Owens88

I thought I just e-mailed them.   John

Any chemists out there ? I have long argued that the safest way to drink coke is to create an ester (which is stable and non acidic, e.g. your polyester sheets).   The equation I use is that acid (Coke) + alcohol (Rum) will tend to ester (stable) + water.  (source - schoolboy Chemistry last century)   So Coke is safer with Rum in !   John

[quote user="Owens88"]  I am digging into a black hole here which would only be answered by asking 5 french professsionals and hoping that at least 4 had the same answer. John [/quote]   p.s. No slur intended to anybody here. We have , unfortunately, found with some other enquiries that French professionals can often disagree even while all proclaiming 'c'est la Loi !'

I have used renulac white and its ok. However my one experience with different brand, trying to re-paint a golden yellow wall with the more of the same, was a tedious 4 coat experience.    However. I was later told that French paint differs from Brit paint by design and not just for cheapness. Something to do with size of the polymer bit. The advice I recall was to not overbrush french paint as it breaks it down, thinning even worse. Anybody else have any fix on this story or is it just one my memory invented ?   John

Just what do the French eat at Christmas that  causes such a problem?   John

The measureof milder is interesting. Pyrenees Orientales can have its exceedingly cold patches (and longer spells of very cold nights) but lots of bright days. Whereas England does long grey wet spells.   We bought our place having viewed it when snow was falling in Prades and other villages.  We have visited in February and had a roller coaster week - Sat night on terrace at midnight. Sunday visiting St Martin de Canigou in t-shirts. Monday snowed in (well not quite but the ski-slopes were too windy so we stayed in) rest of the week skiing or snowballing etc.   Good luck   John

Convecteurs are very simple things they singe the air and it rises eventually forming a convection current warming the air in the room. Has a drying effect on the air but is quite effective at taking the edge off large cold spaces.   The rayonant serves radiant heat which warms objects that it touches, more pleasant to be in.   John

If you are TVA registered you have lots of requirements, including the necessity to show a breakdown on their bills.  Think about it - you reclaim TVA because others give you bills which show the costs broken down, yet if you don't do that for others they cannot. good luck   John

France telecom may well connect you before you move. I got connected by doing everything from Britain   have a look at their website.   Good luck   John

[quote user="NormanH"] It is an internal French charge. [/quote]   Ah a Tax to encourage staying still- and at a level completely unrelated to the underlying costs.   Cheers    

Hi I did mean only costs related to the French premises - but drawn on a UK bank and secured against a UK property. i.e. I borrow the money in the UK for my french property but use a uk property as the security instead of using the french property (which seems to add 3% in stamp duty just for a re-mortgage - see separate thread). e.g. I understand that the UK tax man recognises interest costs against buy to let income irrespective of how the 'loan or mortgage' is secured - so it can be secured against a property which is not the purpose of the loan. I suspect that I am digging into a black hole here which would only be answered by asking 5 french professsionals and hoping that at least 4 had the same answer. Thanks all anyway.   John

Thanks   To be clear I am asking whether I could attribute UK interest against a French Holiday Let tax liability - e.g. if I extended my UK mortgage to cover the debt on the French property.   All the other stuff I said was really intended to explain why I might go such a tortuous route !   Cheer John

Hi   As I understand it I can offset my mortgage interest against rental income for income tax purposes in France.   Does  that only apply if the mortgage is french bank ? Given the costs of remortgaging (especially the 2 % start-up tax see http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1515764/ShowPost.aspx ) I was thinking of the consequences of extending our UK mortgage to embrace the french property.   Thanks   John    

Many thanks BJSLIV.   If a non french lender was giving the mortgage would the 2.0% fee/tax still apply - i.e. is it like a stamp duty (except that there is no sale involved).   John

