Mikew

'Viper' could be adder, not nice to meet. May have even been a grass snake, scary but not too harmful! You can buy an anti-snake spray from Mr Bricolage or similar. It is specially developed to deter, not harm, snakes, they do not like it's smell, altough it does not smell strong to me. Seems to work at our house in Charente, has anyone else tried it? Mike

Reminds me of a friend of mine who was buying from an elderly French person going into care. Everything was proceeding normally until the person unfortunately died, luckily the family still wanted to proceed but everything then multiplied by five, lengthening the timescale, delaying the completion date. All was well after all. Nobody seems to tell all in the moving 'game', Selling here in UK, my buyers chain seemed short and all was going well, until it transpired that the first time buyer at the end of the chain was dependant for his deposit upon the sale of parents house in another chain..... Mike

My UK VISA chip card will not work in French machines, they are on a slightly different system, I believe! Mike

Don't forget that your ride on mower must be left hand drive for use in France, difficult to buy in England.... Mike

Sounds like a "voluntary" legal protection add-on - i.e. inertia selling. they hope you pay it without thinking. Pay it if you want to if not, don't. Mike

I note from the latest News from Headdon that a fiscal rep has to be appointed when a sale of 100.000 goes through, and at a cost of up to 1%!! We expect to move into our French holiday home in April ready to move into our permanant house end of July. The holiday house sale will complete at the same time as we buy. At present we are tax resident in UK, but will have to transfer when we move. Should I make a nil return this year to get into the French tax system, or will declaring residency at time of purchase suffice to avoid this complication? Mike

According to my cheat sheet, that i found whilst de-cluttering the loft ready to move, I hope soon, 'julienne' is cut in thin strips. MikeW

Just checked mine -AVG6- it downloaded and updated without restarting the computer. If you appear to have real trouble, take a note of your serial number, (run control center and look in information), and download a new copy, go offline, uninstall and replace it! Use same serial no. Mike prog version = 6.0.590 release 2/9/03 virus database = 373 release 16/2/04

Easiest way to check is to borrow a known good phone from someone else and do some substitution checks. (Is your inside wiring a FT job or is it DIY with one of the sockets incorrectly wired? Havn't got my wiring diagram to hand but someone will tell you where to find one...) Mike

Just seen on the Charente Libre website that ADSL access has been brought forward to second trimestre this year for the Pays d'Aigre. What ISPs are there for ADSL and what sort of monthly charges can I expect when we move in there later this year. Having got used to 512K here in the UK it was a horrible culture shock to drop back to

What is the rating (in kilowatts) of your EDF supply, and that of your proposed cooker full on? Will your supply stand it? Why not use bottle gas, then you can cook as you are used to, perhaps with an electric oven. M

Set up an ISP before you leave UK. Pick one of the free ones, I use libertysurf, and note the connection telephone number and password settings. You may need your French address as they may insist on sending details in the post (free.fr did this). This way you are all ready to go from day one. You can then take your time in sorting out ADSL if available, or another contract that may more suit your surfstyle. Personally I would not wait to use a setup CD until I arrived. My laptop is set up for dial-up in France and 10/100 access to broadband here. Plug in and go both ends! Mike (16)

Try www.conrad.fr, they are rather like Maplin, with a wide range of electronic goods and componants. They publish a catalogue, usually available at the Presse. MikeW (G8AWE)

Sign yourself up with a provider via the internet before you go to France, someone like Free.fr or libertysurf.fr, so that you are ready to log on when you arrive. (they may insist in sending you the log on details and passwords by post to your french address). You may not be able to log on to your UK provider from abroad, as the number may not be recognised from France, but you should be able to download youe e-mail over the net. You will be able to send via your new provider. Mike