Paul Bradford

Hi Miffy, The French and English Police have a policy of passing on details of speeding offences in order that you can be dealt with in your own country. However, this might not be enforced in the UK, for one reason or another. We were in the same position before we moved out here and I was fully expecting to receive the penalty through the post. It never came. That's not to say that things haven't changed in the last year. I don't know how long these incidents are kept on file here, if at all, but I wonder if you happened to be stopped here by the Gendarmes next time, would/could they could fine you retrospectively? You could always contact your local speed camera department of the Police and ask them what their policy is and the time frame they have to act within. Paul

Hi, It's a bit late now I suppose as you've had it inspected by your garage, but I was going to suggest taking it for a CT. The guy will give it a thorough going over and tell you if anything needs replacing. For under €60 I think that's not a bad deal. It's also something that you can suggest when contemplating buying a second hand car. Paul

Hi Shelley, www.byki.com  (Before You Know It )is very good. The information that you can get from the site is quite good, without having to pay for an upgrade. You get flashcards etc. Take a look, loads of languages too. They send you an email with the links. Hope this helps, Paul

Hi again, Metal components are not a problem for a salt water pool with a stainless steel heat exchanger. Before you go to all that trouble and possible expense (unless you already have all of the tubing), check out the evacuated tubes. Also have a look at Navitron's Forum. Lots of like minded people there. It's got to be worth a bit of research, especially as you are not sure as to whether you will complete it this summer. The tubes will give you more heat for a longer period of the year and will take up less room. You will benefit by having a longer period to enjoy your pool. You can also install the system yourself. Paul

Hi again Jackie, I second the above, I have bought my own system (not for a pool) and am just waitng for permission to install it. Paul

Hi Jackie, If the collector is lower than the pool, won't the heat will rise to the pool, without the need for a pump? Another thought, would not the cost of all of the pipework and the pump be more expensive than a evacuated tube solar panel? This type of panel would give you heat even on a cloudy day. Paul

Hi, Is it possible to buy a wormery, including worms in France? I am aware that I can buy one on ebay. Paul

Hi we got them for our daughters in Intersport, about €2 each. Paul

Look on ebay, you'll find some fantastic deals. Paul

A few years ago, going through Dover on a trip to Germany, I arrived in a warehouse type bay and was stopped by Customs. I said 'Terribly sorry, I must have made a mistake, I'm on my way out of the Country'. The Customs chap told me that all vehicles were being checked. He asked me whether I had any knives with me. I realised that I had bought the stick on beam benders, that came with a craft knife in the AA shop. I told him so and showed him. He told me that was OK. I asked what the check was for as he proceeded to check my boot. He told me it was 'In case anyone tried to hijack a ferry'. Before I could stop myself I replied 'And where would I go with a ferry? The Customs chap just looked at me then waved me through. He must thought that it sounded as daft to him as it did to me. In June this year, coming back through the tunnel after horrendous problems and hours of waiting I got to the point where they wipe your door handles one after another to check for explosives. I was just thinking 'I'm going to have some fun when I get there', as I had a large pressurised water cylinder on board for my solar system and thought they might not let me on. I was waved out of line and a chap asked me if I had any weapons on board. I said 'No', as I didn't. The chap then moved some cones and let me drive straight through!

Hi Jon, I haven't got a single copy of  Living  France to hand, but from memory, the brokers were ET Brokers and the company were Alliance Removals from Brighton. Ours was a part load to France, but they came and collected our bits on their own. It was the same guys that made the delivery in France and despite a rough journey for them, were just as good humoured as when they picked up. This pleased our daughters no end! I have their number if you want to pm me. I don't have any connection with the broker or Alliance Removals. It could be worth contacting a/the broker, to see what sort of deals are available. Our move was from Southend in Essex, to Monflanquin in the Lot et Garonne (47). Paul

To a degree, I'm in agreement with Anton. Unless you have very good terms and conditions explaining what you will and won't provide and what you expect from customers, then on occasion you will have to put up with the bad as well as the good. I recall the first time my wife and I came to France, 1992 I believe, totally misjudging how long it would take to travel to the south west. We had wanted to see the country, rather than the motorways. About three in the afternoon, having looked at the map, we realised that we weren't going to make our 7pm ETA for our B&B (English owned by the way). We had ordered an evening meal. Despite stopping in every village, we couldn't find a telephone box that would take coins, not realising that we needed a phone card. (No mobile 'phone then!) Eventually we found a coin operated 'phone and were able to warn our hosts, firstly that we were still coming and secondly that we would be terribly late. We arrived at 11pm, very embarassed. Our host were welcoming and still had our meal warm, which was most welcome. Our fault entirely. Our hosts won recommendations from us. On another occasion, friends travelling with us had a breakdown in their car, forcing them to stay overnight and have it repaired the following day. We telephoned on to say that unfortunately the other family would not be able to make it. Since then, on journeys through France, I have been unavoidably delayed by problems with ferries, the Eurotunnel, traffic incidents and sometimes the weather. If it states in your terms and conditions that I would not be granted entry after a particular time, fair enough. However, a lot of these incidents are beyond our control. You  must decide what type of business it is that you want to run and what level of service you wish to provide. If it is made clear, then you should have few problems. If not, be prepared to take the rough with the smooth. I'm sure that most of your customers are perfectly reasonable. Perhaps you could consider keycode entry if persons are expected late, with directions left for their room and a request to respect the fact that others are asleep. In an ideal world we would all conform to your required working hours, but in the end you are a service providor and charge accordingly. Paul

