Simon

A serious reply; I used 2 layers of 18mm marine quality chipboard and tiles on top.  All is well. Regards S

Yes a concrete floor is essential in France as French urine is highly acidic and rots through the wood, hence the reason that most Frenchmen pee outdoors. Regards S

Jotul are fantastic stoves, they come in various styles too.  They are dearer than some, but you definitely get what you pay for in this market.  Easy to maintain and clean, and have various options for running rads etc you will never regret buying a Jotul. regards Simon  

Yeah, He da man!   S

Try updating the drivers for the modem, and do the video card while you are at it, download the latest ones from the manufacturers' websites.  It is also worth installing the Microsoft Anti-Spyware software, available from the ms website, and make sure you have the latest updates for both microsoft windows and your anti-virus software. Regards Simon  

Couldn't you get one of those cheap thermostatic shower controls from brico for a few euros, set it to say 30 degrees and pipe your hot and cold supply into that and then output to the washing machine?  The water should never then be too hot. Regards Simon  

Where abouts are you, maybe someone could give a tip. Regards Simon

I'm fond of FireFox, it is quick and fairly slick, but it does have issues on certain websites.  I think as a general point, this is where Microsoft are able to score points, because as troubled as IE is, most websites are written with that software in mind.  I get annoyed very quickly if I am using a browser that fails on a website and I have to switch to IE to get it up (oooerr!).  I can't see things changing that quickly, but at least some software houses are now producing better alternatives. Regards Simon  

True, not everyone uses IE, just 90%. S

The fastest way to see if dns is not working is to put this address 212.58.224.35 into internet explorer's address bar this should give you the bbc website.  If it comes up dns is down, if it does not then look elsewhere for the problem. Regards Simon

Valerie There could be a number of reasons: 1.  Is the network secured in anyway, do you need to input your mac address or a wep key? 2.  Has it issued an IP address or do you need to do this manually? 3.  Are you sure it cannot access the internet, it could be your dns settings? I know this is all a bit techie, but I don't know what experience you have. Regards Simon  

The original and still the best, in my humble opinion, Hep2O is available in France, try http://www.hep2o.co.uk/ for more information. Regards Simon

I think the best advice I could give anyone is to buy non-french wine with caution in France.  I'm convinced the buyers deliberatly choose the worst possible stuff to boost the domestic market. regards S

No, that is not correct, dendochronology involves the analysis of the rings to assertain when the tree was alive, not just how old it was.  There are specialist firms in the UK who will date your house from the trees from which it was built; admittedly the timbers used could have been re-used, but most houses use a majority of new wood, and the testing of a selection will give a fair idea.  You can find further info here http://www.tree-ring.co.uk/ regards Simon  

I would like to have the beams in our property dated, does anyone know of a service in 24 or 16, and just what is the French for dendrochronology? Regards S

Yes I agree, a brand name does not necessarily mean quality these days, (recommendations are my favoured choice now) and cost seems to have little to do with reliability either. Regards S

Guess not, unlucky or tat I wonder, things just aren't made like they used to be Regards S

Stainless steel kettles, and stainless steel lined solid copper pans and baking equipment are the only things to use, everything else works poorly and wears out.  One advantage of living in France is access to this stuff at reasonable prices.  Check out this site for instance, oh and they will deliver to the UK too. http://www.artdecuivre.com/fr/index.html Regards Simon  

If you like shiraz, then I would bet you would also like malbec, many of the Cahors wines have this grape as a base, and good ones are still cheap: my favourite is Chateau du Cèdre , but there are many others.  I think you may be finding the French wines have a different character to those of the New World, both are an acquired taste, but stick with it.  Vive la difference! Regards Simon

We have terracotta tiles, no problems here.  You may want to look at this site, it is where I got my stuff as France was a little behind the UK at the time: it has a lot of ideas and innovative products. http://www.ippec.co.uk/Framehome.htm   regards S

As my lumberjack neighbour put it when I described the panic over cutting down the odd tree in the UK "it's a crop, just plant some more!" S

I think you are getting mixed up with your measurements there Margy - metric preferred for me, but one or the other would be helpful.  Thanks for the recipe though, it sounds delicious.   S

It is well worth it, cheaper to run, no ugly radiators or pipwork showing, no cold spots, silent running (no creaking), and with tiled floors cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Fab! Yes it is an expensive purchase, but easy to do yourself; I would never go back. S

That's very funny I think I'd rather eat the octopi myself, hosed down with wine instead of the water though. S

Anyone tried MySQL, it's free and seems well developed?  We use SQL itself here, so I have not played with MySQL personally, but I here good things.   S