Anna

Thanks very much. I'll pass this on to my friends.

[quote]Stone fruits should wait until the sap rises for formative pruning and the summer for mature trees to minimise the risk of silver leaf infection.[/quote] Hi Pucette We have cherry, mirabelle and apple trees. All are mature and look as if they have never been pruned. Can we do major pruning on mature trees? Any advice, please? Also, in one part of the garden, there are 3 pretty dead looking cherry trees. Summer before last, the underneath of their leaves were covered in small black insects. I put glue bands round all the trees that autumn and no black insects appeared last summer. Too late though for those 3. They didn't have many leaves and only produced a few poor looking cherries. Think they will have to be cut down. All the other trees have produced well but are too big to spray. Should I put glue bands around again and what would those black beasties be? Thanks Anna

Incidentally, Lollie, if you post your nearest town I'll let you have the exact azimuth bearing and angle of elevation. Robbie Our friends have been trying to align their dish at their new house. Please would you let me know the bearing and angle they need? Their nearest town is Lisle, near Perigueux, Dept. 24 Thanks

Dear Jim and Gail I've had this happen in the past so what I now do is this: When I receive an e-mail booking, I tell the clients that I will hold the booking for them for a few days to allow time for their deposit and booking form to arrive. I do not block these dates until their deposit is received. If, in the meantime, I receive any other enquiries for those dates, I let the enquirers know that I have received a provisional booking and am awaiting the deposit. Our mail from the UK usually takes 4 working days so if the booking form and deposit haven't arrived by day 5, I e-mail the clients to check if it's been posted. Then, if they have changed their minds, at least too much time has not been lost. Then I would get back in touch with any other prospective clients, who have more than likely booked elsewhere by that time! You can't win on that one but at least if you keep on top of the situation, you should be able to fill the dates. I also keep on top of receiving the final balance by e-mailing the clients the week before this is due(I clearly state on the booking form that the final balance plus refundable security deposit is due 8 weeks before arrival) to remind them. Then if there is a problem at that stage, you have a chance to get a late replacement booking. Hope this helps and good luck with your new venture.

Also, I meant to add that, as my original posting pointed out, I hope your booking, if indeed you wish to book an exclusive use of pool, it does turn out to be just that! This was my point! i.e. that some of the rental properties advertised as having exclusive use of pool, do not have exclusive use and are actually either shared with other properties and/or shared with the owners! My posting wasn't about whether the site was user friendly but it's acuracy.

Well, good for you, everybody to their own, so to speak. It just goes to show that everybody is indeed different and you just have to be guided by what you gleen from your own individual experience. However, I stand by my own experience, as someone who has subscribed to their site for a few years now, this is the poorest response I have ever had re booking enquiries from the FC site. I am just about fully booked for the coming season but not from any enquiries from FC! Therefore I shall not be renewing my subscription with FC.

Most of our guests arrive by car/ferry, although some, usually couples, do fly and car hire. Our changeover days are Saturdays and we have found an increasing number of guests crossing midweek and enjoying a leisurely trip down, breaking their journey enroute at the cheaper, good value hotels. This and midweek bookings only work when guests are not restricted in taking 2 week holiday blocks in the normal pattern.

Re FC new website, I note that one of the options on the search facility is pool exclusive or shared. Our pool is shared and we are correctly shown to be in that category. However, I do not think it is fair of FC to have a number of holiday homes shown in the "exclusive" category which are clearly "shared". I pointed this out to FC before Christmas and had a reply agreeing that only pools which are for the exclusive use of the guests of the holiday home should be shown in that category and not homes which are shared with more than one home or shared by the owners family. To date FC have not rectified this situation and I think this should be rectified by FC as I think this gives some an unfair advantage. Personally, I have had no enquiries since being on their new website. My renewal is due and I don't think I will renew it.

Many thanks and your prompt reply much appreciated.

Hi What are the correct copper pipe sizes for supplying cold water to the shower, wash basin and toilet,please. I remember this being covered a long time ago but can't now find it in the archives. Thanks

Thanks very much for all your prompt replies.Much appreciate your wisdom and I will take your advice on all you say. Kind regards Anna

Hi Have received the following message from an email address named "[email protected]" "We have found that your email account was used to send a large amount of spam messages during this week. Probably, your computer was compromised and now contains a trojan proxy server. Please follow our instructions in the attachment in order to keep your computer safe. Have a nice day, The aol.com support team." Should I do as this says and open the attachment? Any replies in "idiot terms" would be much appreciated!

Hi Penny Just wondered, if you are using the fireplace, are you managing to keep it clean now that you have it sandblasted? We have an insert type but it still makes a bit of a mess when I clean it out. So also wonder if you have any tips for keeping it clean day to day? Regards Anna

Hi Thanks for the replies. Think I'll give the wire brush a try and then, if no joy, try the caustic solution. Our house was bought in pretty good walk-in condition so sand blasting, etc would be a bit difficult and power washing, unfortunately, out of the question. Although painting would be an alternative, I think I would hate the result and it would be a shame to cover the beautiful Dordogne stone in that way. If it doesn't come up pristine, I can live with it as a feature, after all, it does have lots of years of untold history! Thanks again

Any tips on how to clean old stone fireplaces?

