Valerie

I know this has probably been covered before but... I need to access my e-mails from France and I have NTL as my server in UK. Could I simply phone the NTL number from France (adding the 0044 of course) and just download my e-mails as usual or would it know that I was phoning from a different computer? I have e-mailed NTL but of course they are far too busy to respond to individual e-mails for help! Thanks in anticipation etc. Valerie

Hello! Do any of you have a gite to rent for the February half term in the town/village of Quillan next February half term from Sunday to Sunday? A group of us is visiting some friends of ours who have a house in the town and we need an extra gite for 6 persons for adults + children (11+ years) for that week so that we can all get together at their house but in more comfortable accommodation to sleep than all of us sharing their smallish house? Just two 3 persons per room would be OK (i.e. 2 x bedroom gite) since our children do not mind sleeping in the same room as their parents. Does anyone here have anything free for that week? If so please reply back here or in my inbox. Merci. Valerie

It never ceases to amaze me how few obese people I see in France in spite of the huge amount of food the French appear to eat (liberally dosed with cream and butter - termed "cardiac cuisine" by my husband). How do they do it? They eat loads of bread too so it's not a sort of Atkin's diet thing either. Apparently though obesity is now on the increase in France but I think it is quite lagging behind the UK and USA. Re: table manners my husband refers to eating with one's mouth open as "cement mixing". I used to catch out my son (still do sometimes) when giving him a biscuit - he put it straight in his mouth and I said "Manners - what do you say?" - he said "Fthankyoof" and I retorted with "How many times do I have to tell you not to talk with your mouth full!" By the way I find it really difficult to keep my elbows off the table after eating whilst chatting in a restaurant or at home at the table - I feel really stiff and unsociable and tend to get dreadful indigestion and so I am really rude in that way at least! P.S. I am born of Yorkshire parents but in Middlesex and I seem to think that I was taught 6 o'clock too - it was my posh friend who told me about the 20 past four position for knife and fork table etiquette! Valerie

Hi Ronni! We have also gone along the same path as SallyB for the same (health) reasons (below). We do have active woodworm in some areas but they cannot penetrate deep enough into thick oak beams to do any damage (i.e. the structural stuff) and we have noticed that we are seeing less since we have had the new roof fitted and the house has dried out. You won't need to worry about termites where you are as they haven't reached Basse Normandie so far! However, if termites WERE in the area I wouldn't hesitate to have the house treated - these can be a serious problem. Bonne courage! Valerie

Last week I went to my local NatWest (they usually do a good exchange rate and I always get better than the tourist rate) and I transferred 1000 to my Britline (CA) account. I paid 14 up front for the services and so I didn't expect any charges for 1000 worth of euros going into our account. I was livid today when I discovered Britline had charged me 13 euros for just paying it into my account and 13.5 euros for a euro rate exchange. How can they justify this? Altogether it has cost me over 30 to get 1000 into my account. Normally I only pay CA 26 euros if I send them a sterling cheque. I don't see any point in complaining since Mr. Vincent Gray has never replied to an e-mail I have sent him. I suppose I shall have to vote with my feet. Does anyone know what the CA in Vire is like? Valerie

It might be worth ringing them up ( phone number on your bill) to see if they will accept payment by credit card (explaining the situation). Valerie

We received a taxes foncieres bill about 6 or 7 weeks ago and just before I was going to write out a cheque and send it off I noticed that although it was addressed to me, the property to which the bill referred was not ours but another hameau in the same village. I wrote to our local tresorerie asking them if they could change this and let me know if the charges would be the same. I have been worrying that they may send the bailiffs in to claim their money since I had heard nothing until today when I received a note from the local tresorerie saying they had forwarded my letter to Avranches. So I will probably have to wait ages to find out what's happening and will still worry about the bailiffs! My question is this - I know that taxes d'habitation is variable dependant on the size of the property etc., but are taxes foncieres the same for every dwelling in the village? If so I could send off a cheque and just let them know that they should credit it towards our house and not someone else's! Otherwise I am going to spend the next few weeks worrying. I know an English man who just managed to stop all his furniture being auctioned off by the bailiffs - his French was so poor that he did not understand the letters he was getting from the tresorerie and it was only when our French neighbour noticed a notice in La Manche Libre saying that someone was going to have all of their belongings auctioned off due to non-payment of taxes that I managed to alert our friend who sorted it out within only an hour or two of losing everything. Apparently, they don't care if they don't get very much for your property - as long as their charges our paid - he has since heard that people hang around these sales like vultures because they know they will make a really fast buck! Any advice out there please? Mazan - where are you?! Valerie

The best deterrent was recommended to me in Greece and it worked a treat - rub your skin with neat gin (the rougher the gin the better) - this has juniper in it - so perhaps this is a deterrent. I suffer dreadfully with bites and have never found the likes of Autan etc., to be of any help. However, my husband lashed out on some posh Clarins after sun with mosquito repellent which also worked a treat - however expensive at about 30! I have noticed that they are more likely to bite me when I have recently had a shower or a bath but that when I am sweaty (or dirty - shock horror) they are not interested in me. However, I feel that allowing oneself to get filthy dirty to avoid the attention of biting insects is taking things a bit far - don't you? Valerie

I think they must be in Normandy since I often see a van parked near The Auberge du Moulin at Brouains with "Normandie Termites" emblazoned across the side. I just hope it is a generic/franchise something like Rentokil here (unlikely I know). Valerie

LAST EDITED ON 26-Sep-01 AT 11:06 AM (GMT) Dear Adriana, We bought 6 cubic metres last year and we still have 3 left. We have two fireplaces both of which consume wood at a rate of knots and we lit the fires for one week in October, one after Christmas, 1 week in February, 2 weeks at Easter (most days - it was very cold) and a few more fires at Whitsun and in the summer. I don't know what sort of wood it is - probably oak or chestnut - it came in handy fire size pieces and cost us about 25 a cubic metre from the local farmer - who not only delivered it on his tractor but laid it up extremely neatly in our woodshed for us!!! Hope this helps. Valerie