suein56

Yep - so it seems. I was astonished to have quite a selection to 'open' when we got back from the UK last week. A dignified French protest at the cost of cards and the increase in the postal charges perhaps or just something innovative to try! I think it is a super idea - some of the ones we have received have been extraordinary. Sue

[quote user="Jean-Luc Picard"]I don't understand why you need to pluck up your courage to try Firefox! It is perfectly safe and far, far better than IE in any flavour. [/quote] Sheer terror, Dick. I am the only person my son knows who could ever have managed to completely delete a programme from his Amiga 500 when he had set it up expressly so that I couldn't muck it up - but I did. Russethouse; thanks for the encouragement. I will give it a go. At least I have a friendly forum to consult if I get it wrong. Sue

Thanks Ian, I'll give IE7 a  go. Though I am plucking up the courage to download Firefox as I tried it out on my son's laptop over Xmas and was very favourably impressed. Sue  

[quote user="Deimos"] HP PSC printers have "major issues" with IE7. HP were told about this last spring (by me, but they already knew about the problems). Since then they have successfully "sat on their hands", not even trying to resolve the issues. ... that said, most people have problems with the scanning software rather than the printing side. Ian [/quote] Ian - can you advise me, please? I have an all-in-one HP Photosmart 2575 - do you think it will it work OK with IE7? Sue  

I  think Teamedup's post is extraordinarily helpful to anyone who faces this nightmare situation and should be writ large somewhere where it might be of use to owners who fall foul of such tenants. Sue

[quote user="Wardy29"] Obviously we are not planning on signing up for anything without seeing it and scouting the location out thoroughly. Ideally we wanted to pick out 8-10 very strong candidates before making a weeks visit early next year. [/quote] Hi Andy We rent here in Morbihan and we found our house through an ad in the local newspaper. We did this for 2 reasons:  a) We did not have the appropriate documents to back up our credit rating here as French estate agents take little notice, if any, of UK documents - not without a lot of hassle and translations etc etc - this is understandable as they are protecting their clients interests, a similar situation exists in the UK if you want to rent, I understand. b) We found privately rented houses were cheaper and without the charges associated with renting through an agency. Though you do have to look out for yourself and understand the French rental contracts quite well to know just what your responsibilities are and what you will need to pay out. Rental properties, especially good ones, do seem to move fast - so you need to be in a position to look, decide and act quickly if you find a place you like. Sue

[quote user="Spg"] it was virtually foolproof ... Sue  [:)] [/quote] I am not a good cook but it always worked well for me - I mostly used to make it in an oblong tin. My children used to love eating a buttered slice topped with cheese when they arrived home, starving, from school. The only person I know who failed with this cake was an aunt of mine who read 180 deg C as 180 deg fahrenheit as her cooker was ancient and did not have centigrade markings. That time the cake was an unmitigated disaster, but gave everyone a good laugh when the error was explained. I am sure your cake will be successful. Sue

My goodness seeing that recipe takes me back many, many years - a real trip down memory lane. My mum used to make it fairly often as it was so easy to do, virtually foolproof and unexpected visitors always loved it. She called it 'Saucepan Cake' for obvious reasons. Sue  [:)]  

For us the filter goes into the FT wall socket ,the adsl cable goes from the RJ11 slot on the underside of the filter to the 'in' slot on the surge protector and then a second RJ11 cable goes from the 'out' slot to the router modem. This is what I have done ... and it works, surprisingly enough. Sue [:)] Edit: having seen Clair's post I must add that all our power cables go through the surge-protector too.

***I've never seen mowers in our Le Clerc, but I can't wait until end of next summer as I will be unable to find the front door!!*** Yes, I agree it might be difficult for you, sad though isn't it? We arrived at the beginning of July 2005 so had no need of a mower for quite a while as it was just too hot and, as I said in my post, the lawn resembled straw for a long time. I suppose we are lucky in that our LeClerc - in Vannes - is pretty big and, in summer, they do mowers and all things gardeny etc. We got a super swing-seat for some ridiculously low sum as well. What I was trying to get over  was: look in unexpected places; try Weldom for example who do reasonable mowers at reasonable prices and they might have a few left languishing somewhere - but you will need to ask. Good luck and happy searching. Sue  

We bought our Jardipro machine from LeClerc at the 'end of summer' sale last year at virtually half-price for 140 euros. It is a Prisma 40, has a Techumseh engine and says 'made in Italy'. We were astonished at how efficient it has been as we expected it to be rubbish at that price. We have about 1000 sq mtrs and, living in Brittany with plentiful amounts of rain, we do need to cut the grass very regularly. BTW we do receive numerous comments from our [French] neighbours on how often our grass is cut, but our German neighbour cuts his lawn as often as us so there you go. Mind you it was not so much a lawn when we moved in as a field of dry straw and as my OH wanted to practise his chip shots ... Sue  [:)]

