Liz

Anybody know anywords which are definitely French in origin and start with K ? K7? Sounds french to me Liz (29)

A couple of weeks ago I had a bit of a disaster with my computer and wiped off practically everything so I had to re-install including the browser. I can now get a lot of the facilities such as Control Panel and Search that I couldn't get before, so every cloud .... One thing that is now missing is immediate access to the Forum. I used to get straight in here with an address that included the words 'instant forum' that my browser remembered for me. Now I find I have to trawl through to the bottom of the page of rules before I can get access. Has this feature been altered in my absence or should I just be checking my browser settings? Liz (29)

Apart from the joints TU mentions the only thing I can think of that has that gammony taste comes in prepacked slices marked Jambon a Griller. Usually 2 to a pack and I think I have only seen it in sort of pre-formed shapes fully trimmed, no fat no rind. Fleury Michon is a brand I have used I think and I am pretty sure they have it in LeClerc on the pre-packed cooked meat counter. Maybe better than nothing! Liz (29)

[quote]is waterproof? Would you, or have you, used it in a bathroom for example?[/quote] We have some in our gite bathroom. As has been said the joints would not be fully waterproof and you could not use it behing a shower, for example unless you sealed the joints very well. However it does clip together very closely and I cannot think of any other problems with it. It gives you the opportunity to insulate behind as you will be standing it off the wall on battens. To cut down further on condensation install a VMC. Liz (29)

Some time ago we bought a transmitter and a couple of speakers from our local Geant hypermarket to transmit radio from the sat receiver around the house, and in the garden too. It works very well. Yesterday we saw them in the Geant sale at half price! If you buy such a thing in the UK the frequency will be illegal in France and vice versa. Liz (29)

[quote]Try a utility called "hijack this!" which lists all programs which start-up, posible sy-wre, trojans, etc. -Rob-[/quote] French I can manage but Computerspeak is a foreign language. I sometimes have the same problem Lollie describes and put it down to my elderly and creaking system (computer that is). The utility you mention sounds useful but where do I find it and what on earth is sy-wre? Liz (29)

The only answer is to speak French like a native! A local friend of mine bought what she thought was a video cassette of a film called Les Choristes (or something like that). When she opened the box she discovered that it looked like a CD, was disappointed but tried it on her CD player thinking she had the music of the film. Of course, as it was a DVD (something of which she had never heard) there was no sound so she took it back to the Geant hypermarket where it came from. The staff said they were sorry but as it had been opened they could not re-imburse her. She asked to see the manager. He was at lunch (naturally) and they eventually agreed to re-imburse the money. I was very surprised when she told me this and I don't think anyone but a genuine little old french lady could have got away with it. I must say that my experience of Geant has also been good. We had a band sander from Geant which gave up about 2 weeks before the 2 year guarantee ran out. I took it back expecting some excuse about it not being their fault etc. etc. But, no problem, they would give me a replacement. Send for M Leon from the Bricloage department. Desolé says M Leon we no longer stock this particular make we'll have to give you a refund. Fine by me. I accepted the cash and walked around the shop to find a virtually identical item at about half the price we had paid 2 years before! The other shop I have found excellent for returns, both for faulty goods and simply having surplus items or changing our minds, is Brico Depot. Maggi's description of the wrong shade of paint made me laugh. I must remember that one. They usually show you what the mix looks like and I have sometimes wondered what would happen if I said Aagh! that's not what I wanted. Now I know. Liz (29)

"we had to pay the first bill and sign and send the preleve form with the cheque and the D/D was set up after that, is the TIP system a different thing and a system where you have to authorise each payment before it is taken out of your bank? " Yes, the TIP system is different from D/D and works exactly as you describe. Simply attach your RIB (Relevé d'Identité Bancaire) or RIP for La Poste with the first bill. I found, even when we lived in England, that I had just enough time to authorise the payment and get it back to the relevant authority. Amongst a mass of downsides to French banking the TIP system is a brilliant invention. Liz (29)

