tenniswitch

Mr. Tw was talking about buying furniture to a woman he met on the train yesterday, and she mentioned the Emmaus charity shops.  Does anyone know of any in the Auvergne? Thanks.

[quote user="zeltus"]I can't get at my on-live Factures for information - summat is wrong somewhere with FT me thinks. Has anyone got the address I need to send a Lettre d'Recommande to Orange/France Telecom a la Clair's Letter Examples so's I can formally cancel my Broadband account with them? I don't have a livebox, nor do I have a time-length contract with Orange, I just need to send a letter telling them to stop taking money from my bank account. I have tried searching but the noise/signal ratio is returning too many duff hits for me to find the info - altho' I am sure it's been posted here somewhere. Cheers Bill [/quote] I know this is heretical, but when I wanted to cancel my FT/Orange ADSL, I just called the English-speaking number.  The service was stopped within an hour (good thing I didn't have any important emails as I promptly lost access to that email account), and after one last pro-rated charge, there were no more prelevements from my bank account.

As a US citizen, it is my understanding that the French 183-day rule would apply.  Regardless of US/France tax treaties, given the disparities in the tax rates, it would be very difficult to imagine that a year in France will be quite expensive for them, unless their total income/wealth is very modest. Which is why we are careful to count our aggregate of days in France each year. [:)]

Looks as if you've more than a nodding acquaintance with architectural recyclers, Gs.  Nice detailing. [:)]

Thanks, Clair, I'll take a look at those links.

A friend recently read an article about a man who keeps his holiday home dry using one of the SolarVenti brand solar-powered dehumidifiers.  This is interesting to me as we are required to turn off our electricity during the months that we aren't in residence. Has anyone had experience of using those or any other similar product in an old house? (I'm not trying to advertise, just to eliminate some mustiness, especially in an understairs closet.)

Is it possible that you are using Internet Explorer and have the popup blocker enabled (in IE tools) or in something like a google toolbar?

Yup, you have to subscribe to "presentation de numero".

[quote user="Clair"]This might help: http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/prescription-inline-add/ [/quote] Thanks, Clair, that site does have useful information.  I understand my prescription much better now and have printed off a bunch of info to take with me tomorrow morning.

[quote user="Pads"]My husband works all over the world and loses /breaks his glasses at a rate of knots .... He takes his prescription with him in his suitcase and has had glasses made in a few countries including France, America , Asia and hes never had a problem with them understanding his prescription....  I think you should be OK just go in and show them ....[/quote] Thanks, Pads, that's reassuring.

The right earpiece broke on my progressive bifocals this morning, and I very much doubt that I'll be able to get a repair here (flexible, rimless frames bought in the US a couple of years ago).  Fortunately, I saw my US opthalmologist in February, and I have a copy of the prescription (which hadn't changed). Unfortunately, I don't know that I understand the prescription (+2.50 +.50 X180) well enough to explain it to a French oculist.  Does anyone know if that prescription would make sense to the French?  I probably can't get my opthalmologist on the telephone before Monday evening. Perhaps there is a website where I could find out how French prescriptions are written?

Thought I'd better ask before I buy something I can't schlep down to the garden.

[quote user="teapot"]I think you may have overdone it with the clock radios [:D][;-)][/quote] Yeah, they're pretty heavy users. [:D] But I forgot the rather large refrigerator.

[quote user="suein56"][quote user="tenniswitch"] Have run the following simultaneously on 9Kw without problems: 3 electric radiateurs      hot water heater    washing machine (mind you, I wash everything in cold water) OR dishwasher (nothing to do with electrics, I'm unsure about the water pressure) dryer   electric oven    electric cooktop burners (1 or 2) coffee maker    computer, router, printer assorted lighting fixtures, clock-radios, etc. [/quote] Crikey, all at the same time? Are you sure you are not on 12Kw? Sue [8-)] [/quote] Yup.  I double-checked my bill before posting that.  We had the house rewired during renovation, and the electrician originally signed us up for 6Kw, which I was sure would be insufficient.  When he came to install the radiateurs, I was finally able to convince him that we would need to go up, but he insisted that 9 would be sufficient.  So far it has been, but I'm planning to have him install 2 more radiateurs- must remember to bring the subject up again. I appreciate his desire to save us money (he's horrified that we're on the higher base when we're here only 5 months a year), but I know our usage habits.

