Benjamin

What Andy is saying is spot on but I suspect you're a bit uncertain, like I was, about all the different techie words being used. I chickened out and found the local aerial installer and got him to do the work of aligning the dish for me. Look in Yellow Pages (pages jaunes) under Antennes pour television to find your nearest installer (could probably be your local electrical shop/retailer). Take with you an English satelite magazine listing what channels are broadcast from which satelites and show them that you need the dish pointing at 28 degrees East. They should immediately know that the dish needs re-aligning. You may also need to tell them that the transmission is digital (numerique in French). A dish by the way is an antenne parabolique. They should then come along and re-align your dish using a specialised piece of equipment which should result in your dish being "locked on" to the correct satelite. They may or may not need to change the LNB (receiving thingy). As Andy says it may be cheaper to buy a French decoder box but then again you are exposing yourself to uncertainties if you are not very technical. It may be better to buy a box in the UK and bring it with you. Other people more knowledge than me may correct the next bit but I think you can get all BBC and ITV channels without a card but you cannot yet get Chennels 4 and 5. With a card you can get all of the UK terrestrial channels plus loads of sundry others. Finally do not let the installer go before you test that you are trully on 28 degrees East!!!! I paid 28.50€ per hour plus 5.5% TVA last year. I also had some other work done at the time so I cannot tell you exactly how long re-aligning the dish took but his travelling time probably cost more than the actual work involved. Also doing it this way saved me climbing a ladder as I have a serious case of vertigo and find that changing a light bulb is very challenging!!!!!!!!! Benjamin

Clair I'm boosting this back to the top as I would also be very glad to see any answers to your questions. Benjamin

A bit like other folk, I am becoming sceptical of your questions but for what it's worth we insure our house and contents with Pacifica via Credit Agricole. An optional extension to the policy is legal expenses which will cover such things as boundary disputes, problems with purchases where the goods are not fit for purpose and sundry other things but definitely not things like divorce or tax(?). The cost is 50€ per annum. Incidentially, you think you have a policy with halifax (sic). Don't you know who you're insured with? Benjamin

Saddie This thread seems to come around and go around on a regular basis but you could go " off shore ", legally, to get the  sort of rates I mention. Les L Thanks for the info. I need to do a little more homework, but I am sure you are right. Benjamin

Saddie You can at least more than double that with all the " easy come, easy go " features of UK based savings accounts. You obviously then have to account to the French tax man. The French Assurance Vie savings products are OK if you don't need to be taking an income from your lump sum but if you do then you end up losing all of the tax free advantages. Benjamin

Here is another cautionary tale for anybody travelling in Spain in a non-Spanish registered vehicle. We were driving through the middle of Madrid one Sunday afternoon in early January of this year. The traffic was fairly heavy but moving along when I heard a "toot" from a car horn. I looked to my left and the passenger in the vehicle alongside was holding up what every schoolchild would expect a police badge to look like (about passport size with a shiny silver badge and some printing on). The passenger indicated by pointing that I should pull over and the car then cut across in front of me and exited at the next slip road. The three occupants of the car all looked of South American appearance but to anyone who doesn't know the difference they could have been swarthy looking Spaniards. I ignored them and carried on but my blood still runs cold when I think what could have happened to us if we had followed them. Robbery would have been the least, and the worst case.........? Every Autumn/Winter when the northern European "snowbirds" chase the sunshine South you hear of so many robberies of this kind. They used to amount to distraction theft but now there seems to be more and more violent crime. When you speak with Spanish people about crime they will always claim that the vast majority of this type of crime are commited by people of South American descent. Just be careful if you visit Spain. Benjamin

I think most insurers will want to see a bill of sale if you're cancelling because you've sold your vehicle. If you haven't sold but you "produce" a b of s then you've committed forgery. Basically they've got you every which way. Benjamin

Thanks Dick. First stop the mairie next time we're passing. Benjamin

Now that Jack_Bruce's question has been answered can I piggy back this thread and ask another slightly related question? My wife has a French invalidity card which we think exempts the house from having a TV licence. This year will be our first for paying tax d'hab and we would like to let whoever initiates the bill know that she has the card rather than try and rectify a situation after the bill has been issued. Does anyone know who we should go to see? Benjamin

