Esperaza

Lasy year I bought an electric one made by Tefal....brilliant.

I have been using Tiscali (libertysurf) for 5 years without problem. I pay €5.50 per month for 5 hours access. You may need to look for "Alice" as Tiscali is now known since the Italians bought them..

The potential problem with leaving a freezer on during your absence is, that if a long power outage occurs, the food could defrost, then freeze again when power restores. You may never know of the risk to health that this could provide.

Carry a kiddies fishing net and pass your ticket through the passenger window to the cashier. Fee and change by same process. No need to leave your car!

I've been using MutiTrans for about 3 years. Started with the free version which seemed OK so I paid for the full version. It seems to cope with my letters to EDF, SANEF, SAUR etc. but I always translate to French then back to English to screen out any howlers.

Frederic, That is why I suggested insuring it as a static that will not be used on the road unless it is towed by a UK registered car, when the car insurance covers it for 3rd party risks, Bakers were the last company that I knew to insure UK vans permanently on site in France but they have had a name change and may no longer offer this.

Theft of caravans in France is pretty much unheard of, mainly due to them having their own registration. My Knaus has been permanently on-site in Beaune for 5 years, no incidents in that time. Unlike the UK where my Fendt was stolen despite 2 Bulldog Titan wheelclamps, an Alko hitchlock and alarm system. My present Hobby caravan in the UK is protected by a Tracker, 2 Titan wheelclamps, Robstop hitchlock, Supermule, conventional alarm system, sodium lighting during darkness and 3 cctv cameras to a time-stamped video recorder, oh! and roof marking. But the scum will still try to relieve me of it. Never felt the need for this level of security in France.

Bunny, Try Bakers of Cheltenham,  www.towergatebakers.co.uk , they used to cover UK caravans permanently on site in France. If not, your car insurance will cover in transit 3rd Party insurance ( assuming that you will be towing with a UK registered car), but once on your property you would be uninsured but then with a French address you should be able to insure as a static with the likes of AGF without the need to register the caravan and getting French plates for it.

You shouldn't have any problem providing your caravan/car weight ratio is sensible. Towing 2.55mtr. caravans with vehicles under 3500kg is perfectly legal in France, it is only the UK that has this stupid regulation, even the Irish Republic permit them.

I can often get from Dijon to the Tunnel in a shorter time than from the Tunnel to Milton Keynes via M20, M25 and M1. I have resorted, at times, to M20, M25, M11 to Cambridge, then cross country via Bedford to Milton Keynes. Last visit, the trip from the Tunnel as far as the M1 was good but then an accident in the M1 roadworks forecast a 4 hour hold up, so off the M25 at J19 onto A41 towards Aylesbury then cross country to Milton Keynes. Don't you just love English roads?

You can buy them at any time in blocks of 10 singles, price is still £390.00. My renewal time is June but I obviously leave it until I need to travel in order to get the longest widow in which to use them, as my house is 800 miles from Calais, I cannot just pop over for the weekend.

[quote user="Alcazar"] [quote user="Val_2"]They keep advertising the fact on the Uk TV here that all vehicles registered to the DVLA are computerised with all the details of insurers and MOT dates and they can find out instantly who is not bothering to keep their vehicle legal. Surely they will pursue those coming to France as well or if there is an accident here in France, surely the gendarmes will check with the UK side of the paperwork as well. I really don't understand these folks who break the law as the penalties here are a lot more severe in terms of punishment.[/quote] I'm pretty sure that that comes under the same banner as the "TV License Detector Van" myth. I forgot to re-tax our Xantia last year.........I was certain it was taxed for a year, but I'd taxed it for 6 months to get it out of synch with my car. I hardly ever drive the Xantia. Imagine my shock when I glanced at it in the drive and noticed the tax disc 4 months out of date. Wife, who drives it daily, hadn't noticed at all[:$] We got neither a reminder, nor the much advertised £80 fine.[:-))] I rang DVLA to ask what to do, and then asked WHY we'd not had reminder or fine. No proper answer was forthcoming, but a lot of bullsh*t WAS! Alcazar [/quote]   In the UK I live in a cul-de -sac off a main dual carriageway and at approximately 2 monthly intervals the police and VOSA use our road as an interviewing/ holding area for vehicles that have no tax, no MOT and/or no insurance. VOSA have a van with two cameras ( automatic number plate recognition ), in the rear that instantly report vehicles that do not have the requisite docs, or are stolen or have been used in a crime. The vehicles are escorted by police motorcyclists into our road where they are met by around 20 police officers for interview and vehicle inspection. Most of these vehicles are placed on the verge or roadside and clamped. There are dozens of them.  Some are released when the owners return, having taxed/insured them etc. Most are loaded onto transporters and taken away. This activity continues from 07:30 until 19:00. So here it is definitely not " a myth", so I believe that you were lucky not to encounter VOSA!  

