JohnM

Yes, I know it's an odd title. For the 15 years I've had my place in 73 I've been "planning" to put in Gas Central Heating (Heating is not good at the moment... 3 phase electric and Alpine winters mean that if heaters are on and somebody uses... a hair dryer, the trip goes even if I am not up to the full ampage). However.... with talk of Gas being outlawed in 15 years, I am not sure that I want to spend out on a radiator system that will not be ideal in the future. I have just spent a very enjoyable evening researching various options, heat exchangers, storage heaters, solar panels, photo voltaic panels (I am supplied by a Hydro electric "Regie" so not sure what the situation is with feed in) etc etc etc . I am not there all the time at the moment so want to be able to operate it remotely (that sort of dismisses Storage Heaters). This all means that I am now very confused. So.... any thoughts on what will be best for the future? (Feel free to confuse me more)

I haven't read the whole thread so somebody else may have already posted this and, I don't know the date of the article so it may be out of date (which means you may want to sigh and ignore this post) but http://www.insurance.fr/blog/smoke-detectorsalarms-required-march-2015 seems to support the view that attestation is not required at least by this company.

[quote user="idun"]When I came back after an absence, I couldn't log on under my old name so took a new one. Idun is a viking goddess that got changed into a 'nut', or so I had read, sure there are alternative versions of this story,, but that seemed right to me, for me! [/quote] So another of my assumption bites the dust. I thought you were saying "I dun (with living in France!)"

I thought it was supposed to be a TGV line and I had been hoping that I would get some free double glazing out of it :-) but as it is just a normal line (all be it less steep and more direct) I guess that wont happen. It is on the other side of the valley so I guess I will not be affected too much.

Answering my own question, Rail Gazette says that digging on the main tunnel is scheduled to start in 2015.

Oh, I should probably have talked techie for a moment. If I remember correctly, the time it last depends on how the person, I doubt very much whether the Laser thinning will alter that, it is not a treatment for long, short or even old, sight, it's is a correction for how the eye is now.

I've been out of the optical business for nearly 30 years so I have no doubt that things have moved on since then, however, I remember thinking then that evolution has made the Cornea a certain thickness for a reason. Thinning it did not seem like a good idea to me at that time. I realise that evolution is not perfect (hence our appendix) but I'm still sticking with glasses (even though I have to pay full price these days)

I did read of a partial solution to the sound balance problem. On programmes / DVD's with 5.1 sound, the music is often on stereo whereas commentary is rock solid in the middle, so you can reduce the volume of the music yourself. I've not tried it because I don't have a problem with the sound yet so I'm sticking with limited audio capabilities of my old TV.

I have a feeling that, somewhere in the depths of the archives, there is a solution concerning port numbers. Some years ago I read something on the forum that meant I could send my emails from the usual account even though I was connected to an orange.fr connection, but then I changed laptop and didn't get round to finding the port changes. This has prompted me to have another look.

We had a power cut last week and my PC, TV and games console shut down immediately, so I had to talk to my family for a few hours. They seem like nice people.

So true about the "glorious" Alps. I was flabbergasted the first time I went to Moutiers. I suppose all the money just goes straight up into the mountain resorts. Mind you Mayors can be a problem, I'm told that the Mayor of St Michel de Maurienne (the stopping off point for Valloire) was resisting touristification of his town..... it was an industrial town (big factory for Renault) and that is how it had to stay... or die. (In recent years they have spent a bit of money beautifying it - a friend who lives there thinks they need to take a big step forward and put in a big ski lift in to get people from the station / motorway to the snow as it would be a great day trip from Lyon - but......).

A ha... I tried to find this before I posted the last comment. This is from www.millstream.dsl.pipex.com/law/libelcheck.shtml : ---------------------- Libel is the publication of a statement which exposes a person to: Hatred, ridicule or contempt or which causes him to be shunned or avoided or which has a tendency to injure him in his office, trade or profession in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally. ------------------- I don't think the level of hatred, ridicule or contempt will vary just because the conviction is manslaughter not murder. Neither do I think using the wrong word will injure him at work (especially as he doesn't know what that last word means)

My understanding of the law on defamation is that for libel to stand up, Philpott's reputation will have to have suffered. I'm not sure that "in the eyes of right thinking people" (the legal test) people will think any worse of him whichever word is used. I'm usually very careful about libel, but on this occasion, I don't think you could say anything about him that would damage his reputation!

Nah, We should all use UTC the world over. (Or, more to the point GMT! :-) ). But if we do need to zone I'm not sure I agree that all of Europe should be one time zone.... other regions cope with multiple time zones.

