Weedon

Not an uncommon problem I think you will find and no need to worry too much about flies as there are much more worrying things than those..........but I think I have said enough already. There are 2 ways to control them: the first is to buy those revolting hanging sticky papers(very,very effective) although they do not give a good impression to your snobby friends. The second way is to find the dominant male and to convert him to a eunuch.  I heartily reccomend the first method. Another problem, if your house is shut up for long periods in the winter, is mice and a tip which I found worked is to scatter those smelly cloth things that make your clothes soft on your soft furniture and in places where you think they may scuttle.  This may sound strange but I read that somewhere and tried it in our place for a couple of winters and had no problem with them. Weedon(53)

[quote]Weedon - has she worn through the leather on the toes to expose the metal yet? If not she isn't working hard enough...[/quote] Just had a look at both pairs and notice that mine are wearing at the toes but I am not sure how that happened? Belinda, its nice to know that you have noticed my individuality. I must say that my 12 year old shorts to complete the outfit have not stood up to the stresses and strains and I am considering taking them back to complain of the shoddy workmanship. Weedon(53)

When we first moved here I treated? my wife to a pair of Rigger boots and she said they were the most comfortable pieces of footwear she had worn. For those of you not familiar with this type of fashion they are the sort that scaffolders wear, they have little loops either side of the uppers, are yellowish in colour and have steel toe caps. Sometimes I think I spoil her. Weedon(53)

In my view that is a speciality of France, the water based Facade paint. If you use it slightly thinned down it goes on really well and covers a treat. I have also used it inside an old out building we renovated. Weedon(53)

I am known for my excellent taste in fashion and I confess that the only designer label I will wear is Milletts and damn fine quilted shirts they are as well don't you know. If you see me in the Bricos you will know me.......trust me. Weedon(53) I come from the couldn,t give a stuff style of haute couture and it has saved me a fortune.

Had a very interesting Sunday lunch last week with a local family at our house. The show stopper for me was when I started the conversation about swearing that is commonplace for brit youngsters (it would appear to me) nowadays. Turning to their sixteen year old daughter I said do your friends use a lot of swear words to which she said "not really, the only one I use is F@@@". It almost had me choking on my effing food. I must add that all four of them speak excellent english and I am glad I know them. Weedon(53)

If it is rising damp and it is possible to do so can you not dig a trench outside the offending wall put in a land drain to take away the moisture and back fill with gravel. I have done that and it worked for me. On the inside wall if you clean off the old paint etc. then paint it with uni-bond or the local PVA then paint it with undercoat which covers up any staining and then emulsion. If you just emulsion it very often the staining still shows through. Weedon(53)

Blimey DC I just had to reassure myself that you hadn't been invaded by giant mice. Funnily enough our dog also goes into the garden and digs in various places for moles and mice. She originally came from Majorca and has a fantastic sense of smell and if we get a mouse in the house we set her on them and she gets them in no time. Her method of attack is to stomp on them and then bites them. Weedon(53)  

Saw him play a few times and thought his nick-name to be more than appropriate and I am sure he will be the one laughing loudest over the irony of his brain tumour.  There are not many left who see soccer as just basically a kids game. Weedon(53)

Posting a reply in the television section I said that ITV3 should be renamed Curry Channel because like a Tikka Masala it repeats throughout the day.  Trying to send the posting I suffered my very first time-out so I sent it again thinking it had not been sent and there they are large as life...repeated. Thanks Living France you have made my day. Weedon(53)

[quote]I haven’t seen it reported here to date, so for those of you WITHOUT Sky digiboxes but access to the BBC via satellite – this is for you.ITV 3 started on 1st November, and in spite of initial assura...[/quote] With my FTV card set-up I looked on the 31/10/04, no indication of ITV3.  On the 1/11/04 there it was next to ITV2 (which I can't get) and have watched it on and off since. I say watched it on and off because, for the moment at least, it should be re-named the Curry Channel because like a Tikka Masala it repeats throughout the day. Weedon(53)

