WJT

Thank you Chris and Brian-limousin for the information. We won't be going back out until March and will be very worried until then.  I find it very strange regarding the artisans we had take a look at our house and their attitudes, surely don't feel confident in hiring them.  Will contact the one that JOH provided the link for. In the meantime, will be having nightmares of them eating our house.

Chris, I don't understand then why 3 separate companies that provide the service and gave us quotes (at least two of them, one didn't bother) to rid Capricorn told us that they do not eat the heartwood and are not serious in so much as causing serious damage to hard wood and the structure of the house.

Very interesting, we also have a heavy infestation of Capricorn that we discovered after we bought our house in Dordogne and worried us no end when we discovered it (we can hear them munching away).  We have had several people out to quote on the treatment and have been told that Capricorn is not that serious and that they only eat the outside of hardwood not the heart so do not cause serious damage. We have even been told by a few of the locals that they would not even bother treating (must be an English trait not to want to live amongst insects munching away at the house). The quotes we received are quite expensive around €4,500 for the house and an outbuilding of which they have to actually inject a solution in the wood itself to make it undesirable to the beetles. We definitely want to treat but just haven't felt that it was urgent enough to pursue at the moment. I am really surprised to hear that someone has recommended to replace a roof because of Capricorn. Again, the specialist's we had to come out had it in their interest to cause concern but every one of them were very nonchalant and said it was not serious.  Would be interested to know if your roof was some sort of soft wood like pine.

Steve&becky, would be interested to hear an update on these poor dogs. Have you found a home for them?

I wasn't going to respond to this thread again but Hoddy that is in my opinion very  perceptive of you. I know of some British people who would take offence to criticising the Queen in the same way. I have very strong feelings about the Royals ( I will not say in what way) but I wouldn't dare share them on a site such as this and of course never insult her supporters even if I did.  Again in my opinion for those that  have differing opinions there are better ways of getting your point across rather than trying to belittle those that feel differently and not to mention just as passionately as you. I personally find some of the (political) views that have been posted on this site complete nonsense but I have never felt the need to respond or insult the poster as have many on here do.

I must admit, I didn't read all of the post's that were deleted but I am seeing a pattern here and possibly a real bias from the Forum Administrator. I like many I am sure, who look in on this site and feel that it is not necessary to respond to these sorts of posts or if we did would be attacked. In fact when I see a post that hints at any anti-American or Bush bashing I usually avoid reading. However, this one really got to me because it started quite innocently. All I can say is thank goodness that the people on here that have voiced very strong negative views weren't allowed to vote in the American elections (see we can attack too) and hopefully, won't be voting in the UK elections. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I don't see this as a problem because many from the hard left are all talk and no action. Or dare I say like to talk and say what is wrong with the world and what is wrong with the actions and decisions of certain policies but can never say what should be done. Oh yea, outside of talking. Personally, I don't find any of the comments intelligent as some of you would like to believe or helpful in any sense of the word. I am sure that there are many Bush bashing sites you all can visit and have a wonderful time condemning and putting others down and feeling all so superior in your arm chairs bashing away on your computers. After reading this post maybe some of you, by the way otherwise in many cases I respect the opinions and advise on matters to do with France but find these sorts of post's highly offensive, will see how it feels to be judged in a very demeaning way. Regards, WJT also Frenchy my login seems to change and also my font size seems to have a mind of its own.

[quote]Now that I've got over my last little panic about our house move being delayed, I feel at liberty to have another panic now. The acte finale should be October 18th, and the notaire has sent us a note...[/quote] SaligoBay, in our case if we hadn't enquired about changing our Marriage regime it would have never been brought to our attention. I would suggest if you want to have this done you will have to notify the Notaire in advance.

Oh dear, I think I will have to pass on the Private tuition then. I too found Pimsleur a little slow going to start with. From what I understand he uses a specific technique that he supposedly discovered. When something new is introduced it must be repeated (you must try and answer the questions in the gap on the disc before the correct answer is confirmed) and the new information or sentence is repeated a few times with other new information for short term memory. Then it is timed to be repeated at certain intervals for long term memory. My talent for learning a new language is pretty bad to say the least and maybe because of this, I find these tapes to be excellent. However, I have to admit to listening to each side 3 or 4 times before moving on. But, it has really started to sink in. By the way as far as slow going, I do try and listen as much as possible but I have started listening in bed at night and it puts me right to sleep after about 10 minutes or so, better than counting sheep.

I have listened to the Michel Thomas tapes however, I am currently listening to Pimsleur and I find them excellent. They are based on a similar theory where there are no books involved etc. I have been taking classes as well but I find I have learnt more from listening to Pimsleur than I have from any other method. By the way they are quite expensive but I got mine from the library. There are three levels all of which have 30 lessons. I might give the new Michel Thomas a try when I am through with Pimsleur but for me there is no comparison.

My husband heard an advert on the radio today about this product. It does sound very interesting as a learning tool as well as a translation product. Before I ordered it, I was interested to see if anyone else on LF has used it or heard of it.  The web site is www.chattersoft.com . By the way, I am in no way affiliated to this organisation, just genuinely interested to learn if it actually works.

What's the difference between human waste and animal waste??? Well, outside of pigs, horses and other farm animals are not fed other dead animals. I for one am not interested in eating food that has been fertilised by human waste, which of course many humans eat god knows what! With all due respect, if this is the way you feel why bother washing your hands after using the toilet!

I find this absolutely disgusting. I have posted this subject under the Post Bag also. I did see a mention about this sort of thing in Fosse Septique under Owning French Property. Regarding a little old lady having used the local farmer to empty her fosse. Sounds as if it may be quite common. I know the three people that mentioned it to me thought nothing of it!

On a thread in South Western France (Gammon), there is a discussion about farmers using human waste from Fosse Septiques on crops. I have been meaning to ask about this and thought I would post it here as well.  A few weeks ago while in France, I had THREE separate people tell me that a local farmer would be more than happy to empty our Fosse because they use the contents on the fields!  Does anyone know anything about this? If so where can you buy produce in France that is guaranteed not to have been fertilised with the disposal of human waste. By the way we are located in the Dordogne.

Personally, I don't eat pig for a number of reasons. But for me knowing how most of the farmed pigs are kept and what they are fed is more than enough to put me off, thank you! On another lovely note, Boiling Frog you have brought up something very interesting. I have been wanting to ask this for the last couple of weeks since our return to the UK. We have just recently bought our house in the Dordogne and need to have our fosse septique emptied. I have been told by THREE seperate people that have come to the house for some reason or other, plumber etc.. that if I ask a local farmer nicely they would be more than happy to empty it because they use the contents (HUMAN WASTE) on their crops. Please tell  me this is not a common practice!

Yes, Val 2 I agree to a certain degree it will be very boring for any old timers. However, it is a bit unfair to ask these people to search the archives because they no longer exist. So we are all back to square one. Meaning we will probably see questions asked that have been answered hundreds of times before.

Hi Lavenderlady, all very exciting, I wish you all the best. Let us know how you get on. WJT (was Frenchy, had to re-register because of a problem)

Yes, no smoke without fire.

Hi, all I can say is that we were told that if we wanted the surviving spouse to have complete control of the house and do as they wish after the death of first, the only way to achieve this is to either have En-tontine which is very tax prohibitive or have a change of Marriage regime at the time of purchasing our French property. We had the change of marriage regime (Communaute Universal) that was signed at the day of our purchase and was included in the the documents. Our Notaire charged us around 270 euros for doing this. We were given this advise from our English speaking agent, Solicitor and Notaire.