Hi Jon, We used a Broker that advertised in this magazine. My wife had been in shipping for some years and telephoned around, but no spectacular deals, in fact, some very expensive quotes. The Broker did all the legwork and gave us a number of companies to choose from. We chose a company that were not local to us. They were from the Brighton area. (We lived in Southend). They collected our 20 cubic metre load (we already had furniture at our house here and got rid of as much as we could before we left!) and delivered it when they were in the area, about five weeks after we moved,  which suited us fine. They were fully insured, professional and fun, moving our girls around on their trolleys as they worked! The whole deal cost us less than £1650.00. We had packed everything though, so if you want more, you'll have to pay for it. I got a good selection of Boxes from the  Big Yellow Storage people. I had stored some things with them for a while so got them for half price. It was a package of various sizes of about 20 boxes including sealing tape.I also got some excellent removal boxes from Lidl. I had some bumf posted through the door at the right time. They were selling large removal boxes (folded) for 99p each! The Broker charged us about £35.00 plus VAT. We only had to pay him when he found someone for us. Hope this helps Paul

Hi, Just a thought for those out there with older vehicles. The Broquet fuel catalyser (www.broquet.co.uk) might be useful to you. I used to run my Mark 1 Golf GTI on unleaded fuel with a catalyser in the tank. The car had completed over 220,000 by the time I got rid of it. Having just checked the website, I see that it can be used in diesel engines and oil fired central heating. It's also useful for motorcycles and marine engines. Now, I have no connection with the company, only satisfaction with the product. I'm thinking about getting another now for my VW diesel and possibly my oil burner! Please don't shoot the messenger! I've only read the bumf, I'm not a technician, chemist or an engineer. It seems to work and has been working since WW2. Have a look at their guestbook for comments. Hope this helps Paul

Hi Jamesg, Could you connect a radiator to the pump system for the pool and have the radiator in the shade? My thoughts are that if it is higher than the pool, the warm water would move by convection and you would lose heat from the pool. Especially if the radiator was in a cool barn. Just a thought, but I'm not sure if that would move enough heat. Or, as I might have been thinking too laterally, how about covering the abri with some of that material that people use inside of greenhouses to keep the temperature down? Paul

Hi Jonzjob, I need the Mairie's permission as it is an alteration to the outside of my property. What is required is a  'Déclaration de travaux exemptés de permis de construire ou déclaration de clôture'.  I detailed the procedure on another post yesterday, basically for information of anyone contemplating an installation. As it is going on the roof, I need their permission. I don't imagine that your pool installation would require it, as it is probably not easily visible. I went down to 15mm for several reasons. To save heat loss. Less expense. Easier to work with as I don't have a pipe bender! Also, having done some minor plumbing in a friend's kitchen, I found that the quality of fittings here varies so much, that I thought that it might be easier for now to get everything that I required in the UK. I had bought fittings here, that didn't fit! Some of the packs had pieces missing and were very expensive in comparison to the UK. If I were going to do another installation here I would consider using locally supplied copper and fittings once I had found a good supplier. Regarding the straight fit adaptors, I only bought the two that I required. I don't think they were too expensive. Do you have anyone that can post you some from the UK? They have to be a compression fitting close to the collector, or non lead soldered as it can melt in the temperatures generated close to the collector. You should get heat even on a cloudy day, as the evacuated tubes will still work, far better than a flat panel. I like Navitron's forum. I found it useful when I was infomation seeking and will still use it. The course was very useful for me. I went there with particular ideas on how I was going to set up my system and it made me think again about exactly how to install it. There were quite a number of plumbers on the course, but only three out of the thirty plus people there had bought systems to install themselves. I had been thinking about energy saving for some time (I don't wear an anorak!), really as a cost saving measure in the long term. I've been looking into rain harvesting, but feel that would work better for us if we were moving and could install a system from the beginning. Regards Paul

