Jacqui Too

[quote user="Mutiara"]Hi, A french friend has asked my husband to help translate her booking page on her website and he has passed it on to me but I am a bit lost! Could someone please help with this sentence; Bonjour, afin de confirmer définitivement la réservation de votre séjour, nous vous demandons de bien vouloir verser un acompte de la moitié du montant, avec notre paiement en ligne sécurisé , sur le lien..... Thanks M.[/quote] Hi M If I get a bit of text I don't understand I use http://translate.google.com/translate_t A bit of copy / paste and this is what I got: Hello, in order to definitively confirm the reservation of your stay, we kindly request to you to pay an installment of half of the amount, with our payment on line made safe, on the bond .....   Not perfect flowing English but understandable and quick   Chipie

[quote user="Logan"]Chipie.  I maintain that if you separately insure an English caravan, have a registration number on the back which is registered to you in UK and have some documentary proof of that ie: a CRIS registration form and the DVLA formV5 registration in your name it goes a long way to being legal in France. Only a legal test case would prove otherwise. [/quote] The caravan had the old UK vehicle registration on it and that vehicle was later imported and registered in France, so there was no link back to UK as they did not have a UK address! So do you think that they could have towed it legally without any reg. number on the back of it? Still, thats what they believed and we got a great deal on a super caravan![:D] Chipie

Friends of ours took a large twin wheeled UK caravan to France several years ago, to go house hunting.They found a place, moved over permently and registered their car soon after, they were either unable to or it was to difficult to register the caravan.  As they had put it on a site along way away from where they lived, it became ilegal for them to tow it with their French regestered car and the caravan was tecnically marrooned in France! They were left with 2 fiesible options 1. get a british car owner to take it back to the UK, 2. get it transported by lorry back to the UK. Thats were we came in, we wanted a caravan, so we went over and towed it back, needless to say we had a good deal! But it solved their problem Now we are taking it back to live in France!! (caravan not us) Chipie P.S. Can we  please have a spell checker??????

Is there a way to find out if my area has broardband? I did try to find out on the FT website, but they wanted my phone number, but I don't have a phone yet! Would the mairie know?  I cant ask the neighbours (haven't met them yet) Can I ask if most of you (in France) can get broadband or if you have to settle with dial up? I know here (UK) you need to be within 5km of the exchange and most villages can't get it. Chipie  

Well done Glad it has come to the end at last, well worth sticking to your guns and maybe they have had good kick up the jacksie, they will think twice next time! Now relax and enjoy [8-|] Chipie

 So it looks like it is possible to have a ligne residence secondaire in our holiday home.[:)] BJSLIV thank you for that link, I shall get it printed out and take it along with my proof that I already have a fixed phone line in UK, when we sort out the new connection with FT As for the internet I may well have to just put up with dial up for now [:(] (not sure if our hamlet even has ADSL yet) I have looked at the FT website but was unable to understand enough to work out how much putting in a new line is. So if any one can tell me I would be very greatful ( phone lines are just across the road 15m away) Thanks Chipie

Hi Dago I have sent you a pm Chipie

We dont have any sort of line in at the moment [:-))] Do we need to have a line in first and then change tarif or can it be done at the same time? Chipie

We will be wanting a phone line put into our house in France and would like to know more about Maison secondaire tarif (hope that is what its called) and whether it will be right for us, I would be grateful for other users experience of it. Could you please explain how it works and how easy it it to have it connected and disconnected each time we need it? eg. can be done on-line?  How much it costs? Whether you can get 'broard band' on the same line and on a on-off basis the same as the phone? Can't be without my internet for any more that 2 weeks!![Www] Thanks Chipie

At the moment men need 44 qualifying years and women need 39, for women this will change between 2010 - 2020 when womens pension age graduly catch up with mens eg, 65 So long as you have the correct qualifying years you can get a full pension and if that happens before you are 60 or 65 for men, then you could in theory stop paying as long as you are not working. I worked for 8 years before I had my first child in 1978 I have not worked since, but I am allowed up to 19 years of credit years because I was recieving family allowance/ child benefit, Which makes 27 years. After the 19 years I became a partner in my husbands business and became 'self employed' and I have been paying NI for about 10 years now so hopefully I will get my 39+ years in before to long! That was the position when I sent for a pension forcast a few years ago, unless something has changed[:-))] Chipie

Last summer we decided to buy a Sat-nav for our impending trip to France. We thought it would aid a more 'peaceful' journey! I'm the map reader,( I love maps, spend hours finding places) he's the driver! I say we've got a right turn in a minute, mean while I'm looking at the map, look up and I say "was that it" and he just sails past[:-))] you can imagine the next conversation!!! So we buy the Tom Tom, try it around UK great, 1 month before we got we buy a new car and guess what it has its own incar sat-nav, so belt and braces!! UK side brill got us to southampton port perfect, We decided we prefered the Tom Tom so from now on to be know as 'Jane'. French side got out of Caen ok traveling on the N158, after Falaise 'Jane' says carry on motorway But motorway ends[:-))] start following signs for Le Mans, 'Jane' says turn arround and rejoin the motorway (we can see there is NO motorway) every junction we come to 'Jane' says turn right, argument follows, eventually we give in to 'Jane' and turn right, we end up going through tiny hamlets an down narrow country lanes (not so easy with a 7.5m caravan intow!) eventually 'Jane' says turn left and rejoin the motorway, we just sat there laughing (crying) there was this tiny stone track about 20m long into a field! 'Jane' got the sack and was told to be quiet while I resumed the map reading! She didn't come back to work untill well after Le Mans and we where safely on the motorway, after that big hickup she did redeem herself and was very useful[:D] Allthough I never traveled without the map on my lap! On the way home 'Jane' still tried to take us on the non existing motorway! but this time we were prepared and just turned her volume down untill she found her barings again. On one of our trips from Bergerac airport 'Jane' thinks that the new bypass heading north is open[:-))] and coming back we were apparently 'off-roading' for some of the way down the D709!! So my advice is know which route you are taking and still keep the map on you lap[blink] Chipie

