joidevie

Thanks.. Hiring a van is surely no problem - the problem for me really is the "in store availability" ! I have a camionette in France - just the items I want are just not available 'in store' when I check on the web site.. Do they have a 'central depot' from where they deliver? I am bang in the middle of Toulouse & Montpellier - both stores of which are 'not in stock' of the items ? Thanks

For sure never rely on a route, but I was surprised at the suggestion about Carcassonne - 2 generally full planes in season a day, and now a cut back to 4 a week still pretty busy (albeit at the cheap fares) during the winter.. The local area has become quite interdependent with the influx of foreigners from UK, Ireland & the rest of Europe I would have thought Beziers was a little close to Montpellier for comfort.. Maybe Perpignan would be the weaker destination..? Audois, I'd be interested in what exactly has been 'speculated' ?

Is there really talk of Ryanair quiting Carcassonne? I thought it was one of the most established routes??

I'm looking to buy a number of kitchen units from IKEA which constatly appear to be 'non-disponible' from my two nearest branches. I am considering buying them (albeit at a delivery cost of €120) online as they seem to 'appear' in my shopping basket if I try to buy online - in order to secure the items 100% as I need to coordinate their delivery/collection withing a 10 day 'window' of me being able to take/make delivery of them.. Being 'available online' - does this actually mean available from stock? From clicking 'buy' to delivery - roughly how long? The 'transporteurs', how well do they cope with buying say 3 weeks ahead and coordinating a delivery to marry up with me being there (my French is good so phone calls to them are fine..) Interested to hear from anyone before I spend hours on the phone trying to get the gist of things.. Many thanks!

Thanks Martin.. Surely frustrating.. I've now tried new coax, new connectors, and now I've moved the dish around, it's become hard to tune in the new decoder.. And I've not quite worked out how to use a 'sat finder' I bought recently.. ... LNB is one more variable I have not yet expolred...

Intersting Mick... But no wasps her right now! I am almost ready to give up... :o(     Bought a new decoder which was unable to tune any channels.. So went back to the Metronic (at least I was getting poor reception.. and that was hugely affected if I yanked the coax connector at the rear of the unit - ie no reception one minute, then almost passable if i yanked it right....) So I thought dodgy input on Metronic so picked up another new box... But, like I said, no tuning on that one! Old Metronic back on and signal 'strength' is jumping like a yo yo from 30-70% Hop, hop, hop .. up down up down - like a pendulum flickering fast (no in between percentages, just 30% 70%, 30% 70% etc ) .. and I'm moving the dish around to try and find Astra 2A -  Nish. Nada. Rien... Re-done both coax connections at either end. Nothing at all now... Brand new coax ? New LNB? It all worked so easily berfore - I'm not often beaten, but even I'm now getting to the end of it...  :o(

Since my plaquistes have finished sanding the filler, I'm left with my new steel/iron chiminée covered in dust! Using a spongue & water is just leaving a swirly residue/mess.. Any recommendations? It's a 'raw' iron type of finish (charcoal colour) with a texture like fine sandpaper.. I'm sure someone has had this problem, so I'd love to hear from you... Thanks.

Well, it's been a couple of months and I'm now back trying to set the system up again.. (in the dark at 5 to nine before the France v England match!) and I've managed to 'tune in' to Astra 2 A the best I can. I re trimmed the coax outside and the box can 'find' the UK channels, but I'm getting things like BBC Parliament and ITV 'superimposed' and very pixelated! And very broken up too.. Could this be a decoder problem?? I eventually managed to catch the second half in Welsh on S4C! But still pretty poor signal mind.. Box or dish/coax problem? Thanks

Thanks for the responses.. I was particularily hoping to find out what is actually changed.. The fat cable running to the outside walls seems OK, but the stuff going from the head to the meter and main fuse switch does look pretty tired.. Thanks

I have recently modernised an old barn which still has a pretty old electricity connection to a 3kw meter / tarif. I want to upgrade to 6kw. EDF will do this for no charge, but what will they swap? In an ideal world I think the head needs changing to one which can be read externally etc.. 2 years ago I comissioned a quote to move the meter (which I no longer need to do) and received a prix of around 300 Euro to move it 1m and renew the whole lot.. However, this quote has now been lost and the departement responsible moved to Narbonne (11) Question - what do I get for the 'free' 6kw upgrade? Is this 'modern' enough or will I need to go to the whole hassle of writing to the 'new' department to retreive the quote etc etc.. Thanks

Thanks, I'll have a look. I checked out UPS and if the bed was sent as two packages,  It MIGHT just squeeze in their size limit.. Any more ideas are very welcome! Thanks

I'm looking for a courier who will ship a bed from the North of France down to Aude. Item is a bed which comes apart. Fedex will ship the dimensions, but not within France, only accross countries.. Any suggestions ? Thanks

Has anyone been watching this? I actually found it very interesting.. I really wish I had recorded it.. (did anyone?) I found it accessible and good fun at the same time.. Took a lot of the mystique out and was down to earth.. I felt it really personified the whole process ..

