vickybear

Hi there, Is Exeter / Bergerac any good to you? www.flybe.com have reasonable flights in winter months. They've got an offer on at the moment for November /December flights I think?

Know yourself. Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.

I recognise this place.....I've been lost here before!!

Last year was our first Xmas in France and we got chocolates from every one of our French neighbours, which caused us a trauma as we hadn't done anything for them other than give them fresh eggs since the previous May. In our hamlet all our neighbours have moved here from various distances away. The longest habitation being one couple of 15 years. So, we really don't know what to do/expect this year as this doesn't seem to be the norm!

Hazel, Yes I'd like the company details please as I've not yet instructed the 700 euros crowd. Did you not have to have the other reports or will you complete before 1/11/06 ?   Thanks

Well, I borrowed Will's braincell ( see seperate post ) and came up with the idea of phoning the company who did the reports when we bought the house. Turns out that, in addition to the normal reports of asbestos, termites and lead, for all house sales completing after 1/11/06 you need 2 additional reports for energy efficiency of the house ( should be interesting considering the draughts we sit in each night ) and another for the 'environment' which looks at whether the house is in an area susceptible to anything in particular i.e. whether it's going to disappear down a bloody great hole or not! Total cost 700 euros, merci ! GGGRRRRRRRRRRRR[:@]

We have found a buyer for our property although we weren't planning to put it on the market just yet....word got round!! As there is no estate agent I understand I have to get reports done and have been told I need the following....termites, asbestos, lead, energy efficiency and earthquake (!! ). I have been told these will cost around 1000 euros and some of them are valid for only 3 months. I have 3 questions.......... Do I need them all ( we're in Charente ) and secondly, what happens of the sale falls through. Is it another 1000 euros for the next buyers and possibly the next etc etc etc. Finally, does anyone have a sepcific price for these? Confused of Charente!  

Oh I dunno.......with wine goggles on perhaps...............

I can recommend Animal Cottage at Jauldes, just outside La Rochefoucauld, Charente. French owned and run, absolutely lovely place. The owner has a grooming salon on site so you can kill 2 birds with one stone if you wish and get your dog trimmed at the same time. Lovely kennels for cats too. One of my dogs was very upset with the thunder on her first visit and ended up spending the stay in the owners house! Mext time I took them the owner had made full notes of what had happened on the last visit and had arranged a special kennel where she was in sight of the staff all the time so they could keep a better eye on her. Really good service.

Cheek!!!

I got the looks![;-)]

Thanks for that Will.

I know this subject has been done to death but I cannot find an answer on the search which relates to my specific query. This is an opprtunity for all you organised men ( and women ) to tutt and tell me off but hey ho....nobody's perfect....... I moved to France in May 2005 and brought my car! My local French insurance office kindly insired it for me on UK plates ( probably worth nothing in an accident?? ) ..........and time ticked by. I took it off the road in the UK officially and in February of this year put it through it's French MOT which it passed........and more time ticked by........it's now 8 months later and I really should be doing something about bringing this car in officially. Am I in big trouble?  Can I still do it? Will it need another MOT as I think you have to get to the Prefecture within 6 months? And finally, what does the final stage cost at the Prefecture in the Charente for the import?? Thank you  

Thorntons chocolates...went down well with our neighbour!

Ah yes.......an accountant!! Having trouble finding a french/english speaking accountant in Charente!! Thanks for info......

Can't find a specific answer on the search so.............. If you are planning to work as a market trader for only 2 or 3 days a week selling items imported from the UK do you have to register as a micro enterprise and pay full cotisations or as a commercial trader is the regime different? I have emailed 4 departments in the Chambre de Commerce and Metiers asking where to find information and no-one has responded. The items cannot be classed as 'craft'. They are homewares. Is anyone out there working on the markets? I know about the licences needed, insurance etc but need to know whether it's worth bothering at all if the cotisations in the first years will wipe out the smallish amount we expect to earn. Thanks for any advice.

Sunday Driver.....here's one back    [:D] 

Tony / Sunday Driver, Thanks for both your suggestions re: Notaire. The reason I haven't asked the Notaire involved is that I don't know who it is as a consequence of not agreeing a price. I don't want to waste the vendors time agreeing a price we cannot meet, hence the question on timescales. Sunday Driver - my question was not intended to belittle forum members comments, although I get the feeling you thought it was? Sometimes on this forum it is fine for others to say what they think and opinions on a subject are welcome. On this occassion I needed a definitive. I wasn't trying to be clever or insulting to other users or in any way derogatory of their comments. Thanks again for your input.

Hi All, Thanks for all the useful help I have received in the past on this forum. Please can I ask that on this occassion you only respond if you are absolutely sure of the info being correct rather than your understanding of it....don't want to sound rude but it involves a lot of money! We are currently negotiating a house purchase and have hit stalemate as the vendor wants slightly more than we can pay. The house is being bought with a lump sum of money currently earning interest. The only way we can find the extra is to extend the completion date by as long as possible, thus allowing the lump sum to actually earn the extra. We are not in a hurry to have the house as we already have another which we live in. When we bought our current house the agent asked us, some time after the initial compromis, to agree a completion date so we know we don't have to agree to this up front. Is there a legal timescale in which we HAVE to complete once the compromis is signed? The vendor has inherited the house so we won't be holding him up as the property is unoccupied and in poor repair. We would want to try to hold out until January / February which would be 5 to 6 months from initial signatures. Thanks in advance.

Her right arm's stuck on the wrong way!!  Have a look....it's wierd. It probably started off the right way one day in the past. My husband reckons she looks fun!!     [Www]

Forgot my words........   With a friend I can smile But with a lover I could hold my head back And really laugh

Here you go Will....................   JOHN HENRY, STEEL DRIVING MAN John Henry had a little woman, and they called her Polly Ann, Well who gonna glove her pretty little feet, Mama, I'm gonna glove yo hand, Yea I'm gonna glove yo hand. John Henry told his captain, Says "Captain when you go to town, Bring me back a twelve pound hammer, So I can drive your steel on down. Lawd, Lawd, I can drive your steel on down." John Henry said to his captain, "Oh Captain - a man ain't nothin but a man, Just before I die with the hammer in my hand, Lawd, Lawd, I'll die with the hammer in my hand." It's, "Big black negro*" when I'm gone, And it's "Honey, darlin" when I'm home, But as soon as I get a twenty dollar bill, It's "Baby, where you been so long?" Lawd, Lawd, it's "Baby, where you been so long?" John Henry says to his mother, Says "A man ain't nothin but a man, Before I let this steam beat me down, Lawd, I'll die with this hammer in my hand, Lawd, Lawd, I'll die with this hammer in my hand." John Henry, Oh John Henry, John Henry was taken sick, And Polly drove steel like a man, Lawd, Lawd, and Polly drove steel like a man. John Henry said to his father, "If there's one more train I want to ride, That's the Santa Fe, and the Southern Pacific, On that I.C. Railroad line, On that I.C. Railroad line, Oh Lawd, that I.C. Railroad line."

Hope she's got good healthcare!!   You can pick her up with your mouse and move her round...even wierder!!!

Helen, I have sent you an email, Shelagh

This poor cat lives in a record shop!!!