Lorribee

I am trying to find galv. render stop , also known as plaster beading or bell cast bead in the uk. I cannot believe it is not sold here. i have tried Brico depot. R.Melins , Leroy Merlins, and also looked on Pont Ps website. The staff in Leroy Merlin told me the french builders cut it and bend it themselves from plain zinc sheet. Anyone know were I can source it in the Indre or Creuse ?

Thanks for the lowdown guys & dolls,I was about to subscribe to Teleconnect after giving notice to Sky Dsl (Berlin) satellite broadband provider, but apart from being expensive their service is pretty good.

I agree with TEL, "As a general guideline, if you are getting a HDTV set which is less than 42 inch, you won't be able to notice the resolution difference between a HD Ready set vs a Full HD set. Thus, you will be able to get almost the same visual enjoyment at a lower budget if you buy a HD Ready HDTV (720p) instead." We bought a 37" LG (Hd ready 720p) from UK (Richer sounds) We did not buy in France because of price and poor exchange rate. Although not full hd it is an amazing picture and works fine with our old Sky box. By the way friends of ours bought the same model but 32" and use the inbulit digital tune to receive French Tv using their rooftop aerial. it is very easy to adjust picture ratio using the remote, but you will have to put up black lines at the sides when watching older 4:3 programs. (unless you zoom in a bit)

Our address is Nouvelours , Le Grand Bourg, but we are on the north end of the commune just south of the RN145

I read in the localnews H.debit to reach 98% of consumers in the Limousin by June this Year. Does anyone know how I can find out if that will include me ? I live near Le Grand Bourg 15kms from Gueret and the usuall online sources tell me I am to far from my nearest exchange for broadband and the best offer is 512kbs only and I will still have to pay France telecom.

We live in the Creuse and according to orange and Neuf/SFR sites we are in a non degroupage area so cannot get the deal my friend near Aigurande enjoys. (he pays 35 euro pm for Broadband @2mb,all national and a lot of international calls and no france telecom bill) he is with Neuf . We currently pay 15euro pm to Free.fr for dial up, 33 euro every 2 months to France telecom about 17 euro pm to Expat for phone calls and 29.95 euro pm month to SkyDSL for satellite broadband. This has proved a far from satisfactory service and I only wish we could get the deal my friend gets. Has any one any advice on alternative options / providers ?

hi riki sorry cannot help you there,,are you registered with french doctor they would help i am sure i am in need of physiotherapy , urgently and having no success finding someone been all over everyone tells me to make own arrangements but do not know how to tell if practitioner is good bad registered or what good luck in your search

 Help ! Can any one recommend a dentist in the Creuse - I live 15 minutes from Gueret , in le Grand Bourg. I have tried a Lady dentist in La Souterraine , but it took about 5 visits to do a root canal filing  with no anasthetic.

Alane is correct - I bought mine from a Gamme Vert store. My french farmer neighbour showed me how to use them : You will need a minimum of 3 of the tong style traps Using 9 " of string tie the small metal square to the spring of the trap to prevent it getting lost. Take a sharp spade and take out a divot of turf between two mole hills. Using one of the tongs as a tool -look for the galleries made by the moles in the sides of the hole you have just made. There should be two but perhaps three holes. if you find more abandon this hole and replace the divot, and try again. Clean out the loose soil in the holes (the bent end of the trap is a useful tool for this) Before setting the trap rub it with soil to remove the new smell. Set the trap by squezing it so the jaws open and placing the metal square so it sticks up at a right angle, holding the jaws open. Carefully push the set trap into the hole jaws first. You should end up with a hole with two or three spring ends of the traps on view in the bottom. Now push a small stout stick (pencil size) through the spring loop into the soil to secure ( this prevents the mole disapearing down the hole with your trap) Now cover the hole with a piece of black plastic ( most farmers have loads of this kicking about) and replace the divot. ( the black plastic prevents light coming into the hole and scaring off the mole) Now mark the position with a stick or similar and wait two to three days. Last spring I did this and over a week I killed 4 moles and this cured the problem until this week when I can see some fresh activity. I hope this helps !

Re Now how can I get my wood burner fired up.....? Have you considered asking a neighbour, we have a standing arrangement which is also operated by the mobile phone, and usually comes with the added bonus of a lovely fresh loaf ,half doz farm eggs, and a nice bit of cheese. Love the idea of wind generator, we have a redundant EDF pole on our land would love to turn the tables on 'em... Tell us more....

Five stars? got me wondering too, who gives the stars and why? could be my spelling, Thanks for sight address job done looking super, let the rains come we don't care.....

Can any one advise, downloaded all the information from here I needed now lost paper and cannot find thread.....

