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It saddens me that a genuine question like the one that started this thread can provoke such hostile replies. Of course one could search on Google, or acquire a sufficient level of fluency in french, or even try to search for existing information on this forum (on the odd day that the advanced search facility is actually working). But if a forum member chooses to ask a question seeking advice from those with, perhaps, more knowledge of a particular subject, why should they be subjected to a personal attack? I can't help but wonder, if a question like this was asked in person, within a circle of friends or acquaintances, would some people be quite so quick to answer so negatively, or does the relative annonimity of the forum make some people feel free to speak in a manner that would not be deemed acceptable in "polite society"? Whilst it is true that many people (of whatever nationality) could not afford the initial outlay, the french government has committed itself to increasing the level of use of renewable energy sources to account for 21% of consumption by 2010.  And so tax breaks are available to those wishing to install geothermal heating.  So what exactly is the problem here? Of course everyone has an opinion, and wider discussion is to be expected and encouraged, but there does seem to be an element of the old green-eyed monster creeping into play here. On the whole I find the forum genuinely interesting, informative and sometime even stimulating, but really, come on guys, sometimes you just take my breath away!    

Can any of you lovely people tell me the name of that wonderful basque bandas tune that is often played at fetes and wedding parties? It's the one where everyone sits in a row on the floor (in a distinctly "oops upside your head" style, for those old enough to remember it) and then they slap the floor to the left and right, sway backwards and forwards, and pass people over their heads! I've tried every search I can think of on Google and Amazon, but to no avail.  I've a feeling it's called something like Poccita.

[quote]Just a precaution due to whinging livingfrance members without travel insurance[/quote] Outcast Le bouffon, Of course travel insurance would cover the financial cost, but what we were actually talking about here was the actual logistics and emotional trauma of being stranded. You might as well say that whatever happens doesn't matter a jot if you are covered by insurance! There are other factors aside from the purely financial.

I think it was in 2003 Ron, and it was on a Sunday in September or October. However, there was no bus provided from Rodez.  Although the plane was re-routed to another airport to land, it was classed as a cancellation and not a diversion.  We had to pay for taxis or hire cars. The airport staff (not Ryanair staff by the way, there were none at Rodez) tried their best to get people onto other flights, but the options were pretty limited. Those that could afford to wait until a flight from Rodez became available were booked onto flights for the following few days. Some managed to find a flight from a different airport, choosing to hire a car, either to drive to Toulouse to catch a BA flight or to fly from other Ryanair airports. The queues for taxis and hire cars were horrendous, and it took several hours for everyone to get the transport they needed. Many of us ended up at Rodez railway station, awaiting trains to Toulouse or Paris.  By this time we we all on pretty friendly terms, and we decided to decamp to the bar-tabac on the other side of the road from the station while we waited for our respective trains. As I said before, I've no gripe with Ryanair.  I've flown with them many times, all over Europe, and this was the only time that I experienced significant problems.  The money that I have saved by using their bargain basement prices (I only book flights during their "free" flight periods, don't eat on their flights, and have a UK house within reasonable distance of Stansted) more than covers the very high railfare I had to pay from Rodez to London to get me home. Actually, I now remember that there was a very nice man at Rodez airport who had come to collect friends supposed to be flying in on the cancelled flight.  He offered to ferry several people to Rodez to save them having to wait for taxis.  His name was Ron too, it wasn't you by any chance was it  

Oooh yes, I know how that feels! Same thing happened to me with Ryanair a few years ago at Rodez airport.  The flight was cancelled minutes before it was due to land due to bad weather conditions (it was actually slightly drizzly). A mad rush then started out for the check-in desk to find out how everyone was to get home. And that's where part of the problem lies, as Ryanair don't have spare planes or availability to get people home in the event of a flight cancellation.  There were no spare seats out of Rodez on another flight for 3 days!  I eventually had to do the same as you, and go home via Eurostar (very, very expensive). We were told that the problem was due to the malfunction of the airport's ground radar, and as visibility was poor due to the weather conditions the flight was unable to land.  When I checked later I found that Rodez didn't actually have a ground radar system at all, and that it was not uncommon for flights to be cancelled in that manner.  I phoned Ryanair to ask for a refund (they do not offer compensation on flight cancellations due to weather conditions) and was offered a "full refund" of the measly 16 quid I'd paid for the flight! So the fault lay with the airport, and not the airline.  I'm not knocking Ryanair, you get what you pay for 99% of the time.  It's just when you happen to be in that other 1%.....

