Fritz

Have just had one installed. Tips would be: 1) Check every detail of their quote. 2) Push for at least a 20% discount. You'll find they bump up the price big time. 3) Only pay 10% deposit. Fight, but give way and pay 50% on delivery. Do not pay balance till you've had it working for a couple of days. 4) They'll say they will do everything - moving switches, plumbing, lights, etc, but you'll invariably get a plumbers hiss from the fitter, who is usually sub-contacted and knows nothing about what you agreed with the suppliers. 5) Watch them continually. 6) Make sure they clean up afterwards.   Overall UK kitchens are better quality and fitters more competent. It's a French thing; they're happy with wires, pipes, etc, all on show, no-one else is so watch, watch and bitch.   

Gotta be a trailer. Blocks, bricks, sand, aggregate, bark chippings, fumier, topsoil, logs, plants, trees (go slowly), pre-formed pond liner, furniture, timber, tiles, cement, motorbike, quad bike, lawnmowers, cement mixer, kitchen units etc, all collected with style. Not forgetting also those countless trips to the dechetterie. I'd recommend the biggest single axle you can afford, perhaps even a pneumatic handpump to tip the flatbed. I think the max weight load is 750 kg but I'm not sure. Overall, a trailer is something you will never regret buying.

“Quote: On a more serious note, and as someone who has been a 'guest' in various countries (I'm maltese and have lived in UK/France and Germany), I think it's important to integrate wherever you go, and I always consider myself a guest. If French men wore skirts, and that's not something us Maltese men usually do, then I believe that as a guest I should wear a skirt too. A stupid example, but hopefully it makes my point. As I guest, I should abide by all the customs and traditions of the host country. If I don't like it, I can always leave. I have no problem with legal immigrants (I am one myself), but I do have a problem with those that expect to have a little part of their own country wherever they go.”   There’s a lot of talk in this thread about ‘integration’ but I’m not sure what exactly it means. Does it mean, for instance, that if you live in Spain and didn’t like bull-fighting, then you shouldn’t voice your opinion in the local bar? Or if in France you didn’t approve of force-feeding geese with corn, then you shouldn’t complain or try and persuade the locals its a pretty gruesome thing to do? You could take this argument a step further – living in Saudi Arabia and going with your neighbours to the stoning of a woman accused of adultery, because it’s tradition. Or in Berlin in the 1930’s accusing your Jewish neighbour of anti-German behaviour because it’s the local culture. A bit extreme I accept but these days the whole point of the EU is that any EU national (more or less) can choose to live anywhere within the EU and providing you keep to the law of the land you should be able to buy 20 houses if you want to or can afford to and voice your opinions on anything. Freedom of choice and freedom of speech, I believe it is called.

[quote]I'm kind of resigned to French life now, so it's a bit of a shock when you suddenly see the reality of your life through visitors' eyes. This is how recent visitors see our life here in la belle Fr...[/quote] I've been here 3 years and would agree with SaligoBay particularly re: Food - hugely disappointing, particularly in rural areas. Restaurant menus rarely change from one year to the next. But cheap. Cost of living - Fuel oil and electricity has got to be as expensive as the UK. Car insurance is much higher and water charges (particularly if you have a pool) also as high as. Most of our visitors come in the Summer - winter is too cold (except when we have skiers) and wet. Having said all that I don't think I'd ever go back to England. In fact it's difficult to find Brits who have - does anyone have any info on those who have and the reasons for so doing?

[quote]Sorry if I overreacted but it sounds like you're trying to change a French bar into something which sells English beer and employs a Dubliner (sounds like a kinda "Irish" pub to me, otherwise why "Dub...[/quote] Er, no. My words were 'it would be nice to import some English bitter from time to time' rather than do a French Weatherspoons. The rationale for employing (or not, as the case may be) a Dubliner, is the fact that in my experience they're excellent at running/managing bars/pubs. That doesn't mean the pub must therefore be an Irish one. Exploitation is an emotive word. In my humble opinion it's a free world and a free market and people have a choice or where or where not to work. In reality it may more appealing for a Dubliner to work in France at less than normal wages but get more by way of performance bonuses. All I was doing was asking for advice, not looking for an argument.

[quote]Very disrespectful to the Irish. I certainly wouldn't work for you.[/quote] Er, why? Irish was in inverted commas, hence not regular Irish, if you see what I mean. In other words, not a slur against genuine Irish pubs.

A subject that's probably been done to death, so apologies for re-iterating the obvious. Anyway, the plan is to buy an established bar with or without 'petite restauration', probably on the Aquitaine coast somewhere. I guess it would be sort of seasonal but it would be nice to keep it open during the winter (should there be any locals left). Does anyone have any experience of doing similar? If so I'd appreciate, very much, some advice - as follows perhaps:  1) Naturally one would not buy a bar unless a Class IV was part of the deal, but if the bar already has a PMU does one have to keep it going? 2) How are your suppliers? Is it customary for them to pay for the pumps, barrels, kit etc and then expect a total commitment to purchase €x per month? 3) Staff. I've heard it's too expensive to hire locals. You either do it yourself, with friends, family or get in a bi-lingual experienced Dubliner barperson with accommodation and bonus payments. Good or bad idea? 4) One would expect the usual plethora of forms, permissions, etc and to trade properly fulfilling tax, customs obligations etc, but are there any other unsuspecting bureaucratic hurdles that might crop up? 5) One would never, ever, attempt to transmute a French bar into the typical 'Irish' pub, run by English chancers which seem to be everywhere, but, it would be nice to import some English bitter from time to time. Anybody done this before? Thanks for listening (reading).