[quote]I haven’t seen it reported here to date, so for those of you WITHOUT Sky digiboxes but access to the BBC via satellite – this is for you.ITV 3 started on 1st November, and in spite of initial assura...[/quote] With my FTV card set-up I looked on the 31/10/04, no indication of ITV3.  On the 1/11/04 there it was next to ITV2 (which I can't get) and have watched it on and off since. I say watched it on and off because, for the moment at least, it should be re-named the Curry Channel because like a Tikka Masala it repeats throughout the day. Weedon(53)

[quote]We have recently paid £450 to install a wood burning stove in our house in the Ariege and were wondering whether this was the going rate. We have two more stoves to install in the newly converted ba...[/quote] The going rate is whatever the person doing the job feels is right for him and your home and is whatever you feel happy paying. There are going to be people who say theirs was cheaper and vice versa. Why don't you speak to the person who installed the first one and find out if the same flue liner will be used for the second one and if so whether fitting the second will be easier and therefore less money. I always feel that it is friendlier to speak to artisans without a pre-conceived notion that they are going to stitch you up and who knows if they are local you have made a usefull contact as well as getting a nice warm home. Weedon(53)

[quote]Go on, admit it ? How many of you will stay up late to see early indications, or get up early to see what the news is from the USA ?[/quote] Why, what is happening in the US at the moment? Do you mean the latest reality show where viewers vote for who they want to stay in the show for next week? It looks like the winner is the one with the Bush! factor. Weedon(53)

Don't forget though that the lead in time for work is measured in many months, if my experience is anything to go by, and if you were thinking of getting the work done next summer now would be a good time to get an estimate. Just as an example we got an estimate for our barn roof to have the corrugated sheets removed and replaced with slate and was quoted the equivalent of £15,000. This is a barn of 30 metres long and about 7 metres wide. Weedon(53)

I agree with Val2 about the false economy in replacing a few slates at a time if its the nails that are rusty and causing the problem and I do sympathise if its a huge roof and you would rather not have a huge bill all at once. In the worst case scenario if your house is exposed and more than a few get dislodged the next time it blows hard you could end up with a horrendous bill to replace slates and to rectify water damage ( its being so cheerfull that keeps me going!). I have been in a similar position to you back in the UK and I had to get all the slates removed in the end and re-battened and felted. Perhaps you could get an estimate for the whole roof to be done as it may not be as expensive as you fear. I must say that the method of using clips to hold the slates on here is a good idea. Weedon(53)  

I can't remember ever wanting to give Barclays a pat on the back in over 30 years but many's the time I wanted to give them a slap. Our bank here (Credit Mutuelle) started charging a small monthly sum for all transactions about a year ago, and that's life, I am neither happy nor unhappy as I have found the that the number of times I get  hot under the collar recedes the longer I live here. Weedon(53)

I was really referring to a poster hinting that MWJ was not respectful to manual workers though. *************************************************** Occasionally on this forum (and for all I know on other similar forums as well) there is some old flannel written about the need to fully embrace the culture and that somehow you are not doing your duty if you cannot converse fluently with the locals and that perhaps you should beat yourself up if you even so much as hint that you lack the ability to speak french. I admit to having lousy french, but that doesn't prevent me from going about my everyday life dealing with such things as the tax man, CPAM, DIY materials and ordering central heating oil and getting the fosse man to come to do his sludge gulping, the last two are particularly difficult as it involves using the telephone. But its no big deal, difficult some times, but not the end of the world. And I know not to judge by appearances because all sorts have the ability to speak english and yes I do welcome that when I discover it because it makes for an easy life.  Just off the top of my head I can recall, Natalie in Gamm Vert who put me onto a friend of hers with a digger, Michelle in Brico Marche who did her best to cajole me into taking her store card (this after speaking? to her in french for 2 years) Veronique at the local hospital, who worked in a pub near my previous village some years ago, Ludovic at Credit Mutuelle and a girl at Mr Bricolage who worked at a landscape company in Birmingham.  There are probably lots of others but they have all been helpful to me, seemed to enjoy the fact they could speak good english and very pleasant it is to speak with them as well. Weedon(53)