Have run the following simultaneously on 9Kw without problems: 3 electric radiateurs hot water heater washing machine (mind you, I wash everything in cold water) OR dishwasher (nothing to do with electrics, I'm unsure about the water pressure) dryer electric oven electric cooktop burners (1 or 2) coffee maker computer, router, printer assorted lighting fixtures, clock-radios, etc.

[quote user="ErnieY"]Talking to me or LyndaandRichard ? I do have a UPS but it's running my TiVo's because they use Linux which can get seriously unhappy with repeated power outages, I don't need one for the computers because I only run laptops now. Auto reboot is indeed turned off, the most ridiculous default setting imagineable IMO. If you're going to BSOD you're going to BSOD and with it turned off at least you'll have a clue about what caused it. [/quote] Sorry to be unclear.  I was talking to Lynda&Richard. You guys are light-years above me in tech-savvy (that's probably obvious), but sometimes we technophobes have stumbled across some useful info. I'll probably be posting frantically here when I get back to France and discover what's decided to go wonky during my absence. [:D]

You don't use a UPS?  A techie like you? I don't in France, where I only have a laptop, but wouldn't dream of running Windows in Florida without one.  During the stormy seasons (read, most of the year), we have power blips all the time.  Windows gets very cranky when not shut down properly.  And surely you've turned off the automatic reboots. But I'm glad you've got it sorted now.  

1. Allow yourself plenty of time. 2. Make sure that you have all install CDs and other materials handy. 3. Remember to uninstall any junk programs that you don't want (preferably before connecting to the internet). 4. If you used a pre-installed antivirus and/or security package, remember to enable it before connecting to the internet. 5. Your first internet connection should be to go to the Microsoft website and install all the security updates and patches.  6. If you don't use the pre-installed antivirus package, your second internet connection should be to download and install the antivirus program or security suite of your choice (and the 3rd would be for downloading and installing a firewall program if you don't want to use the Windows firewall). Good Luck!    

[quote user="JohnM"] [quote user="nectarine"]yes a UK laptop will work just fine and if you don't want to pay the broadband costs then you can pick up a Wanadoo/Orange disk for internet access on a pay-as-you-go basis, for occasional use. We did that for years until we moved over fulltime and got an FT broadband connection.[/quote] If you can, it's better not to use the installation CD, it will make changes / put stuff on your PC that you don't really need. [/quote] And very likely fight with your existing software.  I cannot strongly enough second JohnM's  excellent advice.

Too many variables.  Why don't you do what I do when I want to know what my electric radiators are costing:  turn off as many other appliances as possible, run the computer and its peripherals for a couple of hours and see how much your meter's moved?  Then do the same with the computer and peripherals OFF.

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Pads"]... recently trying to empty the freezer to clean...[/quote] I really must do mine this spring... [Www] Any suggestion as to how to tackle it?   [/quote] Invite all your friends to a potluck supper. [:D]

In Outlook, you go to Tools/Account Settings and select "New".  Fill in the blanks on the screens that will appear (when you fill in the "User Name" blank, be sure to fill in your entire account name [email protected]), and also be sure to go to the "Advanced" tab in your settings to set the ports for incoming and outgoing mail.  For incoming (POPS3), you want 110, and for outgoing (SMTP) you want 587. It's possible that when you set up the account in Outlook 2003, the wizard won't let you manually set everything.  In that case, just go back into the account and change the ports and any other settings you might have gotten wrong the first time around.

In case you decide against the Livebox, here's a Netgear modem/router on offer from Amazon.fr that's faster and cheaper than my 2 year-old model.

I second the recommendation for a Netgear Router/Modem.  We use the dg834 which requires no software installation on your computers (hooray) and basically sets itself up and connects itself.  We've had no problems with the signal, but perhaps are walls are less thick than yours. If you go to the Netgear website (or Google the model), you can find user manuals (in English) to look over before you purchase.  It's really dead easy, but I would suggest you turn off the stupid dome light on the top.

Have you tried ringing the English-speaking number?  I've never tried to use that for cancelling telephone service, but they were almost too efficient at cancelling my internet service.  At least, they might be able to send you the cancellation form.