LJB

Small hamlet near St Martial d'Albarede (24) with a 3 year old toddler, who is loving every minute of the ecole maternelle and now speaking french; a husband, who is here every other 2 weeks as he works away from home; 4 horses; 1 Golden Retriever, 1 Labrador, 2 Jack Russells and 2 Plummer Terriers; 2 cats; hens and ducks, oh and now 2 guinea pigs! I feel as though I've come home....

I received a similar bill when I arrived at the end of February last year from Sogedo, our local water provider. It would appear that it is the 'connection charge' for the new customer contract. I received the actual water bill for consumption 6 months later. In my area - not sure about the rest of France - the water bills are sent out every 6 months. Each year one bill will be estimated and the other based on the reading from the water meter.

[quote user="Suze"] We have installed a water softener (as we did in our last two UK houses where we had hard water) and the diffence is astounding.    . [/quote] I am in N. Dordogne. Please can you tell me where do I buy a water softener, does it need a plumber to install it, cost etc. I am sorry, I don't care about my kettle or other appliances, but my hair is so dry it is like straw as the water here is so hard! My skin is also very dry. Am spending a fortune on conditioners and moisturiser and they don't make a huge amount of difference.[:(] Had no idea there was such a thing as a water softener so thank you so much for your post. Laura 

Hi Chantal, There are lots of organised hacks in summer in this area (around Excideuil) if you like hacking. I would recommend going along to your local centre equestre as it will help you to meet other horse mad teenagers and you may find some live near you and you can arrange to meet up to go hacking etc. I will find out for you over the next couple of days the best local centre equestres for you to go to that have good activities for your age group. Don't despair, there are LOTS of horses around here and lots of competitions etc. Re. your french, the best thing to do is meet a french girl to hack out with and your french will soon improve. If you are at school here you are sure to meet some people who like horses. I know a couple of girls about your age who are horse mad who go to Excideuil (not sure if that's where you go) and although they don't have their own horses I am sure they have friends who do. The next time they come to the yard I will ask them and put you in touch with them. Hope this helps. Laura

Thank you both for your replies. I have made Outlook my default email and checked all the settings as suggested. I have two '.co.uk' email addresses set up and I have checked all the settings and they are  exactly the same as Outlook Express, although the only option listed for connections in Outlook Express is a 'local area network' connection and in Outlook there is a choice of, I think, four, including modem, phone line etc. I left it as the LAN which is the same as Outlook Express but should it not be, perhaps, phone line as I don't have ADSL and it's the phone line it uses??? Anyway I performed the test settings for both email addresses and everything was successful, however I can only send emails (which are being received by the recipients) but cannot receive emails. I still have Outlook Express and when I opened it I found it was still receiving all emails. Any ideas why I still can't receive emails using Outlook?

I currently have Outlook Express as my default email but I also have Outlook on my PC. Initially when I put Outlook on my PC it asked me if I wished to make it my default email. I said yes and everything appeared to be in order but I can't send/receive emails using Outlook. I have reverted to Outlook Express as my default email but when I open Outlook all my opened, saved emails etc are there including address book info etc. The only problem is I can't send/receive emails. Does anyone know the problem? I also have a wanadoo.fr email address but I can only access it via the messagerie on wanadoo's homepage. How do I configure Outlook (preferably, if I can sort the above problem) or Outlook Express to send/receive my wanadoo.fr emails? I went through the usual process on Outlook Express of adding a new email address but it hasn't worked. It asked for a user name and password for the wanadoo.fr address and I inserted my user name and password for wanadoo itself but not sure if it is the same. Anyway, it won't work so something's wrong and I don't know what the problem is!!!

My father-in-law, in Scotland, has a Labrador who has fits. It's a field trials champion and although it fits regularly it still works. It has medication everyday. If you want to speak to him about it I can let you have his email address and telephone number. Laura

Rolled oats and bruised barley available from my friend who has a stud at Excideuil. 'Sanders' range of cubes available at Agri Co-op, Excideuil, and also at Perigeuex. 'Destrier' (better than Sanders) available from Gamm Vert, St Yrieux la Perche and 'Dynavena' (think that's the manufacturer's name..sacks in tack room and it's too cold to go out and look!), which is the best of the lot, is available from the mill behind Coulaures on the way from Excideuil to Perigeuex. Sugerbeet is available from Agri Co-op at Excideuil and also Gamm Vert at St Yrieux (better quality from Gamm Vert). I make my own mix as I get oats and barley etc from my friend and buy a huge tub of vitamins to add from my vets at Pompadour.Hope this helps. Laura

Hi Chantal, Have pm'd you re my horse that Gail mentioned above. Laura 

I have a two year old which  I would like to find a home for as a companion. If someone decided to break him he maybe suitable for hacking and light work but he is very narrow behind and upright in his pasterns. We showjump and unfortunately he will not be suitable for jumping. At the moment he is just out in the field and like your mare will live out all winter quite happily. If you are interested let me know. We are in the Dordogne but could bring him to you.

Can someone tell me if double cream and sour cream are readily available in France as they are in the majority of UK supermarkets. If not, any suggestions what to use as a substitute? I use creme fraiche to accompany desserts etc but what type of cream would I use in various recipes which state to use double cream and also if I make mexican food I normally accompany it with sour cream (for chilli, fajitas, etc.). Any suggestions?

I can recommend very good kennels in the Dordogne but they are near Excideuil (Perigord Vert) and the owner is french. The kennels are immaculate and the dogs are very well looked after and, in my opinion, the standard of care is equal to, or better, than UK kennels. The owner also breeds and shows Newfoundlands, Beagles and another breed which I can't remember at the moment, so don't visit when they have pups, particularly the Newfoundlands, or you will want to take one home! Luckily I managed to restrain myself! Kennels: Mme Francoise Francois, La Vergne, 24270 Lanouaille. Tel.05 53 52 38 49 or 06 80 26 06 89.

I am moving to France (24) next month and a friend who is going out there at the weekend is going to get me the Wanadoo disc so I can get internet access organised as soon as I arrive but you say that you should never set up Wanadoo in this way as it is very invasive. I am not very good with the world of I.T. so excuse me for asking this - if you can't use the disc then how do you set up Wanadoo? At the moment I have 24/7 internet access with B.T. in the UK and I pay about £17.99 per month for unlimited access (dial-up not broadband). The cost is included in my B.T. phonebill every month. I wish to have the same unlimited access to the internet for a fixed monthly fee when I move to France and for all my emails to send and receive via Outlook Express. Is this possible and which ISP would you recommend and what is the cost etc?

Sorry, forgot to mention in my last post it was Credit Agricole I dealt with!!!

We are moving to 24 in March and require to open a french bank account. I looked on their website and found the section for english speaking customers and a telephone number so I rang them. I probably could have had the conversation in french but did not feel very confident so that is why I called the number for english speaking customers, however the gentleman was very nice but hardly spoke a word of english!! I managed to grasp the fact that I would have to wait until I moved and go into my local branch (where the bank manager speaks good english) and open the account then. It seems an altogether much easier option although I do intend that my french will be a lot better and I will have the entire conversation in french!That is the plan anyway!