No trees here! I'm just reading some other threads which talk of different "clusters" of sats - maybe I 'tweaked' off the important one.. Clips not too tight, how fragile is coax?

Sat box model METRONIC Touchbox I've been happily using this in Aude 11 (very South) for two years - sometimes even just popping the dish on a deckchair and tuning in.. I now have it permanently high on a pole and all has been fine for a year or so. On this visit it has begun to break up frequently.. Working fine for a week, now almost dead to the point where an 'auto tune' yields only 12 (rubbish) channels.. I tweaked the dish and got it running at 70-75% signal "strength" (higher than I've had in the past) but am getting a woeful10-30% signal "quality" and no real channels. I used to be able to tune in so easily! What is the difference between "strength" and "quality"? The quality seems to vary a bit if i fiddle with the coax connections, but not enough to mak a difference.. Things were deteriorating already, but I did clip the exterior coax to the wall recently.. Coincidence I hope? Thanks for any suggestions..

Try wax.. I've happily painted it onto beams (with a thick brush)  and many tints available.. Great applied with a brush in hot weather! Will be a number or tubs and make sure you keep to the batch number..

I recently saw a post which mentioned "resine latex" as being the French equivalent. I just came back from my brico shop and got blank looks..  What is the product I should be looking for and which section of the shop ?? Thanks..

Great links, thanks..

I have had a wonderful winding staircase hand made for me by a carpenter who uses ancient tools and techniques.. It is a chestnut frame and now requires some panels on the sides to encase a small loo underneath.. Unfortunately he has now left the country, but upon leaving he suggested I panel the voids in ply or plasterboad and then apply torchis to make a rustic finish. This would sit well with the exposed stone walls.. I suppose I'm looking for some ideas for how / what to mix to make an interesting / appropriate finish. Clay and hair were mentioned, but where do I 'find' a dozen wheelbarrows of clay in Aude? Do I add chalk? Hair? I thought of finding some old furniture and ripping out the upholstery.. Does it want chopping up first? Or does anyone know of a supplier of upholstery horse hair ( Carcassonne / Narbonne area ) An alternative was to simply use a mix of yellow sand and chalk and maybe add some 'hair' or straw for texture.. Any techniques for breaking down straw.. ? Or a fine pet straw maybe.. ? Thanks for any ideas ..

[quote user="darnsarf"]You may be thinking of this?  http://www.solalighting.co.uk/resido1.htm     [/quote] .. now THAT is cool - only a shame I didn't think of it when we put a new roof on! Also, for the forum archive www.velux.co.uk/Products/SUN+TUNNELS/

I'm looking into easy ways of getting a bit more light into a couple of small bathrooms which would not ordinarily have any natural light. My builders will be fixing classic metal rails and plasterboard - is there an easy solution to say fitting some 'panels' of frosted glass (say 1x2m) within the rails? I'm not sure glass blocks are an option.. And I don't really want to frighten them off with anything too expensive or complicated.. Maybe a simple wooden 'frame' with the panes fitted? Will they baulk at the addition? Thanks for any ideas..

Thanks - this has confirmed my doubts.. Only shame is that there is a prticular cooker I'm after that the local stores in Carcassonne / Narbonne / Beziers do not have.. Maybe they can order it for me..

Aha! Thanks Paul - I think this may be just what he meant.. Re PVA - it must exist as they were using it while applying the 'crepis' on my rear wall.. Cheers

Thanks all - as ever, a few differing interpretations! A quick question - what's the French equivalent product to PVA ? Cheers

My builder who layed my concrete screed has recommended using a 'double colle' method of laying 30x30cm ceramic floor tiles (otherwise they will all just come away).. What does he mean? Is it applying adhesive on both the tile and concrete surface? I have some local Polish guys coming to lay them (who speak very poor French and no other languages) and I need to explain this to them! Many thanks..