Juswundrin

Oh sorry, I thougt OP meant 'onions starting to flower' rater than 'flowering onions'... if you see what I mean.

http://www.comptoirpicardie.fr/

Hi Yes, and yes.

It's here: http://tinyurl.com/3bdq7g

"everything I have read about (ICICI) is good and they seem to be very well respected" Have a nose round the forums at moneysavingexpert.com - pretty much everything I've read there about ICICI suggests they're absolutely abysmal. I'd second the recommendation for Bradford & Bingley, excellent customer service as well as the best rate I've found. From memory, AngloIrish Bank and Alliance & Leicester offer similar accounts though at a lower rate than B&B (at least that was the case when we were looking).

Hi Anyone have this type? We're tempted by the maintenance-free (?) exterior (with presumably less discolouration from the sun than might happen with uPVC) but with the warmth of wood inside. I think the frames are actually all wood, just with aluminium profiles which clip(?) to the exterior? We had all-aluminium windows years ago in the UK and I remember they were terrible for condensation; this is presumably not a problem with the wooden frame spaced behind it? Also, is it available on external doors as well as windows? Look forward to any info, Thanks

"Has Telerabais been satisfactory in your experience?" Yes, apart from occasional noise on the line we're totally happy with them. We also use teleplanete - 0811 655 600 - from time to time (same prices).

Hi This one? (You'll need to copy/paste the link). http://www.ariase.com/fr/guides/resiliation.html Good luck... if our experience cancelling Neuf is anything to go by, you're gonna need it!

Bradford & Bingley IoM offer 5.85% (tax paid gross, usual reporting requirements). http://www.bbi.co.im/offshore-savings-accounts/offshore-internet-banking/e-access-account.aspx

Check out http://www,moneybookers.com for something similar (but better, IMHO). Usually takes 2 days from Moneybookers to our La Poste a/c (plus a BACS transfer from our UK account to Moneybookers, unless you leave cash in there). Costs €3.50 each time.

"they have tryed to get it fixed a the local garage but as they dont understand french that well the owners have tryed to rip them off" Genuine question - with little mechanical knowledge and poor French, how on Earth do they know that?!

Thanks Steve If that's a normal 'fruitcage' kind of mesh (filet de protection), it's much less fine than I'd ideally like - Enviromesh can even help against flea beetle. I suppose I could try two overlapping layers to effectively reduce the mesh size, that might be worth a bash. Thanks again

Hi I've been trying to buy some Enviromesh to protect our brassicas from cabbage whites etc later in the year; the shops have plenty of overwintering fleece-type stuff, but I've not been able to find anything intended to be left on in Summer for this purpose. Does anyone know of a stockist, perhaps mail order, or is it a case of getting it sent from the UK? Thanks

"two sets of close friends have said they are selling up and leaving..." " ... missing a social life with intelligent, educated friends. " I think I might have kept quiet about that bit...

Thin & crispy?

Hi We're getting ours replaced soon, so can't yet speak from experience, but there's loads of info here: http://www2.ademe.fr/servlet/KBaseShow?sort=-1&cid=96&m=3&catid=15971

Orange - Service client Pole 27 33734 Bordeaux Cedex 9

"The monthly fee was Euros 29.95.... I find that they have increased this months' charge to Euros 39.95, without any notification whatsoever." We're on Orange 512, the fee is 24.90 a month not 29.95 (and this month's invoice is the same); are you sure you haven't signed up for something extra as well? Actually, 39.95 doesn't seem to correspond to any of their offers: http://nos-offres.orange.fr/no1166698070/ext/om2a-gamme-omsrhd.html

"It may seem like just a technical difference, but the effect is that your bank cannot cancel it, which means that you cannot cancel it by writing to your bank." A couple of years ago (I can't remember whether it would have been with CA or La Poste) we had a prelevement with Neuf Telecom. Running into problems with Neuf taking money incorrectly, we told the bank to cancel the prelevement. The bank cancelled it, and Neuf could no longer take funds from our account. There was a charge of about E12, but it's certainly possible to cancel them.

"France is not some sort of fantasy land where life is wonderful all the time and all is good and you won't be burgled or attacked" Nope; that's Hampshire, apparently.

"Can I ask you, Juswundrin, when your chauffe eau was on 3 phase did it have 3 live wires to it?" From memory (this was 3 years ago now, and I can't get to it right now); yes, there were three. The diagram on ours was very straightforward (otherwise, I wouldn't have done it myself).

Hi Our chauffe-eau did stop working when we were switched from 3- to mono-phase, it then just needed two small tweaks; changing the wiring at the chauffe-eau itself, which I did myself (there was a simple wiring diagram underneath), and a change at the fusebox (€20 by the plumber, so I can't tell you exactly what was involved).

"as the regulations change all the time" Bear in mind, then, that the post previous to yours is two years old.

Thanks for all the help. (Lee, it's purely the manual. as you say I don't need driver software.) Fulcrum, thanks, have just replied with my email address.

Hi Does anyone else have one of these? My problem is that, with a slot-loading Mac, I can't use the 8cm disc provided so don't have access to the instruction manual (and the manufacturer's website is closed for maintenance). I'm hoping someone who has the same model might be able to email me the manual (which I'm assuming is a PDF file? Thanks