tenniswitch

[quote user="David"] Thanks Norman, I will leave it in a warm place and see what happens. Odile - I do not understand.  I thought olive oil was a pressing of the fruit of the olive tree - where does the fat come from?  Is it like animal fat?  Is fat added to the olive oil?  Surely trees do not have fat? I thought olive oil was healthy!  Would the olive oil be more healthy if I strained the nuggets out of the oil, and use only the oil residue?  Should I do this with all olive oil, i.e. put a bottle in the freezer and then strain it? David [/quote] David, it's not some alien form of fat that has invaded or been added to your olive oil.  It is a normal characteristic of olive oil that it remains liquid only above a certain temperature- below that temperature it begins to solidify and you see the natural waxes that occur in it. Here's a link to a much better explanation than mine: Cloudy Frozen Olive Oil Oops, sorry, didn't realize someone had already posted this. Tw

[quote user="Lehaut"]... on the numerical keypad![/quote] Assuming you have one. [:D]

That is a good idea for those who are comfortable using a French keyboard. For those that aren't, and use Windows (especially if you have bits and pieces of Office 2003 or later), I find that using spellcheck in French (occasionally augmented by the "insert character" icon) works quite efficiently, and I change from English to French and back without missing a beat.  Word and Outlook automatically detect the language and start correcting as I type.

[quote user="Nelson"] When we purchased our house in France we had an electrician rewire it. At the same time he organised for EDF to upgrade supply change meter and at their insistence install one of these readers as the house was now a holiday home. All the work done by EDF was free of charge. (were we just lucky) regards colin [/quote] I think you were.  The website says free for new installations only.  Probably my electrician could have organized it when he redid our wiring, but, unfortunately it didn't occur to him and the EDF didn't insist (they may not have realized that it would be a maison secondaire).

[quote user="giantpanda"]Hi! Sorry bad start for the new Year. Do you mean to say that you have no counter? You can register here. http://www.edf-bleuciel.fr/accueil/j-ai-besoin-d-energies/electricite-141685.html But :if it is the case : 1. You cannot register for a month or so. 2. Since you be needing a new counter - normally one takes over the last person counter - that will mean high costs - Nobody can tell you how much that will cost, because it depends on the location. It can cost over Euro 1000. And that will not necessary done, from one day to another. 3. Further, what you have not counted on, new counter means that your whole electrical installation has to be rechecked by a " consuel", and for old premises, that can mean that much of the wiring may have to be one by a qualified ( best French ) electrician. http://www.consuel.com/ Yours, giantpanda PS. What about water or  and gas?? and possibly telephone/internet? [/quote] We have the previous owner's meter, although we've had the house completely rewired, and we had EDF send someone out last spring to increase our limit.  I'm just wondering if it's worth the trouble to have EDF install a box outside so that they can take a reading without coming in.  If it's going to look too ugly or be too expensive, I guess we'll just continue with what we've got. I rather doubt that we could have an outdoor water meter installed without significant expense as the house is built on a slope, and the present (indoor) meter is actually below street level. We have no gas lines and there's no problem with our telephone and ADSL services.  I turn the phone on and off via internet from the US. Thanks, everyone, for your responses.

I agree that you need to evaluate the circumstances. That being said, I've never owned an animal that bit me, even under trying circumstances (giving them pills, holding them when injured, being given injections, etc.).  

I have a couple of questions that don't fall neatly into any forum, but this one seems to get a lot of questions about EDF billing, etc., so here goes. Although we're usually in France in May and June, we are never there in December.  For our 1st house, we've always left a key with a neighbor, who lets in the meter readers for electricity and water.  For our 2nd house, we haven't done this, expecting to use the EDF website to register our usage in December. Well, somehow, I either missed the correct link on the EDF website, or else I checked on the wrong dates, and we've been billed for far less than our actual consumption.  While this might be dandy in the short run, I'd really prefer that our billing (we pay biannully) would be closer to reality. So, how expensive is it to have an external meter installed?  And second, would I have any choice re where the meter was placed?  The current meter and electric panel are just inside our front door, and I'm not really dying to have a meter at that particular location on the outside. Thanks in advance for any advice. Mer

[quote user="Lehaut"] Have tried saving the files in several different locations. Althought, taking the point in a post above, my French Vista was allegedly saving the downloaded files in c:\user\...\temporary file which is strange as that is in English whereas the usual locations are in French. Having given up last night, when I booted up this morning, everything works as it did before - downloads saved where I want them.  I changed nothing!   Confirms my suspicion that all computers are female and so their reasons for doing things are beyond the understanding of a mere man!    [/quote] As most computers and software are designed by males, your logic escapes me [:D], but I agree that when a computer starts acting weird, it often helps to reboot.

