Cacknanty

The Virgin deal looks pretty good, presumably there is no monthly fee ? and nothing to pay up front ? Is there a minimum charge for each month ? If the answers are no I think a change in provider is required ! Thanks 4 the info.  

We used to have a contract with Orange, last year we changed to PAYG and we still have the same number and it works in France ok. However the call charges are horrendous on PAYG, make sure you have plenty of credit, it's £1.20 pm to make a call and 60p to receive. A text is 40p This is about double the cost of a contract call. At least when the money runs out thats all you pay, with a contract you could come back to a huge bill. cheers

We drop a couple of twigs in the toilet bowl. If the water should freeze it shouldn't crack the bowl. cheers

Absolutely hours of fun. It all depends on the paper and whether it's been painted or not. I've used a steamer in the past and it was useless, but then the paper did have a few coats of paint on it. It took days to get off. On other occasions (when we've been lucky) the paper has 'split' leaving a thin water absorbant layer that that easily scrapes off with a broad bladed scraper. Use as much water as you can, if the paper doesn't absorb the water then scratch the paper as much as possible so the water/steam penetrates through to the glue. If you do happen to gouge into the plaster, it is easily filled afterwards. Cheers

Used my bank to buy the place last year, for the new roof we are in the middle of using currencies4less. Seems quite painless up to now...... well as painless as spending a few grand can be. The rate was better with C4L and the 'transmission charge' was £10 compared to £20 for the bank. Cheers

Eurotunnel have updated the info on the website re POC etc. It would appear that they are replacing these schemes with ..... nothing. They are "developing a new, simpler tariff for 2005 to ensure that you can benefit from more flexible, attractive deals at any time" Time will tell.  

We bank with HSBC in the UK, when we started our property purchase last year I enquired at our branch if they would assist in opening up an account with CCF in France (knew nothing of the 'banque patrimonale' status). They were only too happy to help, got everything sorted, filled in forms and sent off the relevant docs. A couple of calls from head office in Paris later, I had an email and letters from the branch in Beaune welcoming me. Whenever I call in the branch they speak French until a blank look appears on my face and switch to English.  They have been most helpful to us. Apart from buying the house and a month before any major works are taking place there is just a few hundred euros in the account. Being an IT guy in Local Government, I'm not really up with the hoy polloy (is that how you spell it ?).  The problem is that there aren't many branches compared to the other banks. Having said all this,I am probably going to move to CA or La Poste next year as its a 60 mile round trip to get to the nearest CCF. Cheers

Last year it cost us £350 return for a 7.5 ton truck on eurotunnel. Cheers

The Lapeyre promo is €279 including a blind for 78 x 98. Our price includes labour but the velux are being put in at the same time as a new roof. So it's not really a true price for putting them in as a seperate job. Cheers

We are having two 78 x 98 Velux put in in November for €400 each. Dept 71. I notice that Lapeyre have a promo on velux at the moment, checkout their website Cheers

[quote]Hello, Thanks for all your advice. We have noticed in our draft acte de vente that the vendor has to report the fact that there is lead paint in the property to the relevant official (the mairie?) b...[/quote] In our case, a letter arrived from the Direction Departmentale Des Affaires Sanitaires et Sociales about 6 months after buying the place. It included a form to fill in, as we are struggling to come to terms with conversational French let alone techy French we trotted down to the Immobilier who asked us the questions and filled the form in for us. He even posted it, top man ! If I remember rightly it asked us what we had done about the lead paint and when. We've not heard anything since so hopefully we have dun right.

Can't see it being a problem on Hoverspeed. In the past we have dragged a caravan behind and two bikes on the roof of a Range Rover. Mind you the stevedores were cringing as we drove on and off, they reckoned there was a couple of inches clearance to the handlebars. Don't forget to add the height on when you book. Other posts reckon that Speedferries will be taking caravans next year, give them a ring to check.

Not there - mores the pity ! We have a maison secondaire (fermette) on the border of 71 & 21, visits are currently restricted to school hols. Quite a small village (pop 68), facilities consist of a phone box & Mairie open 2 afts a week. One other English family have just bought a place at the other end of the village, and a Dutch couple in the middle Next trip at the end of Oct to remove the roof tiles ready for the roofer to put a new one on with windows. Timetable is a bit tight, we've been told the Permis will be granted on the 18 Oct, contractor in on the 2 Nov. We're still mostly on waving terms with the locals, apart from the family whose dog bit my sons leg in the summer. Apparently the dog has bitten 4 other people in the village including the Mayors secretary. If they don't put the things down after that when do they ? We decided it was better to accept the apologies of the family and the replacement trousers rather than cause a rumpus as we are not there 90% of the time.(thinks, I might post a question on the pets forum) I would like to know of any live music bars in the area, we got to a cajun night in a bar in Nolay this Summer, absolutely excellent night, still rocking when we left at 2am. Best regards

What you say Nick must be true, as we only had to do something about the lead paint because we have an under 18 year old in the family.

Try and do it outside, wear a good mask and sand it down. If your sanding inside, keep the mask on when sweeping up. Not sure about burning it off, presumably the fumes would be less than healthy. Our agent told us it would be ok to paint over the lead paint with a modern paint, which we have done and sent the forms back to the 'lead dept'. We've not heard anything since so it seems ok, and our madness hasn't got any worse !

It appears to me that motorcycles of 125cc and less do not have number plates in France (well certainly in Burgundy 21/71). Presumably they have to be insured ?, do they need CT (MOT)? What is the minimum age for riding one of these things? Does the rider need to have taken a test ? (Not a problem for me but my little 'erbert is interested !) I would be grateful for any answers/advice, thanks  

This is bad news, there is nothing like steaming past long queues of cars to joing the v.short or no Q at all at the 'Club' check in. Having said that, the last two trips were very quiet affairs  in what should have been peak season. £98 for a return trip is good value for the convenience, if it gets better than that for frequent travellers so much the better. We shall wait and see !

We appear to have the foil/bubble wrap, covered with pine cladding in the roof of our 'mini' house, it is absolutely perishing in the winter. I believe the main reason is where the roof joins the wall, as the wind fair blows a hooley through there. On the plus side tho' it never smells damp when we arrive for our odd weeks of hard labour in the autumn/winter ! A new roof is going on our farmhouse in November and would like to know if this tri iso stuff is available in France, as we are holiday homers we don't get a lot of time to browse around all the brico places. Incidentally we have found prices in Bricoman are considerably cheaper than all others we have visited, although they are not a big chain, yet. Thanks

On some Legrand switches that are vacuum wrapped they have a diagram of va et vient wiring.  

A velux window is flat to, and follows the line of the roof. Chien Assis or Lucerne or Dormer window sticks out from the roof line with a vertical window(s). Well I understand what I've just written !

We are having our roof replaced in October and taking the opportunity to include 2 chien assis (95 x 90) and 2 velux. Reading the Devis we are being charged €4995 for the two chien assis and €1700 for the two velux. The whole shooting match is €27,000 but it is 33m long and being in Burgundy is steep. We have seen the chaps work and enjoyed a glass or two at his own house, which he is also renovating. Top bloke and happy to share his knowledge. Hope this helps.