WendyG

No I have a companion who will be with me all the time. The worst thing is losing one's independence! Thank you for enquiring.

I have a PICC line inserted which has to have a saline flush every week and I want to come over to my house in France for firstly 2 weeks and then maybe 3/4 weeks in September. The D/Ns here are willing to give me all the relevant kit but I am not sure whether this can be done in France by one of the visiting nurses. Has anyone experience of this? I did think of perhaps going to the hospital in Tours. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Read in Connexion that other areas besides Paris affected by the pollution caused they are saying by diesel vehicles. As both France and UK have been pushing for diesels in latter years what happens now?

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes, I too hope I will be back in France soon to enjoy life again.

Thank you so much for swift answer.

Please could someone help an idiot - I need to send a cheque for 619,61 euros to France and cannot remember all the words in French, am on chemo which seems to be addling my brains!

Best advice above - definitely check out area in winter months, everything around me shuts at 7 pm and all the shutters go up and you never see a soul.    Summer and winter can be like 2 different worlds. Good luck

I am not technically minded at all, but I have managed to have get all the books, newspapers etc on my Kindle onto my tablet via Google play - using the Amazon Kindle App.  

  Confusing - for a numbers idiot like me can anyone please work out roughly how much at the end of the day one would expect to pay French capital gains tax and social charges on a sale at 250,000Es with purchase price of  100,000Es and expenses of say 50,000Es if the house was owned for say 12 years.  This for a residence secondaire. WendyG  

Posted this earlier but it seems to have disappeared!   Please looking for advice. My late husband and his father-in-law had a vast collection of old (1800s etc) beautiful leather bound French books which unfortunately I am now unable to keep due to downsizing.  They are on a multitude of subjects - history, zoology, telephonic, electricity, medical, entomology, molluscs, theatre, lace, et al.  There are also many by well known authors such as Balzac, Georges Sand and so on.    In other words a very extensive library. They are bound in red, blue, green, gold tooled leather and are very beautiful quite apart from the reading matter. Any advice as to the best way to dispose of these books would be greatly appreciated.  I also have a series of books on all the areas of France, beautifully illustrated, these of course are more modern.  Also many art books in English, have given some of these to the charity Mind in the UK. WendyG

Advice needed please. My late French husband and his family had a large library of leather bound French books on all subjects. I am having to downsize and no longer will have the space to keep them, likewise my daughter. I consulted a local antique bookseller who purchased 5 of the books and was not very helpful re what I should do with the rest, a friend suggested an auction.  The leather bindings vary in colouring - red, gold, green, blue and the subjects are very varied - entomology, zoology, theatre, archaeology, telephone, electricity, history, etc etc.   Also classics -  Balzac, Sands etc . Having lived with them for the last 50 years I am naturally very loath to part with them but needs must. Any advice would be gratefully received. WendyG

The anti mice plug in little machines seem to discourage them without obviously doing them any harm.    The machine emits a sound which is not audible to humans but seems to dissuade rodents and encourages them to go elsewhere.  Nobody wants to harm bats but their droppings are unpleasant in the wrong place.  Obviously in a laundry room it is also very unhygienic.  

No, a Frenchman told me this recently.   Apparently it used to be May before.

Thanks everyone - the "tap" did the trick! Car is 24 years old so pretty basic thank goodness.  There is a little "buzz" when key first turned! Back to running normally now.  It is a beautiful car and usually starts and runs like a dream.  Very comfortable too on long journeys.  

Used to enjoy Dave's posts - would be interested to hear how getting on if you have time.  

 Hi everyone After standing for one month my wonderful very reliable 24 year old 230 Merc automatic car will not start.  There is nothing wrong with the battery but it is obvious that no petrol is getting through.  My UK garage suggest a "tap" on the fuel pump or that it could be the relay.  They are willing to "talk it through" with my French garage but as they are French speaking only and my French is not up to garage speak I wonder if anyone could give me the French equivalent of relay and a tap on the fuel pump! I had a new fuel pump etc less than 2 years ago and am wondering if the extremely hot weather has somehow "dried" something out and caused the problem.   It normally starts on first turn of the key even after many months. I have recharged the battery to be sure it is okay and am going to listen for a "buzz" on trying to start the car.  They tell me if no buzz then it is definitely a fuel problem. Many thanks

Me too!   Does anyone know what we should do or not do?  I usually put No but it is annoying and I am concerned it may escalate.

No not big, fairly large kitchen with utility/junk area off, small dining room, narrow boiler room, stairs up to sitting room and bedroom and shower room. Then downstairs small library, shower room off, room used as bedroom, room with stairs up to sittingroom/kitchen with small mezzanine area  with 2 beds and wash basin. Barn with several small outbuildings (all of these I have had re-roofed at my expense), and a field with tin barn. I get a bill and a receipt but never a normal policy document like in the UK    

 not sure if this is right place.   When I purchased my house some 10 years ago for ease I took over the previous owner's insurance but this now seems to have become so expensive .  Last year they charged me just under 800 Es. Unlike in the UK I have never received a fully explanatory document of how much they are insuring the property for, they did have the contents as being £40,000 which is ridiculous as it is a holiday home, so this was redu ced to £25,00 and brought the insurance down marginally. Is it normal for there not to be an insured property figure for rebuilding etc? Should I have a policy document setting out what is an is not covered? I have insured houses in UK and have always had proper explanatory documents.   It is an old rambling house with barn and outbuildings.   6 rooms plus 2 shower rooms and 1 kitchen and 1 kitchenette.   have personally paid for outbuildings and barn to be re-roofed and only claim made was against EDF for electrical problem stemming from outside.

Friend who used to come over for different periods joined a Clay Pigeon Shooting Club and certainly it was not suggested that as a visitor he needed to register the gun. CPSA should be able to give advice. Obviously insurance is the big thing. Mairie would be able to advise re being able to set up shooting clays on own land but there will of course be noise problem and safety problem. Game shooting is a whole different area and you need to pass exam in French. Good luck Jekyll

  Hi everyone Whatever is happening to the weather - have spent two days this week mopping the floors all over the house, 6 buckets of water to empty. Have been out here for 12 years and never experienced anything like this before.   Hope everyone is ok. WendyG

Thank you - did "chat" with Amazon and got it sorted.   Can now read the newspapers. Wendy

Please can someone help. I purchased a kindle in the UK and brought it out to France back i March where it connected to the WiFi without any problem.  Back to UK no problem - now back in France it will not connect - says O connection - connect to another WiFi connection - this ends up by saying incorrect password.  Laptop, tablet immediately connected to the WiFi without any problem. Having tried to connect 20 times I am defeated.  I use it mainly to access newspapers, bearing in mind the exhorbitant cost in France of UK papers and that I would have to drive 6/8 miles to the shop.  I can of course still read my books. If I finally cannot connect to the WiFi is there any way to directly connect - say via USB cable - shows my ignorance of technology. Any help would be very greatly appreciated. WendyG

I have a prepaid mastercard card loaded with euros from the Post Office which is accepted at supermarkets, hotels, fuel stations, restaurants without any problem in France. I have had the card for some time now and it can be loaded up with more euros on the internet as required and I am assured that it will be rapidly replaced if lost.    Ha ve always found when trravelling it is best to have a mix of "currency" available - ie bank card, prepaid card, cash, traveller cheque. 

Thank you all so much - it was as simple as putting the kindle keyboard into upper case!   I am now on WiFi and can download newspapers and books when in France. WendyG