Jaydeez

Having only ever been on a motorbike once in my life.  Can anyone tell me if you buy a motorcycle and sidecar, can you fit the side car on either side or would you need to buy the said thing in france so that it is on the correct side.....strange question I know but there you go!

We have just used Brico lasure for timbers for a greenhouse. Went on ok but it is majorly thin and gets everywhere. Make sure you wear gloves as I had brown hands for days even with white spirit!!

Our house is very old and when we bought it the french gent who we bought it from had insulated all the ceilings and put pine cladding on the top in all the bedrooms. Rather than disturb it all and all the wiring in the rafters between we papered over the cladding,  Unfortunatly it was not a good idea as when the seasons change the cladding shrinks and swells accordingly.  Hence the paper is constantly splitting. Does anyone know the answers to the following throught experience. 1. Could we crepi over the paper or would that split as well? 2. If we took the paper off could we crepi on the cladding or would that split? The other alternative is to take the lot down and put new ceilings up but as it is only a holiday home until we retire in 18 months that seems a lot of work for now so it would have to wait till we are there permanently.   Thanks. John and Dana.  

Hello                We are intending to drive from our home in Southern Charente to Southern Spain (Vera Playa) in March 2008.  This will be our first drive into Spain and Michelin tell me its approx 900 miles door to door.  A bit much for one day so we hope to picth up at a hotel south of Madrid down towards Albacete (will be going via Biarritz, Burgos Madrid etc).  This is where your advice will come in.. Hotels on the roadside are very prominent in France, Hotel B & B, Formule 1 etc but I seem to be unable to find the equivalent on Spanish websites.  Does anyone do this particular drive ? Are hotels available just off the main roads ?  Is the journey arduous etc..  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. Would prefer to book in advance rather than just try and turn up at one hoping they have vacancies, especially as there are three adults and a dog. Regards John

Hello                We are intending to drive from our home in Southern Charente to Southern Spain (Vera Playa) in March next year.  This will be our first drive into Spain and Michelin tell me its approx 900 miles door to door.  A bit much for one day so we hope to picth up at a hotel south of Madrid down towards Albacete (will be going via Biarritz, Burgos Madrid etc).  This is where your advice will come in.. Hotels on the roadside are very prominent in France, Hotel B & B, Formule 1 etc but I seem to be unable to find the equivalent on Spanish websites.  Does anyone do this particular drive ? Are hotels available just off the main roads ?  Is the journey arduous etc..  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. Would prefer to book in advance rather than just try and turn up at one hoping they have vacancies, especially as there are three adults and a dog. Regards John

Hello                We are intending to drive from our home in Southern Charente to Southern Spain (Vera Playa) in March next year.  This will be our first drive into Spain and Michelin tell me its approx 900 miles door to door.  A bit much for one day so we hope to pitch up at a hotel south of Madrid down towards Albacete (will be going via Biarritz, Burgos Madrid etc).  This is where your advice will come in.. Hotels on the roadside are very prominent in France, Hotel B & B, Formule 1 etc but I seem to be unable to find the equivalent on Spanish websites.  Does anyone do this particular drive ? Are hotels available just off the main roads ?  Is the journey arduous etc..  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. Would prefer to book in advance rather than just try and turn up at one hoping they have vacancies, especially as there are three adults and a dog. Regards John

Please be aware that not all tick treatments aare recognised by DEFRA.  We tried to bring ur dog home 18 months ago having used Stronghold and the port staff would not let us out of the country as Stronghold is not recognised, even though our vets in England and France had said it was fine. We had to stay for an extra 24 hours and it cost us a lot of cash to get it sorted, i.e. emergency call out vet on a Sunday, hotel bills etc.

Paul             Do you know whereabouts in Angouleme the pool is ? John

Does anyone know of a Public Swimming Pool near to Barbezieux (16) that is open all year round, preferably indoor that is a fair size 20/25 metres.  The one at Barbezieux is outdoor and only open Spring to Autumn.  Les Antilles at Jonzac is more of a fun pool so not good for the sort of distance swimming I need to do.  (relieves pain from an injury)   Regards   John

We have been using the PETS scheme on speedferries for over 2 years now.  We travel approxiamtly every 6 weeks. The pets are put on last so that they spend the least time on the boat so that they do not get over stressed. We have never had any problems travelling except for once when the vet had wrongly stamped the pssport and we could not travel.  Speedferries were first class. They found us a hotel in Boulogne that took pets and found us a vet to sort out the other vets error.  All this happened on a Sunday night.  We only have good to say about them and will continue hopefully to be satisfied customers.  We know some people sometimes say that the PETS system is complex but we have never had any issues and look forward to travelling regularly.

We are loooking to have an in ground pool built in our back garden.  The pool will be about 7m x 3m or therabouts.  Our garden is completely surrounded by 10 foot high walls on three sides.  They are either garden walls or gable ends of houses.  The only access into the garden is by a door off the barn or a gate from the drive(the fourth side) Can anyone tell me whether we would have to have fencing around the pool or is the fact that it is totally enclosed and the door and gate locked sufficeint?   Regards. Jaydeez.

