Foreign Perspectives

Much as Martin Lewis generally has good ideas on his website and puts them across well in interviews, I think that he’s totally wrong on the Northern Rock issue.

His basic premise is that people shouldn’t try to withdraw all their savings from Northern Rock simply because it is only going to cause them problems and besides the bank will probably be taken over by a somewhat more secure one by the end of the week.

Well, no, I don’t believe that is right. The queues outside Northern Rock send a very clear signal to other banking outfits that people will vote with their feet and that in itself is a very important signal.

What’s equally important is that this episode has highlighted the importance of selecting a solid financial institution for your savings and continuing to check that it remains solid. However, seeing as not so long ago Northern Rock was praised as being one of the best run mortgage banks around, it also highlights that you shouldn’t keep all your money in one place unless that one place is genuinely completely secure (and bear in mind that the only place that fits this bill is National Savings). That being the case, clearly it’s perhaps not the best idea to move directly from Northern Rock to ICICI (an Indian bank heavily promoted in the UK for very high interest rates on savings).

Chances are that the bank will be taken over by the end of the week, but I don’t think it’s a wise move to rely on chance when your savings are involved. So, keep queuing and get your money out until the bank is under new ownership.

One of the more peculiar aspects of life here is that we are sick at almost exactly the same time every year.

Why that is, I don’t know but it’s been happening for four years now. Each June, we’re sick within a few days of the same time the year before, likewise each September.

In some ways, we can understand June. They’re spraying the fields at exactly the same time each June so we pretty much take it for granted that something in those sprays is causing it.

September is different though in that it’s in the midst of the grape harvest so there isn’t any spraying going on.

Weird, huh?

In fact they’ll take anyone from age 21 on upwards.

The impact on this policy is quite interesting as you get an amazing spread of ages in many courses. Now, to be fair, for the majority of courses the lower age range is generally around 25 or so but that’s only because most people younger than that will have chosen to go to a normal university.

The effort that many of those over 65 put in is quite staggering. One guy in the French course was 80 if he was a day and put everyone else completely in the shade in terms of his ability to use the language.

We’ve a guest tonight who is plugging away with a history degree “just to keep his mind active”. The OU doesn’t work like that though and many who start courses just to potter along end up much further on than they would ever have expected. After all, I just started the French with a view to being able to speak it properly and find myself six years down the line on the home run (fingers well crossed!) to a Modern Languages degree!

I still remember one member of our little Saturday morning group sitting on the settee and announcing that he only started French so that he could order a cup of coffee and no way was he doing any more French courses. Just over two years later he picked up his French Diploma and is currently working on the Spanish one.

One thing’s for sure: the weather doesn’t mess around over here – it’s either one extreme or the other.

We’re just through a really major thunder and lightening storm the like of which you just don’t see in Northern Ireland.

All being well normal south of France weather will be resumed tomorrow with the sun and cloudless skies that usually characterise September here.

That’s the question we’re asking everyone that comes here at the moment.

A few weeks ago, Poland unexpectedly moved into the starting grid when a Polish family assured us that they do a “proper” Christmas with Christmas trees and carols.

The Belgium family with us tonight have moved that country up a few notches though. Belgium is a slightly peculiar amalgam of France and Holland and therefore takes traditions from both sides. Net effect? They do Christmas in the way us northern Europeans/Anglosaxons expect and also do New Year as the French do.

Germany is still in the running though we’ve not had any Germans staying for a while so we’ve had to start researching the options ourselves.

How to get there is the next issue to think about. Pricing-wise there’d be little in it between driving to Belgium or southern Germany as compared to flying there but either would take us around 12 hours of driving ie two days and probably around EUR 100 each for petrol and tolls.