Anywhere that has small postcard type ads just inside the door will have details. Places like, Gamm Vert, Cam and other local country shops. Weedon(53)

Mine too, SB, hear it often.  And although it's commendable that the ruling elite in Paris may be making more an effort to learn English, I think one can generally assume that the mec who comes to fix la fosse septique or the bloke at the garage can't.  I'd therefore keep up the studies, Jonzjob, and keep listening to the radio and TV, they're invaluable.  Margaret   Oh dear Margaret, you are guilty of using a Living France shovel to dig a hole for yourself. I am sure you wrote before you thought with regard to the fosse oik and the grease monkey at the garage who would be so ill-educated not to speak english. A  pat on the back to all the people I have found at all sorts of places who have had a better command of a foreign language than me and many of them without a tie on and with dirt under their finger nails. Weedon (53)

I wondered whether this topic would appear over the winter as the continued  British obsession about house prices features constantly in the news. Stand back for the rush as the "money advisors" hurtle to snap up the bargains that represent many families miseries in the shape of the family home whose keys have been handed back to the people who fell over themselves previously in persuading them to borrow huge sums. In my opinion its what's called "getting back to basics". I remember not many years ago paying around £700 a month for a poxy 2 up 2 down when the "brains" decided the only way out of a recession was to raise interest rates to a humongous level. Can't you just hear them saying "that'll keep the serfs from getting too comfortable" Weedon(53)

[quote]TROWEL!!!!!! Gawd i'm still shoving it in by hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its amazing how 20kg can disappear into one small hole!!![/quote] I know what you mean about shovelling it in and I appreciate your humour (its what keeps you going isn't it) but for those that imagine it is neccesary to fill the large holes with the expensive product I think its best to fill all the big holes with sand and cement and then finish all over with the pointing stuff otherwise it could work out even more expensive. Weedon(53)

[quote]We are going to be digging a large pond on our 2.5 acre site in Normandy next spring. Is it cheaper to buy butyl lining in England or France, please? And has anyone got any tips for a successful pon...[/quote] We have 2 ponds which constantly lost water in the summer due to the clay soil opening up and the water simply drained away within a dry couple of weeks. I only checked the local garden centres and Bricos but could not find any decent sized liners and was advised by the garden centres that I should join 2 together! I contacted a firm called Bradshaws in the UK and purchased a couple of liners and underlays at a price from them that was about the price of one of the local ones which was only half the size I required. Of course it meant a trip back across the channel to collect the goods but I had it delivered to family members who live in the SE. It would have been far to expensive to have had it delivered here because of the weight. You may have better luck if you research in France more but I couldn't be bothered to look very far.  So far I have not found anybody who supplies pond plants and I haven't got the knowledge to source plants myself. If you do find a source for pond plants please let this forum know as I recall this question has risen in the past with no satisfactory answer. As a matter of interest what are you doing with the soil that comes out because if it is a large pond its amazing just how much soil is generated from compacted land?  When I had loads of soil that I wanted to get rid of I asked my farmer neighbour if he could suggest anybody who would take it, knowing that he would spread it on his fields, which he did for a little fee. Weedon(53)

Get them straightaway and link them to speakers dotted around your garden and just watch those moles move next door. It could be money well spent. Weedon(53)

[quote]Friends of ours in the UK who live in a national park get problems with mice every year. They have bought humane mouse traps and bait them with chocolate. The mice cannot resist choco, nothing works l...[/quote] Update on the goose stepping mice. After putting a couple of dishes of poison corn under the tiles I have to report a couple of completely silent nights. It is really uncanny and I fear that I may have upset them to the degree that they have gone. When this gale force wind dies I shall have to get up onto the roof again and check what has happened. Incidently when I did my insulation and plasterboarding I was advised by a local artisan not to use the polystyrene stuff because he said the mice like it for their nests so that is the main reason I got the tin foil stuff. Weedon(53)