Hi Thought it may interest others to know that we (I mean Hubby!) are installing a wall around our pool with an AFNOR approved gate. The wall is the regulation height and, of course has no hand or foothold. There will be no gap between the wall and the gate so no chance of a hand or foothold there either. Hubby is building the wall with breeze blocks and will be rendered with smooth cement. Main reason for this decision was the extortionate cost of the AFNOR approved fencing, which was totally unafordable for us! At first I wasn't keen on the idea, thinking that it would not look pleasant. However, seeing the wall being built, I now think it will be an asset as it is going to be a real suntrap and not too high to spoil the views. Also, there is adequate space for pool loungers inside the wall. We also intend fixing a sign next to the gate saying that the gate must be kept closed at all times. Hope this may be of some help. Regards Anna

>We have a friend staying for >2 months from the Uk >and unfortunately they have had >an 'argument' with the low >beam in our stairwell (very >sore head!) visited local doctor >who advised a scan at >local hospital to be on >the safe side...not an emergency >as such but i am >wondering if their E111 will >cover this - he's been >putting it off. >If anyone has an idea if >the E111 covers anything other >than emergencies i'd be very >grateful for some advice - >the notes in the back >of the E111 refer to >prescriptions and seeing the doctor >but i had thought E111 >was for emergencies only. >John I would have thought that, as your visitor had an accident and the doctor advised a scan, that this would be covered by the E111. In my opinion, this would be classed as emergency treatment and your visitor would be well advised to go ahead with the scan to be on the safe side. What do others, more knowledgeable than I, think? Anna

English family near us have a campsite and they told us that they are set up as a saisonnier business. This was already in place when they took over (previous owners were French) and they just have to sign on before their season starts and sign off when it finishes, thus keeping their cotisations to a minimum. Does anybody have any info regarding this and do you know if this could work for a gite business. Don't know these campsite people very well and, as they stay near us, I don't really want to discuss our business with them! Any info would be appreciated and might be of interest to others. Anna

>We have been told that our >daughter (7) has to have >the BCG jab a.s.a.p for >school enrolment, where would we >go for this? would this >be possible to do with >an E111 form? or do >we need to do this >privately?. > >Anyone have any experience of this? >any advice appreciated. >Thanks in advance. > >BUD Hi Please see below my reply to a previous question re the same subject. Our daughter had the BCG and Polio booster done free of charge at the local Medico Sociale. They were excellent and the doctor was very caring. So no charge and we were given a Carnet de Vaccinations, into which the doctor copied her previous vaccinations (done in the UK) along with the BCG and Polio Booster. Anna (104 posts) 02-Feb-03, 11:07 AM (GMT) 3. "RE: Vaccinations" Hi My daughter, nearly 12, has been told to have her BCG and booster Poilio done by her school here in France. I took the advice of the person who wrote in (think it is under the Free Jabs heading)saying that this could be done free by the Medico Sociale. I phoned (I should admit my now fluent 12yr old daughter phoned!)our local hospital in Riberac who gave us the number to phone. Upshot is that she has an appointment in her February holidays to have the Bcg and Poilio Booster done. They confimed that this would be done free of charge and she does not need her Carnet de Sante. She may be given one of these when she goes. Also, we do not have our Cartes. We did bring a note from our UK doctor's surgery showing a list of the jabs she has had and her school did ask for this. Also, all the children in the first year of college have had a medical by the school nurse and have been issued with forms where necessary to be filled in by a dentist and optician, who directed us to the correct place for eye tests and the waiting list here is so long that the first appointment we could get is April!

>Just received my letter of acceptance >to Tele2 but am not >clear as to whether I >must use a prefix number >or does the operator automatically >log it somehow? Paperwork >and my poor french not >making it very clear. >Have tried 0 and 4 >to no avail. (Being the >only different no's in the >letter We've been with Tele2 for about 2 yrs now and find it very economical. We get billed monthly. Drop the first 0 and replace it with 4 and that should work!

Have sent you a private message

Hi Question is what is the best way to transfer money from a house sale from France back to the Uk? Thanks

Never thought about this one! Our daughter has just turned 11 yrs and has been in the local school since last September. No one has asked to see any documents, such as birth certificate or vaccination details. I too would be interested as to what we should do re BCG jab as, if memory serves me right, this used to be done about first year in secondary. Our daughter will go on to secondary after this summer. By the way, in the short time she has been here, her command of the language has amazed us and, I think, herself! She has totally settled down, enjoying school (her school work has improved greatly), made friends and is a relaxed and happy girl!