In hot weather mine would leap from the pond and land on the grass so I had to put a net over it. During a recent trip to France my neighbour fed the fish but for some reason lifted one corner of the net. When I returned there was an awful smell in the garden, you've guessed it, and these were 45cm specimens. I've given up koi keeping now and just have frogs and newts!

Another reference:  http://members.aol.com/HLarroque/pauline_uk.htm You will probably get more hits by searching for her married name, Pearl Cornioly.

Chris, I don't know whether or not they are in France, but as far as your hit list is concerned, I would add the signal crayfish which was introduced to the UK from America. These carry the crayfish plague which does not effect them but creates havoc in the native species.

The GS are now very close to the last remaining RS habitats in Scotland. Where I live in the UK there are annual culls of GS and one local college disposed of 300 in one day. On the same day I took out 13 in my garden, which is only 30 x 40 feet.

Only info. I have. From CA website.  Codevi : a tax free instant access deposit account for french tax payers. A maximum deposit of 4 600 euros per person is allowed (a couple can have an account each). Interest is calculated fortnightly (1st - 15th and 16th to the end of the month) and credited annually on the 31st December.

For a UK English keyboard:   Character set     Alt + 133 for à Alt + 131 for â Alt + 135 for ç Alt + 128 for Ç Alt + 138 for è Alt + 130 for é Alt + 136 for ê Alt + 144 for É Alt + 137 for ë Alt + 139 for ï Alt + 140 for î Alt + 147 for ô Alt + 150 for û Alt + 151 for ù Alt + 129 for ü Alt + 164 for ñ Alt + Ctrl + 4 = €     à, è, ì, ò, ù À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù CTRL+`(ACCENT-GRAVE), the letter á, é, í, ó, ú, ý Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý CTRL+'(APOSTROPHE), the letter â, ê, î, ô, û Â, Ê, Î, Ô, Û CTRL+SHIFT+^ (CARET), the letter ã, ñ, õ Ã, Ñ, Õ CTRL+SHIFT+~(TILDE), the letter ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, Ÿ CTRL+SHIFT+ COLON), the letter å, Å CTRL+SHIFT+@, a or A æ, Æ CTRL+SHIFT+&, a or A œ, Œ CTRL+SHIFT+&, o or O ç, Ç CTRL+, (COMMA), c or C ð, Ð CTRL+' (APOSTROPHE), d or D ø, Ø CTRL+/, o or O ¿ ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+? ¡ ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+! ß CTRL+SHIFT+&, S  

I have a cheap French box that was very good value, however, the wife likes the EPG, hence the Pace box.

This year I have had problems with two Panasonic DSB30 boxes, both began locking up and eventually failing with psu problems, both were five years old. I was advised against having them repaired and have purchased two Pace boxes, one for UK and one for France.

slast, You will never get good/consistent results with a zero quality indication. And you may get some programs and not others due to different tps' and polarisations ( horizontal versus vertical) being used and the proper switching of these by your digital receiver. Also, have you tried disconnecting your receiver from the mains, re-connecting it 5 minutes later, then checking the signal quality?

slast, The "signal quality" is far more important than "signal strength" and should be as high as possible. You should adjust your dish. not forgetting the LNB rotation.

If you can get it brought over from the UK, International Tile primer and top coat is good. I've used it to change my bathroom tile from black to ivory. Sainsburys Homebase and B&Q stock it.

I've just given my Hinari to the bin men! I had just about given up on bread makers until I tasted the bread from my son's Panasonic.........bought one immediately from Amazon and it's great.

Francine, I haven't found any other make to compare with the Panasonic and I have had 3 other disappointments.