val2

I've never ever seen any inshop glasses for sale except for sunglasses and those magnifying ones for reading print. In the shops in the same commercial centre, yes, but notactually in the big hypermarkets. Actually you will find that using a small out of town dispensing opticien, it will be a lot cheaper. I certainly do as we all wear glasses and contact lenses and have saved a fortune locally and supported a business which is very handy when we break something and they repair it for nothing because of our fidelity.

Electricity is one of our trades and I have a double socket in my bedroom with one side french and the other english,but you are only allowed to put one of these on one fuse. This is especially useful where we have appliances with transformer type plugs which cannot be changed for french ones.

Before you do anything, make sure you have permission to install them if there is no existing rooflights or openings and also if the intended new ones are much larger than the current existing ones.We have a fixed price for installing certain sized and types of Velux windows,but unfortunately hubby has already gone to work and I cannot quote you. If no one else replies, I will try when he returns tonight.

For fosses we have put in Dept 22 the regs were very strict and that was including a 20m soakaway. Here in 29 the rules are tightening up as well and as I have said before, come 2005 any permis de construire applications will have their drainage checked first to see if they are installed with the original authorisation and if not, this work will take priority over the building permission. All installations these days will have soil tests and a lot of paperwork included.

We do a lot of roofing work and prefer only to work in conventional slates. My husband says the fibro ones look OK for a short while then begin to decline. Plus the costs too when you need every penny for renovations.

Try Caravan sales and camping equipment,although places like Decathlon don't sell them. Possibly a car accessory shop like Feu Vert etc and of course your local Marine Supplies shop if you are near the coast.

Firstly check with the mairie to see if the mains have already been put in and where they come to as regards your property. Don't assume that being close to a village or town you will automatically be included, budgets only allow for a certain amount of work to be carried out in one financial year (I've just spent three hours with the commune accounts before they go to the tax people and its horrendous reading for the costs of work carried out recently) Normally the contractors will only come to the edge of the property with the pipework and manhole and you, the owner are then responsible for the last connection to your property regardless of the distance. Do not expect the local mairie to help with finance, they don't have the budget and if it is a holiday home, then no way I am afraid will you get help. If you come up blank with the mairie or cannot understand, try the local water company who have all the details and must be informed once you have connected your last part so they can then charge you more for the disposal.

Phil, if you visit the local ANPE and look under the building vacancies section I am sure you may find something to suit you. We have just recently took on two young single men with only limited building experience and they have both prooven to be willing and able. HOWEVER, the downside of being employed is that you will have to have a compulsory medicale, a contract and you may only be paid the SMIC rate. The upside is that your new employer will have to pay health,pension,retirement,unemployment,social security and more for you,so he will be looking for someone who is worth paying this for, I know from running a business in France all the payments and problems. Don't forget too that we all work either 35 or 39 hours in France and overtime is offered anymore because it incurrs extra charges of 10% on everything after 4 hours (39 hour week), then 25%,50% and 100% which absolutely NO ONE will pay because the charges are prohibitive. If you cannot speak fluent french you may scrape by,but building tecniques are different here and you would have to learn the trade lingo to know what you have to do. There is an old saying " You don't ask, you don't get"

It is normal for french electricians to also be plumbers,hence when you install a boiler,they do all the work and the following maintenance as well.

First of all, are you sure they are asbestos as there are concrete fibreboard tiles which look similar. You should engage a specialist disposal firm to tackle this and I would either enquire at the local Mairie or with the local DDE as to whom and where. Don't try disposing yourself,you can end up with a lot of trouble on your hands as currently,asbestos claims are causing a great deal of trouble for the authorities. We have just visited a property where one wall is completely covered with asbestos sheets inside the house. We refuse to have anything to do with removal completely as our insurance company with not cover this work so,the owners have volunteered to get a sample anylised in the UK.We do not see any necessity to remove the sheets, a block wall with insulation in front of it should suffice as it has not been damaged at all and therefore not causing any harmful particles to get loose and any future pipework or cable trunking can run between the two.

May I suggest before you spend a great deal of money on a new fosse septique that you enquire with the local Mairie as to whether you will be going onto main drainage in the near future if you are not sited way out in the countryside. Most communes in France will be installing mains drainage upto a certain distance from the commune centre over the next years and if you are in line for it, maybe you can manage with a chemical loo until that time and use the money for other works. We install fosses all the time and as the other message says, you must obtain permission before being allowed to do any work and there will be site inspections and soil testing,plus paperwork to be done.

I presume these are straightforward replacement on existing oopenings or else you must complete a Declaration de Travaux and obtain permission to fit anything that is in anyway slightly different. Failure to do so, will result in your having to remove them.

