I1

[quote]I'm too stingy to pay for the 0844 lines and use an 0871 number instead which costs me nothing and is 10p a minute for people calling me. Arnold[/quote] But I did actually say the 0844 solution was FREE i.e. you don't pay, and caller pays only 5p per minute (half the cost of your 0871 number)

You can take out an 0844 UK telephone number. An 0844 number is often called “local fixed rate” (has other names). It is a non-geographical number where all the call costs are paid for by the person making the call. Standard rate (anytime) most callers will be charged only 5p per minute (i.e. it is a lot cheaper than the “National Rate”). You take out your own 0844 number and tell everybody about it. You set the number to divert to a standard landline (in France, Australia, loads of countries including the UK), pretty well wherever you want. You can actually set “Primary number”, then “2ndry number” (on no answer from “Primary number”. There is also voicemail available (e-mails you the recorded message). You set-up the diverts, etc. using a special web page (i.e. browse to site, login with your username and password, etc.).# This is all free to you (no setup costs, no running costs, nothing). The only costs incurred are the 5p per minute by the person in the UK making the call. There are organisations that will charge you for this service and there others who provide it all for free. If you require more flexible diverts (i.e. French/Australian/US/etc. landline is not enough – e.g. you want to be able to divert to French mobile) then there are other number bases available (where the caller pays a higher rate). I find it a good scheme. If anybody wants info, PM me. I am not commercially linked to any telephone service provider nor what I’ve described above – I’m just a user

You actually also need to be quite careful about free Spyware checkers now as well: see http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm Some of these Spyware detectors will give false positives and then charge you to “remove them”. I have even seen some accused of installing Spyware so you need to pay to get rid of it. Some of the companies use somewhat disreputable selling techniques. And now we are seeing cannibalism among scumware mongers, somebody will offer to scan your computer and remove Spyware, and they will actually do so--and replace it with their own! Right now, in Seattle, one scumware company is in court suing another for "illegally" removing their scum from people's computers.

I always give a different e-mail address to different people/companies so, should I experience problems I know exactly who gave it out (or had security issues). Doesn’t stop such things but at least you know who is doing the leaking.

In my responses below, please remember that I am an ungifted amateur not a professional builder (so if anybody knows the correct thing please, I wont be offended if you tell me I’m wrong). My suggestions below are not “what you should do”, but rather “what I have done”. >>Does it need the top to be pierced for ventilation, or is ventilation built in somewhere else? A bit like radaitor covers in the UK? I’ve left the top solid (generally 150x25mm timber). I’ve cut holes in the face of the panelling and fitted vents. I’ve actually painted my panelling and the vents match the paint colour so hardly show. I’ve subsequently found some quite neat long narrow vents that would fit nicely in the skirting. When I get to the walls with radiators on I’ll be taking the radiators off, building the panelling and then fitting the radiators to the new front of the panelling (i.e. not building the panelling round/enclosing the radiators). >> Did you make your own panels? If so, of what? I build a frame out of something line 60x40mm timber (framing screws into the wall – bit like a mini stud wall with smaller timber). I use the T&G panelling you can get a virtually ant DIY store (Lambris). I’m actually using 7mm thick stuff that is not particularly wide. Its all pretty cheap. I’ve fitted my panelling vertically Top (150x25’ish - though not a constant 150 after cutting to wall shape and you could probably make it a lot narrower). My is 1m high. Frame has three horizontal 60x40 batten, top, middle and bottom (for skirting). Top overhangs the panelling (sticks into the room approx 1cm from the room face of the panelling) and I routed a grove under the front (bottom) edge of the top so the top of panelling fits into the top (this helped a neat finish as you don’t see where the panelling) >> “what about the VERY irregular walls in old properties?” The panelling is away from the wall and thus not affected by uneven walls. After the top frame batten (60x40) was fixed to the wall, the top can be offered up and marked/cut to fit the uneven wall exactly. >> “Does the rear of the panelling need some sort of treatment to avoid mould?” I primed the back of the panelling (microporus paint). After building the frame I actually covered the frame with plastic sheet (to protect the wood from what would become a higher humidity area between wood and wall (holes in plastic sheet to allow vents to actually ventilate the gap). However, I was subsequently told that the plastic sheet was probably not a good idea. My reason for it was that is the humidity kept changing in the gap then the wood would move and end-up splitting. >>“And waht of vermin behind them” I tried to make sure there is no way in for vermin. However, if they can get in, they can use the same method to get out so I recon its not a problem. If people think I’m getting it wrong, please say – I’m no builder (I’m also no good at explaining things to I hope some of the above makes some sense).

