marie-alice Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Hello, my name is Marie. I’ve just joined and thought I’d join in the fun. This is my first post. I’m newt othis sort of thing.Anyway, I want to share with your readers my new experiences with bartering and skill-swapping (I think that’s the correct term) A couple of months ago now I read a fascinating article in an expat French paper in which a young lady had her computer mended in exchange for a chocolate cake.A few days before I chanced on this article, I had paid a man 80 euros to fix my computer. At the time I didn’t think this to be an unreasonable sum to fork out for what I consider to be an essential householditem.. After all, I reasoned, the promised service was provided satisfactorily. Furthermore this man has to provide for his family.Having read the piece though, I began to wonder if I hadn’t been taken for a bit of a ride. It seems to me that every Tom, Dick and harry nowadays sees fit to pass himself off as a ‘computer expert’ and I wonder now whether a chocolate cake would not have been adequate enough recompense for his time. With this in mind I have now negotiated with a nice man from up north – Yorkshire, I think – to re-tile the stable block in exchange for a dundee cake ( he doesn’t like chocolate would you believe!) I’m also having a new kitchen and bathroom fitted for a tray of scones and a summer pudding. On top of this, a woman with impeccable taste has agreed to furnish the upholstery and matching curtains for our ‘sunny’ room for a pineapple upside-down cake. All in all, I applaud this new system of bartering and have to say that it’s working wonders for me. At the end of the day, whacked out after a couple of hours of baking, I can sit back with my useless husband, Albert, watching the sun set over the gatehouse, sipping a passable claret, and, if I wonder, ever so briefly, how these poor people manage to feed their families, I can always console myself with the thought that fair exchange is no robbery. Let them eat cake! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 [:D] [:D] [:D]Just how big are your cakes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 Ignoring the OP because that has to be a wind up, we have a very active bartering and exchange system running round here where people actually do barter and exchange on a much more realistic basis than the nonsense in the original post - days or work for a few cakes, as if. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Posted September 20, 2009 Share Posted September 20, 2009 What a terribly spiffing idea, there are perhaps one or two points that need expanding on clarification.If the tradesman does a bad job does he get a smaller delicacy such as a Danish pastry or perhaps a larger passion fruit gateau with with hundreds and thousands in the face?Just how big is the cake for replacing a roof, perhaps it could be decided by the same square meterage or by weight?Oven sizes will just have to increase.Surely the Bero Baking Book of 1956 will shoot up in price along with the price of sugar and glace cherries?After a few years of the introduction of the 'cake economy' (copywrite dog 2009) won't all tradesman have diabetes and little work get done?More worrying is how do patisserie establishments make a living they just will not want a new roof or replumbing daily.I shall dream of this new economy tonight with Gorgon Brune threatening to slash the price of flour to boost the economy and SarTeaCozy retaliating with longer and larger iced fingers. mmmmmmmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 "Soulte" is the word, I believe, although Im not sure on spellng. Anyway, its an existing term for a bartering system for exchanging goods or services in France and is a rather good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 I may be out if date, but I believed that 'le fisc' took a dim view of barter, seeing it as a way of avoiding taxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 We could do with a few more Mairie-Alices on here, imo. (Sorry, that was Marie Alice wasn't it? - I always get these two things muxed ip.) Your post fairly made my day. Hysterical.Btw, are you sure your stable roof is guaranteed for the statutory 10 years? Have you seen this guy's insurance documents? And don't you need a SIRET number to go into the baking business?[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerise Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 NormanH - I believe things can be sorted with 'les impots' by sending them a tray of chocolate eclairs every so often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 Benefits in kind are taxable this side of the channel, not sure about benefits in cake!How long does it take to bake a cake compared with tiling a stable block? or fitting a bathroom for a tray of scones?Well done Marie if you have managed to seduce some idiot into working for next to nothing, rest assured the rest of us tradesmen with mortgages to pay and lives to lead and not living in Fraggle Rock will give your suggestion a lot of consideration.Yep considered it and the answer is no, I can knock up a cake in no time with my mixer and an oven.[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 What a hoot Marie Alice ...I know someone who is troubled by termites... how many cakes would he have to bake to get that sorted out? [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 This case about bartering ("Services d'échange local" or SEL) among British immigrants is what I was thinking of .It is considered as 'working on the black'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 Working on the black forest gateux more like [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Guerriere Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 Get the exchange rates right and you may make a small profiterole .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 [quote user="NormanH"]This case about bartering ("Services d'échange local" or SEL) among British immigrants is what I was thinking of .It is considered as 'working on the black'.[/quote]...also known as beware of your anti British neighbours [;-)] Vive la protectionist society! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 [quote user="La Guerriere"]Get the exchange rates right and you may make a small profiterole ....[/quote][:D]Anyway, it's dough before you bake it but, nowadays even with such low inflation, it's still bread they'd be after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 [quote user="Scooby"][quote user="NormanH"]This case about bartering ("Services d'échange local" or SEL) among British immigrants is what I was thinking of .It is considered as 'working on the black'.[/quote]...also known as beware of your anti British neighbours [;-)] Vive la protectionist society![/quote]Did you read the details? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted September 21, 2009 Share Posted September 21, 2009 Of course! ("....alertéspar un appel téléphonique d'un voisin, Michel Vigne")The thing is our french neighbours are building a new house next door using the same barter system...but, funnily enough, no gendarmes yet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 They have some strange terms these échangistes!Le président du tribunal correctionnel, Jean-Louis Boué, a tenté de comprendre la nature des échanges qui s'effectuent au sein du SEL. « Vous avez bénéficié de prestations. Qu'est-ce-que vous deviez faire en contrepartie? », a-t-il demandé à Sarah Two. « J'ai fait du toufu pour M. Evans. -Pardon, du...?», reprend le président, qui ignore apparemment tout de la gastronomie macrobiotique et n'a pas saisi que les échanges au sein de l'association ne sont pas bilatéraux. Spoonerism perhaps? [6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Bien foutue celle-là! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mint Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Mais, je m'en fous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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