Albert the infopikey

"I don't suppose anyone knows what a 'gawd' is?" No, but everybody's got one.

Liz wrote "do they exist in France? Round here I have never seen anything remotely like it." Well there's my niece. Mid-teens, 100% Bretonne, lives in Loudeac (not exactly a metroplis).

Clair wrote "That's because it's in the Employment Vacancies section of the forum, which does not allow any replies." Aha!! I was using the Active Threads feature and hadn't noticed where the post was. Thanks.

I've just read a post from Rob Rig, asking "Whats the best method to learn French?" in http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/658872/ShowPost.aspx#658872 When I wanted to reply I discovered that there were no icons for it. I can see the reply/quote icons inother threads, but not this one. Any ideas?

I tried to send a report about a post a little while ago. Having typed my whinge I went to preview and, seeing it looked OK, pressed send. I then tried to get back to the forum by using the browser's 'Back' button. I didn't seem able to get past the scren where I had typed my message, so I tried clicking Post again. Still couldn't get out. It took a fair bit of effort to get out of that screen. Is this normal with the Report facility?

Patf wrote "Searcher - didn't you use to post as Blade? " Kerchingggggg! Sound of penny dropping! Why didn't I work that one out?

"Perhaps, just perhaps, he's right. Perhaps, just perhaps, you ..." As a recent member of this forum I'm not going to offer opinions on anybody. However, one thing I have noticed is that very often it is easy to lose track of who is addressing whom. I've quoted part of Dick's comment purely as an example, not because I think he is particularly prone to doing this. A few names would help. At least then it would be clearer who thinks what about whom. And I wrote this before seeing Russethouse's "you mean me?" question.

My UK ISP, Demon, has always offered fixed IP addresses. I know that most ISPs nowadays tend to go for dynamic, but I'm surprised that there isn't someone in France doing the necessary.

"Re: Med coast but no sun! I have been making some enquiries from the developers regarding drainage and new top soil. They advise that it is now impossible to install drainage due to underground pipes and cables. Further the drainage would have to cross two paths where the foundations have already been laid." Looking at the photos, it looks like the slope of the area between the garden & the lake is running the wrong way. However, this seems to conflict with what you say above, about "two paths" I've got two suggestions: Tell the builder to run a very shallow drain across to the lake edge. It would probably only need to be a few inches deep. In fact a 6" (15cm) gulley with a cover would probably do it. Buiid a dwarf wall about a foot in from the neigbour's walls (to give room for maintenance) and raise the whole garden inside it. I'd probably raise the patio bit about 10 - 15 cm (from what I can see) and then install raised beds about 40 cm deep along the sides. Make sure any raised paved areas slope the right way.

Tresco wrote "the best way to get the builders involved?" Beer usually works. Or big mugs of tea. Slightly more constructively (did I really write that?) a better thread title would help. I've been ignoring "Med coast but no sun" for several days now because it just looked likely to be whinges about the weather. When it got to three pages I had a quick dekko at the last page and found myself here. Now I'm going to start all over again to see what is really going on.

You could try looking into Les Castors. http://www.castorsouest.fr/index.php It's a self-build association with regional branches and one of their services is preparation of plans, using their own architects if needed. I haven't joined yet, but plan to once we have our plot sorted out. However, I only know them by reputation Plans et métrés Plans Nos dessinateurs sont à l’écoute des demandes des adhérents. Après un entretien approfondi, notre technicien dessinateur réalise un avant-projet personnalisé, prenant en compte les besoins et souhaits exprimés par l’adhérent, ainsi que son budget. Après validation, il réalise les plans pour le dépôt du dossier de permis de construire. Pour les projets de plus de 170 m2 de surface hors œuvre nette, conformément à la réglementation, les plans sont réalisés par un architecte.

Rascalb wrote the following post at 24/03/2006 12:00: "Does anybody know why the french tend to build single block walls as opposed to cavity walls as we do here in the UK?" In the UK cavity walls became popular between the wars with the aim of preventing damp penetration from driving rain & suchlike. There are other ways of achieving the same result and I have a theory that the rise of the cavity wall was a result of switching from lime mortar to cement, but thats just my guess. My preferred French technique for masonry walls is monomur. This uses big blocks (imagine 2 breeze blocks put together) with loads of air cavities. It's quick to build, highly insulating and fairly 'green'. There's a manufacturers puff for a typical product here: http://www.batiweb.com/bandeaux/lance_url.asp?dd=315748&tt=m&annuaire=produits

"Do the new style UK chip and pin debit and credit cards work at the pumps in France or is it just French issued one that do?" Haven't had much joy with our UK cards in pumps, even though the same card sometimes works at the kiosk! Must admit, though,  that usually the attendant takes one look & switches to paper signature.  

eurosnugs wrote "  The portage company I work with gives me my salary at the end of the month and then works on getting the money back from the customer so I know I am going to get paid.  Of course my customer is my old uk employer so there is no problems with them paying regularly.  There is one big catch, in order for me to have a net salary in France similar to the one I used to have in the UK, my employer would of had to increase my gross salary by about 40%.    " I'm a UK-based (currently) IT consultant and only take contracts that fall outside IR35. As a rough guide, the generally acepted rule of thumb for rates is that a contractor's hourly rate is roughly equivalent to a permanent employee's annual salary divided by 1,000. That works out to about a 60% higher yearly rate by the time you allow for unpaid holidays, etc. All my clients have been prepared to pay this sort of premium to get the right people when they need them. This doesn't mean that the contractor gets all this lovely money -- you have the costs of running a business, paying your own travel & lodging (£1,000 a month on my last contract) if working away from home, professional insurances, no income between contracts... All this to say that if your old employer is reluctant to pay 40% extra to cover the reduced cost of having you in the office as well as not having to pay NI etc. then maybe you need to look around.

