Thank you Stella
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Because my OH and several other people had appointments with him, and he basically attached them to his electrotherapy machine and left them alone with the controlsā¦and sat in the outer room watching motorbike videos. Previously he used his shortwave therapy alongside actual hands on physiotherapyā¦
Heās a lovely man, so a few people have accepted his lack of interest out of loyalty but most have transferred to another physio.
(If thatās what your Marie does well so be it, but I consider that to be wrongā¦and perpetuates the old fashioned approach that Warren refers to. Adds to the reasons for needing widescale reform)
Janeā¦
My comments are general as all Mairies are there to be helpful to their citizensā¦as best they can.
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I think it very much depends on the size of the commune - services available in ours are listed on the Mairie website simply because we are a spread-out commune with a population of about 900 and if you want to use very local businesses it is easy to remain ignorant of their existence otherwise.
I discovered yesterday on the Mairie website that we have an osteopath in our commune, I had no idea - I work in a neighbouring dƩpartement and am never around, it is a useful thing to know.
Ours does as well - and lists all services in the area without any filtering. Itās using public money to provide public information, supporting local businesses, not making recommendations about the quality of the services it lists.
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Since our Mairie took over the role after our village post office closed at the end of 2017 the service has gone downhill rapidly. They have not increased staff to deal with demand and on each visit there always appears to be a, and lām being kind here, a difference of opinion and the ambiance is a little hostile.
Our last Mairie in the P.O. was run by an assistant who thought any request was never too much trouble and always had a smile and kind word - we do miss her.
Itās never an easy act to follow in the footsteps of a ātreasureā. 
Why did the Post Office closeā¦ do you knowā¦??
Too expensive us what they said here, so instead of a proper post office (we had one 20 years ago open 5 full plus one 1/2 day a week) we have just a comptoir staffed by a commune employee, not a la poste employee, open 5 mornings a week 9.30 - 12 so of no use at all to me.
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Yet againā¦ money is at the root ā¦ so many rural post offices are closing.
Thankfully, here, the Mairie stepped-in to ensure we were not left high and dry. They provided the building and took over the employment of the Postal Clerk who would otherwise have been made redundant.
Yes, it comes out of the Taxes, but the nearest post office is 40 mins away by car ā¦
We have a teeny mini post office shoehorned in between a brasserie and a hairdresserās. All of which we are lucky to have 
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Well transforming redundant Marieās into community services like post offices would be a great idea and a good use of the huge amount of money saved by reducing number of Maries. Itās finally gone below 35,000ā¦ so still a way to go. In our region 75% of them are communes with a population less than 500, so could easily half the number and few people would even notice. When I ask people when they last went to their marie or used it in any way most people just shrug. Although the Foyal Rural and Salle de FĆŖte are well used.
Nononono, we need a maire and a conseil municipal and, therefore, a mairie in every commune. If you are advocating joining communes together (cf what been done with the rĆ©gions) that is another question (and the answer is that sauf exception it is a Bad Idea). I am assuming you donāt have children of primary school age or you wouldnāt be saying such heresy!
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Said there was insufficient custom to keep it open. We had a petition and the Mayor appealed the decision - to no avail - so set up the Agence Postale in the Mairie. Service is so slow and erratic and the member of staff who is trained in dealing with the mail, parcels etc is also fielding the normal visitors to the Mairie. But all part of the rich tapestry that is our little Bourg.
Goshā¦ doing the two jobs must be very difficultā¦but certainly better than nothingā¦ makes out little commune seem (amost) large.
We have just over the magic 500 ā¦how many folk in your commune Dan?
1,176 according to the last in see figures plus 276 from an adjoining village the commune merged with in 2017.
More than enough to merit a dedicated Postal clerk. We now use the Post Office in a nearby village (pop 1182) and is open each afternoon.
Iām just going on the costsā¦35,000 town halls, with mayors, deputies, secretaries and cleaners all drawing a salary. 35,000 buildings to maintain and service. 35,000 computer systems to keep up to date, 35,000 very similar deliberations and administrative tasks. It is a massive cost nationally and Iām sure there could be an alternative way to retain a commune level representation, issue water bills and so on - and release some of that money for other activities or to reduce peopleās tax bills. I know france loves its administration, but changes are not always bad.
I only have experience of three maries, and without exception they have been biased. Currently a big problem in our village is a man with an uncontrolled dog which has so far killed a cat and several hens. People with small children are concerned. However he is the mayorās brother in law. So letters of complaint are having no effect. It doesnāt endear me to the institution.
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