Ian 56

Anton thank you very much for your clear and helpful explanation. I know know exactly what to get. ian

I am replacing our existing consumer unit (tableau électrique) which dates from 1977 with a larger modern one with a disjoncteur différentiel. Most of the work seems straightforward although the in the old one all the negative wires go to a common terminal block and only the positives pass through the fuse units. Sorting that out is not rocket science. However I am puzzled by the wiring for the va-et-vient circuit. The 3 hall and landing lights are controlled by 4 push-button switches. I can identify the wires which lead from these units and also the positive imput to the old switch unit which was a Legrand 49127. The helpful chap in Leroy Merlin sold me a unit to replace this which is an ABB E251T-230 which has 4 terminals. There is a sketchy wiring plan on this which makes no sense to me and I am not convinced it is the right unit anyway. Can anyone help with information for the correct replacement unit and of the connections to it? Ian

Thanks for the information SD. I have been visiting the UK frequently in recent years and never gave it a thought before. Shall continue to do so. Ian

I am British and 76 years old. I have been living in France for 18 years and I have a French driving licence. I understand that if I wish to take my car to the UK I should have a doctor’s letter stating my competence to drive. I have downloaded the list of doctors in my department who are authorised to issue certificates but the categories of certificates listed do not match my requirement. Can anyone tell me the correct procedure? Ian

Thanks for the advice and links. I have all the information I need to make a decision. ian

The Humax looks good and is available for delivery to France. To record a programme at the same time as the one I am watching will I need a second head and second cable from my dish? ian

Thanks for the very useful replies. It seems that the best solution would be to buy the Sagem DTR-94250 version from John Lewis which I take it works on Astra 2 although the despription on their web site is not explicit on this. ian

Thanks for the reply Bugbear. The blurb does say it will receive the free channels of TNTSAT and the other channels diffused by Astra. The not very well informed assistant assistant in Darty said it would but he could be wrong.

Has anyone any experience of the Sagem DTR 94160S TNT SAT HD? I understand that it will work with the Astra zsatellite and will receive the BBC channels, ITV, Channel 4 etc which I receive now with a modest Visiostat box. The blurb in the Darty specification states 'ce récepteur est prêt à reçevoir les futures chaines HD de la TNT qui seront lancées en 2008 (TF1, France 2, M6, etc...). Will it receice the BBC HD channel? The big bonus would seem to be the ability to record a programme whilst watching another. ian

It proved to be a problem with the Visiostat decoder. Got round it by tuning to BBC 1 West instead of London and now get subtitles again.

Thanks for the suggestion Tim but switching off and on again does not fix it. My TV is a Trans Continents, cheap Chinese-made from Leclerc. It has worked well for 4 years. I use the Astra satellite, free-to-air and have a French Videostat box. I am in Brittany. I think the problem is that I am unable to access teletext messages and that the BBC may have changed the system some weeks ago to teletext. Before that titles worked well with BBC and it still does with ITV. Do you get your subtitles on a telext page?

Until about 6 weeks ago I found it easy to get subtitles on BBC 1 and BBC 2. Now when I press the subtitle button to my Videostat box I get redirected to a teletext page where I get the message 'charging'. However nothing more happens. I can still get subtitles on ITV and on the BBC News Channel. Has anyone any suggestions for getting subtitles back?

  A friend who is selling his house has just had a diagnostique inspection of the property. The loft area has been insulated using the tinfoil, bubble wrap material which has made a great difference to the comfort of the house and which is claimed to be equivalent to 200 mm of fibreglass. However in the assessment of the Performances Energetiques he was told by the inspector that this form of insulation is not acceptable and counts for nothing. Can anybody confirm this as I am considering using this material? ian  

There has been a scam in Loudeac (22) where customers buying fuel at the Leader Price self service filling station have had their cards 'skimmed' and the PIN noted. The details have been used to make withdrawals in South Africa. This happened in the last weeks of August and early September. If you have used this filling station you should check your card statements. The banks concerned will refund the losses if the victims report the matter to the gendarmes. ian

Thanks for the additional information. At the moment we need it for planting a few trees and fruit bushes rather than as a general fertiliser. The firm in Lille (your first link) do this among their other products but in a 3,5 kilo bag for 28 € which is enough for a large orchard or a small forest I should think, although delivery in France is free. When we do need a general fertiliser we will go back to them. As time is pressing I have ordered 75 gm of Roodgrow Plus from Buckingham Nurseries in the UK for £2.99 plus £2.50 for p & p; not the most economical solution.  I will let you know if the stuff works, eventually. ian

Thanks for that. It is most helpful. ian

I dial 222 when I want to know the state of my Orange mobile phone account, 224 when I want to recharge it. ian

Does anyone know if this is available in France? In the uk it is sold as Rootgrow Plus, and is used when planting trees and shrubs. However a good search of the shelves in the large gardening suppliers has drawn a blank. On Google.fr there are scientific papers about it but no hints on where it can be bought.  ian

Thanks Clair that's a great help. Red I do know that my blood is not required because I was in the UK in the period when Mad Cow Disease was prevalent. It seems to bar many of the people I know from bding donors. ian

I would like to give my body for medical research when the time comes, but of course I have to make the arrangements in advance and I have hopes that delivery will not be for some time!   Has anybody any experience of the procedure in France? I know British blood is not welcome but how about the whole package. I have been under the knife half a dozen times in the last 15 years so inevitably some bits are missing. Are they particular about this?   I have received quick, courteous and  excellent treatment here in Brittany and this could be some contribution to training doctors. I know that there is a shortage of donors in the UK.   ian

We have an Acoustic Energy Wifi Radio which is mono but the sound quality is very good. Acoustic Energy are loudspeaker manufacturers first and foremost. I believe that a lot of the radio feeds via ADSL are mono anyway. AE seem to be first in the field although I believe other manufacturers are now producing sets. If you want more details send me a PM. ian

We failed to get our Wifi Radio to connect with a France Telecom Livebox. It works perfectly with a Belkin modem router. ian

We now use a WiFi radio using ADSL via a router. The advantage over the satellite system is that one person can listen to the radio whilst others watch television. We use it mainly for Radio 3 and 4 but over 300 UK stations are available including the commercial ones such as Jazz FM. ian

Yours is a cheaper solution as the AE WiFi radio costs 300 €. It does work independantly of the PC getting the signal even when the PC is off. It is possible to use the WiFi Radio to listen to music from the PC I believe but I have not investigated that feature. ian

My wife can listen to the WiFi Radio and change stations in another room while I am using the PC. And the WiFi Radio is easily portable. I am not sure if these are features of the system you describe. ian