My (limited) experience (my own property) and from what others have said is that damp is less of an issue in France than in the UK. That is not to say there is less but that people make less of an issue about it. I think a lot of other French properties were “designed” to breath (i.e. that water taken up though the walls would just evaporate away without problems (both internally and externally). Which is fine until people start to render the outside (impermeable) and use impermeable finishes internally. I have no experience of the powdery layer that is causing you problems but would recommend that whatever you do apply is permeable to water (to allow the property to breath). When I purchased my house the surveyor commented that he was not very much in favour of injected DPCs and that they are not appropriate to all properties. It would be difficult for even somebody who knew what they were talking about (i.e. not me) to comment on your specific property. You can get injected DPCs in France (look in Yellow Pages) and I’m sure that, just as in the UK, if you got one of those companies round they would want to start injecting. In my property I accept that its nature will mean that there will always be some water in the walls (it’s a watermill). What I am doing is panelling the bottom 1m of some of the walls, with a decent air gap between the panelling and wall and putting in vents. The idea is that any wall “problems” will be hidden, but the wall can still breath and the water can still evaporate. It is what others suggested, though it’s too early to say it works of as “side-effects. I am actually using a large air gap (6 ins) so I have a shelf on top, though I was told one needs less than this (one person mentioned 25mm air gap) I also have quite large rooms so “shrinking bit a little is not a problem for me. You might find http://www.oldhouse.info/ohdamp.htm interesting (sorry, you will have to cut and paste this like as I still cannot use formatting in my messages).

One of the problems of the Windoze/MSN method (the IP ports they use and the firewall issues) is that with some people (e.g. using th same ISP or sub-net) it will work fine whilst with others (e.g. different ISP) it may not (as you leave your ISP's/enter another ISP's network there will often be additional firewalls). Thus audio may not work at all, may work with some people and not others or may work fine all the time - depending on where the "block" is in the link. However, the problem I've described is difficulties is setting up an audio link. What happens it that Windoze/MSN Messenger goes "trying to establish ..." (or whatever it says) in the status bar at the bottom for ages before failing. I have not come across the "one way" communication you describe being caused by the firewall issue. Sorry - but might be worth checking other things e.g. can you use you mic into Windoze "sound recorder" and play it back OK. Many sound cards need a "Mic boost" check box setting to be enabled to get adequate volume (and tghis can be very hard to find with some sound cards. (Speakers and Mic is a disaster for these things and some headsets have quite sensitive mic mute switches). Harvey: On a seperate issue, does your contact in South America live in Bolivia by any chance (I am seeking detailed info on Bolivia and cannot find that much on the internet).

One thing with the MSN/Windoze Messenger (or Yahoo Messenger or AIM/AOL Messenger) is that you both need to be at your computer at the same time (not the case with e-mails). If you are looking to talk, something like Skype is great because you can go either computer/computer (free) if both people are at their computer OR computer to landline very cheaply (€0,017 (1.7 centimes) per min or something like that) – giving great flexibility. However, it is not an either/or situation, you can run both at the same time. AIM/AOL is actually something of a “pain” so I would avoid it, plus it installs Spyware on your computer (as least my Spyware detectors went potty with it). Windoze/MSN Messenger can have some issues with some Firewalls. For example, if using ZoneAlarm (Free Version) you can use Instant Messaging but cannot get audio (as the Firewall blocks that channel (port) – you need the paid for ZoneAlarm so you can open the appropriate ports. Similarly some people have has problems both Norton Internet Security blocking Windows/MSN Messenger audio channels. The MAC client for MSN Messenger is said to be quite dodgy (crashes a lot). However, then is a new MSN Messenger in (private) beta at the moment that is to handle Skype in addition to MSN stuff !! (depending on what actually gets included in the released version – as ther are issues with the Skype API at the moment). If using MSN, etc. there are actually better software packages (than MSN/Windoze/Yahoo/AIM/AOL/ICQ/etc. Messenger(s)). Another thing you may want to consider is getting an 0844 UK number. This will allow anybody in the UK to call you at 5p per minute. You can divert the number to any French (or UK, etc.) landline using the web. You can change the landline number used as often as you want. You can have primary and secondary diverts (e.g. on no answer from the 1st, try the 2nd). You can divert to voicemail (which is then e-mailed to you), etc. The total cost for all this 0844 number stuff is nothing – its all free. The caller is charged 5p per minute on their BT (or whoever) bill – which is as cheap as a lot of these “low cost international call schemes). Caller need no account to be set-up. Works from any (UK) phone without anything special. All in all pretty useful (at least I think so). If anybody want details, PM me.

