Owens88

I also asked at the Mairie. Came to naught in the end but was the correct thing to try in my eyes.

Well Pyrenees Orientales (66) scores well on environment (as you would expect)  but what is situation sociale ?   Pyrénées-Orientales   Rang Commerce   32 Coût du logement   28 Culture   38 Dynamisme économique   4 Enseignement supérieur   40 Environnement   2 Internet   17 Météo   4 Offre de soins   57 Puissance économique   53 Réussite au bac   57 Santé des habitants   41 Sécurité   92 Situation sociale   95

I think that the difference is related to: *Are you renting weeks out or merely wanting a minder for you? *Are you well connected locally, good with 'phone French' and with some flexible time if owt goes wrong ? And BTW dAVIESZAK whereabouts are you.? My place is also in 66. See web link. Good luck John    

Just spent a fortmnight working in a primary and secondary school in UK. I always tried to use 'may I ?' when borrrowing something like a ruler or even when wanting to offer a different way  of doing stuff. They all knew I was asking for permission, even if some of them did look slightly astounded that I was asking !

Well there is mine of course (only 1 property) also www.laprimavera.com.fr Good luck John

Security  / Damage deposits are interesting. One can leave a credit card open and take away £10000 of very moveable assets (hire car), one can rent a house with £30,000 of breakable contents and only pay £250 deposit. The deposit is not covering the value, nor the hassle of getting replacements. Some combination of both ? However I agree with comments. £700 seems above the norm (were you particularly risky tenants e.g. bringing animals) . I do double the deposit for animals. BUT the payment should be just before you give access. In my case I only give out the address and access details after the 8 week final payment and security deposit is paid. Apparently French renters like to give a cheque when picking up the keys - a method  I decline even though French cheques are said to be less bouncy than Brit ones.

[quote user="Patmobile"] We never charge for minor breakages like glasses or plates - sh*t happens!  Patrick [/quote] I agree. We are letting our places out for holidays and life should be easy. So far only one retention (and that was due to an unretentive dig and an uncareful owner). However.I always allow a few days of the next renter (or a very thorough check) before returning deposit. In a well-equipped holiday-let you cannot possibly tell that everything is in an unabused state without a very long check. John    

[quote user="Miki"]After working hard all year for a holiday, people really do deserve a proper clean and tidy accommodation and we have never forgotten that with ourselves being in the tourist trade. [/quote]   I agree wholeheartedly and I also believe that to do a thorough clean whilst not yet departed is extremely difficult (I often try but still pay for a backup clean) and a waste of a holiday. I don't expect it of my renters. Tidy, with empty bins and clean cookers and dishes/pots etc.I do expect.

Dick The fact that you have retained such a collection is testament to the fact that you rarely drink. I doubt that I could match you, no matter how long I collected. John    

[quote user="Jon D"] However, I think that I can recognise a potential scheme to make a few shekels, so here it is: combined fag / booze warehouse shopping & car servicing. All we need is a large building, a collection of grease monkeys (Polish for preference as they seem to have one hell of a work ethic) and big pile of re-treaded tyres. The “Billies” (the most offensive term I have yet heard for customers – Billy Bunters = Punters) come off the ferry at Calais and drop the car off with us. We heave them into a charabanc and trot them down to the local liquor mart so that they can stock up. Meanwhile, whatever has to be done to cars when they are serviced (and I haven’t got a clue what it is) is done and the customer saves the cost of his beer, fags and Chilean drain cleaner on the car, all the better to refill the cellar. [/quote] I think that your idea would work anywhere. Seems like a very all-in holiday package !  Bonne Courage.

We were out in the pyrenees at 2000 ft. last October and hardly used the heating - even though it was our nice new Central Heating ! I agree with what others say. Take the wattage of your heaters and calculate your max exposure from that. Then work out how much risk you want to take. Good luck John

There is also a problem the other way. Guests not putting the heating on or ventilating the place, but continuing to poump water vapour into the rooms - result condensation and mould. Over 3 winters our place was better when a) unoccupied but dry and clean or b) occupied with good heating in (us and other 1 week renters).

Good luck. That drive is great, though not when in a rush ! Im off to VLB next weekend.

