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Tourangelle

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Everything posted by Tourangelle

  1. [quote user="spg"][quote user="jehe"] We are flying from Paris next month to attend my daughters wedding and wondered what the situation is re parking at the airport ?? [/quote] French friends going on holiday for 2 weeks in February this year drove to Paris, left their car parked in a residential street, caught the metro to the airport and did the reverse on their return. Quite commonly done is what they said to me, car found as they had left it - fine. Not that I recommend this action of course. Sue [;-)] [/quote] You'd have to be really careful, though, because many of the trains to the airport now go from the gare  du nord and many of the suburbs on the line can be quite dodgy, Drancy, la Courneuve, for example.
  2. I vote for B, with a bit of A at the end. So actually, C.
  3. I know how it feels, I've been waiting for years to move (admittedly from one side of France to the other) and it is finally happening on Monday.  Can't wait, even if the packing is a nightmare. Good luck with your move!!
  4. Thanks "a mod" I don't know, I thought the fact that they were writing an article and they saying that the numbers aren't dropping is quite interesting, you read people on here suggesting it is all over and not so many people are coming although admittedly it is difficult sometimes to know who is getting a second home and who is moving for good.
  5. Interesting article in Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3238,36-937699@51-937784,0.html Are you living in a former Plantagenet area?  Fascinating idea, I thought. I'm living in what was nearly Italy, so I don't fit the pattern. link made live by a mod
  6. Great, it looks perfect, I just booked!  Thank you[:)]
  7. I hope somebody can help, we are looking for somewhere to spend the night, and we want to be sure our car will be safe because we are carrying stuff that is of sentimental value to us.  Can anybody recommend a hotel in or around Bourges, as we will be stopping there for a night.  It does not have to be central, as it is just a pit stop, but it does have to be secure.  Thanks!
  8. Les baguettes are chopsticks, also, with Harry Potter about to come out, a baguette magique is a wand. Nothing else comes to mind right now. However, for flies on a pair of trousers, I think you mean la braguette, which isn't slang at all, it just means the fastening!
  9. [quote user="Deby"]Thanks Tourangelle,  I didnt know that and neither did my husband - his french is fluent!  Obviously we don't have those type of conversations :-) and our children left La France before they had time to 'refine' their language skills.  Deby [/quote] [:$] Neither of them is rude or childish and the first is just ... anatomical![:P]
  10. gosh Debbie I don't know if you are joking or not, it's not virgins at all[:$] look up the word as it is spelt, in the French section of the dictionary. Péter, un pet, means fart.
  11. My husband who is French has looked over my shoulder at this discusion and thinks it is hilarious that we are thinking about it, he reckons nobody cares.  [:P]  Quite funny as he gets really disconcerted in England when people don't say hello in shops and so on!!!!!
  12. [quote user="J.R."][quote user="Tourangelle"]I don't think there are any hard and fast rules, but perhaps it makes a difference not so much with the heat but with the longer days? But I agree that nobody cares so long as you say one or the other, the terrible sin would be not saying anything at all! [/quote] I have found that the worst sin, insult even is to say bonjour to someone in the morning and bonsoir (or bonjour) again later in the day, it was explained to me as the worst kind of faux pas, that if I had forgotten already having met and greeted them then I cannot hold them in any regard. I also used to be concerned at what time to switch between the two B's but have found that for my closest neighbours it is just a game or way to tease and unsettle me, whatever the hour if I greet them (for the first time) late afternoon, evening or late at night if I say one then they will reply with the other! [/quote] Well absolutely, which is why you sometimes hear people saying "re-bonjour", or (horrid in my opinion) just "re" to get around the tricky situation of not saying hello again and yet not walking past without saying something.  It is why phrases like bon appetit, near any meal time, bonne soirée, or even bon courage can be useful!
  13. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules, but perhaps it makes a difference not so much with the heat but with the longer days? But I agree that nobody cares so long as you say one or the other, the terrible sin would be not saying anything at all!
  14. I'm sure you could find similar statistics for Lyon, but it is also a question of area, especially in bigger cities. I think if the OP is looking outside towns, and as you say, is quite flexible, he may find something for less than 500 euros.
  15. Sounds like a potentially difficult situation for your children.  As you are moving for your job, is this not being organised for you?  Schools are shut now, and will not reopen until August, sometime after the 15th.  You can make enquiries about primary schools at the town hall (mairie). Meanwhile, I think the best advice is to read this section of the forum, and start the whole family on French lessons.
