andyh4

9 years to train as a generaliste in France compared with 10 years in the UK to become a fully trained and independent GP. https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=968179

I signed up with my MT 5 years ago and at that time you could get appointments within 48 hours and frequently next day. She had just started up here. Since the 2 or 3 of the doctors in the area have retired and have not been replaced and for normal consultations it can be up to 10 days to get an appointment. So things are certainly getting difficult.

OH got an appointment in about 10 days - but that was 3 or so years ago. Maybe it is more difficult now. I was told that ophthalmic appointments were 3 - 4 months when I started to develop cataracts. The doc's secretary got me an appointment in 3 weeks - so in part it may depend if strings can be pulled and if there is someone to pull them.

Richard wrote: Your post is predicated on the assumption that a good comprehensive education is worse than that of an independent school. Sometimes Richard that chip on your shoulder gets so big that it blocks your vision and you cannot see past it. My reference to comprehensive school had nothing to do with him having been to an independent school and everything to do with all of you other objections that followed: I paraphrase - was trained at officer level in the military - probably good for defining strategies and having a disciplined approach to problem solving Went to university - actually quite a good one - well good luck to him, and we do need educated people running the country. Of course you are permitted to think otherwise - but I would submit that there are already enough idiots in politics and we need no more. Has had legal training - pretty much essential in a roll where everything is going to be defined in a contract (aka treaty). Sometimes you really do show yourself up as a plonker which means the true arguments that you have get completely lost.

which of course has nothing directly to do with choosing a new Bexsh1t leader. Sometimes the chip on your shoulder actually does more harm to the argument than it does good. If you genuinely believe the best person to put in front of the EU to negotiate the final details of the divorce and then the start of the trade deal has to have had no better than a good Comprehensive education, should have absolutely no legal background in order to fully understand the pitfalls of a comma here or a "but" there, then you really are living in another world. I am afraid that in the world of 21st century politics the likes of Nye Bevan would be eaten alive and the bones spat out into the gutter. And do not misunderstand, I am a great fan of Nye, but his time passed some 50 years ago - if not more.

A good general purpose spud to grow is Mona Lisa - not the best for mash nor for roasties, but better than many.

Whether you do or don't take the jab is of course your choice, but do bear in mind that if you were to contract a pandemic virus, you would be very capable of passing it on to other un-vaccinated individuals as well as helping to infect the 30 od percent of those who do get vaccinated but do not gain full immunity. A kind of murder (or involuntary homicide if you prefer) by proxy. As for quoting the birth rate in Niger, that is a bit like me saying the Ford is going down the tubes because the sales of one particular model is dropping like a stone. The world birth rate is now beginning to fall https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46118103 They refer to fertility rate which I have problems with. Fertility can remain high, but actions taken can reduce the birth rate and that is what we are seeing.

Auchan Tio Pepe Fino €15/bottle don't feel any duty to reply on the cost or the quality, but it is sherry and available in France.

This may sound a silly question but if you don't want her to have any puppies, why not have her spayed? I get sick of folk round here who don't spay or castrate their cats and we then end up with stray kittens arriving chez nous.

Richard51 wrote Is to the west of say Marseille any better than to the east. There is an area of heavy industrialisation to the west of Marseille so really until you get to the west of the Rhone much of the area has restricted attraction - there are some nice coves on the Cote Blue but to get there you are forced through the industrial or vast trading estates. Once on the western side of the Rhone, you lose the attraction of steep hills and mountains behind the coast. So in answer to the question, with of course exceptions the west of Marseille is not as attractive.

The Cote d'Azur has been a winter watering place for the British for over 125 years. That attraction I think is a basis for why it seems so popular now. I think over time the climate has shifted and the area is less appealing now than it was at the end of the Victorian age. Plus of course the rest of the world has discovered it as well. Today more a multinational attraction than the previous British winter enclave. Note I have used winter twice above since summers would surely have been far to hot for civilised Victorians. The popularity has undoubtedly been promoted by such works as "A year in Provence". Dordogne is perhaps the CdA of the late 20th century. Personally I find little to attract me to either - but to each his/her own. It would be a dull life if we were all the same and ALBF's corner of Tours would be incredibly crowded with Brits.

You can see the sense in what they are trying to achieve, but exactly how it would/could be put into force is another matter. It is also a tax on those who live outside the cities. For example there is no hobby and craft shop within 60km of where we live. We do patronise this shop on the one occasion per month when we visit the city; but between times if something runs out, that is urgently needed, we order on-line. Putting a 1€ charge will do nothing to increase the turnover of the shop and I doubt will realistically reduce their taxes.

Clair wrote We have 4 cats here... Do cats eat pumpkin? Not usually, but never say never. We had a cat that loved melon and would beg for it - as in sit back on its hind legs and rear up waving its front paws in the air to attract attention.

Stilton (blue Stilton) is available in our Auchan and also from time to time in Grand Frais. Red Leicester - also available in Grand Frais as Vieux Leicester - looks old and dried out under its plastic wrap - it isn't. Wensleydale, proper crumbly Lancashire or Cheshire - still waiting for the world to change. But they do have Blue Shropshire - not my personal favorite but OK - and little cheddars wrapped in wax - which I will personally avoid. And before ALBF gets on his hobby horse, I also love Danish, Norwegian, French, Italian, Spanish cheeses. They each have a character of their own and we should refrain from saying that A is a good substitute for B or A is as good as B. There are good'uns and not so good'uns [according to your own tastes only] and they all have an individual character.

Our two pharmacies have amalgamated into one - perhaps no bad thing since we now have a 6 day service no matter which we historically used with a 4 1/2 day service. AS far as I can see everyone is happy. No loss of jobs, bigger premises, TBH 2 pharmacies for a commune of 4k inhabitants - perhaps doubled if every outlying commune and hamlet were added - seemed at bit OTT Perhaps it is this rationalisation that is taking place. As to making medicines expensive, I am not sure I follow. My Ameli statement shows the cost of the medicine, a payment to the pharmacy, a payment from CPAM and the rest to be covered or not from the mutuelle. If there were fewer pharmacies, where would the reduction in cost come from? Reduced payment to the pharmacy itself is the only way I can see - but they still have staff, taxes and cotisations to pay. I have yet to walk into any pharmacy without a queue - so they are not over staffed. And not a lot they can do about taxes and cotisations.