Le 47

I am planning to change from Cegetel to Free.fr Freebox. Can anyone out there who has it describe the installation. Does Free.fr actually install the Freebox? Is it a box fixed to a wall/telephone point? Can it be moved from one room to another by me? Can the 'internet phone' bit used for the free calls be a wireless phone or are there restrictions or can it be a dual purpose phone like the Skype/normal phones? Lots of questions I know but there seems to be a lot of variables that can inform my choice as to where the Freebox is to be put. Thanks in advance

Hi I hope someone on the forum knows the answer to this one (not convinced that anyone at my Mairie does!) We are considering selling a house which has a permis de construire for converting attached outbuildings to habitablle use etc. Does the PdC remain valid for the new? If not would simply making the declaration (with the form supplied for the purpose) that work has started overcome this problem? Thanks Bill  

  Our 9 year old had to repeat CP. She scraped through CE1 and her reading is still weak.If present trends continue she may well struggle to get through this year satisfactorily.  Our daughter was assessed as having low level special needs in the UK. She is getting extra help here with an Orthophoniste (which seems to be a type of speech therapy crossed with specialist French language training)  and is due to see an immotrician (we are still a little confused as to what she actually does!). I have already heard of redoubling twice but could it happen more.

Its back again after many problems with the previous webhost.

Hi A belated thankyou especially for prompt info with links BSJLIV? Bill

Hi I have some questions to help to get a basis for your decision: What is the value of the broken items? Do you expect to do no cleaning at all on a changeover or put another way how long would you spend doing a changeover if the cleaning was acceptable to you? How much do you rate your time at e.g.15€ an hour. After thinking of these things you might be able to arrive at a sensible/justifiable amount to hold back. Bill

Hi I made a big? mistake yesterday when I put about 7 litres of unleaed petrol in my diesel engined car   ! Having noticed that I continued to fill the tank with the normal gazole. The result is a 50 litre tank now consists of about 43 litres of gazole and 7 litres of unleaded petrol - therefore a 15% level of diesel/gazole.  The engine runs OK and I drove it a short distance home. I had it in mind  that my diesel van's handbook suggests adding 10% petrol to the diesel in cold weather conditions. I am wary of using the car because of risk of damage.Is there a real risk and should I siphon out the fuel or is is going to be OK. Any advice would be appreciated. Bill

Hi everyone. The Aquitaine People & Property forum has been relaunched with a new name, "In Aquitaine", new software and most importantly a new web host which so far  has served us well. The experience of a terrible web host is one we hope to never repeat - the service and problems were incredible. In the end we have given up trying to transfer the old database and just started afresh.  Sorry for the lost postings to all concerned but it seemed the only way to cut the Gordian knot. Please join in and make this local forum a success. Bill  

I have treated some areas of mixed weeds both large and small and expanses of nettles.Some was done 3 weeks ago and some 4 weeks ago. Many of the weeds and nettles have blackened and/or collapsed into litle piles of non-descript veg matter. There are some, especially some of the nettles, which are clarly affected by the weedkiller with leaf loss and yellow leaves etc but remain upright (and defiant). If I cut away all the weeds now will the roots have been fatally affected already or do I have to wait for total collapse for root death? Bill  

Thanks for all the replies which have been very helpful. There are no separate 6v connections.  I borrowed a 12v battery from a friend which fits in one of the two battery slots AND bingo it works well and I have started my tractor without any problem at all. Bill

HI Jc Thanks for your reply. Do you happen to know the French term for CCA? Bill

I hope someone out there can help with this one. I have a tractor that is set up to use two 6 volt batteries in series. They are 165 AH each. Could I install a single 12 volt battery of a similar rating? Thanks Bill  

Hi Dave What are strong boys please? No pun intended.

I have a question for all those heating engineers out there. I am planning my central heating installation and have a question about the maximum distance the fuel tank can be sited from the boiler. The best place for me to site the tank is in a corner of the barn about 30 metres away from the boiler position in the house. The fuel supply pipe would  be in the ground with the boiler being about  1.5 metre or so higher than the tank. Is this all OK in principal? Would I need to use a larger than normal supply pipe between tank and boiler? Thanks in advance for any advice. Bill

Hi Where is your place - 47 is a big area?

Fred Bloggs?

