Punch

Dear Adriana, Firewood is usually sold here in France by the stre which is one cubic metre. There are three steres to a chord. The going rate in my part of Mayenne at the moment is about 700 -750FF a chorde. I have the luxury of being able to shop around a bit at this time of the year as it is very much a buyers market and there are plenty of farmers trying to sell it. It is important to ask if the wood will be sci, cass et livre (sawn to size, split and delivered). Another important point is to ask for wood that is "bien sec et pret a bruler" (seasoned and ready to burn), as wood needs at least 18 months to be seasoned. Finally as mentioned by carol in this thread, don't burn resinous wood such as pine or similar as these will cause havoc with your woodburner and flue pipes. Ask for oak (chne, chestnut, or beech (htre), if you can. I used about 5 chords of wood last winter. I suggest you order one chorde from your supplier, as it will do no harm to have some left over which will be nicely seasoned for next year! Paul

We paid around 5000F ten years ago, and the mains pipe was only 8 metres away from our property. Regarding Electricity, I have just had a devis from the EDF arranged for a customer to put in a new supply. The Poteau is about 25m away from the house. The quote was 6989FF. There is no hard and fast way to calculate how much each of these services will cost. Normal practice is to arrange a meeting on site with EDF and water board who will prepare an individual devis. Paul

Have a good look at the condition of the roof. Other areas to consider; Is there mains electricity and water as these can be expensive to install. Is there a septic tank installed? Check for any large cracks in the walls especially near gable ends. Check for any major obvious infestations of woodworm or termite damage. Basically use your common sense, ask the agent questions and perhaps try to meet the present owners on site? Paul

>We have received a statement from >EDF-GDF. At the >bottom of the statement, there >is a slip called 'autorisation >de prelevement automatique EDF-GDF' - >I think this is the >slip for direct debit payment, >is this so? Yes this is correct, you will need to fill it in and sign it. >And will this cover all >future payments as well as >this statement. Yes,once set up you will receive your EDF bil in advance of the money being taken from your account. Your Facture will say that the amount will be taken from your acount on a certain future date,which gives you time to dispute it if there is a problem. >There is also a line that >reads 'Je souhaite payer mensuellement >mes depenses d'electricite et de >gaz', followed by a tick >box - What is this >about? This is if you want to pay for your electricity monthly. They will look at your last years bills and make an educated guess on how much they wish you to pay monthly. This is how I pay for mine and it helps to spread the cost evenly. They will offer to adjust the monthly amount if your consumption increases over the next period. >In the box subtitled 'designation du >compte a debiter' I am >confident that this is for >our bank details, as it >mentions n du compte and >cle. It also >mentions 'code' and 'code guichet' >- is this bank code >and branch code respectively? My French bank (Credit Mutuel)and I think most accounts are made up of the following; a five digit bank code, a five digit guichet, an eleven digit bank account no.,and two digit cl number. If you have a French Cheque book, it should contain a RIB (releve d'identit bancaire), which has all these numbers on it. It would be better to send a RIB to the EDF if you are not sure about the numbers. You can get RIBs from French ATM machines as well. >The final box is entitled 'nom >et addresse de l'etablissement teneur >de compte', which I am >sure is asking for our >bank name and address - >Is this so? Yes this is correct, often you will be asked for "Domiciliation" of your bank which is the same thing. Titulaire du compte is Account owner. >Apologies for not inserting the bits >above the E's - could >not find out how to >do this in this forum >but can in Word (any >ideas?) Yes, I seem to be able to get most of them by using a combination of the alt key and the numeric keypad (with numlock on). ie; . There was a thread on this so if you do a search in the archives all will be revealed. Hope this helps, Paul

Hi Maggie, Letting would seem to be the most lucrative option, but then you will still need someone to look after repairs, check for damage etc, which all costs money. Why don't you engage the services of someone who advertises in the various publications, who could call in, say once a week for a small fee. Depending on where you intend to buy, I would recommend Lucy Moss of "La Garde Maison". She advertises in LF. Paul

>As a mains drains man all >my life can anyone tell >me about septic tanks in >France. Do they need much >maintenance & what problems could >I expect or should look >out for. >I would be grateful for any >comments from users of these >systems as I am looking >to buy in the Limousin >& most properties seem to >be on S/T's. >Thanks!! I put mine in 11 years ago. It is a concrete 3000L toutes eau model. I used a large amount of gravel for the drainage bed. It seems to have worked, it has never been emptied, and is nowhere near full yet. The vast malority of the waste is broken down by a chemical process. If you remember to dose it properly with the correct chemicals, on a regular basis, then it should work fine. Remember to only use the correct type of toilet roll, and no bleach! Apparently years ago, they used to chuck a dead sheep down the hole just to keep the bacterialogical process going. Perhaps I can persuade the moher in law to peer into mine......tee hee! Paul

Hi, Having two daughters at school here in France, one in CE1 and the younger in "Grande section", we are always ferrying them off to birthday parties. From our experience, most French childrens parties are usually held at the childs house and are usually quite low key as compared to the English way of doing things. When Ruby (7) had her last party, we played pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, and finished with a mini disco in our lounge! - and then cake and candles of course. This went down really well with the children.The other parents still talk about the great fun their kids had at her party! Get your daughter to make the invitations, perhaps on the PC? Another tip - give them to her teacher to put in the childrens bags when they leave school, rather than hand them out in class as this can prove dissapointing to uninvited kids. Have fun! Paul