You could also try your local market, our's has it on sale in huge bunches every week at the moment, and very nice it is too. I bought some this morning and am just about to make a big batch of watercress soup

Will, I was under the impression (perhaps wrongly) that there is currently a tax loophole that would allow the sale of a UK home without incurring Capital Gains Tax, but that this loophole will be closed once the new double tax treaty between France and the UK comes into force.  The treaty was signed in January 2004, but has been subject to several delays, and is not now expected to come into force until 2007. At the moment under the existing treaty there is a "double exemption" from CGT for gains realised by French residents on profits arising from the sale of UK properties. These gains would normally be taxable in the UK, but as the UK doesn't impose CGT on non-residents, here we have our loophole. The exception to this would be if you were to return to live in the UK within 5 years of the sale of your UK home, but if you are planning to live permanently in France you would not be subject to tax, in either France or the UK, on the sale of your UK home. If you have owned your UK home for more than 15 years though, you may be exempt from French tax even when the new treaty comes into force. Of course things may have changed, and as you say Neil's best bet is to take advice from a specialist in this area.

Pat, I copied this from Google help.. CLEARING YOUR GOOGLE SEARCH BOX HISTORY The search history that displays in the search box on the Google homepage is stored by your browser, not by Google. To disable this feature on Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) versions 5.0 and higher: 1. Go to the "Tools" menu. 2. Select "Internet Options." 3. Select the "Content" tab. 4. Within the "Personal Information" area, select "AutoComplete." 5. Click on "Clear Forms." You can also uncheck the "Forms" box in this same window to keep this information from being stored in the future. Alternatively, you can delete individual entries from your search history by using the Down arrow key to select a previous search, then pressing the Delete key once an unwanted search is highlighted. To disable this feature in Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and higher: 1. Go to the "Tools" menu. 2. Select "Options" > "Privacy" > "Saved Form Information." 3. Click "Clear" and un-check the box. 4. Click "OK" to exit.

It doesn't even need to be a Sky+ box, you could just as easily keep your existing Sky reciever and add a DVD recorder with a hard drive recording facility (often called personal video recorders or PVRs).  They record in much the same way as a video recorder, but onto a hard drive, and also give you you option of watching, pausing and rewinding shows as they are transmitted. For more information see the link below... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video_recorder I've had a Thomson Scenium PVR for a couple of years, and the only real downside is that I can't use the Sky EPG to program my recordings.  Instant record is no problem, but to set the timer I have to enter the start/stop times manually. I'm not sure how much they cost here in France, but prices start at around £180 in the UK.  

Clair is right I think.  As far as I am aware, ITV on satellite is only transmitted via the Astra 2d satellite, and ITV1 is no longer encrypted by videoguard as it is now free-to-air. If your reciever is not automatically picking up ITV1 as free-to-air you may be able to add it manually. You can find the settings below... http://www.kingofsat.net/en/freqs.php?&b=40&sat=52&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear Another satellite (Eurobird 1) transmits from a position so close to Astra 2d that one dish will pick up both signals. The free-to-air channels it broadcasts can be found here... http://www.kingofsat.net/en/freqs.php?&sat=57&standard=All&ordre=freq&filtre=Clear

Yes, I saw it at the cinema last year.  Interesting, sad, but not terribly surprising to watch the slow globalisation of the wine industry. Amazing the power that the big wine-critics in America have, and that so many Grand Crus will never be drunk in France due to the ludicrous prices that they can command in the US.  I remember reading somewhere that France regards wine-making as an art, whilst the new world treat it as a science. With everyone chasing the profits then business, science and a homogenised product will eventually win out over the craftmanship, tradition and slightly hit-or-miss quality of many french wines.      