[quote user="Chipie"] When we brought our dog back last Sept. she had Frontline for flees and ticks and Milbemax tablets for worms, No Jabs. Cost 38,90€[/quote] 38,90€ =  Consultation  23,50€, Included examination of health eg. fit to travel Milbemax x2   3,01€ Frontline         6,02€ Tva                6,37€ Chipie

When we brought our dog back last Sept. she had Frontline for flees and ticks and Milbemax tablets for worms, No Jabs. Cost 38,90€ Our rabbies vac. valid for 3 years for returning to UK. But if we Lived in France I understand that it would have needed to have annual boosters! Chipie

Hi This agency has lots of properties for rent, not quite in your stated area but I know some of the properties are close to Lot/Limousin border in Dordogne Might be worth a look www.perigord-immobilier.com Chipie

[quote user="Lou"]Well, I never thought I was particularly strange but I've ALWAYS sat right to the end of the credits, in the UK and in France, or wherever. I think I do it because it gives you a few minutes to think about the film, take in the ending, before having to jump up and come back to reality and fight your way to the loo, the car park, or the bus. It's also interesting sometimes to find out the location or music that was used. Oh dear do I sound like a nerd??!! Lou [/quote] Thats two of us then[Www] Chipie

Just before christmas late one evening my husband went to feed the dogs who had been in the utility room  when he noticed a small amount of chewed up foil and the remains of a packet of Imodium! We did not know which of the three dogs had stolen and then chewed them. Now I dont know were it was but I do know that it was a full box of 8 tables! We have three small dogs ; 2 yorkies about 2.5-3kg and 1 westie cross about 5kg and all three looked guilty. So we had to wait to see what happened next[:-))] I got up in the night to see if they were ok but next morning we found the culprit, it was Daisy one of the yorkies( she the one in my avitar) she was now being sick[+o(] and so I took her straight to the vet (only a mile away) she was examined and put on a drip for 12 hours. they told me that had she been a large dog she would have been alright, but being only 3kg it was quite serious. She came home after 24 hours but it took several days before she stoped having constipation[:(] I had a bill from the vet for about £125[:-))] Chipie

If he's a decent guy then he should 'Pay up'[:)] Chipie

[quote user="5-element"] The few (French) family members I still have who live around the area, bemoan the way it has... gone to "Les Anglais", which means according to them, that property prices have shot up so that no French person can buy a house in the Dordogne anymore. Not strictly true, of course, but still worth mentioning. [/quote] Do you think that the French and Brits are buying the same sort of property? I don't. I think in the main we are looking at different markets, so I don't think that in general they can say that its the foreigner who is pushing up prices, unlike in Wales and some other parts of the UK where 'townies' are pricing out the locals! We live on the Welsh /English border and you don't have to go far into Wales to find 'second homes' everywhere! now if they were buying homes that no-one wanted that would be another matter. Where as in France I think that many of the properties that the Brits, Dutch ect, have bought in the past would still be forsale or fallen down!  As the old saying goes 'one mans meat is another mans poison'  and I think that speaks for the whole thread! Chipie

We have recently bought a house in the Dordogne as a holiday home, we spent 3 years looking in different parts of NW, W, and finally SW France, We knew what we wanted and we found it in NE Dordogne about 12 miles from Perigueux We fell in love with an area and a house and the fact that there will probably be other brits in the area didn’t matter either way. People have asked me if there are any other brits in our village and the answer is I don’t know and I don’t care, if I like someone it doesn’t matter if they are French, English, Dutch, Indian, black or white, and if I don’t I don't, simple The Dordogne is beautiful and I can understand why everyone would love it. I know it sounds like I have rose coloured specs on and we are only going to use the house as a holiday home, and maybe living there full time is a different ball game. But until we find out any different, it’s the place for us [:D] Chipie  

[quote user="tetley"]I believe 200 euros a day for a man and digger is very reasonable, I think it is probably just below average.  I would think average would be more like 250 to 300 euros a day?  I am sure others will have different experiences for you.  As with all tradesmen, make sure he has relevant insurances.[/quote] He said £'s not euros, so it would be about average[:)] Chipie

Miss Babs I have sent a pm Chipie

[quote user="archer2000"]Hello, I wonder can anyone help. M Thanks Jeff [/quote] Whats happened to the OP?  

Last September we viewed properties with 3 French agents, we did not tell any of them that my OH is a building contractor on purpose. 2 of the agents were honest and didn’t try to cover up things that were obviously wrong with the properties, but the 3rd must have thought we were stupid or blind because everything we saw was overpriced and most of them had structural problems of one sort or another but she never said a thing, according to her they were wonderful! Chipie

Stay in England! Its raining, not bored just doing my online banking[Www] Chipie

[quote user="pcwhizz"]  If you  find a bailer thats not been used for many years it will probably need a far bit spending on it to bring it back into service, but could be worth looking into?  All you would need then is a friendly farmer with a spare field!   [:D] [/quote] My advice don't even go there! Unless you are a farmer, making 3/4 tons of good clean dry straw is not worth the risk.[:-))] Ploughing, seeding, combinding then bailing and selling the surplus seed. JUST BUY IT ready made and delivered Chipie