Feuillant

okay. I will try to answer as best as I can... I haven't yet tried the box/cared elsewhere - it's the next step. I think. I use an external aerial for French TV. It's one big dish with 2 heads, only one of which I have ever used. I don't know about cables and splitters but can ask. More later on that, then. The dish is 80 feet up because that's the height of our "house", and it wouldn't work from the ground. On 333 I get "No satellite signal" and on 501 I get just a blank silent screen. The signal strength is 70 -80%, and the quality 70%. I have just checked this and on trying to return using back-up to the sky welcome screen I have once again lost the picture and the box has gone back to red slow flash... I can't get anything but BBC1 now, and even then it's tricky as I have to re-set the box at least 4 times in order to get it - I have to go to phone line/sky programme/sometimes list of channels/bbc1, or just programmes/plus 2 on the channel change sometimes works. I can't get ANY other channel. That was before I took out the French TV aerial from the back of the set - for the first time, after switching back on, I could get all channels and radio absolutely fine, but after only switching the TV off using the standby switch, I can once again only get BBC1. When I switch on the box it gives a very long red light and then goes blank for a couple of seconds before red again for about 7 seconds. It seems to be trying to tune in, but fails. Rather than conduct the details of all this publicly. would you like to reply to my e-mail address - unless lots of people are interested in the outcome, of course! Thanks for your time and efforts - this IS a good forum!

can any-one help? For the last 3 weeks we have been having trouble with our satellite system. It normally works fine, using a sky card for all the available free channels from sky. Now I can only get BBC1, and then only if I try 3 or 4 times, switching off the box and all. It just goes back to French TV if I try to change channels. The system is fine, the signal is good, and I am stumped. We have tried with another card, another box, no zapper, another TV, and all combinations of the above, so does this mean it's the head? If not, what else could it be? I hope it isn't as the dish is on the roof, 80 feet up... The only other possibility is that our resident ghost (that's a very long story) has taken against the other channels - but we think this is unlikely as he would probably have kept BBC2, being a Knights Templar sort of a chap. Any advice welcome, please, as we are not really tennis fans.

hello I have a friend who explored this and decided to send his daughter to the English school in Bordeaux because, he said, it had a much better success rate. Even though it was much further than Toulouse, so she had to board! I wonder where you are? There is an English school in Lombez (Gers, nearly Haute-Garonne) which may be of interest.

we used an old door,- treated and varnished this is no trouble to maintain, and it looks superb (to my eye) with the door furniture still visible. Depends on your taste, I guess!

it depends a bit on just where you are looking, but I can confirm the 2 agents already mentioned are good. Have you tried Blue homes - they operate mostly on the internet, but have local agents. I can also suggest ABImmo at L'Isle en Dodon, who have a site, and some others near there - and Fauuvet at Aurignac, and lots more now I come to think of it and engage brain...contact me if you want further details, as there are plenty!

It's bet to get a new one drawn up including only the work you want done - a poorer second best would be to delete the ones you don't want and BOTH parties to sign against the crossed out items and against the amended price at the bottom. By the way, have you got a forchette? That is, a clause stating the time span for the works to be carried out?  Round our way they are pretty much a must these days, and will give you and the artisan a clearer idea of when the work will be done!  Penalties come into play if time starts ticking away... Good luck!

hi if you are anywhere near Toulouse I can heartily recommend the chaps who did out beetle kill - and they used environmentally friendly products (ie so's not to get into the food chain or harm bats or birds) AND they came when they said and cleaned up afterwards AND they weren't frightfully expensive...! Capricorn are house longhorn beetle, which you can get in south-eastern England, too. Contact me for the name and number of the chaps.

can anyone advise on how to get inurance for work a a handyman - ie for work done and 3rd Party including accidental damage to property - not asurance decenniale! We have a one-man chap here who has been quoted over 1000 euros just for himself, and then only for tiling and painting...which seems a bit much!  He has already arranged health and accident cover for himself, so I hope some-one out there can recommend something?  Thanks in advance.  

I ran into a deer the other day (actually it was rather the other way around). Anyway, I stopped and looked at the dear old thing - quite dead it was - and then wondered just what to do with it, as slaughterhouses can't take them and I wot not what to do with all the entraily thingies. Talking to a neighbour of ours yesterday, she informed me that all game that is roadkill must be taken to a retirement complex!!!Apparently this is the law, but I don't know if it must be the nearest "Maison de retraite" or your local one, or the one in the commune where the kill took place, or WHAT! Answers on a postcard, and one could let one's french bureaucratic imagination run wild...it's the silly season after all. By the way, my neighbour is an entirely serious and trustworthy source, and I for one believe her.

Is there any-one out there who is looking for a minibus? We have heard of one which an english couple is looking to sell. It's a left hand drive Mercedes, registered in France,not recent but appears in very good condition, diesel, low Kms for its age (sorry, I don't know exactly what), and a 9 seater. They want 5000 euros for it. It has been mostly used for transporting a wheelchair bound child to and from hospital, but has more recently been on longer trips. Do get in touch via my e-mail if you're interested, and I will pass your message on.

we have been approached by a buyer asking if we will sell our house with a combination of cash and cheque. The idea seems to be that he will pay between 10%-30% of the asking price in cash, and the the balance by cheque. He/we would only declare the latter price to the notaire! We would not contemplate such an arrangement of course. He is saying that the house is an investment, and not his principal residence, so it is even odder to us that he wants to under-declare the price as capital gains would be even greater! Has any-one got any ideas of what might be going on here, or am I just being paranoid?

round here (31) I know you can pick up info. from papers/reports in the Notaires' etudes. Usually quarterly reports. Also some estate agents have info printed in their fortnightly sales blurbs. Perhaps the notaire website (address forgotten but some-ne will pop in on) would also have some info... Cheers - now I'm off to another notaire for more research (on formica and hard seats, like in a bar but no alcohol so worse, somehow).

we are just in the early stages of doing this, so if you'd like some support and help please contact us - we are drawing up the plans and also we are eligible for departmental and probably european grants - so maybe I have some info. you might find useful. There's too much to say here, but I'm happy to help how I can. (Always great to be able to put all those "experiences" to some use!) If anyone wants some info. please contact on [email protected]

we have a lot of land, so we let it to a local farmer for free. We went to a notaire who drew up a simple document whereby either of us can stop the arrangement with 6 months notice. It is VITAL not to accept any payment or gift in exchange for giving the land rent free - if you do, you have created a form of tenancy and that can go on for some years AND be handed down a generation... The paperwork is worth the price of sleeping easy, and you could come to an arrangement with the farmer about who pays the notaires fees. Don't let the situation slip - you could definitely be in trouble! The name for our arrangement is a pret a usage, and beware too of the situation you can find yourself in with the MSA over agricultural land and "farming" it... I can supply further info plus the sort of wording on our document if you want. Yes, see your Notaire with your farmer!

has any-one had experience of obtaining these grants for gites in chateaux and ancient or important buildings? I know about departemental grants, but these present daunting bureaucracy!