Have you tried saving to the desktop first?

[quote user="cooperlola"] I am currently downloading via i-tunes as I propose to do exactly that, Richard.  My objection to i-tunes (and other software of this sort) is simply that I don't want it trying to flog me stuff all the time.  Thus far I have not registered so hope that will prevent this from happening. Merci.[:)] [/quote] I'm not trying to push iTunes over other alternatives (such as Anapod), but it does keep things simpler.  My iPod is registered, and I don't find that I get a lot of spam from Apple.  Occasionally when opening iTunes, there's a pop-up offering an update, but you can simply refuse that (and can use the "don't ask again" feature also.

[quote user="ErnieY"]I'm not with you Rose, if you have been happy with Dell for yonks why change on the basis of what people on forums say in the negative. Remember you only ever hear the bad and nobody comes on eulogising about how wonderful their computer is if it's just sitting there getting on with it's job. Bugsy excepted of course, but then he's been on his own personal 'Road to Da-mac-us' [:P] [:D] If you want XP then Dell is probably the only supplier still offering it instead of Vista and if you bought Apple then not only would you have to spend more money on a copy of XP for it but also get into the geek world of Bootcamp to actually install and use it. [/quote] Just make sure that you buy lots of HD memory and 2-3G of RAM for running your CS3. 

[quote user="Anna"] Hi Thanks for your reply. My daughter in Oz can access the same site and has purchased cosmetics from them recently, so I know they are up and running. Am I allowed to name the site on here or is that classed as advertising? [/quote] They might still be down for a few hours today.  Try again tomorrow.

You need to install iTunes.  As LyndaandRichard mentioned you can get it from the Apple website. You can also get other downloads and a lot of info about using your iPod (it helps to know what model you have) from the Apple Support link.

I've been trying to find electric blankets for 2 double beds and 1 single bed.  Just checked the La Redoute site and they only show 2 models, both apparently with a single control. Does anyone know where in France I can find them with dual controls?  And what would that be called in French? Thanks.

But, seriously, we have a very low doorway (leading to the hall off which opens the upstairs bathroom/loo) that I need to light in order to prevent the men in my family from cracking their skulls, and, unfortunately, I didn't realize this until after all the wiring was completed.  So, of course, there's no place to plug in even a night light to guide the unwary. Would these solar-powered fairy lights perhaps be a solution?  I'd been thinking along the lines of reflective or glow-in-the-dark tape.  Of course, there is the minor problem of getting them when I won't be back in France until April.

[quote user="woolybanana"]We use a flaming brand that has been dipped in pine resion. Works a treat and warms the place too.[6][/quote] Wooly, I do love you. [:D]

[quote user="Evianers"]Just finished tiling our buanderie: oh boy, what a nightmare! Not only are none of the walls perpendicular or even straight but the ceiling is like the ocean - wavy! Cutting around light switches, sockets, in- and outlet pipes for the washing machine and other sundry extraneous piping has proved time-consuming, frustrating and enough to make anyone throw a frothy. So our advice is........... if possible, paint it instead! [/quote] As a woman with a house possessing NO perpendicular walls (and quite possibly, none that are straight), not to mention the idiosynchrasies of the ceilings and floors, my heart goes out to you.  Some day, perhaps we can share a bottle of wine and you will tell me the horrifying details of your adventures in tiling while I regale you with the sad story of our (amazingly expensive) pare-baignoire (AKA Tw's Folly).

Are you sure that you want to have income in France?  And, perhaps, come to the attention of the French impots folks?

I'm even later to this than Jonzjob and may get the award for least research. House 1: We had never thought about buying a house in France until, one day, friends approached us with 2 (exterior) photos and asked if we wanted to go in with them on a house in the Auvergne (an area that we had never visited, much less researched).  We thought about it for about 30 seconds before agreeing.  12 months later (long story with lots of humorous and non-humorous complications but no research), we, jointly, owned the house. House 2: DH came running in from the garden of House 1 and said, "Some woman just called down from the garden next door and asked if we wanted to look at the house (which we didn't know was on the market)."  We looked at it, and, despite its being damp, dirty, and in need of new roofs, plumbing, wiring and other renovation, almost immediately decided to buy it.  The house had tremendous potential and it was in the perfect location for us. Sometimes things just fall into your lap, but I don't recommend that anyone follow our example.

[quote user="andyh4"]Even then CA were happy to accept 5k in crisp 500€ notes when we openned our account - I didn't know about the 3k limit thjen and the branch manager said nothing about it either.  The only comment was from him that he had not seen these before, to which my answer was that I did not expect to see them again.[:)][/quote] From my experience, I have the impression that the limit is closer to 7K.  We have a similar situation in the US (bankers required to report deposits of $10 and over), and I think that French banks are required to report at a similar level.

