[Tacho and LWB Landrover]

We have some relatives visiting soon who will be driving their LWB

Landrover which has 9 seats.  Can anyone confirm my belief that it

does not need to have a tacho fitted - that only the larger (eg 16

seat) vehicles require them?

[when E 106 expires]

Yes, assuming that your income is above a certain level (not exactly

sure what it is this year - maybe around 8000 euros per couple - I'm

sure someone else will know) you will pay 8% of your income - they base

the payments on your latest income tax declaration. 

[Cream]

I have some "stuff" which I bought in a Gèant which is admittedly UHT

and is made by Bridel and which is called simply "Crème" - however in

English on the back it says "Long life whipping cream".  I haven't

yet tried it but bought it when I saw it because I had never seen it in

France before. Has anyone else ever used it?

[What can I do with my raclette?]

Various sorts of salami, bacon, thinly cut beaten steak, sliced peppers

and mushrooms, knacks etc etc.   Our French friends put on

whole rashers of belly pork - but that can get a bit messy and

spitty!   Gherkins, silverskin onions, whole small potatoes

and salad on the side.....

[Carte de fidelite]

Sorry - yes of course you're right about the euros not points at

Intermarché - but I understood that they could be accumulated at

different branches.  I'll have to see if I can find the small

print....

Edit:  just found this on their web site:

Vous pouvez cumuler des euros dans tous les magasins participant au

programme carte de fidélité, mais les utiliser uniquement dans le

magasin qui vous a délivré la carte (hors livres et carburants).

[Carte de fidelite]

Intermarché is the same as Leclerc, except that the points added on at

each branch are not separate from each other.  The Leclerc points

expire at the end of the year - so you need to use them by the end of

December.  Just say "L'enlevez svp" and they will offset them

against your bill.  As far as I know the Intermarché points carry

on until you use them.   With  Super U you can use your

points to buy vouchers - and so use the points against the value of

your  shopping if you wish

[French customs. Do they check the chip?]

Our daughters cat travelled from Surrey to Switzerland in eactly that

way - loose in the back part of a big 4 wheel drive and was absolutely

fine - compared to when he was in a cat basket for even 10 minutes and

was sick and yowled!  He wasn't checked at Calais.

[Accepting Dogs]

If it was us we would definitely refuse the booking.  If you

decide to accept it you need to make sure that you are covered - at the

least there is bound to be a lot of extra cleaning and there may be

quite a lot of damage depending on the style of your property and the

space.  I would advise both an increase in rate and in deposit -

but we don't even take one dog (even though we have 2 of our own).

[Where do we stand ?]

Yeah I guess - although the requirement in this department only came in

when they started to charge Taxe de Séjour.  Certainly a complaint

in this instance would put the spotlight on to what sounds like an

extremely unsavoury gite.

[Where do we stand ?]

Actually it's not necessary for gites to be declared and registered

with their local Prefecture - at least not in Deux-Sèvres.  We are

registered with the area tourist authority who inspected us together

with a contingent from the Mairie and they told us we could choose to

be registered with the Prefecture if we wished (cost 50 euros) but that

it is not a requirement.

[Where do we stand ?]

This is absolutely appalling - as a gite owner myself I feel that I

must emphasise that we are not all the same!  It is a shame that

you did not complain at the very beginning about the cramped conditions

and the damp.  I can see no reason why they should retain your

deposit - on the contrary, if you honestly feel that it was impossible

to stay there for the full week the you should explain this to them and

request a return of part of your rental fee.  Did you take any

photos of problems like the fosse - or the health and safety

difficulties of the position of the bed?  If you booked the gite

through a brochure or an organisation you should complain to them.

Please don't let this horrible experience put you off booking a gite

for your next holiday - some of us holiday home owners pride ourselves on

offering a quality experience to our cutomers.

[eurasia supermarket Bordeaux]

www.zenfi.com was working yesterday - so it may just be a temporary problem

[Renewing a passport]

Don't forget that non-EC citizens living in France are issued with a

Carte de Sejour - but will probably require a visa to get into the UK -

so holding a Carte de Sejour does not prove anything if you are British.

[Tax Fonciere]

No I'm afraid not.  I went with a friend on a  low income

(less than 6000 euros per year) who is 60 tomorrow - and they explained

to us that generally speaking, Taxe Foncière is based solely on the

value of the house (in his case the bill is 700 euros)- your income is

irrelevant and you have to pay it until you are 75.  Taxe

d'Habitation on the other hand is means tested and you can get a

reduction no matter what your age is if you are on a low income.

[Tax Fonciere]

I'm afraid that you have to wait a bit longer - until your 75th

birthday!   However if you are on a very low income you may

be able to get your Taxe d'Habitation reduced.....

[winterising]

Thanks for that - may be our browser but the actual amount of litres

shows as gobbledegook - &à .  Could you please put it in

writing.  Sorry to be a pain - we do appreciate your advice!

[winterising]

We live in northern 79 and it can get very cold here - down to -15 on

occasion and so we empty our 10x 5 (min 1.2 metres deep, max 1.6 metres

deep) pool to about a foot below the skimmers and drain the filter,

pumps etc and put on a heavy winter cover which is held down by a

combination of metal pegs and "stretchies". Would we still need the

full 20 litres of eau de javel?

[Towels or not?]

And stain free......

[French equivalent of Halfords?]

Not as comprehensive and not such a wide range - but here in rural Deux-Sèvres we think of Max Auto as Halfords.

[Towels or not?]

Yes we did consider the allergy problem - and for a range of reasons

bought "boilable" polyester pillows.  We also use pillow covers

below the pillow cases but these are brushed so I guess may cause a

problem to some people - even after a number of washes they are still

quite fluffy.

[Towels or not?]

As a former gite user and now gite owner I understand both sides of

this argument.  This summer we have provided towels a few times at

a minimal extra charge - but I only provide decent good quality towels;

I believe that there is nothing worse than trying to dry yourself on a

poor quality towel which is too small and too thin or too

non-absorbent.  The only difference between our pool towels (we

are a fair distance from the sea so sand is not an issue) and our bath

towels is that the former are patterned and the latter are plain pastel

colours.  I don't particularly like the idea of using stained

towels as pool towels - we pride ourselves on everything in the gite

being good quality and so would not like to be let down by something

such as towels. I guess there is a lot to be said for white towels

which can be bleached. We also have many repeat bookings and I honestly

do not believe that with the majority of people the provison of towels

is the deciding factor when they are choosing a place for a holiday.

[Locust alert !!!]

The bright green ones here are Praying Mantis' (Mantii?)

[ADSL english style?]

Hi Eric - just checked your number and it looks as if you could get it at the lowest rate - 512kbps

Su

[help - ramoneur needed!]

I have seen the kits in bricos which come with a blank certificate.......

[Towels or not?]

Yes that is exactly what we will do - luckily the gite has its own meter.