Monika

This might be slightly going off thread but regards our Holiday home in France not one of my friends has been positive about it including my sister. They very rarely even ask me how we get on with our project, and I don't like to bore them, that's probably why I love this forum so much! They all seem to say the same, why do you want the worry of it, why do you want to go on holiday to the same place all the time. I have a friend with a holiday home in Spain, he gets exactly the same reaction with an added: "What, not Spain?" At least I don't get that, most people love France!!

BIG MAC's advice to register a legal charge against the property was my nightmare during our build/renovation. If you do that you don't punish the builder who sub-contracted the work, but the client who in the end will have to pay twice.

I think I can answer my own question. I have found a website which looks excellent (although, now after all that, I can't work my "media player"). It is www.lepointdufle.net/fle-en-ligne.htm. It's got all sorts of things to listen to, from stories to chansons.  

What's psy? (I could not understand Rumzigirl's message at all, and why would the children fit in?) And sorry Stumpy, your experience must have been truly horrific and for your children. I can understand that your reaction is to leave a place where this happened to you but I suppose Teamedup is unfortunately right it can happen in any other country.

Just thought I get this question going again, I am still looking? And miss my "listening" site everytime I iron.

If I am ever down on my luck I would want to meet somebody like Plee. Sometimes charity begins at home!

After all the bad weather we had and the rough Ferry crossings do you want to see a really bad one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=G10KuLTQWzU  

That's exactly the article we need to persuade him. I will print it and send it to him. It's very good and clear, and some of the questions are exactly the same he asked. Thank you Cooperlola.

Thanks to you Will and Val, as usual very helpful advice. So not all ist lost yet!

Thank you Catalpa and WJT, I think that is an excellent idea about a French Fact Sheet about Neutering cats, I could send it to him without commenting much further. Any help in getting one would be much appreciated, while I will try and surf the Web for it as well.

I had so many nice replies from you all, that I thought I update you on our latest situation. There are now three kittens left, 3 have vanished, (the two males and a female tabby), no idea what happened to them. The three kittens left are beautiful and in good health, so is the mother cat. They get fed by our neighbour every two to three days and twice a day when we are there. My neighbour and his wife joined us in our New Year Celebration and unfortunately I spoiled the evening somewhat by broaching the subject of Neutering them. I suggested that I would come over before the spring, stay for a week and take them to the Vet, we and our other English neighbours would pay for it. Again he was horrified, he believes in Nature taking its course, I pointed out to him that in May we could have 24 cats. He would not have it, no way would so many survive. My daughter in law showed him some photos of her cats (with a shaven patch and a small scar), he nearly fainted and his wife too. He accused me of cruelty to animals but said as he likes me, he would let me do it but he thinks I am cruel. I then wanted to end the discussion to save the party and said I would discuss it further with him.  What do you think???

Does an Artisan having a Siret Number protect the client? In August we signed a devis (and paid a £300 deposit) with an English Artisan to fit some shutters. After many telephone calls he promised to fit them before Christmas. On or arrival no work had been done and both his Mobile and his Home telephone are no longer in use. We know that he had some problems with divorce etc. and in a way we feel sorry for him, but what should we do now? Should we threaten him with the Chamber de Metier (he has a Siret number) with a registered letter? Will his Siret number be of any use to us? 

We are going to have our telephone installed at last, (last time they could not do it because the hedge was too tall). They are coming on the 3rd of January, but the problem is, we do not have a telephone yet, 1) will there be any shops open on the 2nd for us to buy one (we are only going to be there for 3 days). 2) If not, does the engineer need a telephone to test the line? Thanks.  

Thank you Roslyn and Jhc, that's interesting about the hight of the pipe, our company has still not contacted us, so we will try the trick with the tights until such times!

Just looked up our installation instructions: It says: The clearance around the stove to any non-combustible materials should be 75 mm (approx 3") either side, 150 mm (approx 6 ") above and 25 mm (1") from the rear wall. These are the ideal recommended measurements.......

Unfortunately that doggie is not mine and I don't know what it is? I just thought it so lovely and it was the only Avatar I managed to add, all my photos don't work!

I don't know the regulations, but we just had a woodburner stove installed by an expert. It is about 5 cm from the wall. And the walls do get hot (which worries me!) 50 cm seems a lot. Thats half a meter or 1 1/2 foot.

Thanks a lot for your answer. I will check specs and as you say we could try it out!

Thank you all for your useful answers, I will print them all out and let my daughter in law make the decision. I am tempted to let them out, especially with getting them used to a certain sound (bell, rattling of biscuit box, as suggested), but I agree, they could just get lost and that would be terrible expecially as they are not street wise.

I wonder I anyone would know:  would a television bought in Switzerland work in France? And a Telefon?

I wonder if anybody has experience in having cats as Indoor Cats in one place and Outdoor Cats in another: Let me explain, my daughter in law is bringing her Indoor Cats to us over Christmas. However here they could be let out, no road in sight only lots of lovely forest (no hunters, this is in England!) and we even have a cat flap?

Some time ago, when I learned about the plight of the Montebourg Cat Rescue, I sent a letter to the editor of a well known Cat Magazine, which was published in the last edition. Shortly afterwards I received a call from an English Organisation offering help, and also offering help to us with our 6 kittens and mum with the expense of neutering them. (As we now only have three left (all others have vanished) we have agreed with our neighbours that we will neuter them in early spring as apparently they can not get pregnant in winter, and nobody is there to look after them after the OP in the winter and we will share the cost). But as you can imagine I was so pleased to find an Organisation which helps people abroad with animals if you should be really stuck. I wrote a thread in Anglo Info and mentioned the charity's name but it was l pulled, so I better not mention it here, but if you want the address pm me.

We have exactly the same problem, brand new fosse and it smells. Somebody told us that the ventilation pipe does not go high enough (in fact it is placed between two windows on the edge of the roof and not on the highest point on the apex) I have written to the firm but no answer yet.

I was trying to send you an e-mail or a pm, but it did not work. Have you read the latest on the Cat Refuge in Montebourg on the AngloInfo for Normandy  I still want to support them, even more so, but I have to ask myself, if the cats will not be happier in the wild, as long as we can have them spayed.

This is my last deperate attempt to find a home for the 6 beautiful stray kittens before we "close up" our holiday home for the winter and I am posting it in the "post bag", because it is the most widely read. The kittens are approx. 4 to 5 months old, very friendly, healthy and beautiful. The microchip number of the mother is: EKX 799  We are going to be there from the 5th to the 15th November. My mobile number is: 00447816618207 We are having a landline installed on the 6th November, the number is: 0233640049.  Please somebody help!