Although ITV4 is not yet showing on the Sky EPG, it is actually transmitting as a test station.  To add it to your Sky box Press the "services" button on your Sky remote control Go to "System setup" (4) Go to "Add Channels" (4) Type in 10758 at Frequency Use the right arrow key to change the symbol rate to 22 Change the FEC to 5/6 in the same way Scroll down to "Find Channels" and press the "select" button ITV4 is transmitting as 10072, so scroll down to this and hit the yellow buton to store the channel. Once you've done all that, you can watch ITV4 by using the services button to access other channels (6) and selecting 10072.     

Depends what you want to use it for Amy. For pouring purposes, I find that creme-liquide (UHT cream that comes in a little box, often sold in packs of 3) can be whipped to a double cream type thickness if you chill it, and the bowl you're going to use, overnight in the fridge beforehand. If you want something thicker (to top a trifle or a pavlova for example) then whipping in a sachet of fixe-chantilly does the trick, and you get a fairly sturdy creme that can stand up in peaks. You can find fixe-chantilly in the same rayon as cake baking materials, it comes in a box about the same size as a pack of swan vestas When using creme-liquid I always add just a little sugar and a drop of vanilla essence to improve the flavour.

Fantastic Opel Fruit! Running a firewall, Spybot, HijackThis and anti-virus software I thought I was as secure as Fort Knox.  Just shows how wrong you can be, as the scan showed that my PC was responding to pings (even though I had specifically disallowed this in the advanced settings for Microsoft Windows Firewall)! I had no idea that the default firewall settings allowed incoming ping requests if TCP port 445 was enabled. Needless to say I've now disabled it.  I've just run the tests again, and achieved a perfect rating Seems you can still teach an old dog new tricks, thank you!

Good grief Gay, you were right, there were 2 incidents http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/2943930.stm

When I first moved to France I lived alone, and it didn't bother me in the least. Although I live in a (very) small town, I have the open countryside just over the road.  It doesn't bother me me to walk, or cycle alone for hours down the local tracks and trails, in daylight. I wouldn't much like covering the same tracks at night much though, but if I had a dog with me I don't think it would be a problem. I worry more that I might get accidentally shot by the local hunters! Sleeping alone in the house never worried me at all, unless I had just watched a scary horror film, in which case I would be checking under the bed for monsters of course!  Big, loud thunderstorms at night scare me, but only because I worry that the chimney will get struck by lightening and fall through the roof! What would worry me would be camping alone, I'd feel just too vunerable in a tent, but in a locked and shuttered house, no problem... well, usually not anyway. I think what I'm trying to say is that there are sometimes some very real things to worry about, but that a lot of the things that we worry about are due to media hyping or plain superstition, and although the perception of risk may be high, the risk itself is minimal. It's just so much easier to magnify any fears when you're in your bed with nothing else to think about or distract you.   If you really want to worry about something just look at the thousands of injuries in the UK caused by common household items and activities (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents): Flowerpots: On average 5,000 people a year in the UK end up in hospital because of accident with flowerpots making them more dangerous than equipment such as hedge trimmers. Food containers: 67,000 people are injured every year trying to peel cellophane off sandwiches, opening a ready meal or opening a ring-pull can. Six out of ten of these, around 150 a day, stab themselves trying to open a jar or ready meal with a knife. Fridge: Refrigerators injure more than 1,000 people a year. Dishwasher: Besides all the scalding injuries, in 2003 a woman fell onto a protruding knife while removing the clean dishes and was killed Cotton Swabs: Twice as many people are injured from cotton swabs as from razors, both normal and electric. Bras: Two women were killed in London when a bolt of lightning hit the metal underwiring in their bras. A study in 1991 showed that women who never wore a bra had half the risk of breast cancer compared to those who did. Socks: Around 10,700 people a year end up at the hospital through injuries caused predominantly while putting on their socks. Chainsaws vs. Newspapers: Chainsaws are the cause of around 1,200 injuries a year but this pales when compared to the 4,300 injured by newspapers and magazines. Boots: An average 5,600 hospital admissions each year. Birdbaths: In one year 311 people went to hospital as a result of them. Sponges: 966 people who ended up in hospital in one year from sponge injuries. I think I'd prefer to stay in bed

