Diana

This has happened to me too many times in my local supermarket for it to be just coincidence. Asking amongst friends its happened to them too. It goes like this: Your shopping comes to more than 80 euros, so you pay, go home and unpack. Only if you check your till receipt do you find that you have been charged for a non existant cooked chicken or crate of beer etc. What do you do? go back to the supermarket and say you did not have these items, how do you prove it? What i don't understand is how anyone profits from it. It seems the only thing to do is check the receipt before leaving the checkout. Diana

I feel the start of my first ever french cold coming on, sore throat, blocked/runny nose etc. In the UK I would have headed straight for the Day and Night Nurse. Can I buy anything similar over the counter here. Thanks Diana

Tomorrow I am having a small informal supper party for eight people with a Beaujolais Nouveau theme. What are the traditional dishes to accompany this wine. Thanks Diana

Does LF have a sister magazine with an on line forum for Spain? Thanks Diana

Thanks to both of you. Mistral if you have time I would be interested in the tables. Here is the ref for the old bank note, just copy and paste it. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8348206912&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Fsojs%3D1%26from%3DR40%26satitle%3D8348206912%26fvi%3D1 Thanks Diana

Often I stumble across in old documents or French literature livres and sols for currency and even today in the local market fruit and veg can still be measured in livres. I know it was Napoleon who introduced the decimal system in France but I have been unable to find what these equate to in either pre -60’s Francs or for weight stones, pounds and ounces. I have just seen on ebay a listing for a 1793 French Revolution bank note ‘Assignat de Cinq Livres et Cinquante Sols’ dated 23 Mai 1793. Why does this not use the language of the Revolution for both the currency and the date? We have the papers for every sale of our house going back to 1794, all the dates are in the style of the revolutionary calendar and the sale price in old, old French Francs. Thanks Diana

We started with the local architect, who liaised with the fire dept, health and safety etc etc. Don't forget if you are providing any seating you will need a WC suitable for disabled people. And any change to the outside of the building ie an extra window or widening a door to allow for wheel chair access will need the equivilant of planning permission. You will need to apply for at the very minimum a licence 1 from the marie to allow you to serve soft drinks. If you want to serve alcholol with food you will need a restarant licence from the local customs office which your marie must agree to. Diana

[quote]You will need to send it, all filled in and signed to your caisse de maladie. As there are different ones, you should already have your own's address as you are paying into it.[/quote] Thank you TM Diana

Our business was registgered from the begining of May and we started to pay contributions from that date. We also applied for our Carte Vitales. I needed to have emergency dental treatment at the end of June but I had not yet been issued with my card so I just paid up the 180 euros and forgot all about it. I have just found the cerfa form and receipt under a large pile of filing and it has reminded me that I should be able to claim for some of the cost. How do I go about this? Thanks Diana

[quote]Did you try the Brakes site - just interested to see what cover they give in France James[/quote] James I had a look at the site but have not yet done anything. If I do order anything I will let you know the outcome. Thanks Diana

[quote]Where are you?[/quote] we are in Sainte Mere Eglise, La Manche Thanks Diana

This summer we have bouught all our fresh baguettes from the local baker and paninis etc from the cash and carry. I would like to find a supplier who will replace the need to do the 50 mile round trip to the cash and carry. I am looking for a supplier who will deliver panini, bruchetta, wraps and sliced sandwhich loaves (the type we know in the UK not the small pain mie). I don't know what heading this type of product/service would be listed under in the pages jaune so have not had much luck in trying to track them down. Thanks Diana

We have a one year old Apple laptop and an ancient PC, also a Netgear wireless router. Over the last few days the Apple keeps losing its wireless connection and the only way to reconnect is to restart both the router and Apple. It makes no difference even if I connect the them by the cable. This morning it it won't connect at all. So I am back to the old faithful PC which tells me that the router is OK. Also even when the Apple wont connect it still show on the info bar at the top of the screen that there is a full signal with all four bits of the radar image highlighted. Thank you Diana

Thank you both for your replies. I should have mentioned that where we are in Normanday we can pick up UK terestrial TV via a normal ariel. I don't know if this would make a diference to being able to receive the UK digital ones. To cut a long story short we just want to be able to receive more channels without having to pay for something like Sky. Thanks Diana

