Alane

Can anyone tell me whether, in order to pass Consuel, that the gaine for the earth cable from the Earth Rod into the house has to be in a red gaine or whether a standard ICTA gaine will suffice. PS - I never got a definitive answer to the question on size of Gaine Rouge to the EDF connection for an 18kw supply (63 or 90mm)? So if anyone does know the answer I'd be grateful if you know. Thanks for your help in advance. Alcazar - in the end I got the Screwfix Earth housing and it has a standard international Earth sign on it so with any luck I won't need to get the paint out to label it "Terre".  

And according to my book the points must be adjacent to a power socket and not impeded by an opening door! I have found "L'installation Electrique" very useful and relatively easily understandable with a modest command of French.  

Petits carreaux - Lapeyre sell them for their window ranges either in standard sizes or made to measure http://www.lapeyre.fr/Lapeyre/pub.accueil.PreHomeController.do?pageToDisplay=/Lapeyre/d_conseil/d_conseil_frame.htm,url~/Lapeyre/d_conseil/d01_bienchoisir/d0101_menuiseriext/d0101a_fenetres/d0101a04_options/d0101a0401_petitscarreaux.htm.  

A few recommendations in this old thread- http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/4/503782/ShowPost.aspx#503782 I'd still rate the Petit Coq at Campigny as the best around - not too expensive either if you have the menu with wine included. The C-ochon d'Or in Beuzeville is also good but further and the Auberge du President in Cormeilles has been recommended to me. The Bras d'Or in Lieurey looked quite inviting with tables outside in the garden on Saturday but it's some while since we went there. Are you now permanently in Lieurey? I saw several English registered cars around the town at the weekend and wondered if there were now more English residents.    

This is nothing new. We had one with a PdeC 8 years ago in Normandy. Lots of Microsoft clip-art black pin men characters with dire warnings about the consequences of using workers on the black - bad workmanship, penalties, no guarantee etc.  

Alcazar Thanks for the information - I had actually purchased the rod and clamp at Screwfix! I didn't buy the regard as the label is in English and I'm not sure if it will fail the Consuel or not if it doesn't say Terre rather than Earth. Once again thanks for going to the trouble of posting all the links and if I don't find one in France I will get the Screwfix one.   Best Regards Alan.

Gluestick Many thanks for this - I'll get in touch with Farmers Exchange.  

I'm off this weekend to do some work part of which is to dig out for a new floor. I will be running the electricity supply into this room so will need to at least start to bury the Gaine Rouge on its way to the supply point on the boundary. I've seen conflicting advice as to whether a 63mm or 90mm Gaine is required and can find no reference in L'installation Electrique which only covers the depth and need for grillage etc. I was thinking of just installing the 90mm but I don't want to then find that this is too big - and I do already have a roll of 63mm part of which I've used elsewhere. . I'm opting for an 18kVA supply so will need 25mm conductors plus any signal wires. Obviously I could ask at the EDF but this is going to take up most of a day with no guarantee of a response from my local office who are singularly unhelpful compared to the experiences of some on here - a fact confirmed by a neighbour in France. I've not been able to locate a "regarde" for the earth spike - I've not seen them in the local merchants although to be fair I haven't asked yet. If anyone can help I would be grateful as it will save me much time on a short visit. Best Regards Alan.

Gluestick Off topic I know but do you recall who you got the AYP deck from? I've just tried to get one sent over from the US and the supplier dropped out at the last minute saying that the part was too large to ship through standard parcels and DHL would charge $300 for shipping.

I'm bored of this.  

You can get them at the SANEF offices on the Autoroute A16 at the  péage d'Herquelingue which is the toll station near Boulogne-sur-Mer. It's a bit of a performance to park after the toll station and then negotiate crossing across all the toll booths to get to the other side but no real problem.  

You need to use a finish that will continue to allow the walls to breathe.  Usually lime rendered buildings would have allowed moisture in the fabric of the house to evaporate easily. Typically this would have been limewash. Look at sites such as www.mikewye.co.uk and www.oldhousestore.co.uk for futher information.  

If using in a car withouth a mount you can always just hold the badge up to the windscreen, or even out of the window - it works for us when we take my wife's car as I haven't ever bothered to get a second mount. They don't need charging and work straight out of the box. One strange quirk I noticed this weekend on a trip was that our SANEF badge usually gives a loud "beep" when we approach the barrier, even out of the SANEF area,  but when we travelled on the new A28 south of Rouen it remained silent despite the barriers opening as usual. Weird!  