Hello Porth You are indeed allowed to ask I'm not sure if I'm allowed to reply in the forum though, so have sent you a PM.  

Chiggers, harvest mites, aoûtats, they're all the same thing, or not, depending on which source you believe  Most agree though that if not exactly the same, they are very closely related, and are classified as trombiculid species Neotrombicula autumnalis. This is a french web page about aoûtats http://www.aspivenin.com/french/ani_aoutat.html and this is the same entry in english      http://www.aspivenin.com/english/ani_aoutat.html Whatever you choose to call them, they are still biting here in France in October, and my french friends are telling me that it is unusual so late in the year, apparently we need a good cold snap to finish them off. I've not managed to find a way of avoiding being bitten, it's all very well to say that we should stay well covered and not sit on the grass, but what are we supposed to do in the heat of summer, stay safely locked in our houses?    

Hi Ron You can (re)enable auto password prompt/completion by adjusting your autocomplete settings for internet explorer. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options. Click the Content tab. Under Personal information, click AutoComplete. Select the check boxes for the AutoComplete options you want to use. Hope this helps

Gosh, thanks Ron I'll start practising the french version straight away... AAAAAÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏÏEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Thank you very much, June, Jean and Les, that is very good news indeed! Now all I need to worry about is my ability (read inability) to communicate using french dentist type vocabulary, I feel a serious session with the dictionary coming on 

Due to some over-enthusiastic chomping on sugared almonds last week, I've just had to make an appointment with a dentist here in france for a replacement filling I've a feeling that it won't be covered by my carte vitale, and as I don't have a mutuelle I will have to shell out for the entire cost myself. Does anyone have any idea how much it is likely to cost, or of a french dentist's scale of charges? It's bad enough having to "look forward" to a visit to the dentist, without worrying which will hurt most, my mouth or my wallet.

From what I can see, it looks as if it is on the A20/A89 intersection. If you can believe all you read on the internet, it is at Nespouls, the land clearing has been completed, work on the runway and buildings will start in September this year, and the airport is due for completion in 2007. Anyone interested can read more (in French,PDF format, page 4) on http://www.tulle-ussel.cci.fr/ADIEC/ADIEC174.pdf   The airport access details currently given are... "Accès à l’aéroport ; autoroute A 20, échangeur de Nespouls, RN 20 jusqu’à Reyjades, puis nouvelle voie d’accès jusqu’à l’aéroport, prise en charge par le Département."   Hope this helps  

I apologise in advance if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, but... VO (versione originale) films may not necessarily be in English, they could also be Spanish, Japanese etc, but the original language should be obvious from the film title. Also the links above may also be used to find VO films in any area, just change the figures highlighted in green below to your own post code to show all VO films showing in cinemas near you. http://www.allocine.fr/seance/salleproche.html?codepostal=17000&j=0&version=6002

Not personally, but you can find out using Allociné as this lists VO films for the week (if the links return no films it is because there are no VO films being shown during that period).   Charente http://www.allocine.fr/seance/salleproche.html?codepostal=16000&j=0&version=6002 Charentes-Maritime http://www.allocine.fr/seance/salleproche.html?codepostal=17000&j=0&version=6002 Deux-Sevres http://www.allocine.fr/seance/salleproche.html?codepostal=79000&j=0&version=6002 Vienne http://www.allocine.fr/seance/salleproche.html?codepostal=86000&j=0&version=6002