Insignificant Things That Make You Happy.

[Noggin]

The french when they agree with me!
At a soirée on Saturday, we were discussing language difficulties and peculiarities.
'The worm goes towards the green glass' being one of my favourites.
Then we came to numbers, or more precisely 97!
A whole table of french people suddenly realised how stupid their numbers are after 69!

I do so love that!! LOL The Belgium and the Suisse have it right - something like septante, huitanet, nonante , or something!! LOL

[Noggin]

Confirmation that I'm on the course for my bus/coach licence in August!! Will be interesting doing it all (and the high way code!) in French - guess I'll speak better after three months of it!! LOL

Now to find accommodation in Chambery for the three months

[Rockburner]

The french when they agree with me!
At a soirée on Saturday, we were discussing language difficulties and peculiarities.
'The worm goes towards the green glass' being one of my favourites.
Then we came to numbers, or more precisely 97!
A whole table of french people suddenly realised how stupid their numbers are after 69!

I do so love that!! LOL The Belgium and the Suisse have it right - something like septante, huitanet, nonante , or something!! LOL

In Paris, especially in the business circles, they use septante, huitante etc daily now. It means far less confusion when talking on the phone about investment deals etc. (Told to me by someone who works in Paris city-stuff when I was house-sitting for them a few years ago)

[Count Steer]

The french when they agree with me!
At a soirée on Saturday, we were discussing language difficulties and peculiarities.
'The worm goes towards the green glass' being one of my favourites.
Then we came to numbers, or more precisely 97!
A whole table of french people suddenly realised how stupid their numbers are after 69!

I do so love that!! LOL The Belgium and the Suisse have it right - something like septante, huitanet, nonante , or something!! LOL

In Paris, especially in the business circles, they use septante, huitante etc daily now. It means far less confusion when talking on the phone about investment deals etc. (Told to me by someone who works in Paris city-stuff when I was house-sitting for them a few years ago)

After Brussels I did a longish stint in Paris and used to delight in using septante and nonante (Belgians tended to use quatre-vingts for 80 but I understand the Swiss use huitante). They were constantly triggered by it and automatically 'corrected' me....every single time

[Noggin]

The french when they agree with me!
At a soirée on Saturday, we were discussing language difficulties and peculiarities.
'The worm goes towards the green glass' being one of my favourites.
Then we came to numbers, or more precisely 97!
A whole table of french people suddenly realised how stupid their numbers are after 69!

I do so love that!! LOL The Belgium and the Suisse have it right - something like septante, huitanet, nonante , or something!! LOL

In Paris, especially in the business circles, they use septante, huitante etc daily now. It means far less confusion when talking on the phone about investment deals etc. (Told to me by someone who works in Paris city-stuff when I was house-sitting for them a few years ago)

I'm sure that one day it'll filter out to the provinces!! For now, trying to list to phone numbers is a total bastard. Even when they think they say them slowly they don't! I had to write a number from a recorded message today - it was the fifth time (and two wrong numbers - first two times I hadn't got all the numbers!) that I realised that soixante-seize was indeed 76, NOT the 75 I'd been writing down FFS!! LOL

I do so love that!! LOL The Belgium and the Suisse have it right - something like septante, huitanet, nonante , or something!! LOL

In Paris, especially in the business circles, they use septante, huitante etc daily now. It means far less confusion when talking on the phone about investment deals etc. (Told to me by someone who works in Paris city-stuff when I was house-sitting for them a few years ago)

After Brussels I did a longish stint in Paris and used to delight in using septante and nonante (Belgians tended to use quatre-vingts for 80 but I understand the Swiss use huitante). They were constantly triggered by it and automatically 'corrected' me....every single time

But, so satisfying to make them do the correction

[Jody]

I just went to do a 'departure visit' for a guest. I wasn't here when they arrived and I've not managed to catch them in the 4 days they've been here.


" We've been to 5 Eurocamp campsites so far this trip. This particular mobile home was easily the cleanest and best presented "

I'll take that !

[Yorick]

Celebration and anniversary time.
It's 10 year ago this week that I retired, aged 54.

My boss at McAfee, James Vignoles, pushed me to the limit and I broke down. Evil man

2 years off sick then slow return to work. They realised that I wasn't coping, so they paid me off with a year's salary.

I was retiring a year later anyway, they made it a year earlier.

So I had a year to do more trackday instructing and plan our retirement here.

Almost 9 years here now. Planned since I was 39.

Don't chase the money. Chase the free time.

[Noggin]

I've just had some AWESOME news!!!

Had a bit of a shit start to the day (wouldn't normally have made a big difference, but it's not been a great few weeks) - talking to the physio helped a bit and then I went for a walk in the rare sunshine, but was still struggling a lot.

THEN -

The tax office here has FINALLY accepted my first name change!!!!!!


