benson

My daughter is called Amiée. The french called her Am-e-ay untill we told them in England it is pronounced Amy now they call her Hay-may so much for not being able to pronounce H!!!  

Just a very short post but time is of the essence! Where can I buy a shed for a resonable price?? a normal garden tool shed type. Thankyou

Hi all We have just been to order our chicks but were stumped by the number of different breeds. All the chicks were about 4 weeks old and we liked the look of some pale brown ones but have no idea what breed they are. We would be extremely gratefull if some one could give us an idea of the most common breeds sold here or a web link.  (ive trawled through numerous lists of breeds to try and find a photo that matches what we've seen but it would be much easier to have a name to start with) Many thanx

"Spare tyre, doesn't matter." But as in our case when if you need to use the spare it becomes illegal as it doesnt match the others

Its ironic, the only time I'm not hungry is if ive been drinking but it looks as though I probably consume as many calories when I drink as when I eat Theres no hope for me! Well done those who have lost Its 40 degrees in the sun here and I need to get into shorts and cozzie so my incentive is back (hopefully)

Hi Cant comment on credit lyonnaise but we pay UK cheques into our credit agricole bank quite often with no problems at all, its the usual proceedure fill in the slip sign the back of the cheque. the charge for the service depends on the amount of the cheque. We have also pyed UK cheques into Banque populaire so I would imagine most french banks will be the same.

Depot it certainly is...Look at your hips! Can you see me through your screen?: The strange thing is I dont normally eat sweet stuff I'm truely a savory person! I'm all for being 'saved' if it can get me into the 70kg range and into shorts and a swimsuit this summer.  I think what I really need is a miracle

Hi all Weight loss of 200g this week but still heavier than I was when I started weighing in Am now suffering headaches almost daily and am craving all things sweet,  biscuits, icecream cakes etc etc A considering atrip to the Docs but dont really know what to ask for Keep it up everyone

Yep I actually had the sense to look up the article in USA today which the email proudly stated that it appeared in www.usatoday.com    (searched for email survey) and then emailed it to my 'sensible' friend in US I was just interested in how many people would actually fall for it

Recieved this today from a friend in USA What do you think?? This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through >with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class >action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General >Electric not too long ago. > > > >Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is >sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, you will repent later. >Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an >effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used >program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. > > > >When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track >it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. > > > >For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay >you $245.00 for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, >Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives >it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact >you for your address and then send you a check. > > > >Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations >1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX >292-1085 [email protected] > [email protected]

Read through the getting cold feet postings a few people have had the same experience

TU Its isnt the laws I'm offended by It was your comment highlighted in blue in my post above this one

'And if people cannot afford to come and live here within the law, well maybe they should not be coming at all.' Teamed up You may not be posting but i'm sure your still watching!! I do hope this remark was not directed at me and my family personally.  Although I am offended by it. Me and my family moved to France 2 years ago for many many reasons.   Due to the sale of our property in the UK we were able to finance the purchase of our barn outright and we did rent a property for the first 8 months.  My husband is a qualified french registered artisan and has as much disrespect for people working on the black as you. We are not in a position financially to rent anymore as all of our hard earned money is needed to finance our renovation. We have no intention to live outside of the law. What about French people who do this, should they not be here either? I appreciate all comments and opinions as they may well point out things which may have otherwise been overlooked. Can a mobile home be sited on private land but only habited for 3 months at a time??  This way we could live in the barn during summer and retire to the mobile home for 3 months during winter?  I know you will probably consider this to be bending the rules which is why i'm asking. Hendo we really are just looking for a very cheap second hand mobile home as hopefully this will be the last year we need this type of accommodation  Its the transportation side of things we need to look at.      

Oh my god is it Tuesday again already! Just got on the scales and have lost 700g not much and I really am fed up of dieting now Im fine for about 2 weeks then it alls goes to pot. Im just so hungry all the time all I want to do is eat I know I eat to much but I just cant satisfy my hunger.

As stated in my original post we are considering buing a mobile home. There are 2 separate mobile homes in the next hamlet to ours which are perminantly sited on the owners private land and are lived in perminantly. As We are a family of 5 (3 young kids) living 1/2 in an old caravan and 1/2 in the barn we are renovating we thought buying a mobile home would improve our standard of living a bit whilst we finish renovating. Of course we would have to speak to the Mairie discuss the above said and obtain any relevant permis and pay habitation tax on the mobile home. Teamedup does it really bother you that much what other people manage to accomplish/achieve when it doesnt effect you personally??