One thing people expect is for the property to be finished. That sounds daft but I have had a couple of people here who had stayed elsewhere first and said that the house they had stayed in previously (British owned) was not actually finished! I guess people are desperate for the cash and advertise regardless. I would suggest you go for what would be acceptable for yourselves if you were on holiday. If it is a big place more than one bathroom might be essential, for example. A dishwasher seems to be an essential these days. Perhaps have a look at the Gites de France web site and see what they provide for the money. The one thing I would look for is the arangements for cleaning and caretaking the property, you cannot rely on those departing to leave the place clean enough for the next guests. If you are expecting to let this summer you really need to be advertising now. Liz (29)

[quote]Yes. You can use CC just as in English.[/quote] This surprises me as I always thought the expression was 'Pieces Jointes' or 'PJ'. It is a while since I've used it so maybe I'm out of date, or, perhaps either will do. Liz (29)

[quote]HI GuysI was thinking of bringing some plants with me to FRance hwen I move in May they are all in pots about 8 house plants and the others are bamboo in pots--large garden ones and a small palm tree ...[/quote] As has been mentioned there are a few plants that are not allowed and I believe the list of what these are changes from time to time. Check with DEFRA (used to be Min of Ag) for up to date info. They used to have a leaflet and probably still do and, no doubt, a web site. Liz (29)

Pardon my French but that is the title of the book by Stephen Clarke. I sat on the ferry yesterday for six hours, fortunately there was hardly anyone else on it, and LOL most of the way. The tale of a young man on a 12 month work contract to set up English tea rooms in Paris. His comments on the French way of life are extremely accurate as well as funny. I'd recommend it to all but the most prudish who might not be too impressed by his adventures with a number of girlfriends. I hope the book hasn't been mentioned before on the Forum, I can't get the search facility to work to find out! Liz (29)

[quote]How chilled out am I. Sitting here on Christmas day with the turkey sizzling and the family watching junk tv. Anyway - what do I use farine de mais for? I mistakenly bought it thinking it might be ...[/quote] Cornflour is Fleur de Mais. comes in small packets as it does in the UK and often but not always under the Maizena brand name but be careful because there are other products from Maizena that look similar. Liz (29)

[quote]I need to kill grass and weeds growing through our gravel path. Is there a good weedkiller that not only kills the weeds but stops things from growing for a very, very, long time. The French name woul...[/quote] I've used a couple of products both of which were pretty effective. The secret is to make sure you cover every square inch of the gravel, a tedious job! One is Fertiligene LikidAllées (the wierd spelling is theirs not mine) and the other was, I think, from KB and I must have used it all and disposed of the box so I can't remember the name. It was recommended by a friend and says clearly on the box that it lasts 12 months. If you can't read French look out for words like Cours, Terrasses, Allées and 12 Mois or Longue Durée. These are available in the hypermarkets and the garden centre shops (when they've put the Father Christmasses away) and are normally applied from about March onwards. Liz (29)

"Now that they do not give notice of expiry. " Richard, you've got me puzzled. Can you not dial the number (225 I think) and that tells you how long your line will stay available. The info is probably also available from the web site although I haven't checked this out lately. I use my Orange mobile very little and pay 10 Euros every 6 months to keep it active. I don't require the message service. It's not ideal but it was the best solution I could come up with to get incomming calls. Liz (29)

For various reasons I don't do the daily update but I do get prompted to update, about once a week I think and I happened to do it this morning. No particular problems with it this time or on previous occasions. Liz (29)

[quote]Having had a bit of a problem with the drainage recently, I know that in our property only the waste from the loo goes through the fosse, waste from the bath and washing machine just goes into the soa...[/quote] The original question has come up several times and my answer is always the same as yours. No one has ever contradicted it. AFAIK this is the way most septic tanks work and the soap powder question is irrelevant. Liz (29)

I'm with Janey on this. The improvement to the login is good but the speed is no different. It really does annoy me this business of Broadband. AFAIK there is no prospect of me getting Broadband in this rural area in the near future and even if it were available I am not at all sure that I would wish to pay for it, given the fairly limited use I make of the Internet (I do have a life ) I have been looking at property web sites recently, by their nature they have loads of photos to download, but there is only one site that gives me real trouble. When I e-mailed the owners they said, of course, if you had Broadband ... But it is very strange that other large sites with loads of details still download very well indeed. Liz (29)