  16. I agree with the list of site, having just found a new flat those were exactly the ones I used.  Personally, and it does depend on what you mean by "nice" I am not sure that 500 euros gets you a great deal.  We currently pay 625 for a 55m one bedroom flat, in very good condition in the nicest area of Lyon. Lyon is expensive. French friends think we have a good deal.  But this is just the rental, nothing included, no balcony, no parking space. We are moving, and when we chose where to go, we looked at various medium sized towns, Amiens, Orleans, Bourges, Rouen, Caen... and we looked at the prices.  Even in these places, I think, 500 euros would get us just about a one bedroom flat. This time, our budget was a maximum of 700 euros, and we were looking at 2 bedroom flats with balconies and car parking for that sort of price.  However, if you are looking at country living, it may be cheaper, my husband has previously been posted in rural areas and has found cheap rental accommodation. In terms of the rental experience, I have lived here for nearly 10 years, all the time in rental accommodation.  The tenant is extremly well protected, and the only problem I had was with one unscrupulous landlord who did not give back the deposit, quite illegally, because he should have given me a bill for work done, but he just kept it, knowing I was moving a long way away. I could have pursued it, but as I was moving to another area of France, it seemed an expensive option, as I would have had to make a claim in the town where the property was.  My best advice, is to avoid like the plague anywhere that suggests that you pay to look at their list of properties.  There may be charges with good agencies, but these are not paid in advance.  Not that those who sell the lists in advance are doing anything illegal, they aren't, the method is fine, but it costs the landlords nothing, so it is the unscrupulous ones who do that, see above!
  17. It is hardly as though the UK were unique in the "no shutter" thing, I don't remember seeing any in Canada, for example or in Poland.You do seem to find them in all mediterranean countries.
  18. But you also have to tell them HOW to order food in a pub in England.  My (French) husband was delighted when he found out, he had previously been all around Ireland with his brother and they had seen people eating in pubs and had no idea how to order and inadequate English to find out.  Tell them to stand queues for buses and so on, unless they want to be tutted at.
  19. I think you read so much in your face negative about the school system here, that it is nice to read something so positive.  I think there are lots of people on here that have very young children here and wonder whether all the stories of doom and gloom are true.  While I agree that it can be difficult for children who arrive as teenagers, in my personal experience as a teacher I have seen this year two students who came from Bosnia two years ago then aged 13 and 14, who were put down a year, and knuckled down, learnt the French, and now the eldest is off to lycée, and the second passed the tests to go into a classe europeenne despite only having started in 5ème.  Yes, I've probably seen more fail, (tbh, more the boys) but I think with determination and support from the parents, it is do-able, if the child is bright and motivated, and has had a good school career in the country of origin.  One who wants to go home and can't see the point of school, won't do so well.
  20. I used Ikea delivery and found that though expensive the service was fine.
  21. Sorry I didn't see the other posts just Mel's, I didn't expect so many answers!![:)] So very different experiences, all round, I will have another look at maps and prices, thank you for your help.
  22. Sorry Mel, I don't understand your message. You seem to think I've misunderstood something.  I understand perfectly that you are referring to Transmanche and not to the particular route I enquired about.  I read both yours and Nick's comments with great interest.  However, I am not interested in going to Newhaven, because I am travelling on to Birmingham. Both Transmanche and LD lines have their own websites, and I have looked at both of these.  Nick's very negative comments about LD lines have put me off the Le Harve - Portmouth route they offer, and therefore I am going to look again at Brittany Ferries. Thank you very much for your input.
  23. So LD would appear to be out.  Thanks for the input, perhaps I will look at Brittany ferries again, because I really wanted Portsmouth or Poole, to avoid London as much as possible.  Do you know with Brittany Ferries whether there is any benefit booking in advance?
  24. Having not had a car in France for ages, I am out of the ferry taking habit.  Although going to Caen would be easier than going to Le Harvre, Brittany Ferries seem extortionate.  I had never heard of Ld lines until I started looking for ferries elsewhere, are they any good? Any other suggestions are welcome, we are travelling from Tours to Birmingham in August.
  25. [quote user="ErnieY"]As the note would simply be for my UK employer and I am neither employed by, nor would be claiming anything from anybody in France, I'm not sure how, or if, or why, CPAM, or anybody other should be interested in me ? Can a private doctor issue a note without involving CPAM ? [/quote] The doctor doesn't involve CPAM, the patient does.  If you as the patient don't send off the relevant parts, then nothing happens.  I had this when I went to have my wisdom teeth out when I was a student, they did the arret de travail automatically, but I just threw it away.
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