[quote user="Jill"]Sorry, I can't agree at all regarding bread.  When I first started going to France regularly, over 30 years ago, I thought the baguette was fantastic compared to any bread we were getting in England back then - even though you had to buy it fresh for each meal because if you bought it for lunch it would be stale by dinner time.  But over the years, bread has improved greatly in France.  The greyer campagne breads last longer, have a good texture and are delicious.  But there is also the growing range of breads - pain aux cereales, lots of others and also that delicious vieux petrin stuff - brown with big holes in it - tastes nothing like the tasteless brown bread we get in England.  On the other hand, bread in England has improved a lot, although in my area I don't know of any small bakeries that do good bread - supermarket bread in England is now the best (unless you make it yourself).  I certainly can't agree on Marks and Spencers bread.  I was at a shop near our local M & S on Sunday and needed bread for lunch, but decided to detour to Tesco, remembering that M & S only sell pre-packed stuff and that I could get a very good walnut or mediterranean or campagne or ciabatta or Irish buttermilk bread, which had been baked on the premises that morning.  You can now get Tesco petrol stations where bread has been baked freshly - even if it does come as ready made dough, it's still better bread.  Actually, I do think that Germany is very good for bread - but can't get up much enthusiasm for German food other than Black Forest Ham.  Anyway, it's my dream to live within 15 minutes walk of a good bakery in France.  That would be one of the most important factors if buying a house in France.  When it comes to cooking, I think it comes down to whether you have enthusiasm for cooking and creating good food.  It can be done in any country if you can get the ingredients for what you want to cook.  I don't use many convenience foods, but I do think that French canned food is better than English canned food.  We use it as "emergency rations" when camping, and cassoulet, petit sale and the various cous cous cans are better than any tinned food you get in England.  Although, our usual emergency rations tends to be confit de canard, which is a bit pricier than normal tinned food.  I like the tabouleh where you mix the sauce in yourself and hey presto, in half an hour you have tabouleh. I've never tried any other types of packet ready prepared food in France as even when camping, we tend to prepare 3 course meals from scratch - but only one course when at home, so I can't compare.  I'd like to try some of the ready prepared food from a traiteur some time.  That often looks delicious, but seems expensive - if paying those prices you may as well go to a restaurant.[/quote] I'm with you.  One of the great pleasures of having a maison secondaire in France is the food- whether we're cooking, bringing in charcuterie, or eating out.  We were lucky enough to find a house (in a small ville) within 5 minutes of a good bakery and within 2 minutes of a good restaurant.  When friends visit, they all say, "Now I understand why you love to come here."

[quote user="BIG MAC"] Hmmmmm 'Flaming' on France Forum........is that a first?...bearing in mind pine cones advice, maybe a FIR-st....... In the spirt of bigging up Uncle Sam, of course the traditional cowboy method of throwing an oil lamp into the hearth should work.......or perhaps with typical Yankee underkill perhaps a Rocket Propelled Grenade would bring the whole affair 'Bang' up to date? Joking aside, pine cones have to be prettier stored in the fireplace rather than 'Fat pine' which sounds a bit like the incendiary equivalent of Roseanne Barr....... [/quote] I knew I should have brought my grenade launcher.  Those six-guns are simply useless for fire-starting (handy for keeping down the souris, however).  Pine cones are plentiful in north Florida, but, oddly enough, I rarely see them around here. 

[quote user="Polremy"]We have a telephone line called residence secondaire. this means you can turn it on and off during the year. we also have internet with orange called a la carte which means you can disconnect it for up to six months and still keep your e mail address. very small charge for this facility:the phone bit 4 euros i think and nothing for the internet connection. we go through torment twice a year as we struggle to get this sorted. i mean, how can you phone them to reconnect if you don't have a phone? but it does save us a lot of money (about 250euros a year) and we have the satisfaction of not paying for something we aren't using.[/quote] I turn on my telephone via internet just before leaving for France.

[quote user="tonyv"]Thanks, Sue, Clair, I guess that's the way it works. Ah,  well ... I'll just write it  down, then. Cheers,Tony [/quote] Have you tried an old-fashioned substitution code?  You can usually dream up an acronym if it won't make a word.

[quote user="DZ"]I am currently reading a book entitled "Words in a French life", written by an American author (Kristin Espinasse) who lives in Provence with her French husband and their children. The book offers short glimpses into the couple's family life and is organized around certain French words.  It has some nice observations, is easy to read, and is not in the least patronising.  It also gives a number of quite useful French expressions at the end of each chapter. [/quote] Thanks for posting that.  I just checked it on Amazon.fr and it looks rather interesting.