Just to say that if you did buy in Belgium, you would get a certificate of conformity (COC)with the vehicle, so that would not be an expense. You would pay for your Carte Grise anyway when you transfer it into your name, so no extra there.  I'm not aware of the price, but it varies according to the age and power of the vehicle. The older it is, the cheaper it gets.  For instance my year 2000, 90 bhp VW Sharan cost around €170. Ours was a Belgian import. There was no problem registering it here. I'm sure there can be difficulties, but don't discount it as a cheaper means of purchasing a vehicle. Paul

Hi, Just a bit of information for anyone contemplating installing, or having installed a solar heating system. Having purchased all the necessary components to install my system, I went to the Mairie for confirmation that planning permission was not required. Our house is only twelve years old, so I didn't think that it would be a problem. We live in  Monflanquin (47). The staff at the Mairie made some enquiries for me with Agen. I was then told that planning permission was not required, but I was required to complete a 'Déclaration de travaux exemptés de permis de construire ou déclaration de clôture'. Four copies of this form were required, along with four copies of the 'sections cadastrales', plus four copies of a map of the area with the location of our house indicated. I was also asked to supply a drawing showing the location of the solar panel, along with a photograph of the house. (Again four of each). Fortunately we still had the Architects plans of the house so that was easy. The lady at the Mairie was very helpful, supplying me with the up to date copies of the 'sections cadastrales' and the map of the area. I submitted all of the required paperwork and was given a receipt. I asked how long it was likely to take and she told me they must reply within two months. My main reason for submitting this was to let people know that even this permit can be 1:- Opposed. 2:- Allowed, with further consultation with the Marie (I'm assuming this means allowed with amendment. 3:- Unopposed. I am aware of two installations locally. One has not applied for this permit (although the house is not close to the village). The other assumed the installer must have applied, but he is unaware if he did. I also know of an English company installing systems who were unaware of these forms. So, if you are contemplating having a system installed, submit an application. It could be an expensive omission. Paul

Hi Jonzjob, I attended a Navitron course in June. The 22mm connector can be changed by means of fitting a reduction coupling. I went from 22mm to 15mm, bringing all the 15mm pipe over with me. I'm just waiting for permission from the Mairie to go ahead. I know that's too late for your pool installation, but it might help if you install one on your house. Regards Paul  

Hi Choccie, If you are thinking of ebay, try Belgium. Their prices are certainly lower than France for all vehicles. I would be very suprised if you saw anything at that price. We were looking at hiring a few weeks ago. They were far too expensive to hire for a week at this time of year, we would get a fantastic hotel for the same money! But their used prices were just ridiculously high. Camping cars (camper vans) do hold their prices well. I would be suprised if you found anything at the price you are looking to spend. Paul

Hi Chris, Thank you for your reply. I was just about to telephone you, when my wife suggested I check on them again, in case they had died during the day. I had already looked through my binoculars, but not for long enough. I returned, and would you believe both parents turned up at that time and fed them! That's a big weight off my mind now! I thought it was unusual to see sparrows nesting in a tree, but that was my initial thoought from the wing feathers that were just developing. Having seen the parents I can confirm not sparrows, but Greenfinches. Thanks again. Paul

Hi Barbel Bob, Over lunch with our very nice Bank Manageress the other day (she took us out because we did her a favour!), we were talking about mortgages in France. She told us about a type of mortgage that is very similar to a bridging loan. It is available for up to two years, with no penalty if you pay it off. It is designed for those who have found a house, but have yet to sell their main residence. This was with Banque Populaire. Hope that helps, Paul

Hi, hope someone can assist. I searched the site before posting but could not find any similar posts. I have looked at all the links to the animal welfare sites and cannot find one that deals with birds. My French is not good enough for me to use the French equivalent of the RSPB. Following some pruning yesterday afternoon I discovered a nest containing three nestlings. Just getting flight feathers, but also with plenty of down. I replaced branches around the nest, hoping that the parents might return. I left well alone, but saw no sign of the parents. Last thing last night, about 10pm I had another look. the nestlings were snuggled down low in the nest. No sign of the parents. I'm going to keep an eye from a distance this morning to see if the parents return. Failing that, is there anyone out there that has helped feed and rear orphaned birds. I have got some information from Tiggywinkles site and a couple of others. I think they are sparrows. We live in 47 Monflanquin. Paul

Hi Nick, Thanks for the reply, but that doesn't really answer the question. We don't get interest on our current account either, but do with the savings account that is linked to it. What is to stop the Notaire putting the money into an interest bearing account? Paul

I seem to remember something about being able to claim interest from the Solicitor holding your money during a house purchase in the UK. I wonder whether it's possible to request it from the Notaire here? They are holding onto your deposit for some time and obviously obtaining interest on it. Has anyone tried to get 'their' interest back? Paul