EmilyA

It is in all our organic supermarkets round here in Normandy.

No problems with harissa, tahini, preserved lemons and rose water here in Normandy. For the rest we stock up in the UK. We went to an amazing specialist supermarket in Bradford and also found a small Persian supermarket just outside Oxford. Otherwise it would be worth trying online. Try foodbiotic.com as they seem to have most things, though we haven't used them. I recommend getting whole dried limes too! Have you got Persiana? It is my favourite cookbook at the moment.

We are having the same problem. Have just wasted two whole days waiting in for an Amazon Prime next day delivery. Chronopost say our address is "incomplete". Whilst I agree that the lieu dit, village, postcode system is no longer fit for purpose, it is hardly within my power to change it. Every other delivery company comes to the hamlet and phones up. Chronopost seem unable to text or telephone. Today we are making a 100km round trip to collect the parcels. I did however get a quick response and apology when I posted on Twitter and I think that the more people who do this the better.

Should anyone else need to know the answer to my original question, the solution is to google "assurances nomades". We should be able to insure all our devices against loss or breakage for a small sum every month.

Ah thanks, that is useful to know. We have another six months on our contents insurance, so will start looking at alternatives.

OH has a French one and I have an English one which allows me to transfer all my calls and data to France. I could have taken out insurance but it was £8 a month instead of the £3 my daughter pays on her content insurance. The French one is a second-hand phone with SIM only.

I also think it far more likely that thieves would just remove the SIM to be honest. They would have to break the passcode first and know my itunes password so it is surely only the £450 of hardware that they want. It isn't like a computer with a hard drive.

Yes all done Quillan, for iphones and ipads. It isn't really the issue though. I just want to insure it!

Have got icloud set up Quillan (have just had a look on find my iphone to see where OH has gone to pick mushrooms!). The thing is that if a UK contents insurance is prepared to insure the same phone for £3 a month why can't the French? Surely the calculations are similar?

Yes personal choice as you say. Having had to use BBC, Acorn and PCs through my career, I returned with joy to Apple as soon as I retired. Now use MacMini, ipad and iphone. It was quite clear that the insurance agent didn't get it at sll. Maybe I should have asked to insure Minitel!

It also occurs to me that some people perhaps haven't realised that my iphone also serves as my still and movie camera, SatNav, journey planner, access to internet, bank accounts, Facetime for contact with family etc. It isn't just a telephone you know!

Mine is with me or in my bag too, but accidents and theft do happen. As my daughter had insured my granddaughter's iphone for £3 a month on their home insurance in England, I thought it was worth asking our insurers here. Silly me! After ten years here, I still get taken aback occasionally by the complete lack of customer service. I realise a lot of people are content with cheaper phones and I repect their choice, but I love Apple and my shiny, green iphone, so there!

Not sure about the bank account, but we are French resident so it would be CA. The phone isn't with Orange or Free so they won't cover it and they are expensive. I bought the phone in England. I have found quite a few English companies who do it for about £65 a year, but can't find anything similar in France.

I have Find My Iphone on, but the trouble is that all they have to do is turn it off! The insurance broker suggested that the answer was to take care of it, as if selling insurance for it was a completely bizarre idea!

We are with Gan.

I have an iphone which I got in the UK and can't insure with the sim provider there. I know that in England you can put them on the house insurance so we went to see the agent here who provides all our insurance; car, mutuelle and house. She reacted with horror at the idea that they could provide insurance for a phone and insisted they could only be insured with the sim provider and this was also true for the ipads (which are wifi and don't have a provider, but she didn't understand that). Any ideas about where we can get insurance against theft, loss or damage? We do have separate travel insurance with a UK based company (which our agent couldn't supply either), so that provides cover when we are away from home.

We have a pellet stove in our cottage in the garden. We buy bags of pellets for it, either 10 at a time from a proper supplier, which is slightly cheaper, or one at a time from the supermarket. We store them in an outhouse and have no problem with damp getting into the individual bags. They are heavy and awkward to carry and I find a basket of logs much easier, though obviously you avoid the annual stacking chore. I can't comment on cost as the cottage doesn't get used very often, but I do think it is noisy. It works well for occasional use but I wouldn't want it in the main house.

Have just seen a sign in Leroy Merlin that says "Je twitte". How utterly illiterate; are there no standards anymore? Surely everyone knows that the verb form is "tweet" and "twitter" is the noun. Obviously it should be je tweete, nous tweetons. What is the world coming to? And yes, I use both.

We had a lot of this earlier in the summer and they are back again this week. It is a scam and they try to get bank details etc I either say that we have a Mac (true) or I pretend to be French and say "Je dois ouvrir les fenêtres?" Or swear. Any of the above gets rid of them, but it is a complete pain. I do wonder how they get the number though; we are not in the phone book.

Do you think the average temperature of the Former UK will come down enough for France to be colder and us to get our WFA back?

I had a blood test today and am having trouble logging in to the mesanalyses site to get my results (have never had any problem before). It is telling me to install Adobe reader, which is already there (and latest version downloaded). It looks as if it is looking for the French version of Adobe. Has anyone else had a problem recently?

We had a letter like that this week and had a worrying moment as we use our Barclaycards all the time. It turned out to be a second card that OH hadn't used for years, so I think the theory about unused cards is right. I hope so, anyway.

We did OH's yesterday in Caen. Downloaded and filled in form, took birth certificate, passport, old licence, EDF bill (plus tax bill just in case). No translation required. Very pleasant smiley lady, no charge, new one should arrive within 12 days.

Just finished my five hour stint. Bisous with half the village as they came in to vote, home-made brioche, coffee and my chocolate refrigerator cake. Only problem was it was either freezing with heating off or boiling with it on. Hoping it won't need a second round, surely seven councillors from eight candidates can't be that complicated?

I think the key thing is to have a thin layer of pastry, a few breadcrumbs and an equally thin layer of treacle with a good dash of lemon. I agree that the commercial ones have far too much filling and are much too sweet. Anyway, tomorrow they are getting a chocolate tiffin refrigerator cake at coffee time.