It does sound expensive but there are boilers and boilers. If you went to Brico Depot you would get one for probably half the price, elsewhere something that does the same job could cost twice as much. You just have to evaluate whether the cheaper or the more expensive is right for your situation. Getting the boiler installed should not be that expensive, it is a day's work for a man and a boy (or in our case a girl). My OH was in two minds whether he should install the boiler himself. Like you the rads etc were already there. Amongst others we went to a local suppler of boilers, saw the one we wanted and asked the firm to give us the name of an installer. We felt that what we spent was not excessive (I think the whole job was roughly the same as the price you have for supply only, but we do not have so many rads so the boiler is smaller I guess) as there is a considerable saving in VAT. Whatever happens you will have to get someone in to commission the boiler It does pay to shop around. Liz (29)

[quote]Sad but true I miss Gardeners world and most of the other t.v gardening stuff ,I have the normal ? 6 channels.Any ideas ?[/quote] I know what you mean. I have watched Coté Jardin a few times and it did very much strike me in the old Percy Thrower style, here is the potting shed and this is what you do. Although I feel we have had a surfeit of gardeners on UK TV in the last few years the way the programmes have been put together does seem to be a lot more imaginative. The only suggestion I can make is to go down the free to air digital satellite route and you will then have BBC2 (and the other BBC Channels). Liz (29)

This morning I tried to reply to a post. Usually I am automatically logged in at that point and I type my message - no problem. This morning I had to log myself in using the password and I am certain I had not previously logged out. I have just come on to the Forum again (you can't have too much of a good thing!) and found I was automatically logged in immediately. I notice there are a lot of 'Guests' about which is most unusual. It seems to me the Log In procedure has gone a bit peculiar or is it just me? Liz (29)

I would endorse the recommendation to buy one of the more expensive heaters. For the extra money you get ease of use, simply press the ON button to light and OFF to turn off. Avoid Piezo ignition like the plague! The fan assisted ones are very good indeed for a quick boost to your heating and a thermostat is handy if you want to leave it on for any length of time, we can pre-set ours to the required temperature. They can be a little bit smelly on turning off and on but this soon disappears and it is ESSENTIAL to have adequate ventillation. So even if you take steps to cut down on drafts make sure your have a window you can open easily. Petrole is easy to find in containers or en vrac (take your own container once you've got one) and you will need some kind of pump to fill your heater. Often a manual pump is included but you can get electric ones as well. Odourless Petrole is a bit more expensive but worth the extra. I can't really comment on the expense as we don't use ours that often but, as they are only intended as suppplementary heating and you spread the cost by buying fuel only when you need it shouldn't be too prohibitive. Liz (29)

[quote]The French basically don't send greetings cards at this time of year in the way that the British do. Possibly because most of them can't spell or perhaps just because they are too tightfisted. This ex...[/quote] Mazan, I'm so glad to see you back. You've just given me a good laugh on a very dull day and, as always, hit the nail on the head. Liz (29)

[quote]lol, other than rude words of exasperation re bad wood! We bought some liquid treatment in the UK a few years back to paint on both wet and dry rot...is there something similar in France ?[/quote] I wonder if you mean wood hardner. This is suitable for things like window frames where you can cut out the affected part then, if you can't get back to really sound wood, paint this on and it makes it hard (does what it says on the tin in other words ) It is called Durcisseur de Bois and is available, but not widely, Mr Bricolage is usually quite good for that sort of thing. Liz (29)

[quote]We've just had satellite installed, we've got BBC1, 2 and ITV 3 (and various others). I knew we wouldn't have channel 4 and ITV1 etc. but I'd assumed we'd have CBeebies?[/quote] Cbeebies and CBBC are in the same place as BBC 3 & 4 but in the daytime until 8pm french time. If you can get BBC 3 you must be able to get one of the children's programmes as well (I forget which goes with which). If you have BBC 3 but not BBC4 I suggest you do a rescan. Liz (29)