Hi My OH and I are both 56 and we have just taken out top-up with AGF at a cost of approx 1500 euros annually. We also looked at Exclusive and Groupama and their quotes fell in the 1100 to 1470 range depending on the option(s) you choose. Sue

No, she is trying to bump up her number of posts! But to answer the question - here in the very south of 56 cauliflowers have been of  superb quality and really cheap recently ie 1.15€ each, so we have  been having cauliflower cheese quite often. Sue

[quote user="Pancake"]They never tell you in those ads if the rent if monthly or weekly....I hope its monthly.. [:D][/quote] It's monthly if renting ' à l'année' ie on a year long or 3 year long lease, but usually quoted weekly for the summer or holiday lets as they are more expensive and of shorter duration. Sue

Further my post asking for help; we started with the cheapest option so my OH took the car to a tyre specialist who rebalanced all the tyres and swapped them all round the French way ie right-rear to right-front etc. Though he was shown the UK Citroen manual the guy insisted that he would not cross swap ie right-rear to left-front as demonstrated in the manual. Result a definite improvement - though I haven't had chance to test the car over a long distance yet. Fingers crossed here that this is the answer to the problem - time will tell. Thanks to everyone for their help. Sue  

[quote user="Leslauriers"]. The first person I saw insisted that the required payment was 8% of worldwide capital and I could do little to dissuade her of this so I made sure that I avoided her on my next visit! [/quote] Crikey, I don't blame you - it's all down to interpretation of the rules and that interpretation would have made us practically penniless in a very few years! Sue  [blink]  

[quote user="Miki"]No,  we have one that we use now that was bought locally and the plates stayed the same but of course, the carte grise was renewed in my name. [/quote] Great news, thanks Miki; that will save a small amount. We are hoping to buy a local car which is up for sale. So, hopefully there will just the carte grise registration to pay for. Sue

[quote user="Mark"] I'm going to write a letter to Monsieur le Maire this afternoon, introducing myself and reassuring him that my intentions towards his village are honourable, before moving there in a few weeks. [8-)] [/quote] I'd put that on hold and after your arrival in France I'd visit the Mairie in person, if you feel the need, and introduce yourself to his secretary/personal assistant, who seems to be the one who runs/organises/knows everything in the locality. Sue [:)]

Do the plates still have to be changed if you buy a secondhand French car that is registered in the same department as yours? Sue

[quote user="Ford Anglia"]I assume the original poster will tell all when it's finally sorted?[/quote] Certainly will; though after reading the post from the couple who had a similar problem, couldn't solve it, even after lots of effort, so eventually sold the car, I am sitting here with fingers and toes crossed. I have made a list of things to try, starting with the cheapest; so, today, have booked for all tyres to be balanced then swapped round as per Citroen manual ie Right Rear to Front Left etc. Strange thing though, the tyre place were insistant that they would not cross-swap the tyres like that only RR to RF. Anyway we will see when we get there. Sue  [8-)]

Hi Coco Looking at this map he might well do it. Following the TGV arriving 30 mins late our son metroed from Paris Montparnasse to Gare du Nord in 30 mins and just made his connection. Sue

[quote user="Tim_Quincaillerie"][quote user="Dotty "]Sounds like a wheel bearing on its way out, I have the same thing on my car and its not a Citroen.[/quote] I agree Wheel bearing or incorrectly balanced Wheel. [/quote] OK, so that is something new to add to the list I am compiling. Now, how would I suggest to a garage that a worn-out wheel bearing might be the problem and ask if they could they check it/them out? But first a rebalancing of all the wheels. Thanks to all who replied, I cannot express how grateful I am - it is very helpful. Sue

[quote user="Cassis"]But I want a lathe! [:(] [/quote] Then get Jude to buy you one at Christmas - problem solved! [:D] BTW thank you for your instructions, so kindly and gently explained in another thread, on how to make a link not only short but clickable. I would never have worked that out for myself. Sue  

[quote user="Ford Anglia"] I'd also get a local tyre place to check ALL tyres for ovality. We had one go out of round on the rear of one of our cars, caused exactly what you describe. Final check was to replace it with the spare, at which point the vibration stopped. The ovality of a tyre doesn't show on a balance test. [/quote] Good grief, that is something I have never ever heard of - could I ask how old the tyre was that went oval? Though age has probably nothing to do with it - just the luck of the draw. Just to add that I had all 5 tyres replaced before we came to France 18 months ago. Thanks for the info - I will certainly get the tyres checked out for ovality, as my car does sit around a bit. Also, in case it gets to that point, thanks to BugBear for his superb translations of the terms I might need. Sue

You can find the parsnip roulade here on Deliaonline - if I have done the link right! Sue