What bemused you today?

[Reinardina]

I've already apologised for putting eysha off, so won't do it again.

Eysha, if you want advice/instruction, just ask a straightforward question, about something that puzzles you, or several questions about several aspects, that bemuse you.

How can anyone give advice/instruction, if they do not know what it is, you want to know?

To get used to the camera, I would set it to the 'all singing, all dancing' mode and shoot. You're bound to get good shots if you hold the camera steady and keep an eye on the  composition, which for you, as an artist will not be difficult. (Yes, I've got a good memory.)

Give it a go, and slowly try out other settings. If you get stuck just ask, giving specific information on what you are doing, and what you are trying to achieve.

[Hinfrance]

Chatting with a French estate agent yesterday who reported that since Brexit she had sold 3 times as many properties to UK buyers as this time last year. I'd have thought the lower value of sterling and uncertainty would have had the opposite effect. Nowt as strange as folk. Maybe it was Dick Strawbridge's recent TV appearance?

[Beaux Reflets]

Chatting with a French estate agent yesterday who reported that since Brexit she had sold 3 times as many properties to UK buyers as this time last year. I'd have thought the lower value of sterling and uncertainty would have had the opposite effect. Nowt as strange as folk. Maybe it was Dick Strawbridge's recent TV appearance?

Getting out while the goings good springs to mind Howard...........Brexit will certainly not be as good as the Brexiteers dream it will be - More likely the reverse and another Referendum may be called upon to drop the GBP for the Euro    (Afterall, in a Global market, quantity easing cannot go on and on without causing more woes to return - and as sure as bees like honey the immigration problem will keep on growing).

[ABERS]

Having spent a few days in France recently I'm not surprised property is selling to the Brits, it's  so incredibly  cheap, I was tempted myself on one occasion., I nearly booked a viewing.

My hosts bought their place about seven years ago and are struggling  to get anywhere near what they paid, they are trying to get back to Blighty asap.

The EU is doomed as an undertaking and as for swapping the pound  for the euro, what is this year's  vintage like?  Sounds as if it's  pretty potent. 

[Beaux Reflets]

The EU is doomed as an undertaking and as for swapping the pound  for the euro, what is this year's  vintage like?  Sounds as if it's  pretty potent. 

You are right the wine is very good     while the pound still appears to be on an overall decending slope   

[anglefire]

The EU will fail. Sometime, perhaps not for a few years, but it will fail. Or it will if they keep on adding basket case countries to the portfolio and expect the remaining half dozen countries to bale them out.

France is in a mess, so is Italy, Spain and Portugal. And they are the stable countries.

[Hinfrance]

It's a pity Alan that your friends find themselves in such a situation. It seems to me that many expat Brits forget all of the things they would normally consider when buying abroad, principally 'location, location, location'.

Our house is, according to the agents and looking at the local property market, worth 250% more than it was when we bought it (in € terms, rather more in £). We were lucky in our timing to a large extent. And the village we left in Worcestershire has seen prices rise by no more than 10%, and in some cases - the little estate of 5 bed executive houses - prices have fallen. In short if we were minded to return from whence we came we could do so easily and stick a decent 6 figure sum in the bank for a rainy day. It's down to location: hilltop location, secluded but only 10 minutes from an airport with more than a dozen flights to the UK and the Netherlands every day, access to the best performing school in the Dordogne, and yes, that fantastic local brew Oh, and much faster internet than rural UK.

You're right about the EU Mark, it certainly cannot go on as it is. There are strong and growing movements throughout the northern members for either significant change or break up of the political union. The Euro is probably living on borrowed time. France's finances are indeed a mess, not unlike a certain island nation just to the north: national debt just shy of 96% (UK 89%) and both increasing at a stupid rate. Our governments are mortgaging our children's futures. Obama's administration in the US has borrowed almost as much money as all the governments before it put together, national debt is now over $19 trillion with Hilary promising more of the same (105% of GDP, makes France look sensible, not). In short, all of the old western economies are up the creek without a paddle to some extent, all of us are living beyond our means, and one day it will have to stop. That won't be pleasant.

And I still don't get why more Brits are buying here when it gets more expensive in £ terms every day.

[jinky]

How long have you been in France H? Seems a low increase on your old English place but I guess we`ve been through some falls. Of course price is all irrelevant except when crossing countries as you sell in the Uk you buy in the Uk and you take your chances. Our house  has gone up something like 310 % over the last 18 years  (at least until the supposed next crash)  but I wory more about how my youngest will ever to be able to afford to buy or even rent! I hate the way a roof over yuour head has become a retirement nest egg / space for property developers and helped price young people out of the market rather than a basic need.

[ABERS]

They're  not stranded in France H,  they still have their house in the UK quietly  appreciating in value.

You're  quite  right  about  location,  where they have their  property in France  is somewhat isolated. O.K  if you're into interminal  vineyards  and sunflower  fields, ideal, but a little boring if you're not. 

[Hinfrance]

That's the thing about property markets, some areas do significantly better than others. From trawling about through the web it looks like bog standard rural house prices haven't changed much in the past 15 years, but urban areas have exploded in value. The BoE has to keep interest rates low to make the government debt serviceable, the downside of that being that house prices rocket as bricks and mortar become a store of value rather than principally somewhere to live. As you say Paul, it's now so daft in some places it's difficult to see how it can work for our children. I was reading the other day that the 'affordable' one bedroom starter homes in the Olympic Park at Stratford were 'from £470,000'. This in an area where the average wage is £19,000. So there won't be any locals buying them.

As for prices in central London or Paris . . .

[Reinardina]

When the 'Buy to Let' rules changed, developers (at least here in Southampton) started to build 'luxury apartments,' that were snapped up by investors.

A lot of them are shoddily built, though often look attractive, too small to live in permanently (no storage space for ironing board or vacuum cleaner), and only suitable for people who do not bring their own furniture. In short, they are only suitable for short time (furnished) letting.

And as investment property, too expensive for first time buyers.

[ABERS]

Never been one  for giving up but if I was a youngster in today's  situation I might consider it. Even renting, in this area, is way beyond  most unless the bank of mum and dad is flushed with the wherewithal, and once again in this area there seems to be a few of those.

Unless there is the possibility of a hefty gift or bequest most youngsters are trapped.

[Reinardina]

What bemused me, and annoyed me a little too, is the fact that Google, of its own accord, has created a folder (called 'label' these days), in one of my Gmail accounts called 'Categories'.

I had spotted it, but never bothered to look in it, as it was not 'one of mine.' Till a couple of days ago ...

Loads of emails from two sites I had subscribed to (I thought I had done something wrong, with the filling in of the form, and therefore had not received any), loads of 'updates' on two other sites, one of which I am interested in, one of which I'd happily do without.

Google obviously decided, some of my 'social' and 'promotions' emails should be classified as 'Categories. But only, in one of the five Gmail addresses I currently use.

[spinner]

Just checked two different weather forecast sites. While both list the current temp. in my town as 77F, one is claiming a wind chill makes it feel like 73F while the other claims the humidity makes it feel like 88F. I'm currently hiding in my basement where it's cool, but I can feel a real temperature change just walking up to ground level. I'm going with the 88F feel. 

[ABERS]

I know I have a surname that you don't  come across every day but buying something online my patience was sorely tried yesterday.

Asked to spell it by a lady who seemed somewhat distant we had a couple of goes before she got it right. A later question asked for my surname again, "could you spell that Please?  Biting my lip I complied.

Next came the payment. "What is the name on the Card? " Yes you've  guessed it. How do you spell That?......