Jill3<P>Jill3<P><P><a target=_blank href="http:www.france-on-line.info" target=_blank>www.france-on-line.info<A><P><P> <P><P> <P>

[quote]Sounds like a "switched on" notaire to me. Check out the difference between their exchange rate and the best one you can get elsewhere. It's possible that the're not as switched on as they think they ...[/quote] This is not the 'Notaire' I am talking about, it is the immobilier who has said we can pay their bill in sterling. I do not know if the Notaire is even aware of this. Anyway we are not doing it. The whole amount is going to the Notaire and then we know where we are.  

Thanks for the opinions. We were a bit suspicious about it, having never heard of it. You have echoed what we were thinking.  

We are about to complete on our house purchase and have the choice of paying the immobilier fees in sterling to their UK bank acct, instead of sending it within the whole amount to the Notaire. Any opinions about this would be appreciated given the drop in the exchange rate etc.  

One of our ads is for a cattery at Sarlat which is quite a distance but here it is. Tel 05 53 31 95 88 or Email [email protected] Siret No 451 429 724

Hi, Message in pm for you. You really need to look around, some barns are being sold for more than a renovated house. Good hunting!

Apart from looking at www.sncf.com there is website www.interrailnet.com that sells passes for travel throughout europe.  

This puzzled me also. I have been crossing the western channel for over twenty years and the prices now are huge compared with even 10 years ago. We used to cross in peak season with a car and caravan and sometimes 3 children, overnight with cabins, for under £300 for a 3 week trip. When, on the spur of the moment, I tried to book a 5 day trip for 2 and a car, in August, P&O wouldn't let me book less than 10 day fare, and they wanted almost £400 for that and £98 for a cabin. Needless to say we didn't go, although, this was the day of travel, it was only 3 hours to the sailing and it was not full they told me, but I could not book for a 5 day trip. He agreed that the ship would sail half empty because of this policy. I have to say that Brittany ferries were about the same price, as we all know there has been little difference in their pricing for years. I feel very angry for the staff and their families. P & O and Brittany have gone the wrong way these last few years, trying to make cruise liners out of what is in fact just a means of getting across that bit of water. One of the new ferries last year had white leather settees, looked lovely, but this year they are dirty and torn! Oh I could go on.......... but I won't

[quote]Doesn't work for me - I go into my profile, control panel, choose to have font control etc. and then nothing happens. Have tried in both IE and Safari.[/quote] Dick, Have you tried it yet?

[quote]Jill Thanks for that - now works for me too! Can you seen the names of the posters? I can't if you have a tip there I would be most grateful Deby[/quote] Deby, Sorry haven't solved that one yet but you can access almost everything else using the info. below. In the address bar after instantforum/ type in the relevant heading ie: instantforum/profile.aspx for profile - /members.aspx for list of members - /customize.aspx for forum settings - /logon.aspx for home page 

[quote]Doesn't work for me - I go into my profile, control panel, choose to have font control etc. and then nothing happens. Have tried in both IE and Safari.[/quote] Dick, When you want to change the font you have to type first and then highlight the text, then you can choose the font and size. Hope it works for you! As you can see it does for me.

[quote]This is all fascinating stuff, but don't forget that people who use other operating systems have the same problem, so the logic is that there is something wrong which goes beyond Windows compatibility...[/quote] Dick, Couldn't agree more. I really think that there is something fundamentally wrong either with the software or the way it has been implemented. We should not have to fiddle about with Norton or any other firewalls or anti virus programmes for a forum like this one. I have two systems, one a PC and one a laptop on broadband with built in firewall with my wireless network. I am not fiddling with my firewall for any forum! I can access the bits I need now by typing in the addresses as below: In the address bar after instantforum/ type in the relevant heading ie: instantforum/profile.aspx for profile - /members.aspx for list of members - /customize.aspx for forum settings - /logon.aspx for home page  So that's it now, not doing any more ferreting, I shall manage with what I 've got.    