I never thought I would own and run a cafe, least of all in France. We have been open now since the begining of June and and it is going far better than expected. Our customers are from all over the world and enjoy what we offer, the expressions of the French when they point to the homemade carrot cake and ask what it is are priceless. Diana

We have been looking at getting a digital freeview box combined with a hard disk and DVD burner ie Panasonic DMRE560. After speaking to a major retailer in the UK they advised purchase of a box by Sony or Panasonic but do not know whether they would opperate in France. Also would one box serve more than one TV in the some house. Thanks Diana

Vraititi Thank you for your reply, I will look up your suggestions. I have just had a quick look on Amazon and found ISBN 0679642986 The Knight of Maison-Rouge by Alexandre Dumas. Do you know anything about this novel? I imagine it is biased towards the aristrocrats. We have all the old papers from the Revolution relating to our French house and it would seem that the family were 'middle class', they where able to buy the property and they seemed to have a small private income and did not need to work. It is the type of life they would have lead that realy interests me. Later in the 1860's a Medical Doctor lived there and ran his practice from the house. Thanks Diana

I would love to read up on life in France at the time of the Revolution. My French is not good enough to be able to study any of the texts in French. Can anyone recommend a book be it a good novel or non fiction or a film that is available on DVD. The best I have come up with is A Tale of Two Cities. Thanks Diana

We have finally made it to France. In the past I have still used the UK mail account via AOL to send emails. But as we no longer have this account I need to enter the AOL SMTP address but I have no idea what it is or where to find it. Thank you Diana

We found a small booklet about the size of a postcard in the TIC offfice. It lists all the ones in Bas Normandie, with addresses and phone numbers. But even with the book they can still be hard to find and as for the opening hours, well they are very french. We have had one or two wasted journeys. Diana

We don't have digital or Freeview in the UK so know nothing about it. In France we are close to the Channel Isles so we can pick up UK TV via normal transmission along with a booster box. What will happen in a few years when this stops. Will we be able to pick up Freeview in France. Thanks Diana

Emma Thanks for your reply. When I collected the cat from the UK cattery yesterday I asked their opinion and they said much the same as you have. When we arrive for good in a couple of weeks I will ask at the local vets and try and find somewhere better. Everything at the french cattery was new and it should have been possible to keep very clean, they had invested a lot of money but did not seem to be running it for commercial gain. The whole set up was very strange. They also had a huge enclosure for rescue animals. Their house was also full of their own cats and the smell was .. out of this world! I will keep looking Diana

I first asked this one the North West Forum but it is more suited here. I visited the local cattery which had been recommended to me to have a look arround. The owner really does care about the animals she looks after but I was concerned about the level of hygene. The cats had large pens (for up to 5 cats from the same family) with a small shed for their bed etc. I was shown one run that had 2 cats who had been there for 10 days and it stank inside the shed/house area. It was centrally heated which was good for the cats welfare but only added to the smell. The walls and floor were part tiled but looked covered in fur and at the best muddy paw prints and at the worse you can guess what. Also the base of the run was grass and earth and it was covered in you can guess what. Our cat has all his vaccinations but I am worried about him catching something. I was not asked if he was vaccinated so am assuming some of the other cats will not be. I understand from this forum that some french catteries can be very bad when compared to those in the UK. Am I being over fussy or should I accept this as the norn. The one we go to in the uk is run by a vet and very clinical, the cats do not have as much room but it is spotless. They give all the cats a flea treatment as soon as they arrive, he comes back in as good condition as when he went. Thanks Diana

[quote]The lady owner has just returned my calls, it seems she had problems with her phone line. She sounded very plesant and we are going to have a look arround on Monday. I will let you know if it is any g...[/quote] I visited to have a look arround. The owner really does care about the animals she looks after but I was concerned about the level of hygene. The cats had large pens (for up to 5 cats from the same family) with a small shed for their bed etc. I was shown one run that had 2 cats who had been there for 10 days and it stank. Also the base of the run was grass and earth and it was covered in you can guess what. Our cat has all his vaccinations but I am worried about him catching something. I was not asked if he was vaccinated so am assuming some of the other cats will not be. I understand from this forum that some french catteries can be very bad when compared to those in the UK. Am I being over fussy or should I accept this as the norn. Thanks Diana

The lady owner has just returned my calls, it seems she had problems with her phone line. She sounded very plesant and we are going to have a look arround on Monday. I will let you know if it is any good. Diana