amos

I fancy one of these http://www.greencoffinsireland.com/willow-coffins.html

In fairness there are a good few critical comments of the video on the website, my favourite one is ''Je veux juste essayer avec Sarko svp !!''

I hired a car in Barcelona airport to head over the border to Languedoc recently and used Sixt also. While the petrol policy here was 'full to full' I have to say I found them very friendly, efficient and helpful and also one of the cheapest. I usually use Hertz but would use Sixt again.

Thanks Mpprh, as always, invaluable info.

Here's another one that I've been using for years,( usually it has to be said with Bramley's), I generally make it as aloaf rather than a cake. Apple and Cinnamon Cake 10 oz self raising flour 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt 8oz Demerara sugar 2oz raisins (optional) 4oz melted butter 2 large eggs beaten 6 fl oz milk 8oz apples, peeled and chopped Sift flour, cinnamon and salt into a bowl, stir in sugar (and raisins). Mix melted butter, eggs and milk. Beat until smooth and fold in the apples/. Turn into a lined and greased tin, 8inch round or loaf tin, bake for 1-1.15mins until cake springs back when lightly pressed. Enjoy!

We have a holiday house near Narbonne, we'll have to have another look up your way the next time we are over, it's a few years since we ventured up to Beziers but I have to admit my recollections were not of a particularly picturesque town, thanks for giving another perspective, love the 'panorama' view and the background sound. P.S. Is that you with your back to the camera in the last one Norman?

heard somewhere on the radio the other day that the beeb are in the process of doing another upstairs/downstairs, they are obviously anxious to get in on the nostalgia act as well.

was getting anxious like you milky but when I emailed them they said 'Bonjour Madame / Monsieur Votre avis d'imposition est actuellement en cours d'édition. Vous le recevrez courant octobre 2011, avec une date limite de paiement probable au 15/11/2011.' which is exactly what happened I finally got it a few days ago and have til 15th to pay.

Thanks, your blog is very informative as are all your contributions on this forum.

Hello PD, I wonder if you would be kind enough to refer me to some info on how the new capital gains arrangements will affect sales, I know (I think) that inflation will be considered but does the 6-15 year sliding scale still apply on second homes?

not sure val but I know in previous years the summer schedules for some routes were not released until end October, but I think some routes may be available to book before that.

thanks AnOther, I guessed as much, situation not helped by Public holiday, impossible to get a hold of anyone!

Just had some bad news from our house minders in France. Leaking water pipe, water flowing down wall etc, they haven't managed to find the source of the problem yet. My question is I have paying guests arriving next weekend !!are the insurance company (Groupama) likely to insist that their assessor looks at the damage before we can get repairs done and how long is that likely to take as I would like to have some remedial work done asap.

ok fair enough, haven't got my hands on it either obviously but I might have to ban it altogether if anything happens to Kurt.

nooh, I'm afraid to ask...he didn't kill him off did he?

Reading this thread with interest as I am considering the paypal route as a means of receiving rental payments. My query is what kind of a fee do paypal charge you for receiving/converting a foreign currency (sterling) to Euros? Looking at the site it says ''Payments requiring a currency conversion include a 2.5% foreign currency margin'' . Does this mean they charge 3.4% for the initial transaction and a further 2.5% on top?

We are with groupama also and haven't heard anything...did they send it to you when your policy was up for renewal?

You don't need an internet connection to make the call, nor do you need to download anything to your phone. You do need to register and buy credit on line. You are then given a local phone no to call everytime you want to make a call. A recorded voice then invites you to dial the no you want to contact and before connecting you tells you the per minute charge. In my case for the cost of a local call from my landline plus 6.5c per minute I can call an Ozzie mobile. The cost of a 'local' call from your mobile will of course radically affect your cost so this service may or may not be beneficial to you... just a suggestion.

I use this service to call my daughter on her mobile in Australia, it should cost you 7-8c per minute to use a french mobile to call a UK landline or mobile. www.justvoip.com, there are lots of similar companies out there if you search.

No problem, glad it worked.

The English speaking edf helpline no is 05 62 16 49 08, but prepare to be patient!

Turns out it was the body of Jean-Francois Poinard one of France's most celebrated chefs during the 70's & 80's. Apparently his partner puncnched him in the face during a domestic argument.

As far as I am aware the regs in France are exactly the same as those in the Uk as they are EU regs and not national ones.

I tried to contact edf about 10 days ago on their English speaking phoneline and while I eventually got fed up waiting to be connected the message (in English) seemed to indicate that I would be dealt with, if I had the patience and sufficient phone credit presumably! The no I used was 05 62 16 49 08.

I have rented from hertz lots of times and have dropped of at different airports in France on departure and have not been charged, but this does seem to vary from area to area. A word of warning, as I am in languedoc I sometimes fly to Girona, hire a car and drive up. I did this a couple of weeks ago when I was over and was not happy to be told I could bring the car back empty of fuel as they were going to charge me a compulsory fuel charge. This was not apparent in their T&Cs when I was booking, I have written to complain (which will probably achieve zilch, but at least it made me feel better!)