Jeremy

Dear Michelle, Sounds interesting, but you will find shops reluctant to hold your purchases in storage for you. Best would be to see if you can ask who you are buying from if you can store stuff in a garage/store or part of the house? Or ask on the forums, this and others if anyone has dry storage in the area for a specific term. Beds here are a pain and more expensive than UK. Good furniture( though not antique) can be found by trawling Brocantes and at a reasonable price.Antiques tend to be over priced. No one delivers either for free, so beware that one as if you purchase from a lot of places you can be asked for a lot of delivery charges, typically 45 euros a go... Anyway, think it through as it does all take up a lot of time.Good hunting, Jeremy.

For the size you say, approx costs, Charpente, around 10.000 euros and tiling, assuming new, around 15,000. Good luck.

I am not sure where I posted the last request, but will try again here. I need a small boat/dinghy for the large pond we have. I have promised my boys I will get one before summer..... SO, ANYONE out there have one for sale at a reasonable price PLEASE. No motor needed, just oars, no sails either, but it must float! Thanks Jeremy, near Caen.

Good morning Brits, I have been asked to let all my English friends know of a house for sale, near |Flers Normandy.I know not a lot as it was a casual remark which got taken too seriously so now I have to act upon it. I will state that I have NO financial interest in this at all and so will be short, but pleasant to anyone who wants more.... I have some plans which show about 45m carre of building, stone, tiled roof , one storey with do-able loft. Looks reasonable, but no photos inside? Detached, in garden and land about 5000M +. (2 fields look like they are paddocks.) The FRENCH owners, are selling privately and are asking 122,000 euros.No agent involved so you would have to deal direct. I have a phone number and address etc so if you want these e-mail me and I will pass on what I can. OK, Done, Hope this is in the right place, too tired to really be bothered, so goodnight Jeremy, Caen.

Call in an artisan, it will be only about a 1 year wait... No not really; but you can DIY as long as you have a bit of common. First the spur can be extended but each  line should feed no more than 5 sockets... so if you have 4 then continue your spur by an additional 1. Soooo easy n'est pas??? But more than that and then yes you do need to put in a new line from the board ( and a seperate fuse!). Be safe though..... Best wishes Jeremy

we have used Andrew Booth. Very good chap, English, but with all the French qualifications and a French wife. So he maybe uses her to do all the translations. Anyway he has been good and at reasonable costs. He seems to travel all over France so may be worth an e-mail or call. His e-mail is : [email protected] and phone number: o2 33 71 9755 Hope he is free.... Regards, Jeremy

we have considered the geothermal system as our French plumber reckons it would cost at 2 euros per metre square per annm to hear our 400 m 2 house. Trouble is he has already installed the new Oil fired boiler at a cost of 10,000 euros.. Thanks a lot. He has said a soil heat recovery boiler and bits and bobs would have been about the same cost..... But he is very sorry to forget to mention it. He will change the system if we want, for 10K euros..... Good Luck.

to add a note, we bought a range cooker in UK 110 rangemaster, and got a 5 year warranty covered by DARTY in France as they are part of curry  group in UK.Also being  rangemaster all the jets for lpg were supplied gratis. For the electric double ovens, we put in a 20 amp supply from the fuse board to JUST the cooker..Works very well. On the cheaper side, when we first came here I bought a really cheap gas cooker from BUT in Caen, and it was a lifesaver. It now serves the family guest rooms very well and is cheap to run. Happy shopping whatever jeremy.

Wanted, small boat or dinghy, preferably one that floats, our old one now sinks very rapidly... Does anyone out there (near Caen), know of any for sale as the children are getting fed up baling out the old dinghy..I have seen loads in UK at very reasonable prices,secondhand, but its the logistics problem.. So ,anyone??? Thanks, jeremy and children.

I think that says it all n'est pas? Jeremy

Well what a surprise. French plumbing being a problem... To stop your Gurgling you will need to somehow retro fit a soil vent system of some type.There are many. A GOOD plumber will be able to sort it and if it is internal can fit a balanced flue type vent which can be boxed in ( to hide it) and wont allow smells back in the house... Good luck. Jeremy

it must be your approach then. the rest of us are too nice and trying not to upset anyone.

