Agenais

You are very welcome Lautrec, glad it made a bit of sense.  I think it is about 35-40% cheaper from 10 to 7.  With the icy weather, the heating is cranked up after 10 and on goes the washer and dryer.  Could not cope with the red white and blue days, friends have that and on red days they sit in gloom not using anything electric.....

Hi Lautrec This link to the EDF should explain all the different tarrifs, hope it helps.  Your EDF bill should say what time your cheap rate comes in, on the back, next to your useage. http://particuliers.edf.fr/rubrique12.html

Thanks Becky, I will give it a try...........in a hidden area first  

Has anyone got any advice on what on earth to clean terracotta tiles with?  Inherited grease stains are driving me batty, I have tried just about everything going and scrubbed like a manic housewife till blue in the face.  I am going to seal them again, but don't want to do that until the greasy marks are gone.........  

Did apply for a loan which was granted then we declined in the end, not for any bad reason, just decided against it.  Income was indeed taken into account, also a health questionaire.  Generally banks and loan companies in France seem less keen to loan money, unlike the UK where folks obtain loans hand over fist and have no way of paying it back, which is a good thing.  Working or retired, didn't seem to matter, as long as there was sufficient income each month. Most banks offer loans for home improvements or large purchases, worth talking to them, never enquired,  but they may offer secured loans with the house taken as capital as in the UK, or you can go to an independent loan company.  Have linked a couple to have a nosey at. http://www.sofinco.fr/ http://www.cetelem.fr/index.php?apporteur=P1004453635  

piccies of his omnipotence by the dozen  - enjoy http://users.skynet.be/johnny14/cartes_postales/menu.htm

Johnny - face lifts? - surgery? - botox? -gosh - I am shocked - there was me thinking it was the natural look.......... Probably NOT the same surgeon as Cher and Mrs O then - praise be.

Had the same problems with "norton"......one PC just about croaked and needed completely reformatting, the second managed to survive, just. If you can get to the desktop, then to "Run", type MSCONFIG, go to startup then uncheck the box next to norton (probably labelled symantec), then re-boot, that may help you get to actually uninstall it more easily. Then, after the uninstall, if you search for norton in the usual search screen, you will find loads of files left behind after the uninstall, xp does have a habit of not deleting files and folders when requested. AVG, Sygate and Ad aware are very good, as recommended by many others and they dont seem to cause system conflicts or take up huge amounts of disc space.

No oil painting, but he is well liked, I think they said something like 60 million records sold on one of the French music shows.  Credit were it's due, if folks want him to advertise for them and people still buy his albums in droves then good for him.........

No, just Johnny, he has so much airtime on radio I know all his "anthems" by heart, LOL.  If you go to buy specs, he will be there, promoting them on big posters, if you go to the tabac you get free lighters with his omnipotence on them.  Go Johnny, he has and continues to sell millions of tracks, I would not mind being 10 euros poorer than he is........... 

The Lot et Garonne was chilly too, frosty still at 11am, shock......heating now on full at the mere sight of frozen grass.......wonder if we will get the Siberian winter that is supposed to hit the UK soon? 

There seems to be an array of medicines for coughs and colds in our chemists, from herbal to very chemical.  Night and Day Nurse is only paracetamol with a decongestant, (and lots of colourings),  they will certainly have something that has a decongestant in it amongst their array of medicines.  Paracetamol,  effervescent vitamin c and a decongestant spray, that's what this nurse recommends Hope you feel better soon.........

Hi Mark We went straight to the local CPAM office with the relevent forms.  Taking any proof of ID, like passport and birth certificates (we forgot ours but they said not to worry).  They took it from there, carte vitals in the post, not too long afterwards.  Hang on to any claim forms you may have until you get your card for any refunds on health care.  The larger offices normally have a section for etrangers like us. Mutuelle, there are loads to choose from, CPAM do their own top up insurance, at least in this region, may be worth asking them while you are there, prices are comparable, even a little cheaper than some others. A

This was the persons reply when I questioned the fee process. To the best of my knowledge in the Haute Savoie it is not the case that the buyer pays the agency fees. To date I cannot remember such a case- perhaps if you have lived in different regions there will be some difference of policy. Very occasionally this may happen but all my sales are conducted with the seller paying the Immobilier fee and the buyer responsible for his own Notaire charges. mmm, seems odd, it must be added in, like you say.

