fulcrum

I am on Wanadoo/Orange and have just changed my DNS Server to Neuf's and it works OK. You will need to change the default settings in your IP properties to point to Neuf's DNS sever. Which is 212.30.96.108. Edit: I won't be held resposible for any problems you may encounter. It should be OK as it was posted to this forum some time ago. http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/719593/ShowPost.aspx

[quote user="Suze"]I've heard that as a non-resident you can no longer use UK banking anymore and they have blocked all non-UK ISP's from accessing the sites, something to do with moneylaundering. Accessing my UK account from France works OK. Only joking !!! [/quote]

You're avinalarf aren't you. [:)] Sorry. Couldnt resist that.

TU That's a new word to me but I think it sums up the said website perfectly.

Will I have PM'd you.

Chris We are always assuming that the law enforcement agencies in the UK understand what is going on. Given the fiasco of illegal immigrants going missing after their discharge from prison and nobody thinking that maybe they should be detained. I guess we have an idea of why no one knows what's happening with drugs. I suppose they could always say they do know what's going on and are waiting to catch the big guys. [8-)]

Will I have always advocated using immobiliers in France because I think a good one will definately give good value and anyway they act as a buffer between Purchaser/Seller and the notaire. Tomorrow I will clarify the situation with said notaire.

Cooperlola I can, and will, of course pay if I have to but am not even sure if the notaire has the insurance forms to hand. I will ask her tomorrow. My main reason for using this particular notaire is that she speaks excellent English and I have dealt with her for a few years. However the insurance thing only became compulsory about two years ago.

Ron There is a form of insurance cover that is compulsory in France to cover this period. It is free however. I was told today by my notaire that she was unable to provide the free insurance as it is only available to estate agents. My notaire isn't, as far as I know, an immobilier.

I have found out today that if you don't employ an estate agent to handle the Purchase/Sale of your house then you are not entitled to the free life insurance that is put in place to cover any death, of parties to the contract, during the Sous Seing to Acte Authentique period. I guess this is another potential pitfall associated with dealing directly through a notaire. Does anyone know of this.

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Well, appologies to all, it seems that the text is not retained.  It certainly used to be and I even remember a politician being caught out by it once.  The 'feature' must have been fixed.  Once again, sorry to cause alarm without checking my facts.[/quote] I have been able to simulate your original discovery by switching on Track Changes and using the Tools, Track Changes, Highlight Changes. Therefore anyone using word in this mode would be unaware that there is an audit trail of their work.

[quote user="Cat"]I didn't know that Pierre. I tried it out just now, but it doesn't seem to work for me.  Surely if the Word document is saved and closed it is no longer possible to edit-undo, so would not need to retain the information? I even tried it using the track changes option in Word, but still could not see my deleted or altered stuff in Notepad. Did I do something wrong? [/quote] Cat I too have done some experiments and can't always duplicate it. Notepad seems better for testing this out as it displays all text in a document. Wordpad is related to Word so my also hide this problem to a certain extent. Edit: It may have something to do with the track changes feature as well. I am using Word 2000 with Win2kpro.

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]There's another nice 'feature' with Word (and Publisher).  If you open the document in Wordpad or Notepad instead of Word you will get a lot of unprintable charaters but near the top you will also see edits which were made in the document.  This is stored here for the very good reason that you may want to 'Undo Edit', fine.  The downside is that if you have had a bit of a rant and typed things like 'so-and-so is an unreasonble ugly SOB' or worse, then think better and delete it, it is still held in the file for all to see!  They way round this is to cut 'n paste to a new doc before sending the file.[/quote] That is very useful to know. I knew all the stuff about normal.dot but I certainly didn't think of the edited text being retained in the document. I should have realised because of Word's "Track Changes" feature.

Dick Thanks for that.

[quote user="Nearly Retired"]I bought loads of lights from IKEA in England (the tall uplighter ones) that came with the regular UK plug. I cut off all the plugs and bought and fitted french ones - it took ages. I then found out - TOO LATE - that IKEA and maybe others too (?) actually sometimes come with a continental plug hidden inside the UK one. Apparently you have to wreck the UK one in the process of finding it. I'll try it next time I bring something over.[/quote] Is it possible to show a picture of one of these plugs. They have been mentioned several times but I have never seen one.

[quote user="Dick Smith"][quote user="powerdesal"] I've been trying really really hard but cant think of an alternative method of wiring other than underground or overground  [:P] Microwave link maybe [8-)] [:D] [/quote] Delivered in a tanker? Really big batteries? Huge cat and ebony rod? Star Trek power beam from orbit? There are lots of possibilities! [/quote] That's what you get for writing things in a hurry and not checking before posting.  [:)]

[quote user="Russethouse"]Perhaps we should aim our comments at the program makers: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3792089.stm [/quote] Excellent idea. I have sent them some feedback. :)

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="fulcrum"]Regarding lightning in France. There are certain areas that are at greater risk than others. There is a map on the web and in French books on electrical installations that specify where you really need lightening protection devices (parafoudres). It also states that you are mainly at risk if your wiring, before it reaches your house, is carried on poles or  underground. So if you live out in the sticks you probably need to be careful but in a town, you shouldn't have much problem. I have lived here over five years and have never disconnected anything or had to protect anything or had anything blow up due to lightning. Maybe I have been lucky. [/quote] I've been trying really really hard but cant think of an alternative method of wiring other than underground or overground  [:P] Microwave link maybe [8-)] [:D] [/quote] Have edited my original.

Regarding lightning in France. There are certain areas that are at greater risk than others. There is a map on the web and in French books on electrical installations that specify where you really need lightening protection devices (parafoudres). It also states that you are mainly at risk if your wiring, before it reaches your house, is carried on poles. So if you live out in the sticks you probably need to be careful but in a town, you shouldn't have much problem. I have lived here over five years and have never disconnected anything or had to protect anything or had anything blow up due to lightning. Maybe I have been lucky. Edit: poles

A nice story. Cats do amazing things sometimes. I hope the dog gets better soon.

I have to agree with most on here who say that the program was rather scant on facts but I did note a couple of points that I hadn’t thought about before. 1.    The fact that Brits use Bergerac airport is accepted as the norm but it was then pointed out that the French can’t fly from Bergerac to Paris. 2.    The French woman who sat down to dinner with the family in Albas made the point that the French feel excluded by Brits, who don’t mix, moving into their area. I never looked at it like that before. I always though Brits not mixing were the ones who would feel excluded. A very good point made.

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="cooperlola"]Farriery charges are pretty much parallel here and in the UK - I pay roughly the same as I did in Blighty.  [/quote] Our farrier charges 5€'s a foot to do our donkeys, I kid you not. [/quote] Unfortunately for you he's just been on these boards and has decided to up his prices.  [:D]

I think Nicks suggestion is the best. I discovered ages ago that it is just too much trouble cleaning up afterwards. Anyway they are much cheaper than they used to be.

Firefox is good with me too.

In Australia light bulbs are called globes. As in light globe.