 I have been fiddling about with XP on the laptop on which I could not see the Control Panel, although everything else seems to be working. I just sent an email to someone about their posting and up popped this screen showing my emails sent and all the Control panel. So although it still does not come up when I access the forum, if I just log in as normal and  then type profile.aspx after instantforum/ in the address bar I have access to everything. Shouldn't have to do that but at least it works for me, try it.

I have been fiddling about with XP on the laptop on which I could not see the Control Panel, although everything else seems to be working. I just sent an email to someone about their posting and up popped this screen showing my emails sent and all the Control panel. So although it still does not come up when I access the forum, if I just log in as normal and  then type profile.aspx after instantforum/ in the address bar I have access to everything. Shouldn't have to do that but at least it works for me, try it.  

Gay, Which windows operating system are you using?

Hi Will, Yes I did disable script debugging on PC using win 98 but IE6, I do not think it is the windows OS that is the problem. It's got to be something in the way browsers display the scripts.

[quote]Bob What we have found so far is that the lack of smilies and formatting seems to be an Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5 thing, though James hasn't found a way round it yet. The login problem appears to ...[/quote] Do you mean me?

[quote]I have win98 at home and explorer 5 and can see the control panel and names of users but don't have the emoticons/WYSYWYG editor when compiling messages. I am not running AVG or Norton. So...I think ...[/quote] James, I am using XP home edition and I have not been able to see the control panel although I appeared to have everything else - emoticons etc. I have just been ferreting and I found this in MS Knowledge base http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q154036 I have tried some of it for IE6 and then the control panel appears, BUT then I cannot post! I'll keep looking......

Have sent you an email

At the risk of repeating myself from a previous post, I am most certainly not a 'techy' (is that how you spell it?) ie. I do not know all about the inner workings of programmes or computers. However, I am a bit of a 'ferret' says my husband, darling man, so when something doesn't work I strive to find out why! So, I did a 'ferret' through Microsoft Knowledge Base (from their help and support pages) and there was a piece about pages not loading correctly or completely on windows 98 and it said try disabling script debugging. Now I don't know what that does but in my case I unchecked it and reloaded the forum and it has worked perfectly ever since. Needless to say I did the same on XP and it still does not work so it is back to ferreting unless someone else comes up with the answer. By the way, has the company who produce this software made any comment about the problems we are all experiencing? Would it be a good idea to give us their email address so we can all bombard them with questions?

I use both xp and win98. Xp does not work with this forum software but win 98 does now I unchecked 'disable script debugging'

I know they are not the cheapest but we always use Campaniles while travelling, like all the chains they are easy to find, as a rule.( I won't tell you about a horrendous night in Le Havre when the hotel manager had to talk us in on the mobile at midnight!) We like the fact that if you have driven a long way you can eat in the restaurant at a reasonable price, a lot of the food is help yourself buffet and they will be friendly managers and staff. At the last one we stayed, in our mobile could not seem to connect when we tried to make a call and the waitress lent us her mobile to ring my sister.

Hi, The point in having a French bank account and card for us is that we have euros in the account for frequent trips and when we drive we can get petrol late at night now without worrying about it. We don't have to pay commissions to anyone for our euros. No worries about exchange rates on credit cards. We get commercial rate for our pounds to euros. I suppose it is just really for convenience and peace of mind but worked out over a number of trips the cost is minimal. We also have the usual visa and mastercards for use if we need them and our normal bank card for using in 'hole in the wall'.    

[quote]There aren't any charges to run a basic account, although you would need money in it........ have you any idea what they have signed you up for that you would need to pay for.[/quote] We have a cheque book and a debit card, for use mainly to be able to use 24 hour petrol while travelling. We pay 5.50 euros a month and I think my sister who lives there pays similar.

Penny, Can you give me the full story on this 'rabid dog' so I can pass it on?

We opened an account with a branch of Credit Agricole with our passports, 3 months bank statements from uk bank (printed off the internet and, if you have no french one's, some uk utility bills. We did not pay any money in there and then, but my sister who lives nearby went and payed a small amount in when it was up and running because there are small charges to run the account.