We have a fig tree in the UK in Buckinghamshire which has survived every winter since the eighties. It loses its leaves at the first sign of a frost and we don't get the over winter crop of figs but get a good crop in September. Usually we have to resort to making fig jam as we have too many to eat. A few years ago I potted up a cutting that I took from a branch that had laid on the ground and rooted. It has survived in the pot without problems and is shooting again this year despite the prolonged cold periods we've had this year.  

If you are planning to use lime putty (which I haven't seen in France) then the Mike Wye web site www.mikewye.co.uk has mixes to use. If using Hydraulic lime (available in bags at most builders merchants and bricos, st astier is the most common in our parts) then www.stastier.co.uk or www.stastier.fr has instructions for mix and application. Regards Alan. 

Clair   Looking at the Lapeyre web site the only wooden window on promo at the moment seems to be the Classic Bois until 1st April- did you notice whether others were on offer when you visited? We are over on the 31st but I want the oak windows so looks like I'll have to wait until the next round of offers. Best Regards Alan.

To get water from a pipe under the road adjacent to our property to a meter just inside the boundary - £400.  

I think there are different models but the one we got from SANEF did have batteries, that can't be replaced by the user. We had to send the old one back and get a new one after about 3 years. This could have been done at any office but at the time we weren't passing any of the offices during working hours so it had to be done by post. They charged us a new deposit charge for the new one immediately and it took a couple of months for the deposit refund for the old one to come through on the account. One lesson I learned was that it is cheaper to send a small low value packet from the UK to France than it is within France.

We had a major re-roofing job - 300sq m plus 5 new lucarnes and 1 small velux. I paid nothing up front and paid half when the work was 2/3 complete (with all materials on site) and the rest after completion. The roofer did not ask for any up front payment and seemed embarrassed about asking for the stage payment. Regards Alan.

Markets of France by Janice Gallagher 2001  ISBN 1-903861-00-4 Available on Amazon for £13.99 although it takes 4-6 weeks to despatch so may no longer be in print. Best Regards Alan

Bear in mind that although France might have come 17th that they said the UK would have come 14th (or therabouts - I was watching while I read the paper) if they hadn't only been looking at overseas options. This must surely show the weakness of this programme - the regional differences in the UK will mean that some areas will do much better than others and this will surely apply elsewhere. It was entertaining but as far as investment advice goes - forget it. Best Regards Alan.

Fay We seem to have a differing experience - the luck of the draw no doubt. We travel on around 12-15 return journeys per year and estimate that on between 20 to 30 percent of journeys we are held up. We often travel out on a Thursday night and the comments from the Dutch and Belgian commuters going back for the weekend aren't good news for Eurotunnel. To be fair it has improved just recently but for a long while we gave up arriving early at the terminal because we were never put on an earlier crossing but had to accept that turning up on time would result in frequent delays. I detect that they are trying to improve things but just get it wrong too often. We'll keep our fingers crossed for a reliable service next year. Best Regards Alan.

Brilec Has this happened lately? We got a voucher for a free day trip (which I haven't used yet and probably won't) after being badly messed about last Easter but nothing more than a "our service is very reliable and we are sorry you were inconvenienced on this occasion" type response since then. Best Regards Alan.

It would be interesting to see how they respond if you point out the low cost of Speedferries frequent traveller scheme. I would do so myself but they obviously have me down as a serial complainer after I engaged in an exchange of e-mails after being delayed. Interesting comment about "fixed low price" - it's nothing of the sort as they charge a premium for peak times. This is the usual guff that they come out with in response to comments or complaints - "our service is so popular" etc. Perhaps their managers should pop down to the terminal outside of peak times and see for themselves the trains running with only a couple of carriages loaded with cars. Best Regards Alan.  

It all seems very petty - 1 hour either way can't make that much difference to them. Except at peak times, which are covered by the peak period surcharges, the shuttles are never anywhere near full at these times. I can only assume, like you, that this is a ruse to improve cash flow at a quiet time. Poor timing considering Speedferries have just announced their £19 a crossing frequent traveller scheme. There was a suggestion a while ago that LD lines would introduce frequent traveller fares on the Le Havre route - has anyone heard any more on this? Alan.