I'm more familiar with UK company law than French, but I believe that in both systems a company (Ltd or SARL) is a separate legal entity and an individual can hold two job with separate companies at once. How all this goes when it comes to personal taxation and NI/cotisations is another story.

Only guideline I know is that a new build house needs to be >3 metres from a neighbour's boundary to be able to have normal windows facing that way. (It's more complicated than that, but...) Therefore 6 metres between buildings would even be enough if you decided to split the property later. Have you had an unofficial word with the maire, or whoever?  

Deimos wrote "I have to install some window safety bars ... (i.e. the stop people falling out kind).  ...does anybody know if wooden ones are allowed" I'm no expert, but I'd have thought that anything that would qualify as a bannister for stairs or a mezzanine should be adequate. There may be a norme, but I get the impression with French building matters generally that there is far less regulation of how you construct your home, compared to UK Building Regs.

Afy Thanks. Email sent

Val_2 wrote "The only place you will find such a good job in Brittany is in the large cities like Nantes or Rennes I'm afraid." Thanks. We've already decided that if need be we'll settle somewhere in SE Brittany to be handy for Nantes & Rennes, although I'd prefer somewhere like Paimpol. You say you've "seen one family move from here to Nantes" for work. Where would "here" be. I'm also quite prepared to travel if need be (I live in Gloucestershire and my last contract was in Glasgow) for contract work if the rate is right (better that 1500/m). For a permanent job I'd be less ambitious (1000€ a month net would be nice). Thing is, I'm not a "retail" IT guy. All my work is for companies and so I wouldn't be looking to start a computer shop or a Web design service. I saw someone posting on here a few weeks ago about industrial-strength IT and I was hoping to get some feedback about that market. If there's anyone out there who knows the going rate for a Transact SQL / Oracle / VB / Access developer with strong migration ETL experience I'd love to hear.

Miki wrote "I think logically, you should ask your question far nearer the time of arrival, as what is here now, you can be certain, it will have changed in a year or two years time. " Miki, thanks; that's true, but I'm more in the way of looking for options. For instance, I always thought of Dinard as being an internal airport. Also, with the prospect of organising a house build I may find myself having to come over fairly often a lot sooner. One thing I am sure of is that I don't want to be dependent on a single carrier, especially one of the low-cost types.

Eslier wrote "consider taking the Condor fast ferry service from St Malo to Jersey ... and then more flight options to either Gatwick or London City from Jersey" Sounds like fun! Hadn't thought of that one. More research to do.

We'll be moving to Brittany in a year or so, and I'm in the process of working out how to earn a living. At present I'm a freelance IT consultant and frequently find myself in contracts far from home. If I can't get a decent living in France (the preferred option) then I could consider doing about 3-4 months a year in London (or wherever) to get enough to take the rest of the year off. The question is "how to commute?" As far as I can see, there are no suitable flights from Rennes or Nantes (out Monday early-ish, back Friday PM) and using the Western Channel ferry services would mean getting home Saturday morning and leaving again Sunday evening -- not good. Does anyone know if there are any options that would fit my needs? I know things may change before I move, but I've got to start somewhere. For comparison, a while back I had a colleague who could be back in La Rochelle from London before I got home to Gloucestershire.

I'm an informaticien, mainly working with databases and similar business IT systems. Been working freelance for 8 years, mainly contracting with big clients. My French is pretty good (i've done translation work and a bit of business analysis in France) and I'll be moving to Brittany in a year or two (got to organise getting a house built. What are the chances of a) getting enough freelance work at a decent rate to make a reasonable living (say, 1500€ a month after cotisations, tax etc.) b) finding a permanent job with at least 1000€ a month take-home pay Those are both minima, and I'd like to aim much higher, but...

cheminot wrote "what I am asking is is the capital outlay required to change from electric heating worth the outlay?" It depends on a lot of variables, but as a guide "The Housebuilder's Bible" which is a standard reference for UK self-builders has a few pages dedicated to this topic. The figures are UK-based, but probably good enough for comparisons. The results for a typical house show that the cost of instaling elctric heating and most fossil-powered central heating systems are similar, but even so, it takes about 12 years for for the oil-fired system to start showing savings over electric. If you have an existing electric system that is adequate for your needs then the payback period for oil stretches out to several decades. If you want to do the sums yourself, it should be possible to get cost per kWh (kilowatt/hour) for electricity and oil, factor in the likely efficiency of your boiler (e.g. 90% for a modern oil jobbie) and then work out how many kWh you are going to need in a year. Subtract the annual price for oil from the annual price for electricity and divide the result into the capital cost difference to get the number of years to pay back. You could put in things like price inflation assumptions and suchlike in and build a spreadsheet but I leave that as an exercise for the student. However, I'd expect to find some calculators like this on the Web.

Jond, This deserves a long thread, but who could compete with the perfection of the original posting?