Tourangelle

France, without a doubt, for everything health-wise.

I was with CA for about year in Tours, and I closed my account with them as I was moving and it was no longer the most practical bank.  Closing the account was a complete farce. They just didn't do it, even though I had signed all the papers and as there was a monthly charge on the account they had me down as over drawn, because obviously I had had the balance transfered.  I wrote and telephoned several times, and obviously had the papers saying that I had closed the account. In the end they sent me a letter saying the account was going to be closed because I was not paying the charges!!  I'm now with the Societe Generale, and I wouldn't particularly recommend them either, and plan to change...

To reply to Sue, I think that you are right, if you have no parents or children, you can do whatever you like with you money, however it may be necessary to disinherit brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews formally in your French will.

I got a new passport earlier this year.  I got the forms from the consulate in Lyon, but they don't issue passports, only the embassy in Paris will do that.  The difference with renewing a passport in England was that I needed to have a photo signed by preferably a British person who is also civil servant/school teacher/priest or someone along those lines who'd known me for more than two years.  In England you only send another photo apparently and the whole signing the back is just for a first application.  Not easy to find someone!  Also, and this is a major difference, it costs 85 euros - I have since asked and it is less in the UK, but hey, we don't pay our taxes there so we pay the service I suppose.  Anyway, I did it all by post once I had the form and it all went swimmingly.  It took just under 2 weeks I think.

Dear M, I would certainly not suggest that just any old British degree would equip you to teach a language.  What I am trying to say is that when looking for work in private tutoring, in France, having a degree is something that is recognised and understood, as indicating a certain level of education, whereas TEFL is not.  Obviously, to be competent, I agree that training is essential, but I would question how useful it is in France to put beable TEFL on your CV in terms of helping you get a job?