duckalaronze

Hi It sounds just the sort of thing my (feeling isolated) 82 y o mum would like to come to. Can you tell me if it's suitable for the elderly (accessible loos, no steps etc)?

Have just had new windows & volets installed by Huis Clos. PVC but in a 'chene' finish (looks like the real thing) - 15 year warranty, double glazed windows, done in 2 days. They also do above in aluminium (bigger range of finishes) + doors, gates, fences. Hope this helps Alan

I've emailed  'BACK-SET' in USA.. You can contact their supplier in UK : [email protected] I've nothing to do with them/this product - I just have similar probs to the OP & will be contacting the supplier. Thanks, Pierre ZFP for the info. Alan

Three years ago, we ordered a Rotovator & a Polytunnel from Castorama Direct (on-line) with delivery being '3 weeks'. After 5 weeks, we called their 'customer help line' (with our then limited French) and were told 'pas disonible!' After numerous calls, emails and finally involving our neighbours, one volunteered to phone them on our behalf & was told 'the Client knows we don't have stock'. After 3 months, another neighbour (who's quite high-up in the Paris office of an insurance comapny) gave us the name of a Director of Castorama, wrote a scathing letter on our behalf that we signed - and sent 'reccomandee' . . but no still response. Finally (5 months later!), we approached Bureau des Consommateurs in Gueret - 2 elderly ladies who 'ooh la la'd', agreed it was 'pas normal' and took copies of our emails/diary notes/letter to director . . and charged us €20!! The next day - - a phone call from the Director, 'this has never happened before, why the B de C letter? Desolee, goods will arrive Monday . . ' Tuesday am, taciturn truckie ('sign here - non, you do not need to open the package') turned up, we had to unload the boxes . . and next, a 'bon d'achat' for €100 from Castorama via la Poste, and another phone call from M. le Directeur ('we hope all is ok with your goods') but NO APOLOGIE....and we had to spend the @100 bon d'achat on line! If you have a Bureau des Consommateurs locally, perhaps you should try them.  

We hired a 'sableuse' + compressor from BLS Hire (in Gueret - don't know if you have one in your are...check pages jaune). Cost us about 95€ for a day - the sablage + disposable visor thingies cost another 20€ (the equipment comes with aan air-fed hood with plastic visor). All in all, a cheapish solution (IMO) to cleaning 200 year old beams! Alan

When we recently signed the Acte for a house (my MIL's), it stated on the Certicate d'Urbanisme that the fosse septique had to be replaced 'en vigeur' to comply with EU regs. Talking to the man from SPANC, he said that all house sales (I think from Jan 2007) will insist on FS changes - including installation of filter bed. He then asked if we were planning to install more than 2 loo's as it would be considerd that more loo's would require bigger fosses!! It's a rural property (a hamlet of 4houses) and one of the other houses (recently sold) has to comply by installing a 4000m3 fosse (as it has 3 loo's!). Although the existing works ok, it seems that bureaucracy is adamant that all Creuse will cmply by 2010! Good luck Alan

Hi Chris We're approx 6 kms south of Gueret, near Sardent. Whereabouts are you? G & A

Depends where you are! Around here (Creuse 23) there's still plenty of seasoned wood for sale....Don't know about other Depts. though. Alan

Try Googling the OP... Appears to have been spamming travel & real estate forums all day!!! Alan. To the pure at heart, all things are pure . . . I'm a suspicious B*****d

Vis a viz the phone thing.... This is a copy from a BBC page (albeit some time ago) BUT - BEWARE..it could happen here as well! Police Report ! The reason this is working so well is it plays on your good will! Picture the scene:- You are sitting at home and there is a knock at the door. On answering it you are confronted by a respectable looking woman in a suit, who is slightly distressed. She explains that her car has broken down further down the road and she needs to contact her husband to come to her aid. Is it at all possible to use your phone to call him? You allow her to use the phone, but being the suspicious type you stand with her as she makes the call. She dials the number, and asks to be put through to Mr Smith / Brown / Stevens (Whatever). She holds the line for about thirty seconds. She continues, "In that case can you ask him to leave the meeting for a minute I need to speak to him quite urgently." She apologies again and explains they are getting him out of a meeting. A couple of minutes goes by and she starts to speak to her husband. She explains the situation to him, tells him what has happened to the car, is annoyed because she now can't get to her meeting, and asks what she should do now. She listens for a few seconds and then says, "Well as soon as the meeting finishes can you come to Cardiff Road / Leicester Road / Surrey Street (Whatever), where the car has broken down. Another few seconds go by, "OK, I'll see you in about twenty minutes then." She put the phone down, and thanks you ever so much for your kind assistance, even offering you a pound for your trouble, but of course you decline, it's no trouble. She leaves and everything is fine. Or is it? The day or week before knocking on your door she set up her own premium rate line with a telephone company at the cost of about £150, and she has dictated that calls to that number should be charged at £50 per minute. She has dialled that number. The conversation she has had with her "husband" is entirely fictitious, there is a pre-recorded voice message on the other end to give you the impression she is talking to someone. She has been on the phone for about five minutes, that call just cost you £250, the majority of which goes into her pocket, and the first you know about it is when you get your bill a month later. To rub a bit of salt into the wound, she hasn't even committed a criminal offence. You've given her permission to use your phone. 5 occasions in Luton where this has been reported in the last couple of weeks. Would anyone reading th is please pass it on to friends and colleagues etc. otherwise it could cost someone a lot of money. PC Paul Toseland Corby Business Anti-Crime Network Administrator Alan & Gill

We're south of Gueret at 650metres. Gill grows potatoes (doesn't everybody in Creuse?), onions/shallots/garlic . . carrots, peas,beans courgettes, salads,butternut squash - and this year, asparagus! Only disaster we have this year is aubergines (think the colorado beetles like them). Maybe it's the (home produced) horse/goat/chicken manure mix we use but even with the drought here last year, we didn't have too many losses. As far as flowery & shrubby things - have to get her to tell you! (I'm of the 'can't eat flowers - why grow them?' schoool!). Good luck! Alan

Have a look at: http://www.bigdishsat.com They have a free DIY bit - put in your Dept. and all set-up info is there. Good luck Alan & Gill

Have a look at: http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/viewforum.php Some good tips there! Alan

We did the same last year - physically 'catching and crushing' - much to the amusement of our paysan neighbours! They just let their guinea fowl patrol the 'potats' . . a small loss of plants but nowhere near as many dorephores as us! Alan

Sounds like a Carpenter Bee. We have a few hovering around the concrete electricity pole! Appears they like holes in walls to build their nests in and wisteria! Don't believe they're particularily aggressive but can understand how they appear intimidating! Alan & Gill