Brittany-Internet

French government's new decision on access to the French healthcare system for inactive citizens from other EU countries (24/01/08) Read the full article

Recently having upgraded to the 8Mb service with Wanadoo along with several friends and colleauges, many had problems with their Wanadoo ADSL connection.

The problems haven't been helped by strong winds and power brown outs. Never the less helping a friend with their Wanadoo ADSL connection problem via the 1014 France Telecom telephone support line, took us to an ADSL speed test download on the Wanadoo website. The program tests the actual ADSL speed rather than the Livebox's ADSL syncronisation speed. I've been getting ADSL Sync speeds of up to 10Mb, my friends Livebox was sync'd at 9Mb but when we did the test the actual speed we got only 74Kb (not much faster than a modem!!!). My real test speed at the moment is just over 6Mb. We are in the process of removing several problems from his system to elliminate as many possible factors from the scenario as we can. Then we will be able to point the fingure firmly at Wanadoo and or France Telecom.

Will keep you posted! In the meantime follow this link for the Wanadoo ADSL Speed Test Utility.

I've just returned after a few days in Nice in the south of France. I had a great time down there and visited lots of interesting places with some very nice people (who originated from Brittany!).

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK IN BRITTANY! Life in Nice is so much like life in the UK - ie. Fast, over crowded and expensive.

The feeling of relief at returning started on the airplane when I could see the green fields and trees of Nantes. When I got onto the road and headed back toward Pontivy (central Brittany) the traffic was so light after Nice that driving was a real pleasure again.... no parking problems no horns and people cutting you up.

Sometimes it's too easy to become complacent about what you have. My friends living in Nice want to come back to Brittany because they find life in the south too stressful and artificial - I agree with them 100% I Love Brittany and the laid back way of life that's possible in this wonderful corner of France.

After my trip to the south of France I am thankful for the opportunity to live in Brittany and will ensure I don't become complacent again!

The time of year is here again to get down to Lorient and enjoy the delights of the Festival Interceltique. This year the host nation is Ireland (It's still happening in Lorient) so expect lots of Irish flavoured things like Guinness :)
The Festival is held in the centre of Lorient and is free to get into. You only have to pay if you want to see some of the big bands. I tend to spend my time at the Festival Interceltique listening to bands playing in bars and on the streets of Lorient. My all time favourite band is Mabon. Mabon come from Wales and in my mind are a must see! So much so that I contacted them to get their Itinerary for the coming festival:

Mabon will be playing at:-
Friday, 5th - The Victory Bar, pl. Aristide Briand. 21hr30.
Saturday, 6th - DITTO.
Sunday, 7th - Legende/Theatre Bars, pl. Jules Ferry, 22hr.
Monday, 8th - Le Parisien, pl. Ar. Br., 22hr.
Tueday, 9th - Bar Divan'Gio, pl. Jules Ferry, 18hr30 and 21hr30.
Wed, 10th - Legende/ Theatre, 21hr30.
Thursday, 11th - Le Parisien, 18hr and 22hr .
Friday, 12th - Bar Divan'Gio, 18hr30 and 21hr30.
Saturday, 13th - Le Victory, 21hr30.
Sunday, 14th - Le Parisien, 18hr and 22hr.

For more information about Mabon you can visit their website at: www.mabon.org

For more information on the Festival Interceltique Lorient visit the official festival website: www.festival-interceltique.com

May see you there!

Thanks to the webmaster of www.controleradar.org for contacting me and letting me know about his website!

Here's a link to the English version where you can click onto Brittany or any other region of France to see where the fixed speed cameras are.

Safe motoring in France!

Finally the 35 hour week is being abolished in France. Talking to French people on the streets of Brittany about the 35 hour week shows a divided population.

Those in favor of abolishing the 35 hour week tend to be the young, who don't have large salaries and have been struggling to earn enough money to keep a roof over their heads. On the other hand many middle aged French people were more than happy with the 35 hour week. They had more leisure time and much less stress than they had before. Loosing the 35 hour week isn't something they relish.

One of the initial aims of the 35 hour week appears to have been to reduce unemployment in France. The 35 hour week failed to make a great difference to unemployment levels in France.