Also, a list of all events for 2005 (for all France) can be found at http://www.chiensderace.com/cgi-bin/liste_manifs.pl (where you can filter by date and event type). If you want to enter any of these I would imaging you would need to join a French dog club. For agility you would need to get a French agility licence (through your French dog club). Don’t know if this is mandatory but would probably make life somewhat easier.

Also, http://www.cnea.net/ Brittany is where most on the Border Collie breeders are in France so you will probably find mor Border Collies in that region (and hence possibly a greater interest in agility).

Difficult to give a truly “accurate” answer to that one. I have no experience the rules myself so can only summarise what others have said (from a variety of sources). I’m sure others will contradict my summary, but I’m sure a lot depends on your commune. It seems to depend on where you live (or maybe your local maire or area and even then it can depend on your neighbours as to whether any rules are enforced). Certainly it seems in some areas (depending on your location and proximity to neighbours) there is a 3 dog limit without permission. It may be in some areas that permission is required if within 100m of another habitation. I have not heard of 1Km (but that does not mean it is not used). I have also heard that in some areas planning permission for change of use to a habitation cannot be given where the building is within 50m of a property with more than 3 dogs (though unsure if that is the house, dog kennels, etc.). What it does mean is that, should you need permission and you have e.g. an old barn close-by, you might get the barn owner objecting if you asked for permission (as he could no longer sell the barn for conversion to a house). I have not heard (or read) of anybody experiencing any difficulties with having more than 3 dogs. It may be that if you asked your maire that you could “open a can of worms”. In practice, if you are rural ad remote and your dogs cause no trouble I would not expect problems. I can give you a link to a thread with a few opinions if you want (PM me – as its on a different forum and some people don’t link posting links to other forums.) Sorry, probably has not helped much.

When I moved over I investigated this a little (for dogs). I was told by my house insurance company that 3rd party was covered by my house policy (check with you policy as they may differ or I may have been mis-informed). They also have a vet bill type insurance scheme. I was somewhat cheaper than Pet Plan, though also had lower limits on max. payouts in a year (a few thousand euros from memory). Also, none on the “ongoing condition” type of thing that is now offered by “higher end” UK policies. In my case 3rd party was my main concern so I left it. My local vet does not have any such brochures in his surgery (but that is just one vet, and may easily not be representative). Check with any insurance company as they may have offerings.

Just out of interest, how did you get the owners details from the tatoo in the end (i.e. refuge, police, vet, etc.)

I came out with a couple (straight BT to French (BT phone into French wall socket). worked fine with one telephone direct into the French wall socket, but then when I put a French answer phone on the same line it worked fine but lost the ring. Ended up buying all French telephone equipment and leaving the UK equipment in the cupboard. From what people tell me (and my limited experience confirms this) some things are fine, others are not.

You could try the police. I believe that the national tattoo database is available at weekends but not to the general public. The response you get from the police will probably depend on your local force (and may not be very good for the dog). If you can wait until Monday and go through a refuge/vet then it may be better.

Maybe there is a minimum charge then. I was last told about the rules when setting up a non-geographical number for my UK company and talking to the UK telephone companies. Maybe I mis-remembered and it was that they were not allowed to discount it or maybe the rules have since changed. Certainly it never occurred to me they would charge more than the permitted rate. When I had to speak to Inland Revenue a few weeks ago (Self Assessment time), they could not give me a proper UK number to call and I had to use an 08xxxxxx number.