Sorry no cold fix here in Brittany. Roofing felt is torched on and is not a job for an amateur because of the danger of burning Propane torch required for over 100C). Felt rooves are not very common here and therefore the costs of the materials are fairly high. The number of layers depends on what the roof construction is, eg. angles,pitches and construction material. We had to completely change our equipment to do a special one for an architect here as the ten year guarantee will be only be honoured the felt manufacturers if it is applied correctly. Cold adhesive can't stand upto the guarantee we have to give. Contact the technical rep at your local Builder's merchants (Queguiner etc) not Mr.Bricolage etc.

I think you will find that Calor are the only company who will provide english cookers for use with Butane in France. Our friends here went to the UK and bought one back with the additional fittings for conversion to Butane which my husband did for them. As for other makes, they will not commit themselves to products being used other than what they are designed for as I contacted Cannon some years back about bringing our very expensive hob and oven over and they said it could not be converted.

Well here in Brittany we have Queguiner and Point P. You need to find a proper builder's merchants, not a bricolage store and you will find they usually have a good expo outside to see how the finished product looks.

My husband actually wondered if this bill you have received is to in fact cover your family with the state health care whilst you are still in England so that you are in effectively actually contributing to the system so that your wife can claim a CDS. This would then allow your children to go to school with the knowledge that should there be an accident, the paperwork is in place and payment has been made. You have to remember that you do not get something for nothing in France and they are very keen on insurance cover especially at school and for any sort of outdoor activities and travelling on the bus every day.

Sorry but forgot all your thread. At no time did we ever receive any bills of any sort for tax etc. I also add that I did not work before we left the UK or after.All outstanding bills were paid inthe UK before my husband left.

Are you going to eventually live in France as well? If so, I was in this position for 18 months whilst my husband finished off contracts inthe UK, paying the NI etc whilst he was there. I applied for a CDS for myself whilst he was still away and was refused at that time,although the Prefecture and the police headquarters who check applications gave me an attestation to carry round to say I had applied and was waiting for the breadwinner to arrive and that they were allowing us to live here meanwhile. The DSS issued me with a E109 which covered us for this period and as soon as my husband arrived, the very next week he registered to start a business here and we went straight into the state system with a private top up mutuelle which if we hadn't we would have been faced with some very large medical bills due to accidents which followed shortly afterwards.

Suggest you start in the UK with the DSS at Newcastle and clarify (in writing too) exactly where you stand as to cover in France. Then when you get a reply, visit the CPAM where you intend to live in France and sort the same problem out with them as medical cover in France is expensive and you need to pay up front before receiving a reimbursement in a lot of cases. Get everything in writing and in duplicate or triplicate as France is a nation of paperwork.If you havn't paid up to date NI contributions then I don't hold out much hope for pre-paid health care in France via the UK DSS.

My nurse friend told me there is an operation whereby they cut, I think, the epiglotis at the back of the throat (I may have got the name wrong) and it cures snoring,but it is a bit drastic. Apparently snoring is to do with the heart and sometimes when the snorer takes a long time to exhale again,the heart actually can stop - don't be alarmed it is very rare. My husband could snore for France and I've been tempted to sew a dead hedghog inside his pyjamas on a few occassions to stop him lying onhis back, the only trouble is that he dosn't wear pyjamas and all the local hedgehogs have dissapeared. My sister bought some liquid from the UK onthe last visit called Stop Snoring but we havn't tried it yet - how would we know as we are all deep sleepers?

I was under the impression and so was my local CPAM that an E111 is for holiday purposes only in case of an emergency and should you need expensive treatment etc you would have to find a fair bit of money to pay the difference. Normally it is used in conjunction with holiday insurance as a back up. I would personally get some good cover from an insurance company either in France or the UK as having kids myself you never know what is coming next inthe way of accidents etc(as we are continually finding out) What about dental treatment too, in case of a mouth accident or toothache etc?

Go straight to your CPAM and sort it out with them. I had exactly the same problem years ago but it was sorted very easily but only after a lot of what seemed like deliberate delays by the UK in answering the french enqiry. You should get the back pay when you finally get it sorted. As regards a social security number you should have some health cover via your employment or a certificate from the DSS in the UK to cover you for a short time depending on your NI payments made previously. Don't delay in getting this sorted, they won't know about you in France unless you make the effort to sort it out.

Havn't heard of this locally, perhaps inthe cities. Did hear from my nurse friend at the local hospital that french patients were livid that some brits were coming to have operations before them,free under this NI "send them abroad" scheme inthe UK currently. Won't be long before there is a big hue and cry from the paying for health public in France if outsiders jump the queues.

10.50am this morning I get call from son at school. Mum my tonsils are bad again and can't swallow, can you ring the doctor for an appointment later. Rang medical centre which caters for quite a large area and was given an appointment for 11.30am which is what I call very good as normally you get an appointment but have a good few hours to wait until later that day. How does the UK compare these days, dare I ask where children are concerned?

Just to remind those of you that are resident in France with french health cover, you DO NEED a current E111 for visiting the UK and other european countries as you are not entitled to free healthcare unless in an emergency. Just phone your caisse/Mutuelle and they will oblige within 2 days. They are also only for the period stated for the visit, not forever.