As an outsider in France coming from the UK I couldn't understand how French businesses managed with the 35 hour week. Your labor force becomes very inflexible leading to problems satisfying customer demands. I'm sure the end of the 35 hour week in France will benefit the French economy greatly.

We do not condone the copying of copyrighted music Cd's or anything else for that matter. But if you do happen to have a CDR in your car and you get stopped by Gendarmes in Brittany. Be prepared for a hefty fine if you can't produce the original at the Gendarmery within 48 hours.

The music industry is constantly concerned by the loss of revenue from pirated Cd's and I can see why the Gendarmes are taking the responsibility seriously while doing routine stop checks in Brittany. But what about people with laptops full of mp3 files, or mp3 players and smart memory sticks?

Be warned that if you carry copied audio Cd's in your car whilst driving around Brittany  - make sure you can lay your hands on the original well within 48 hours!

It seems like another lifetime when I lived in the UK and was always scanning the roadside, flyovers & hedges for Police speed traps.

I've lived a blissful 4 years in Brittany with very little concern for Police speed traps because they very rarely seemed to bother doing them....This is now changing!

Apparently an eminent manufacturer of the binocular style speed cameras has been GIVING THEM AWAY! The French Gendarmes are now trying the units out on a large scale. The plan appears to be that an offer was made by the speed trap manufacturer that they would let the French Gendarmes have them for three months for free. After the three months is up the units should have taken enough money to pay for themselves if not they can send them back.

Obviously the manufacturer isn't going to give these things out willy nilly if they don't think the French Gendarmes are going to be convinced of their worth after the three months!

Interestingly the money generated from speeding tickets seems to go straight to the Gendarmes and not to the government. Adding even more incentive, maybe the gendarmes will start working on a commission?

Whatever the case the mobile cameras are out in force. Lurking in a white van next to a dual carriageway near you in Brittany!

According to official sources: last year saw a 15% average rise in property prices across France - This despite the slowdown in the UK.

Nobody is sure what 2005 holds but properties are still selling so things are looking good for people who already have their dream home in France.

Property prices in Brittany are still on the up. Despite the slow down in the UK housing market, the French market is still going strong.

Many people are under the misconception that the rising property prices in Brittany and accross France is due to the influx of British property buyers. However they are just a part of the equation.

Since the baby boom in the mid 60's many joung people left places like Brittany to go and work in Paris, or in the big cities like Rennes. Now they are approaching retirement adge and are looking to get out of the city and into the Brittany countryside.

The same rules apply here as in the UK. Most Town and city properties have rocketed in value, meaning that a property owner can sell their town house and buy a Brittany property in the delightfull countryside and have change in the bank plus lots more space.

We are all living in the same kind of market economies and human nature doesn't change, whether it's in Brittany France or Surrey England the same motives drive individual aspirations and Property Prices.

Jules

This is a new project that will bring expats and Brittany property owners the latest news and information for Brittany France.

If you fancy yourself as a budding journalist then contact us - we're looking for contributors to this web site!

If you fly to and from Brittany France you must read this!

Working in the Internet you come across some really great ideas. On-line booking of airline flights was one of those great ideas and is now readily accepted as possibly the first port of call when booking a flight to and from Brittany.

The site I'm going to tell you about is stacked full of money saving and money making ingenious ideas and most of it is for free! The author of the website has my greatest respect.

This great idea will find you the cheapest flights from Ryanair and Flybe at the same time go to: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/flightchecker/ Where it will bring up a list of all the flights from all the airlines that serve the two airports selected, between two dates listing the prices for each flight in and out by day.

Don't be put off by the fact that you have to select a UK airport to depart from. The website displays the flight information both ways for each day! So for example just select that you are going to Depart from London Stanstead and arrive at Dinard Brittany. Select the rough dates that you would like to travel between and the maximum price - Then the site will return all the results showing flights as low as 1 pence!

There is a disclaimer on the site about the availability due to the fact that they download all the information from the airlines at night, so during the day things may no longer be available. Never the less if you can be a little flexible over you departure from Brittany and your return this site is a must!

Update! A new list of Cheap Direct Flights to Britt