Kas33

I used to get authentic ones in an Asian shop for 80p, I am trying to track down a similar type of shop here as the yellow pages is not much help.

Does anyone know where I can buy poppadums in or around Bordeaux? Curries just aren't the same without them. I have looked at epicerie anglaise and they are over £2 a packet. Ouch!

I was quite shocked when I watched the programme. I am blessed with two boys of 5 and 3 that are fantastic eaters - they even once requested tete de veau in a restaurant even though the adults wouldn't try it - and they always have seconds in the cantine. If they were at school in the UK would they only have a choice of junk or packed lunch, or do the schools offer healthy food too? Do the parents of primary school kids get to choose what they eat, or do the kids choose? Thank goodness we moved when we did.    

  If I were to sell my rental property, would I legally have to leave my alarm in the pool for the new occupant? That is to say, would the pool have to be conform safety-wise when the keys were handed over, or could I take the alarm with me to the new property?

I decided to sort out my French child benefit before ceasing my English one when we moved here 18 months ago, as I assumed that an EU resident it wouldn't matter who paid me for when. It took me 5 months to get it up and running, and now the IR want me to pay back the 5 months 'overpayment' as my benefit should have ceased the week we moved. The french won't pay me for that period either, although if I had cut ties with Britain straight away the french would have paid me for these 5 months. I also owe tax credit overpayments from nearly 2 years ago, they are only just asking for the money back now. Don't get into a mess like I did; tell the IR straight away that you are no longer entitled to the UK benefits...they'll catch up with you eventually.   Karen

I am travelling back to the UK soon with my 2 small children for a holiday. I am with the URSSAF, the kids are with the MSA under my husband's regime (he isn't coming with us). Do I need an E111? WHere can I find reasonable travel insurance - all the British ones on the internet say you have to be a UK resident, are the usual French high street insurance companies a good deal? Kas33 www.gites-blaye.co.uk

Can anyone confirm the October half term dates for the Bordeaux area please. Maternelle didn't give the parents any notices at the end of term and the Marie is closed this week. Kas33 www.gites-blaye.co.uk

The moles have destroyed my lawn and now have found that the double dug veg patch is much easier to come up in than the grass - and I'm hopping mad! Someone asked me today if moles are as cute as they look in kids books. No Comment. Anyone out there with a speedy solution before everything gets ruined? Kas33

I have been living in France a year. It was a trip here 2 years ago that accelerated my fairly livable IBS into full blown wheat intolerance. Actually moving here was torture on the food front, and none of the French seem to understand my predicament, they just think I am attention seeking. I have scoured every supermarket and health food shop in the vicinity (North Gironde) with no success and I have to say that although my local Sainsbury's in the UK had a good range of alternatives the prices were extortionate and somehow gluten free bread, pasta, biscuits or whatever just didn't taste like the real thing. Even making my own was a disaster, the flour just wouldn't behave as you would expect and everything always crumbled to dust when you bit into it. I have totally given up on all the subtitutes now and have rice crispies or cornflakes for breakfast, salad/omlette/baked potato for lunch (and the occasional rice cake, but they are revolting) and have to be very good and pass on the scrummy bread whenever it is offered. Look on the bright side, at least you can drink the wine..... Karen