It's not Spanish bureaucracy itself, it's the people who administer it. As they all seem to have jobs for life they are only really happy when they find a reason to say "no". In comparison every French fonctionnaire is a smiling and happy go lucky font of all wisdom who will bend over backwards ro fufil your every wish and desire. Benjamin

Any chance of getting this in English or French or Breton or something we mere mortals can understand? Benjamin

I don't want to sound like a wet blanket here but I'm going to anyway. We have recent experience of living in Spain. It never ceased to amaze me how foreigners, especially Brits and eastern  europeans completely disregarded  the law when it came to vehicles. I know it goes on in France but I don't think anywhere near the extent  it happens  in Spain. Unless you know the seller exceedingly well you should be aware from other threads on this forum that many people in France keep the carte gris (log book) in the vehicle . Should the vehicle have been stolen, the log book could easily have been in the vehicle and if the owner was particularly careless the original bill of sale could have been in there also. The certificat de situation/non-gage as pointed out by Sunday Driver, is absolutely vital. Personally, having seen some of the trading between ex pats down there I wouldn't touch this with a bargepole although I am known for being a bit of a conservative wimp. If it looks cheap there's probably a reason. Benjamin

So could Sarko be related to Granville? Benjamin

H€€        H€€      H€€€     H€€€€€€         H€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€ Thanks to everyone for your help. It was Quillan's posting of 15:39 today that sorted it. I do , incidentially, have the French spell checker in Word which sorts out most of the accented characters although I do have to be careful when using to/at and have/has. I don't have the grammar checker but I'd prefer not to go there at the moment! Thanks again Benjamin

I've just changed the English from United States to United Kingdom in REgional and languages but still no joy. I'm starting to feel embarrassed that I asked this question. I could still carry on with typing the word EUROS. Benjamin

Quillan The keyboard is QWERTY as defined in your second paragraph. I've seen a French keyboard and it was completely different. Windows XP Professional in English No, I haven't tried or changed any settings in Regional and Languages in Control Panel MS Word is English version. Benjamin

Anton No, I don't have a CD or disk for the keyboard. The keyboard is a Turbo-Xwing KB-3001 R+ The op sys is Windows XP professional. Ron Where do I look for the set up of UK or USA English? I've been into Control Panel/Ketboard but there's nothing there about languages. JohnM I've tried various combinations using the 4 key without any luck. As far as US English is concerned see my answer to Ron above. The key to the right of the space bar says ALT, as does the one to the left. Quillan I'll get back to you in a minute. Benjamin

Edit It was my mistake using the word " print" in the  reply to Rayring. Anton Using Word I just go Insert then Symbol and find the Euro sign in Currency symbols. Bit long winded but I get there. When posting for example on this forum I would like to be able to use the Euro sign which is on my keyboard. It's not a printer problem at all. Benjamin

Rayring......nothing prints out. Benjamin

Tried that Ron but no joy. Benjamin

Exactly like that but I don't have an ALT GR on my keyboard. Benjamin

I have a French purchased QWERTY keyboard. The character for the Euro sign is on the same key as the figure 5 and the % sign (across the top of the keyboard) I've tried various multi-key combinations but I cannot get the character for the Euro to print. Is there a 7 year old out there who can help? Benjamin

I think the fencing that viva is referring to is known as " brande " and is actually made from heather, although of a much heavier variety than found in normal gardens. It comes in various heights and thickness/quality. The stronger the local wind then the greater the thickness required. The normal support method is posts (wood or metal) and wires. However probably the best way of deciding if this is the route to suit you, then have a look round at what other people are using, especially the locals. Benjamin

My birthday is March 20 so are you saying I missed celebrating it yesterday? If so, who's going to eat all the smoked salmon and drink all the champagne that's been got in specially for tonight? Benjamin

Ever the optimist, I plugged the offending digibox back in this morning and it's now working fine. I have in the past unplugged the digibox for 10 minutes or so when stuck with the message "Searching for Listings" but I didn't realise that unplugging it is a cure all for other problems as well. Benjamin