Browsing around and came across a small property site in the Haute Savoie........it stated that the buyer does not pay agency fees, it is the seller who foots that bill.  I must be mistaken in the thinking that buyers always pay both agency and Notary fees, we always have.  The agent said that it is different in some departments.  Thought it was nationwide me-self.  Anyone else come across this?

I have recently helped a friend complete the RMI forms.  The forms are quite simple and self explanatory, they cater for French Nationals, nationals of all EEC member states and also immigrants from outside of the EEC.  It was the mayors secretary and the CPAM who advised them to apply, also to complte the CMU forms.  You need to send in either your titre de sejour or passport, proof of none income for the last three months, details of spouse or conjoint, number of kids etc.  Wether they will be elligible for it we wait and see, cannot see any reason why not, a genuine lack of money is a great worry.  It is a difficult decision to make, feeling like scroungers from the state, be it here or in any other EU country, but, needs must. 

I quite agree, despite our stresses over the whopping bills, they have always been as helpful as they possibly can over the aforementioned matters, polite, sharing a laugh with us at the enormous factures and offering advice and sollutions wherever they can.  I have found that with most companies here. 

Yes, it was a scary time, forking out 900 euros that we could ill afford.  It was only for three months useage.  I will indeed check and let them have the readings.  It was read the other day and we have only been in this house three months, so things should, repeat should be ok this time.  Last house was out in the sticks and readings were ad hoc to say the least, now, back in a village, things seem a little more organised, but we will check it regularly. I didn't mention that the EDF sent a bill for our first french property, months after we had left and the new owner had moved in, they kept asking for 500 euros for January to June, we moved out in the December of the previous year having paid our final bill.  The EDF and ourselves don't quite gel together

Three tiny wall heaters, only 500 watts each, not used 24-7, I would hope they didn't amount to 900 euros of electricity in one trimester, if so then half of France will be bankrupt trying to pay the EDF.  Yes, they are quite costly to run, especially when you bump them over 1kw an hour, so is oil, wood, parrafin heaters, all on a par with each other when you average it out.  We had better prepare for a shock, now that our new house is to 200m2 instead of 60...eeek.......time for the winter woolies to come out of wraps.  Thank goodness for HC tarrif after 10pm.  EDF say that this house should average 60-70 euros a month, mmmmmmm, we will see, they read the meter the other day, will await the bill thudding to the floor this week.

I have now asked them to check the bill prior to the mega 2500 euros, that was for 900 euros!  Admitted that was over winter, but three little electric wall heaters do not clock up 900 euros. We moaned and groaned to them at the time and we all tried to find a reason for the high bill, but, in the end we struggled and paid it.  I said to them, if the last reading was of galactic proportions and there was an error with your index, then it is VERY likely that the previous one was too, we thinks a refund is due.  We wait to hear.  

Having recently moved house, I dutifully phoned the EDF with the final readings.  I gave out the readings and the man said "if they are true your bill is ENORMOUS".    He said they would send someone out to check.  They did, a week later the bill arrived, 2500 EUROS from May to mid-August.  Bearing in mind the house measured 60m2, had three rooms, no heating on as it was melting hot from April onwards, one chauffe eau, washer, oven and some normal lighting, not the lighting for the Albert Hall. I was on the phone faster than the proverbial.  Basically I refused to pay, saying this must be some kind of blag.  Even the EDF lady said it is unbelievable, do you have a heated pool?  No, even if we did, it wouldn't be heated high enough to poach fish!  Ok she said, don't worry, (yeah right)..... stop your prelevement immediately and we will look into it.  You bet I will stop it, either that or the bank will imprison me.  Many weeks passed and a letter came from the EDF.  It appears there had been a problem with the index, whatever that is.  The 2500 euro bill was annulled...........talk about a scary time  

LOL, I thought I was seeing quadruple too..........

Hi, Generali France have been pretty good as pet insurers, low-ish rates of 25 euros per month, for three cats, covers accidents, surgery,etc etc, obviously not the usual things like vaccines.  Our local AXA office arranged the insurance for the cats, they were very helpful.

Hi, there is a very good boarding kennel near pujols, probably about 40 mins from you, would recommend highly.  pm for details if you need them.  Aidan

I was told, not so long ago, by a local agent, that the bon de visite was hardly worth the paper it is written on.  Yes, you can be taken to task if you go ahead and buy from a - n other agent, who may have the same house advertised at a cheaper price, but the cost and hassle of taking action against this person if high and not worth the trouble.  Try and negotiate a reduction on agency fees, they are pretty flexible..