times I admit and I certainly dont think of her as "the little woman" but it is the mans job to be head of the household and to be responsible for providing well for all under his care.  (How pathetic is that yet deep down I really do believe it). My sons joke that the reason I have bought a house in france is to fulfill the image I can see of myself sitting at the head of a long table with all my sons, daughters in law and grandchildren listening "godfather" like to me.

I'm sorry but a lot of this thread has got nothing whatsoever to do with France, it's a rural/urban split.  In France there is just a lot more rural and a lot less urban.  My in-laws from the Welsh borders in Shropshire have all the parochial attitudes that are being laid at the French.  Similarly you try and see how worldly and friendly people are in North Dakota or Alabama. I get the impression that we all live or lived a much more urban life in the UK and when we move to France (or as in my case get a second home) we go for these out of the way rural areas that hardly even exist any more in the UK. And as for this seeming need for true friends all over the place (whatever that means), I could not personally name more than a couple accumulated in my 50 odd years. Plenty of colleasues, current and former, plenty of golf partners, drinking mates etc etc - I certainly do not feel the need to share my problems with anyone (not even my wife of 30 years). Back to the OP.  You have obviously been thinking about it seriously for some time.  What happens if you never do it - you may always regret not taking the chance.  Do your homework, learn as much as you can and if you still want to do it, go for it whole heartedly.  If it doesnt work out at least you will never wonder "what if?". Stay flexible and accept that a likely outcome is that you will give it up and return in a couple of years. Not as a failure but as someone who gave it a go. I accept that my "just pull yourself together" attitude does not go down well with everyone including our HR department who keep me as far away from any of the touchy feely stuff as possible..