We have found, all we have needed at good prices at But Conforama and TrocLilles also Emmaus.fr for second hand goods and fittings for work shops and granges etc, all the appliances we bought over at great expense did not enjoy the move and so far we have replaced computor screen, washing machine, hoover and iron,only t.v. to go so carting them, the move took two weeks and three vans was a waste of time and effort, should have sold 'em and bought new as they went into storage in barn which was a bad idea.Wood furniture is available in all style everywhere, if you have a tight budget go to Troc's first.

Weather what weather! We are one hour from Limoges, leaving Cornwall to come here, finding the difference in summer temperatures hard going but really enjoyed the winter, the snow we had was much less than expected and log burner did sterling job, don't give up on the area too quick,Linzi, been down south too hot by half in Summer also houses not as reasonable priced, Welcome, enjoy your stay and worry about tax when you get here, we found local tax office, very helpful and very willing to look at your situation and tell you what was needed.He even went so far as to say he wished more expats would come in and have a talk save a lot of worry.

Sandie, Good Luck love, the advice you have is all valuable, although everyone is an expert here, changing a life at any time is difficult but we have done it and came with no French, very little money and lots of rose coloured dreams, but we did keep a property in Britain as a bolt hole, it is a one bedroom flat we currently rent out, so if you do join us, consider if you can do the same, and enjoy! life is to short to stuff mushrooms as Shirley Conran once said we have no regrets, no long term plans just living a life.

Sandie, Good Luck love, the advice you have is all valuable, although everyone is an expert here, changing a life at any time is difficult but we have done it and came with no French, very little money and lots of rose coloured dreams, but we did keep a property in Britain as a bolt hole, it is a one bedroom flat we currently rent out, so if you do join us, consider if you can do the same, and enjoy! life is to short to stuff mushrooms as Shirley Conran once said we have no regrets, no long term plans just living a life.

Hi motorhead, Read with interest your informed advice to the original poster, we have as yet to receive the report from SATA I believe that is what the inspector called it,as to certificates etc, we have done what was necessary to accomadate our needs whilst we commence renovation on our houses. We are almost certainly going to have a Fosse as well to deal with blackwater the discussion seems to be whether or not, we can reuse as safely as possible the greywater, it grieves me to see France who traditionally dealt with waste in a sustainable way,i.e. letting nature dispose of it, buying into the myth that storing effluviant is the only acceptable way to go. The thinking is so short term in these times of climate change,natural disasters, rendering homes helpless and inhabitable without their life line to the increasingly expensive network of services . We are trying to do it differently but do not imagine it will be easy especially in a language being newly acquired. The sealed unit for watering is collection points on roof for rain and snow melt, joining greywater system collecting from shower and basin, into surge pump connected to outlet i.e. tap with perforated black hose in loops buried under raised bed, pump will go twice a day to prevent water standing more than 24hours, the bed will contain plants which will take up moisture and act as natural filters. recommend reading The Natural House Daniel D Chiras.

We have and are very happy with a Swedish compost loo ,called Separette villa made by Servator AB of Skinnebo sweden s33o10 the system is very eco friendly why we chose it, We were faced with the problem that the property we wanted had no existing Fosse and as we are surrounded by communal land we did not know what our chances of ever getting permission to do anything else were. We investigated all the options including willow beds, sand pits, drying systems etc and decided this was for us. The system is hands on so to speak in that the collection chamber requires manual emptying,a replacement chamber is supplied, this occurs roughly every two months in a house hold of two people, my husband has the job as a retired nurse I have emptied my last bedpan....Its apperance resembles a conventinal toilet with a bigger pan, it has a Negative pressure fan which partially dry the solids and excludes any odours, it vents out the roof as normal and the liquids join our grey water system which , when finished will be a sealed system watering underground, currently it is piped into our communal drain out side our neighbours house at their suggestion, we have an additional problem in that our land is behind the grange opposite which lies below the Water table, occasionally flooding,

Thanks Nick for prompt answer, we bought the car in a panic when we had a car accident{ not our fault} after arriving here only two weeks earlier, we have now got super french car and the Tipo is proving a problem to get rid of even tried part exchange for new I think garage staff are probably still laughing....

Been reading this with interest as we have just bought from an English couple an old 4x4 which they have driven over here for two years on English plates but insured by french company thought all was O.K.we believed, we on completion of purchased Sorn,d the vehicle in Britain and are currently going through Impot{ another story for another day},we have recieved confirmation from dvlc and as yet no demand for payment of unpaid road Tax are we in for nasty shock ? Also we dont think our Drire office likes the English he hangs up everytime we ring to make appointment in our best french, resorting to picketing gates next....

can we clarify the rules on control techniques and selling second hand cars ? we currently have a Fiat tipo rhd on french plates that we wish to sell complete or for spares. It has about 1 year of CT left. Will it need a new one ? - because of the relatively low value we do not wish to go to the bother of renewing the CT.