The fact that the accountant didn't change it with them when it was legally changed has really caused me some big issues here as I can't do lots of other stuff in the correct name because all the systems are linked - TBH, I think it was only constant badgering that got me my driving licence in the correct name! (The accountant only changed my name on the business registry and transport licence because I asked - hadn't realised they needed to be asked to change it at the tax office as well!! So for the last 6 years my legal name has not been in their system!!)

And back at the beginning of May I applied for housing, had to send a load of ID with the application and the response was "your name on your ID is incorrect, so your application is refused"

I have sent the tax office copies of 2 x passport, driving licence, health card, residency permit all with my legal and correct name, plus copies of my birth certificate and deed poll - more than once!! They finally asked for translated birth cert and deed poll (understandable really but frustrating due to all the other ID I'd sent them!). That was sent to them two weeks ago.

I was getting more and more stressed as the application for housing really needed to be completed in early May, so I'm two months late now. But today I logged on to check so that if it was still wrong I could try and see someone at the tax office in the morning before I see France Service -



I am officially known by my legal name in The System

[gremlin]

'Dave'?

[Yorick]

'Dave'?

I thought it was F***. As in FUF

[Noggin]

'Dave'?

I thought it was F***. As in FUF

Maybe I'll start using that as my 'nom d'usage'!! easier for the French to say than the actual name

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just changing over my car insurance for the new motah I'm collecting tomorrow.

New one is ~100bhp more powerful than the old one, same genre/type of car and obviously newer. It's virtually identical to the old one, just a different colour and a different engine, same trim level etc.

£98 refund

[Count Steer]

Just changing over my car insurance for the new motah I'm collecting tomorrow.

New one is ~100bhp more powerful than the old one, same genre/type of car and obviously newer. It's virtually identical to the old one, just a different colour and a different engine, same trim level etc.

£98 refund

Is that refund for a full year or part year?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Part. 6 months.

[Count Steer]

Part. 6 months.

So £200ish pa? Nice.

[Yorick]

I saw an old photo on a Cadwell Park website from 1939. Was interesting and thought provoking.
Nobody there now would be alive now.

But within an hour, 2 lads said their fathers were there. Pretty cool.

FB_IMG_1720101209834.jpg (127.89 KiB) Viewed 779 times

Screenshot_20240704_170918_Facebook.jpg (361.16 KiB) Viewed 779 times

[gremlin]

Bumped into two of our friends at the polling station yesterday evening. He's a black cabbie.
TFL, in their wisdom, made the cabbies give up diesel for the new LEVC electric cabs a few years back, and my mate has had one on PCP for the last three years. He's been mulling over for the last few months whether to pay off the bubble payment on the cab and carry on, but then the 3 year warranty (which is a 'must have', apparently) was a whopping £5.5k. In addition, his insurance went up from £1k a year, to £3k a year recently. When he took the cab in for its ticket, they told him it needed a few bits done that weren't covered. He said he's sat down and worked out that he'd need to be taking £100 a day before he saw any profit.

Anyhow, when I saw him yesterday he told me, with a smile on his face, that he'd just agreed to hand the cab back and retire. Well he is 67, so I suppose I can let him have that. They're round ours on Saturday, so it's turned into a bit of a retirement do.

[cheb]

You've got have sympathy for all those cab drivers barely earning the minimum wage, and they got hit by the banks wanting to charge commission on card payments too.

They can't even give foreigners the magical mystery tour since google maps was launched.

[gremlin]

You've got have sympathy for all those cab drivers barely earning the minimum wage, and they got hit by the banks wanting to charge commission on card payments too.

They can't even give foreigners the magical mystery tour since google maps was launched.

Granted, you do get one or two (I got in a black cab some months ago and he took me on the magical mystery tour to London Bridge station. When we go there I asked him why he didn't take the most direct route, to which he tried to bullshit me, so I told him I'd pay him what I thought the fare should be), but on the whole, they're not the shysters they're made out to be. Being from south London, I know loads.

It used to be a good gig. Get your badge, buy an old shitter and way you go for the next 40 years of your life. Piles are a given, as is a bad back but you can use the green huts. Most older cabbies simply did fewer days/hours and ran the cab into the ground. Not an option now as the cabs cost c. £80k new, or around a grand a month to lease. The warranties are iffy: if you let it lapse, that's it. They won't give you another one, so you have no real choice.

My mate was an early adopter of the card machine, much to the mirth of his companions who used to declare feck all to the tax man, but he figured that cash was on the way out, especially for the American business traveller who wants to go to Heathrow and tips well, and better to have something, minus the tax, than 100% of feck all.

On the plus side, all these cabbies giving up the game means there's a larger pool of available talent to take over from Southgate when he goes.

[Taipan]

You've got have sympathy for all those cab drivers barely earning the minimum wage, and they got hit by the banks wanting to charge commission on card payments too.

They can't even give foreigners the magical mystery tour since UBER launched.

FTFY!