We have been taking our dog to and from France for over a year now and have never had a problem, however this weekend was the exception.  On our trip to the vet for the usual return journey, they used a tick treatment called Stronghold by Pfizer, instead of the usual rontlinee.  On booking in at the Speedferries desk we were told that Defra would not accept Stronghold and we would not be able to return to the UK.  I queried this with DEFRA there and then whoo confirmed that it was not a recognisable treatment as far as they were concerned and therefore we could not return.  To make matters worse it was 6pm on a Sunday evening which meant we had to find a vet who could administer the frontline (also the injection as the 48 hr window would be closed on the next sailing )  We then had to find a Hotel that takes dogs, numerous calls to the Uk cancelling work, appointments etc.  All credit to them, Speedferries were excellent and found both a Vet and a Hotel for us.  On meeting with the Vet he informed us that this was the third recent case he had come accross, and all vets should know that Stronghold is not acceptable for passport purposes.  Of course Holiday Insurance covers for all eventualities except this one, and it certainly came out as an expensive return journey.  I hope someone else can learn from our experience.    Regards   John and Dana

No it is an interior wall, the dining room is the other side of it whish is creppi.  I just hate the look of it as the rest of the room is so beautiful but knowing my luck the wall would fall down

As the above post, we are looking for one in department 16 but can get no one to reply to emails.  Please pm and decent suppliers and fitters.   Jaydeez

We have a charentasise house built pre 1800 of very solid and very thick stone.  Three walls of the lounge are still the beautiful original stone but the wall immeditely to the left of the fireplace looks as though soem previous owner was going to cover it what can only be described as a sort of concrete that crumbles and dusts enerywhere.This is floor to ceiling and about 10 feet across as well.  The wall to the left of the fireplace is also done but only half way up from the floor.  Does anyone know what this stuff is, why it would have been put on , and more importantly how we can get it off?

We have a house in France which has a large attic for conversion, approx 38 feet long x 18 feet wide. The roof slopes from 12 feet down to 5 feet across. When we retire in 5 years or so we intend to do it up. It would take a bathroom, bedroom, living area and small kitchen. It has its own stairs from a barn area and would be entirely self contained. We do not wish to run as a business for income as we would be retired so it would be solely for a small interest, but if we chose to let it out as a self contained room or we chose to offer bed and breakfast, what regulations would this encounter. Would we have to be registered and would there be any cost to us etc etc.

We have a very large electronic organ, i.e. fits into a people carrier with only 2 seats in, which we need to get to Barbazieux in dept 16 from the midlands.  Anyone know of any vans travelling over with space please????????

Baz                 Thanks for that.. I think this company deal more with service manuals than the actual set up guides.  It does say 'user' books on their website so maybe I will e mail them to find out more exact details..  (seems expensive though £11.20 for a user guide ?). Regards John

Will           Sorry, should have put that on the thread...tried that, they only have manuals for plasma, micro etc etc..not one for this model.   did try downloading one to see if the the general steps were the same...NOooo..hence this posting..I am hoping someone with a similar may still have their manual...I wait in hope.  John

Strange request but I am sure someone out there will either know the answer or know someone who does..  I have just purchased a second hand Mitsubishi TV.. not very old (Nicam dig/stereo etc)  However there is no TV manual with it..and I cannot find out how to get the TV Channels to store once I have located the correct frequency.  It is very frustrating..Can someone assist..The Model no is CT25A5STX..

We have always used Condor Ferries and Brittany Ferries on the longer haul crossings.  We have had in excess of force 10 on crossings on conventional ferries on some occassions. We have had many rough and I mean rough!!!! crossings with Condor and when the crossing is nearly 5 hours long you do not want to be there, believe me!!  On several of the last crossings with Condor they were late or running on reduced power due to engine problems.  We then had a puppy and Condor only take pets from Poole and those crossings go out at lunch time.  Imagine leaving a pet in the hold for nearly 5 hours. Also their crossings this year are all going to be docking at the Channel Isles so some leave at 0700 and do not dock till 2100 in France.  Both these companies prices were also very expensive this year even with frequent traveller concessions etc. Hence we moved to Speedferries.  We have travelled with them every 6 weeks since they started and except for one occasiion when the vessel was one hour late they have been brill.  Dover can be a little hectic but facilities are good and Boulogne has a reasonable cafe to wait if needs be coming back. We shall certainly stay with them and look forward to them, getting more routes onboard. As far as the sea sickness a quick precautionary tablet, sit on the lower deck and do not walk about and if it happens to be choppy, no problems....... The only two things I wonder are why is the safety announcement coming back only in French, and my son says when the anouncement runs why do they not have a diffibrulator on board the way the condor man always says????????  Kids.... Jaydeez.

We have tried posting this before but this is now a real problem....we have bees up our kitchen chimney.  We have had them now for three years and we have tried everything going from chemicals to fires to smoke bombs and the nest just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  When we return after six weeks you cannot walk on the kitchen floor for the dead bees and when you try to eat a meal they litteraly swarm....is there an answer.........please besides the normal one of this is france and nature!!!!

Many thanks..to all, very useful info..doesn't reduce the costs but at least I know I am not paying for something I shouldn't..I know electricity prices are more expensive..hence the move to Oil CH.  I might ask to go down to 6KW for a while to see how it works out..I can always go back up.  I think its a case of put up and shut up, so I will...Till I find something else to think about of course..au revoir from dull, wet, Stourbridge.. John

Yes it is 12kw  which is ok for us now (had CH put in to cut down on electric heaters)..They used to trip the fuse box at the flick of a light switch..It just seems high probably because we are not there to appreciate it..

As electricity seems to be a hot topic I have a question re standing charges..  We are not resident yet unfortunately, and only get to go to our house in the Charente perhaps 5 or 6 times a year.  We get our electricity bill each spring and autumn, and the actual charge for electricity is quite low as we do not use a great deal..However we have to pay nearly 200 euros each time as a total of the 6 monthly standing charge.  Is this in context with what other people pay in France ?  We have now gone over to paying monthly (60 euros a month which considering our time there seems extortionate.)  I have written to EDF twice now without answer so it looks like a personal visit.  Any info would be most appreciated..   John