Hi I am about to do a workover on my patio garden. It is not often looked after so I intend to remove the boulders and living plants place a membrane to suppress weeds (anybody know the french term ?) replace boulders and living plants then add some plants But what plants would suit best ? 600m (2000ft) up in 66. Cold winters hot summers. The plot is sheltered from the wind by the apartment and it backs onto a 4 ft wall. About 3 metres *1.5 in area. Ideally somethings with interest in Summer but something with colour in winter /early spring.  It is an enclosure within large grounds anyway so no shortage of greenery around. I am out there to do the work Sept 3-7 so would be constrained by what is buyable locally anyway. All ideas welcomed.   John  

My bet is that very few, if any, are making a 'profit' in that after paying all outgoings including mortgage*, and paying themselves a reasonable wage for the work they do, they make a true surplus. But good luck to all whatever they achieve and want. *I now see scope for a separate cul de sac whereby people say the buildings cost very little as they have no mortgage.  I apologise in advance as I didn't mean to spawn a thread about capital employed.

try www.meteo.fr you can put a location into 'ma meteo'

No. I knew it once but if I quoted a number I am sure it would be wrong. If you search for Vernet les Bains there is a good Office de Tourisme site and a Mairie entry oin some French government site. Bon Courage

Owens, we had some Parisians here at the weekend (whilst the wifi was working for all of 24 hours) and they tried to use it but couldn't.  That WEP number encrypts it and stops other people using your system.  They told us of that story, that a while ago you could pull over to the side of the road in Paris and use your mobile or laptop by homing in on some unsuspecting person in one of the surrounding appartments but now more an more people are encrypting their computers it is becoming harder to do.   Hi. I would secure (wep or mac authorsation) any wireless router, anyway. BUT the story I heard was that Orange were re-selling the landline capacity to their customers passing you, outside of your domestic netwoek but using your feed. Invisible to you. BUT only to Orange customners.

VLB has lots of tourists in summer.Never too crowded. Some gpod village parties (look up Feux de St Jean and the Canigou race). Quite a few Brits around. Many integrate locally, some less so. It has good bars and restaurants (PMU the most 'pub-like' and good landlord). I'll be in some Sept 2-7 ! But even in winter it doesn't die. You can still sit outside a cafe. That and the views are what sold it to us. Good luck. John  

johnv wrote the following post at 24/08/2006 14:49: have you tried connecting with an ethernet cable direct .. take the wi-fi bit out of the equation? That seems a good thing to try. The following snippet might also lend some clues. Having worked, fruitlessly until somebody got into the hard code, on a Tosh wifi router preconfigured for hotspot use I can undesrtand the frustration. Apparently both Orange and Free (telcos'/ISP's) in France now sell their connection complete with a Livebox (orange) or equivalent that is a modem/router, wifi distributor and media box etc.Unknown to most people the 'livebox' is a Mesh box which is also propagating a mesh for the operator - e.g if on the Free network in Paris you can effectively surf or roam with a wifi phone near seamlessly. The operator charges their customer for use of the wifi hotspot but the 'host' doesn't even know it is happening.      

Fifisoo wrote the following post at 23/08/2006 15:38: What language is spoken in Vernet les Bains? French is the official language, Catalan and English also spoken. You may hear the name Vernet Les Bains pronounced in 3 different ways ! And when I am there there is a 4th.--------French in a Yorkshire accent !  The locals are friendly, they cope. They celebrate the entente-cordiale there you know !

Have a look at the Pyrenees Orientales sometime. e.g. Vernet Les Bains at 2000 feet sitting below Mt. Canigou which rises to 9000 ft 1 hr to skiing (Font Romeu Pyrenees 2000 with Les Angles close by and Andorra beyond).   1 hr or less to the Med. Served by Perpignan also Carcassone and Gerona. Large village with lots of facilities and life. Nearest town is Prades.   Good luck. John

Hi I am in England with two smallish 2 yr old cats. Last week we had three baby rabbits dead on the lawn in two days. So peaceful I thought they must have been caught by a disease, no other marks (from a  cursory glance). Env health said 'its your cats, -frightening em to death' Over the weekend we saw baby rabbit no.4 playing at hare to the two cats playing greyhound. That one survived and didn't get scared to death. (I re-routed it)   Perhaps your cats act as the hunter killers and the droppings are left by the carrion eaters.

Hi Pun Actually I don't care one way or another, I just thought I would offer an explanation as to why somebody might appear reticent to reply in  public.

Pun I am not a moderator but nobody else has pointed this out. We are not supposed to advertise on the forum so we may all have separate sensitivities as to how pushy a reply we might offer in public. John