Hi   We are looking to remortgage our french property purely to get a better rate . It seems that to do this in France is going to require a Notaire's fee   1) Is that alway ncessary ? 2) Is it really 3 % or is that negotiable ? 3) Would that also apply if getting a British bank to give us the mortgage ?  (i.e. is it linked to registering a 'change'  on the deeds which sounds like a £50 job rather than a £1500 job)   Thanks in advance   John

Things might have changed but Which once reported that its the insulation level in an oven that saves you money, not making it smaller . Worth bearing in mind if you are tempted to buy an additional oven thinking it will save money.   John

I have had to suck it and see. Subjectly a 7 w downlighter is about equivalent to a 20w halogen but the 1.5 w led is nothing more than a 'gloom avoider' in between other lights (and mine is too blue) when i replace the 1.5 I will try the newer 3w warm whites. Good luck in finding supplies. I find I have to do it online.   John

privatisation, nationalisation - balderdash. Who owns it makes no difference as long as they are prepared to put pressure on for innovation and efficiency, and then be prepared to back it up with investment.   But who runs it ...?   Meanwhile. Was it  nationalised banks that led us into world crisis ?   John

That happened to our freeview box the other day. I suspected a hard disc problem so did a cold reboot (sewitch off at mains then back on again) it worked.   Good luck John

OK so it was entertainment, and a good wheeze for the journalist. The journalist (dressed in a summer jacket, open shirt) asked the retired person (wearing a 'lets go winter hill walking' jacket but without hat and gloves)   'Do you really need the allowance ?' Retired person says yes. The journalist asked the UK Govt. was he entitled. They say No because he left UK before a certain age. (let us presume they know the rules). The journalist asked a politician his opinion whether their rules were fair and the politician let out his human response that he didn't think that the UK state should be paying winter fuel supplements  for people who (were lucky enough to) have left the UK earlier than most people's retirement age. The retired person was asked to voice an opinion and he reminded the politician that he still has a UK vote. The best comment I have seen was that it, WFP, should be incorporated into the basic pensions and stop double-handling things. (NB the bad weather payment is different). Just out of interest where was it filmed ? Prades ? John

Try this.   http://miniurl.org/85I   It purports to be discounted but do check it out yourself. It seems to be OK for taking vehicles to UK.   I would advise  a declaration on booking (no cancellation fees).   Good luck John   p.s. an alternative might be train then car hire in britain.

I sympathise.   I only have one gite and keeping that up to date across many sites is a headache. There is one site that penalises me for not accepting instant bookings, but then If I take a verbal booking I give some grace to get the money then update the websites within a couple of syas (internet depending) .   A 'one source fits all' routine for europe would indeed be good.   Incidentally I never have any intent to decieve (or manipulate) and most enquiries from these sites are enquiring of many owners. As a booker myself I do resent the ones that need you to ring to enquire (often hotels).   John  

This once happened to me. The (Austrian) lorry hit me at least 3 times. I was really lucky that I was driving a heavy car (a saab) and the weather was dry. The fast lane was full so I had no chance of escape there.   The police who attended knew of it as a common occurrence. The driver admitted fault. The insurers tried for 50:50 !  The police had not filed a report as I had not imnmediately claimed bodily injury.   Sorry to any lorry drivers out there but all the legal advice I recieved was to immediately claim injury - that escalates the event into one worth reporting on.   Another interesting point. The driver was not just 'passing through' he was part of a fleet of 30+ LHD vehicles operating largely between Kent and the N.E. UK.     John

[quote user="Nickd"] ... One theory that has been suggested to me is that it could be a problem because we have an English PC and this could be causing problems with a build up of static electricity as they have different earthing arrangements. Can anyone verify this? Does this seem like a possible reason for our problem? ... Nick    [/quote]   I am no engineer but I seriously doubt that they have any difference apart from the keyboard.  However one friend of mine has noticed that French electricity is obviously different because it is safe to have open sockets near a sink.

What heat sources do you have (electric , CH etc. ?). You don't anything that is 'burning' i.e. generates damp. John