Whilst I agree that it's good to have a perfect grasp of the French language, you can also mitigate problems by: 1) Keeping a massively efficient filing system with receipts, guarantees, brochures etc. 2) When getting quotes from builders, etc, always go through them with a toothcomb and ensure you clear up any misunderstandings before you pay a deposit, which should always be nearer 10% than 30%. But, when all's said and done, good customer service in France is rare rather than typical. My car dealer, fuel oil supplier, garden equipment centre, dentist and decorator are excellent. Everyone else is barely adequate or useless.     

My project this year is to buy a 'luxury' villa in Biarritz and market it as a 'resort destination' rather than the traditional country retreat. Two reasons really, the market for gites in the SW seems very competitive; almost everyone moving here wants to do one and also the property will be my retirement home when life in the country gets too hard. So, has anyone any advice on going for a more international customer - say from the US, Japan, Germany or even China (I understand these are the markets the French want to exploit)? I have no illusions about the standard of accomodation required and will certainly hope to be very competitive pricewise. Any advice v welcome.

does exist. A useful site is www.quechoisir.org. One can pay €25 and become affiliated to the branch nearest to you. They'll give you good advice. A key protection is the right to cancel contracts within 7 days. This has to be done in writing and be sent recommande (with a notice of receipt by the destinataire). If you've put down a deposit this must be returned to you. Your French bank will also help in tracking down any company/artisan etc who try and bank cheques or submit credit card transactions after receipt of the said cancellation. One thing that is irksome in France is that retailers/distributors often seem reluctant to accept responsibility for goods that they supply from other manufacturers. Even companies like Castorama will shrug their shoulders and say it's not their fault if something breaks or is not 'fit for purpose'. Does anyone have ideas for dealing with this?

I have an Audi Quattro with regular low profile tyres. For the last couple of seasons I've fitted snow chains as and when required in the Pyrenees. A couple of tips - for 4x4's you must put the chains on the front tyres and turn off any traction control. Next season I'm going to do without snow chains and just fit Dunlop snow tyres from Dec to March. They're OK for normal road use and much more convenient and effective than chains. I've just come back from Austria and was amazed that almost every car has them and drive so easily over the most atrocious ice and snow, like a train on rails. Honest.

I've been in France for over two years now and still haven't found a French accountant. You can write, leave telephone messages, email and say they've been recommended to you but rarely do they get back to you. I think they have enough work and don't feel the need to go out and 'tout' for business. I've tried Englsih accountants practising in Paris and they're pretty much the same but certainly more expensive. Haven't tried those English accountants living in England who advertise in Living France and other expat rags, though. Best bet, if you're just starting a simple business, is to go to your local Chambre de Commerce. Thy are, surprisgnly, ver helpful and can give you loads of info on setting up a business.

Lawns. A battle or what? We're SW so get lots of heat in the summer, quite a lot of rain in Spring and the occasional frost in Winter. We feed as and when required up to November. At the moment it's a good time to pull out the dead couch grass - number one enemy. Then aerate and treat affected areas with a mix of seed and sand. Cover with fine mesh fencing and keep bird tables full. And check out your local golf club. They have some impressive machines that pull out plugs of soil. It looks like WW3 at first but when you fill these with the seed and sand it miraculously transforms. And you can deal with dandelions and other broad leaves with spray.

I had a Waterair 12 x 5.5 m put in some 2 years ago on a fairly steep slope. It wasn't a problem as our soil is clay - sandy soil is difficult. The important thing though is to wait at least 6 months before putting down tiles/pavers. During this period you'll need to continually put soil around the margelles and pound it down. having seen several pools in our area moving slowly downhill I'd recommend that when you put down thetiles do a footing with concrete and steel to match the extent of the tiles then tie in steel to the betons supporting the pool. These are good points to take stress as they're weighted down by the water in pool and are unlikely to move. We also put in some plastic spacers to act as expansion joints. To date we've had a couple of small cracks in the cement on two margelles and similar with a few tiles. These are easily repaired. Basically the tiles and the margelles haven't moved at all. Re heating, we put in a pompe chaleur (a sort of reverse fridge), cheap to run but expensive to buy (€5k). We start swimming mid to the end of March, and stop in November.

I've had an appartment in Gourette for a couple of years but have never rented it formally - just friends from time to time. Gourette has just had a massive face-lift - more lifts, cannons, new pistes etc. I have enquired at the local rental agencies and whilst rentals are averaging out at around €800 per week for a 4 person studio and they say they're almost always fully booked up during the holiday periods (staggered, of course, in France). It may well be better therefore to get the resort agents to rent your ski property rather than look for UK clients.