This clock changing farce does annoy me. We don't get an extra hour in bed, we just get up later and go to bed later. So why do we pretend that the time is different? In Scotland School ought to start at 9.30 UTC and in London it should start at 8.30 UTC and everyone that needs to communicate with Europe should start work at 7.00 UTC while as those who need to deal with the USA should start at 10.00 UTC. We don't all need to do things at the same time any more.

[quote user="NormanH"]And this is what happens when the fat pigs (cf WB's post about France) of the private sector get a sniff of the trough ... NHS born 1945 Privatised by the Tories 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/16/health-firms-nhs [/quote] Thing is NormanH, the article is from the Guardian, a paper with a left bias, so they will have written it from that angle. Although the journalist will have researched the subject, they will have ignored any facts which don't quite fit the thrust of the story that they wanted to write. To get the whole story, people need to read something with a right bias as well (exercising both open mind and pinch of salt for both sources of information).

Sorry if I'm repeating any details (but I've skimmed some of the posts). I understand it thus:- Snow chains will be useless for thundering down the motorway to the resort. You are not supposed to go very fast in them, so you don't "need" to get them in the UK. (see point lower down) On some mountainous roads you must have them. However, if the only mountainous road you plan to use is into the resort and then do nothing til you leave, remember that they will get that road as quickly as they can. I'm not suggesting that you could chance it if they haven't had fresh snow for days as that would not be responsible of me. You mustn't use them when there isn't any snow, they are more likely to break and damage your car. (If there was 100 yards of tarmac and then deep snow again, you'd have to decide whether to take a very slow chance or not) Most of the big supermarkets in mountainous France will sell you a pair a lot cheaper than the AA or Halfords. Unless you have very big wheels. I once hired a car with big wheels and I couldn't get cheap chains. Even if the road is clear of snow, a bolshie gendarme can stop you on "you must have chains" roads and demand to see them. (This is why I can't suggest that you chance it) In 10 years of owning a cottage near a resort, I don't think I've ever had to put them on in France, but like the others, I've got lots of different sized sets. I always buy the cheap ones because I change car before they wear out. Nor have I been challenged by a Gendarme. I know this has been said. If possible practice in day light... in the supermarket car park if necessary (But if possible, read the instructions and play with them in a nice warm bar, then go out and practice on the car). I did have to put them on in North Devon once and couldn't remember how.... it was horrible.

She unknowingly gave birth????? So like, she just carried on doing what ever she as doing and suddenly somebody said "Oi, what's this baby doing here?" and she turned and said "Oh... is that what happened".

[quote user="Hoddy"]I can't believe some of the comments here. A man and his wife on a private holiday in a private place and some creep decides to take photos of the wife's breasts and publish them in the papers. This is not allowed even in the UK. A couple of 'celebs' have threatened to sue and have received out of court settlements because the newspapers were afraid to go to court. This happened before Leveson was even thought about. Are we really saying that no woman is allowed to sunbathe topless anywhere unless she wants her photo taken and published ? It's beginning to sound a bit like the 'she was asking for it' argument to me. Hoddy[/quote] Well said.

From the way it was been reported, it seems more realistic to say that the officer was reminding/advising the boy that there are Racists around and, sadly they boy will have to contend with that. If that is right, the officer was quite correct and being responsible. If the officer said that he/she didn't respect the boy because of his colour, then the officer was racist. I tend to think that the mother is "playing the race card".

It beggers belief. I'm really annoyed, under normal circumstances I'd probably shrug my shoulders in a gallic manner, but every time I think of that poor little girl who must have been beside her self with fear....

I was originally going to put a sarcastic comment that the Special Investigators could have driven from Paris in the time it took them.... it seems they did come from Paris. I can understand the department may not have it's own Specialist Forensic team, but surely the Rhone Alpes Region would have had people in Lyon?

Sadly, that was my first thought as well! I hope that they put in a bit more effort into duty of care now they have both girls. Yes, I hope that whoever is responsible is caught and dealt with.

I suppose I can understand the gendarmes wanting to preserve the crime scene until the special investigators arrived, but you'd think they would have had enough of a look to see and rescue, that poor little girl. How come it took 8 hours for them to get there? In my view, that poor mite suffered for far longer than necessary due to Police incompetence.

I'm not very well informed on US politics, but did hear Romney say that Obama hadn't delivered all his promises, well, is it not true that Romney's party STOPPED some of Obama's promises from being implemented?? If that is true, he's got a ********y cheek.