I have to agree with Teamedup and others who have had mostly negatives in customer sevices here in France.On the whole the service ( serving) staff are polite, if not curt when they realise you are a rost beefy.BUT when u try to return anything most will wriggle and wriggle till the cows come home, and not pay back a centime.. It shows in the sales where you see all the notices pinned up saying, (translated roughly).NO refunds, returns or exchanges on sale goods for ANY reason. So get stuffed all of you. That to me is their attitude, and I am not sorry to say it; just sorry to see it.France is where UK/ USA were about 20 years ago in customer relations, taxes and a lot of other things. VERY shortsighted.A bit like the pensions crisis really...... Getting uptight now so will go and cool down,

We have been here for 14 months and still have not had a water bill, (Caen). We did get a proposed bill, which I queried as it showed a charge for waste water as well as water supplied. We are too low to be on mains drains and have been on Fosse since year dot! They sent a chap round within 2 days to check out wether we were telling porkys or not and he confirmed there and then that he would be reporting back as NOT on mains drainage.. Since then,4 months, not a peep, so we will wait and see.I will post the cost per CM when I find out. Jeremy

Lleylandii would not survive , or would for a while, then would look awful if they got scorched by th ewinds.. Eleagnus would be a much better and nicer alternative, i agree. Spelling is terrible I know but wot the heck...

Morbihan, Suggest 1, try cables first 2, settings on control panel, volume may be on low or mute 3, settings on administrator mode, same as 2. 4, could you test any other known working speakers? ie have the speakers themselves been damaged? 5. Give up, get mad and call someone else in to do all the above, and pay them for it... GOOD LUCK..Jeremy

Miki, et all, Link worked fine and 83 pages of useful stuff, if not awful!,In English...Thank you..Jeremy

Teamedup, I think the collateral that the lady refers to is in the way of tax and social benefits.? but I could be wrong. Jeremy

Sorry everyone, BUT what is an HLM, I have looked but am either too thick or too tired to spot it? Thanks, Jeremy. NB this argument seems to be getting a bit heavy, I send my 5 boys to the French private school which I feel will give them the best, and I will go without if need be....

Dear Mistral, The French teacher I spoke with at St Jos seemed to believe they were better paid than in the public sector.So it is probably the same in a lot of countries where it does depend on the region, local politics,religous beliefs and so on. Enough now, Bye Jeremy...

Dear All, I would like to add that I so far agree with all that has been said. But even though insurance is not 'Obligatory' providing you own outright the property.No 3rd party having any share in it. THEN you if it burns down to the ground its your loss and no one elses. The problem comes with the French laws about 3rd party risks.It does seem to be an insurance culture, where you sue everyone for any damage to anything. Although its not like USA where you sue for stupid sums and even dafter reasons. The French will sue your kids if they tear another childs coat in the school playground... The point: If you dont have at least 3rd party insurance you are open to being bankrupted by the first person that steps onto your land and falls over a loose slab, step, stair or anything else... You dont have to either takinsurance, buts thats not as serious. Also re your neighbour; I would follow advice and take photos, take copious notes and so on. If the workman falls off the roof he may sue your insurers as he was working on your wall! CYA its called. Good luck with it anyway, Jeremy

Castorama were selling dishes last week at 40 euros, but that was in Caen.... Brico marche sell them all the time at low prices too, co-ax, lnbs and so on too... Happy shopping Jeremy

Back to the original point? We have 5 boys all now in the French system.They have struggled at times and will i am sure, but surely the point is to try and give them the best we can in whatever language.We have found that the private schools seem to be a LOT less bigotted than the state schools, and the kids more willing to accept foreign children among them.The small local schools can be good too, but again depends on the other kids and what their parents beliefs are, or aren't! We send ours to a very big school in Caen city , about 1500  from maternelle up to college. there are as a consequence many different kids there in nationality and race which seems to be accepted as OK. The school is private, which does mean that in national teachers disputes, their teachers dont go on strike.It also seems that the quality of teachers does seem to be a little better too. Not that I want to put down any teachers , but better paid teachers tend to be happier than those who feel they are hard done by.Happy teachers mean happier children.. I waffle now so will stop. English for a 3 year old at home in an English speaking house should not be a problem at 3..Maybe later, but depends on the input you can give them.. Food for thought anyway, May wisdom be yours, Jeremy.

PS forgot to mention beds a pain in the proverbials here and expensive. They come in 3 parts, or more.. The base the sommelier( slats or springs) the mattelas and head and tail boards... Ikea definitely cheaper for these.. Jeremy.

You may like to try the many Brocante/ depot vents in and around Bayeux and Caen. Depot Vents are especially good value and a good solid table is usually around 80 to 200 euros.( in oak) As with Ikea you will have to pay delivery as with all French stores so remember to add this to sums, typically 50 euros and up depending on size of items and distance to your home. Ikea do deliver and it is relatively cheap. Paris to Caen Bed settee and 2 other pieces 110 euros.. But had to wait 2 weeks Whichever way you do it will be down to you, but if you have time, French Brocantes/Depot vents do sell French furnitur which does look good and not too trendy or modern. Happy shopping, Jeremy