tarncat

Thanks for that Clair. This prompted me to do a little research on line and I've been able to buy some at 1% strength from the UK (plus TCP ointment which might smell disgusting but is the only thing that stops my insect bites from itching!)

Choccie - did you buy the cream over the counter or did you need to see a doctor first? My tube is well over 5 years old (I use it very rarely) and is still totally effective, but it is nearly empty. TC

Many thanks.

We have a barn attached at right angles to our house which we want to convert into extra living accommodation. We have an architect drawing up plans but I'm getting conflicting information about how long we will have to complete the project once permission is granted. On one hand I read we will have two years to commence the works and on the other hand two years to actually complete. Does anyone know the correct timescale? Any information gratefully received. TC

Snowing heavily here in the Tarn as well - and settling!  

http://tinyurl.com/4c5je3  

... here's how to deal with telemarketing calls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI&feature=related

A friend who lives in North Tarn (81) has rescued a litter of seven puppies that were destined to be shot. He has found homes for five but not these two. They were born on 23 March, which makes them six weeks old tomorrow, and they are already weaned (mum stopped feeding them nearly two weeks ago). [IMG]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk318/Tarncat/whitepuppy1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk318/Tarncat/whitepuppy2.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk318/Tarncat/whitepuppiestogether.jpg[/IMG] My friend has also rescued the mother and will adopt her himself (she will be spayed). The little family are delightful and are very friendly and bold. The mother, despite a life of hardship as a cattle dog producing regular litters most of which were destroyed, is very friendly and grateful for any attention. The mother and the puppies interact well with the other five dogs already in the household. If anyone is interested or knows anyone who may be interested please could you send me an email and I'll give you the contact details. There is one girl and one boy - father unknown but the mother is medium sized. These are the only whites - the other five puppies vary from brown to honey to grey - a real mixed bag. And in case you were wondering - we're having a little girl - Ruby (it remains to be seen what our five cats make of her).  

We were told that the issue is not with freezing but with sun damage cracking the pipes. Does anyone actually have an external soil pipe who could tell us how it has survived over time?

Thanks to you both - I'll give it a go.

I am about to reregister my 10 year old Honda but the Certificate of Conformity I have been sent is in English (although the words "EC Certificate of Conformity" are translated into umpteen languages, including French, on the front page.) Does anyone know if this will be acceptable at the Prefecture or will I need to get a French version? Many thanks.

Virgin.fr have also changed the rules. When I bought my phone a year ago it was possible to buy 10 euros credit that lasted 90 days. Now they've dropped it to 30 days (although they do have a promotion of 90 days on at the moment). I think they all play the same game - attract as many punters as possible then move the goal posts.. My purchase paperwork clearly states 90 days but I have had no respose from Virgin to my complaint. Hey ho! C'est normal!

I use this (really easy) recipe every year - its lovely! 2 bottles red wine 1/2 cup water (ie ½ pint) 1/2 cup sugar (ie 4oz) 4 sticks cinnamon 5 whole cloves 1 orange 1 lemon Zest the fruit, avoiding the white pith. Put this, the sugar, cinnamon and cloves into the water. Bring this to a slow boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Now add the wine. Add in the actual orange and lemon fruit part, sliced up. Warm this on low heat for 40 minutes (do NOT boil). Strain out the wine and serve. Alternatively, if you have an IKEA near you they sell bottles of Blossa Glögg which is their version of mulled wine made up and ready to heat. We were a bit sceptical at first but after trying it we went back for more!

This (rather cute) chap has a biting kitten - so he wrote a song and made a video about it! http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2007/mean-kitty-song-p1.php

That is very good - and very accurate! This always makes me smile (if it plays a bit jumpy just restart it) http://www.catherders.org/movie/herding.mov

I rang Ryanair direct last month as I was unable to book a winter flight from Rodez to Stansted on-line. They confirmed that there will be no winter service to Rodez this year - the last flight will be 27 October.

All my sites are hosted in the UK and I'd never given this any thought. But having followed the current thread I've been doing some research and I agree entirely that hosting is country specific in terms of search engine visibility. I've found such quotes as "... to ensure your website is ranked well in your country's specific search results then where you host your website can be critical to its success" and "Many search engines including Google give credit to where a site is located when determining search engine rank." and finally "The best thing to do is choose a web hosting provider in the country where your site is most relevant or from which you get the most business." I think switching to UK hosting could be a big help. 

I've never noticed this before but on the last bill the breakdown was ... 2005 69 euros 2006 66 euros

Re the OP and the response - this was genuine. My OH booked two return flights during the 24 hours of the special offer (one for November and one for January, both with no hold baggage) and paid 2 cents per return flight - there were no other charges - not even a debit card charge - and 2 cents was all that was charged against his card. I booked a return flight with one suitcase for November and paid a total of 12.02 euros Rather good we thought!    

Don't really want Manchester - want East Yorkshire, so it looks like its Carcassonne-East Midlands for this winter at least. Its further to Carcassonne but I can still avoid the M11 at the other end - which can only be a good thing. I keep hoping for Rodez-Robin Hood (Doncaster) to open up - but I'm not holding my breath!  

I see Rodez has now been removed from the list of destinations included in their special winter offer. Shame. Looks like I'll have to investigate Jet2 via Toulouse - at least they fly further north so I won't have the awful M11 to contend with. Every cloud etc etc!  

I couldn't bear the suspense so I rang Ryanair direct. They confirmed that there will be no winter service to Rodez this year - the last flight will be 27 October. They were unable to give any information about next summer. If anyone else wants to ring to check their routes I rang Ryanair on 0871 246 0000 (don't press any buttons - just wait and after the message you'll get an operator very quickly)

I've just tried to check availability of flights in November/December from Rodez and there are none listed. Other destinations (eg Carcassonne) have flights. I know there was a rumour that Ryanair was going to stop winter flights out of Rodez but has anyone seen confirmation. It is not one of the destinations listed in the lastest news release (19/07/07) so I thought we were safe!

One thing which I don't think has been mentioned is that you are using the Eurostile font for your site. This is not a font that comes already loaded on most people's machines so they would substitute a default font (probably Arial). For instance - I have Eurostile on my laptop but my OH does not have it on his - your site looks different on each machine. Unless you make your text a graphic (which you probably wouldn't want to do as it limits search engine accessibility) then I would suggest using a standard web font (eg Verdana). I expect this sounds a bit "picky" but it can make a difference in how professional your site looks.  

 Does anyone know if the new treaty has been ratified yet? We live full time in our 'principal residence' and pay taxes in France. The UK tax office has confirmed we would have no UK CGT liability on the sale of our UK property (currently occupied by my mother-in-law who is about to go into sheltered accommodation) as long as we are out of the UK for five years (specifically April to April). We just need to know if we would have a tax liability in France? Thanks in advance for any information.