I understand that Oftel is investigating the non-geographic numbers as, due to the “kick-backs”, the are effectively a type of premium rate number (all be it somewhat cheaper than the true premium rate numbers). The idea of the numbers was clearly to be non-geographical. However, at the same time rules for them were introduced that all (UK) Telcos must charge the caller the same rate for calling them.

Quote “My french vet refused to issue a new passport for one dog as her UK vaccine was more than 12 months old. ....” My vet took 4 hours going through and re-checking for my return to the UK this Christmas because my UK dog had some of his rabies vaccinations recorded on a UK vaccination card rather than the French format records. All the vaccinations had always been done (both UK and France) within 12 months of each other – it was the record of some of them that required all the additional checks. No problem in the end (as I knew everything was OK). I note that the (new) European Pet Passport now has both date of vaccination and a valid to date so it will be interesting to see what if entered at the next rabies booster time.

[quote]Hi Cheers defra is a excellent site.... I know a bit of french..... Bonjour vet personey [Then point to my watch and put it to my ear,tick]then get my tape measure out and act like a bird ...[/quote] You've got it cracked - no problems.

DEFRA have a list of useful expressions for use when getting tick and tapeworm treatments (a little single side of A4 "Phrase Book"). In my experience, French vets are very familiar with the necessary procedures so (either with or without DEFRA's phrase book, irrespective of your own French language capabilities) you should have no real problems with any vet.

On the Advanced search, if you put in a single word (e.g. com) and leave it set to ANY words, then it finds loads of links. If you change it to ALL words then it finds one link (ANY and ALL should be the same when you have a single word !!).

[quote]I1, and how would you know what issues TF suffer from or have suffered in the past? According to your posts on here, you've only just joined their community!Running a single forum doesn't take much wo...[/quote] Registered there under current name early-Nov. Was previously registered and active using a different name.

I get a few "cold calls". I have pretty limited French language skills, so I use them as language practice. What is amazing is that even once they have found how badly and how little I speak French they continue trying to explain what they are trying to sell. They don’t give up early but continue on trying to explain what they want to sell, etc. I’m sure that reversed situations in the UK (i.e. to somebody that spoke very little English), the caller would give up very quickly.

I use Wanadoo and agree about the Wanadoo disk. All you need are your usernames and passwords, the telephone number (if dial-up) for the service you are subscribing to (e.g. Pay-as-you go is one phone number, fixed max. hours per month another, etc.) You then just set it up as a standard Internet dial-up connection. I did find that when I went to ADSL I needed to install the Wanadoo CD to get the drivers for the ADSL box. However, I then managed to delete out all the actual Wanadoo software. Not only is the Wanadoo software very invasive, but I found it quite buggy. Every few days my modem would completely lock-up (normally on-line) and the computer refuse to shut-down (loads to internal XP tasks “Not Responding”. This was completely solved when using a standard Windoze dial-up to make the connection. How easy you find it to do without the Wanadoo CD will depend on either your language or IT skills. Wanadoo technical support will talk you through setting it up without their CD but they mostly speak French (some people there speak English but they are hard to find as they are often busy – it’s a premium rate number. If you are technically orientated then you will have no problems. You can install the Wanadoo CD to get the phone numbers, Outlook, etc. configured, then remove it (at least that used to work OK – don’t know if it still does. I downloaded the disk from Wanadoo’s site before moving to France and you can then set it all up online (using the software). Remember that some UK telephones do not work in France (even with adapters) and I guess the same may be true for UK modems ? e.g. one of my BT telephones worked fine except it would not ring. Others have said that some models of DECT telephones can give problems so modems may be the same. If you already have a UK modem, all you can do it try – but modems are not expesive.

With a bit of DIY skill, an old walking compass and guidance from http://www.brymar.co.uk/info/info.html (sorry but I cannot hyperlink it without Internet Explorer) I mounted my UK disk and aligned it in less that 1 hour. I was probably lucky but it was not too difficult. I actually get a stronger and better quality signal (both) in France that I did in the UK. The above site also gives coverage beams, etc.