My company announced RTO the same day Amazon did. The Union is up in arms, but honestly the powers that be are handling it pretty well. My boss is happily going to the office for a couple of days a week. She’s a million miles from enforcing it on us though. Exceptions are already in place for people like me (3 hour TGV ride from the nearest office) and even a few people who just said “I really don’t want to”.

I’m sure a few people will leave and not be replaced, but perhaps they were just dead weight anyway. I couple that I know about definitely are.

All the gear, no idea?

None in Brittany either! This is a bad sign

Why? I love being able to buy a 2 year old BMW for the same price as an equivalent Renault

I have one of those and it works perfectly from Linux using standard software. You can also go over the subscription, you just pay (still comparable to buying ink cartridges though, perhaps even a little cheaper if you’re printing photos). It also worked for 2 weeks with no internet connection, although it did complain about that lack of an internet connection after a week.

It has also proved to me that HP are conning everyone with non InstantInk cartridges. After 3 years we are still on the same cartridges, which I am sure it would have claimed were empty if it were not InstantInk.

Disclaimer: I got the printer for (effectively) free and use the free tier subscription which allows me 10(?) pages a month with no rollover. It has cost me about €2.50 in 3 years. I would never have paid for a modern HP printer.

Edit: I am not defending HP’s abhorrent business practices. However, in this case I found a loophole and was able to exploit it. It was also free because I had a awesome employer who gave out Fnac vouchers every year. I am also only able to exploit that loophole because I also have that little Brother laser that just works.

Laserjets up until generation 5 were amazing. There are laserjet 4s still trucking away churning out pages. I personally had a LaserJet 4MP that I sold when I got married due to its extremely low wife acceptance factor (it was huge, loud and ugly. We both regret that decision because 20 years later it would probably still be working.

Basically, what Brother lasers are now is what HP laserjets used to be up until ~2004. We can debate the exact switchover year ad nauseum, but you get the idea.

There comes a point where a basic house is not enough. For example, someone who starts a family and career before buying late.

By the time I bought my first house I had 2 teenagers, a work from home job (need a dedicated office) and a sick mother-in-law who is dependent on us. Add to that, I am an expat, so I want my sister to be able to come and visit (a nice-to-have I admit). The “starter” home for my family has 5 bedrooms!

Sorry, but for the non-americans, what is HOA?

Instead of brake checking, flash the rear fog lights.

A red light coming on often makes them think you’re braking.

Don’t care if they do it themselves or contract it out. They just need to be make sure it is done.

Then please do not be an arsehole landlord.

It is not the tennant’s responsibility to pay the mortgage on your flat. Nor should they return it to you as new.

What you rent it for is the market rate, which hopefully will cover your mortgage+expenses. It may not, that is your problem, not the tennant’s.

When the tenndnt moves out there will be changes and even damage. Just like your primary property will have changes and damage.

When the tennant highlights an issue, fix it NOW. They are paying you a lot of money and deserve a lot of service.

Nothing wrong with being a landlord. There is a problem with being a tosser.

The landlord/tennant relationship seems to be different to every other business relationship. The landlord always seem to think they are doing the tennant a service by allowing them care for the house. The reality is that the tennant is exchanging large sums of money for a service.

• Deep cleaning ready for the next tennant is the landlord’s problem, not the tennant.
• All maintenance of the infrastructure of the house (walls, water, heating, etc) is the landlord’s problem. This includes modernisation. No rental property in 2023 should be without structured cabling and modern electrics for example.
• The tennant is not there to pay the mortgage. The landlord may lose money at times and that is just the cost of doing business.

The problem goes back further. You say “another group owned it first”, but Israel say they have had that land for millennia and it was given to them by God.

Palestine did not even exist until the British randomly carved it out on a map except for a brief period under the Romans around 0BC. The Romans called it Palestine in order to remove Israel’s identity.

How far back do we go?

That almost as bad as Top Gear logic!

So by purchasing clothes you are supporting slavery?

Well that depends on the baguette. A cheap baguette moulée I agree. A nice tradition will be take around 72 hours to mature to the point it can successfully be used for violence.

Wars have been fought for less.

In fact, it would not surprise me if an argument about bread was a factor in WW1.

I may live in France, but I am English too. A simple white cottage loaf is great, that is indisputable. However the availability is laughable.

When I lived in Portsmouth, there were 2 bakeries on the whole island. 2!! in my little town here we have 4 artisan bakers, plus 3 supermarkets that all sell really good bread. Just round the corner from my house there is a farm that sells bread (made completely in house) every Friday afternoon and people take the afternoon off work and drive 2 hours to buy it.

French bread wins hands down.

However I agree with you on one thing: I love bread!

Still a stupid price for a crap sandwich. As I said in another reply, come to France and you will get the same thing for half the price. However, it will be nice (can you beat french bread? I think not)

And it cost less than half of this one at Montparnasse and is much nicer

I think we can blame our parenta for that (at least I do).

My dad criticised me for years over not buying. When I did, he did not believe how much my mortgage repayments are. I would have paid of his house in less than 2 years!