Hi Steve I know of someone who may be suitable as he has a mini digger and a UK dumper truck (cf French Bobcat). He drives both or just the digger  - depends on circumstances, Last year  he was normally working  a 6 hour- 7 hour  day and was charging 35€ per hour + 50€ for the dumper a day.  He will also make a delivery charge. There is also a place in Castillonnes that hires out mini pelles. The mini pelle delivered was about 150€ + TVA for a day.. He was asking 45€ + TVA for hire with driver per hour. I would be surprised if there wasnn't somewhere a bit neare nearer to you though althoigh I personally don't know of a place. I am not sure how to PM you so if you want details yo can pm me and put a phone number on it and I will call you with details. BTW both above are Brits.  

Hi Chessie I have tried logging on a few times myself during the course of the evening and sometimes it didn't work. For some reason the site was not responding. I will check with the web hosts to see if the server was down at all. The 'full' website for the area which will include the forum is under construction and I hope to go live soon. Any suggestions or contributions are welcome. Can I say I fully intend to stay with Complete France as it is in my view 'the forum'.  A local forum can successfully deal with local matters on a scale that is not IMHO really suitable for a site that emabraces the whole country.

Hi Bryan Thanks for the information. I have tested the links on the post and they seem to be slow. For me, the link in the body of the  text seemed slower so I lremoved that one left the link in the signature. I will monitor the situation and if it proves necessary seek help from my web host.  

Hi Lympy I have had quite a few dealings with the ABF in 47 and |I have found out how difficult they can be. I have now had 2 separate Permis de Construire's granted on my property with a third application for the rest pending. My take on them (for 47) is that that are inconsistent in the application of their own rules both between different members of the department and from one day to the next for the same person. My ABF hate velux and thier staring point is that none can be used. We (i.e my architect) has tried negotiating for one in a massive building and the ABF bod hinted he might allow it if we didn't seek 2 lucarnes(dormer windows) that we were also asking for so one step forward and two back at best. I find the logic flawed as whilst they look modern they do not alter the roofline of a building. I could go on but iIwould rather PM as I still harbour a little niggle that I could be identified. One other point worth noting is that when I made a specific query about a piece of my building and related it to a feature I wanted to copy on a building nearby (and also in the 500 metre protected zone)  the architect turned on his computer and looked at photos of the other property and of mine. Clearly they had a lot of photos before I came on the scene and before any application for a PdC was made. It is of course possible that they did a visit to photograph my place after the application for CU (i.e outline planning permission). Bonne chance

"If they do, it would be nice for those still in need of an E106 to have the full story though wouldn't it Bill" Fair comment Miki.  Mea culpa. I have not worked in France at all during this period. I have worked in the UK (self-employed) from time to time which is the reason I still pay National Insurance contributions. When I applied for a further E106 at the end of 2005 (close to the end of  the 2 years and 4 months I had already been covered by an E106) I fully expected the application to be refused. I simply stated that my circumstances had not changed since my last application.  If I work in France, which may yet happen, I understand that the rights given under the E106 will be invalidated as I will then come into the French social security system as a function of paying social contributions here. I can add that when I first asked for an E106 I was told I didn't qualify and I should seek an E104. I then asked for the precise reasons for the refusal of the E106 and the name of the person making the decison to refuse the application and the name of any supervisor who may have 'controlled' the decision. I got my E106 within a few days. It was all done in writing and double faxed to Newcastle.. In Lot et Garonne we have only received an 'attestation de droits' which involves us in a bit more admin I suppose - CPAM point blank refused to give me a Carte Vitale when the rights saying the rights are under an E106 = no CV - hey ho. If anyone has any specific questions I will do my best to provide an answer.  

Thanks Will  -  it works. 

I don't quite understand that Orion2. For some reason I thought that the more one earned the more one paid and it was like that the world over, but I am not thinking straight tonight and could be wrong. What I  was thinking about was that the part of the cotisation that relates to health insurance (for example) might be duplicated if this was being paid in the self employmennt mode and the employment mode. I took/read in to Ty's post that he was not doing his normal 'entretien espace vert' work because of the time of year. If full cotisations are being paid in one area is there some allowance at the time or in the future where double payments (if indeed there are double payments) are rectified or allowed for to reduce the total contributions paid. Sorry lots of words here - I hope I have expressed the gist of the query. Thanks TU BTW what type of music does the band do? Bill    

Hi Will How can I make part of my signature a hyperlink comme vous? Thanks Bill  

Fair play Ty What happens with your cotisations whilst you are employed? Can you suspend them or are their any allowances for what would seem to be double payment of 'social security'. In any event it must be worthwile to have the extra income but if you don't have to pay twice over why should you. Bon courage Bill