Bakerino Have sent you a PM

Hi Bakerino Yep I'm always on early I try to grab time before the kids get up then again after they leave for school.  On and off all day but not much in the evenings and at weekends as Hubby doesnt like it much if im on here all the time!! Ps Have you noticed the property price differences comparing Bourganeuf area to Clugnat area??

Just quickly off the top of my head Small golf course in Bourganeuf Kids have just come back from a weeks skiing with the school they went to the resort Besse super besse about 2 hrs drive I think. Eating out we find incredibly cheap and good value for money.  Drinking out not so. Supermarket shopping costs on a par with UK Growing your own veggies etc defiinatley helps keep costs down abit I would be happy to live on 2000 euros a month (family of 5)

Bakerino On the subject of employment for our kids I am aware that there is a shortage of jobs in rural France but even if my kids dont turn out to be particulally academic there is a wide range of courses availiable for more 'practicle' jobs plumbing, building, forestry etc and apprentiships are availiable. Having the 2 languages spoken fluently plus any others they learn at college will be a huge bonus in any career path they take. Many french move out of rural areas to gain work and this may be what our children will do. They may even return to England to work or any country for that matter.  They may have had similar problems finding work in the UK.  That is if they had survied the drugs, violence and teenage pregnancy that was taking over our area and they wouldnt have had the language or life experience theve gained from moving here. My husband is a qualified french registerd builder (as he was in UK) (not french registered in UK:laugh So my son could always follow on! We are also renovating 2 gites as a supplimentary income for later life! I did use this Forum for advice and info before we moved over.  Some good advice some not so. We found everything much easier than expected and had lots of help and advice from the many people we have met here. In my opinion things are easier once you get here but it dosent hurt to be over prepared! I'd love to be sitting in the garden but its raining today  and theres far to much work to be done on the renovation.  We are still living 1/2 in a caravan 1/2 in the barn

Bakerino We are sort of in the middle1/2 hrs drive to Bourganeuf one way and about 1 hr away from Clugnat the other way!! Its near Ahun. As for schools once you have decided on your property you have to visit your local Mairie and you child will be registered at the school for that commune. My eldest is due to start college this September but wont be attending the same one as here friends from primaire as the commune we live in comes under a different district even thiough her designated college is further away!  We could ask for a demande exceptional but she seems fine with the circumstances at the moment so we will see. All the schools my children attended have been excellent. There was 1 english pupil in each before mine started but that was coincidence not choice and these pupils were told not to speak english to my kids as this would hamper their learning of the language. No, no french was spoken by any of my kids prior to moving here.  Within 6 months they were pretty fluent and now after a years schooling they sound just like any other french child they think its great that they can talk to each other and I dont know whats being said! and are constantly correcting me!!  They have made stacks of friends more french than english. It doesnt seem to matter which bit of La creuse you move to at the moment there seems to be English families everywhere!!! Although due to the massive area you seem to be all spaced out so its not like you see English everyday unless you know where to look for them. Intergrating into the French community is what we wanted but the occasional meet up with English people is often appreciated for a good old natter in Mother tongue!!!!

Hi bakerino My son was 6 when we moved over to France and started school just before he turned 7 it was the easiest tranistion ever made.  It was me that did all the worrying!! on the first day he just got on the bus the only english child without knowing a word of French and off he went he is 8 now and has never cried or moaned once.  He absolutley loves it. I also have a daughter who was 9 when we moved over soon to be 11 exactly the same as above.  She has never been happier. They only stayed at their first schools for 6 months as we were in rented accomodation.  When we bought our property we moved maybe 40km and so they started a new school September.  No problems with that change either.

Thank you all very much Now can anyone point me in the right direction for a web site detailing train journey and prices in France? Thanks

Hi We are in 23.  There is plenty of of work here for a qualified registered plumber  all the ones we know french and english are snowed under with work. There are several local football teams around here and I know of a few English lads who attend my son isnt one of them yet but he is hankering on at me till I give in (its a transport problem) You can deffinatly get SKY here choice of just free to air BBC etc ITV package (we paid £20 one off payment for 3 years) but had to be organised through family in UK ie UK phone number to call SKY from and a UK address to send viewing card to. or complete packages same applies as above plus UK bank account for direct debits to be made from. There are loads of SKY installers about who provide the dish, box and installation we pais about 400 euros I think and I know maney people who brought all their equiptment with them and set it up themselves. Hope this helps 

Hi Does anyone know which airports do flights to Bristol?? Limoges would be first choice but I think even catching a train to Bordeaux and flying from there would work out cheaper for us than flighing to southhampton and getting car hire. Thanks

Hi and congratulations My youngest daughter is 2 now but I have bags of stuff here starting at about 6/8 months as I just dont know what to do with it We are a bit further away than Limoges but maybe could arrange something I your interested.