DorothyJ

Now I wish we had moved ages ago! My husband was diagnosed by a dr here when he went with what turned out to be sciatica. She took his blood pressure, listened to his heart and said he needed to have it checked out back in England. Since then no-one gave any indication that there was anything needed other than monitoring until Nov when the consultant told him that the pressure reading had risen too quickly and an operation was probably necessary. The echogram was in March - how could the hospital take so long to inform us? Anyway, we must look forward and at least once we finally move we can feel assured that the spanking new hospital just up the road will be a good place to go!!! AND there looks to be loads of parking - not something we dont have at the hospitals near us in England.

[quote user="Russethouse"] As I said in the post, only Dorothy will know how happy or not they are with their local hospital Has Dorothy any experience of the hospital that would be the choice for the op in France ? [/quote] Having read all the helpful advice and opinions we are now waiting for Dec 4th. Thankyou all it has been so informative. We live in Poole but the heart op will be at Southampton Hospital of which we have no knowledge. Please dont tell me if you there are poor reports - we have to have confidence in it!! If the op is to be delayed as non-residents I have used a dr in Durtal who is really nice but our nearest hospital is a new one between Sable and La Fleche. Does the system here work on where you live or which Dr you use? As we live in 49 and 72 (boundary through the middle of the house) I'm hoping we have a choice of Dr in 49 and hospital in 72.

Dear Alma, Don't let NormanH get to you. He has tried the same thing with me on another topic. He must be a very sad person. I very rarely write on the forum but when I have members' replies have been interesting, funny, thought-provoking, informative and very helpful but once in a while there is someone who has a different motive. Takes all sorts.

Why on earth should you think I want an argument or sympathy? A genuine question, plenty of good advice from members but I haven't got myself into any situation. Good health for my husband is what I want and I'm not sure you want anthing other than to cause upset. That's it no more from you I hope.

Oh Sunday Driver thank you so much for that it did make me laugh. I dont often write to the forum but I find it is so rewarding as people are usually so generous with their knowledge and kindness. We have been married for 45 years and our lives seemed to stretch into infinity, nothing like a bit of poor health to make you realize we might not live for ever. Joking apart, its a shame that Norman has such a miserable outlook on life. My mum used to say - you reap what you sow - and he cannot be a happy person. We are of the old school of only buy what you can afford and if someone needs something give it to them if you have it. As a yorkshire born person - you cant tek it with you!!!!!

So why is what I say "daft" There is no reason at all it is my own personal take on life. And I cant honestly be bothered to reply I have much more important things on my mind.

I am very grateful for all your advice and have enjoyed most of the comments. Perhaps I was too brief in my first post as I can see it is very difficult to give advice when there are so many 'ifs'. We are not residents as up to now we have spent 6 months in England, some time in Sweden with daughter and grandchildren and some time here restoring a very very old house which had been renovated in the '50s. We know this area very well as before buying the house we used to holiday in a campsite 3 miles away and therefore have close french friends here. My french is pretty good, my husband is not too bad and improving. As we have aged mother and sisters in England plus 1 son, another son who works 6 months in America and a daughter in Sweden, everyone has used Dorset as the meeting place. So we dithered... until this year when we decided now was the time to think of what we wanted. If we didn't do it we never would and we would start the paperwork in December ready for our move. So it came as a bit of a shock to learn my husband might need an op, it had not been mentioned before. We do not want to have treatment in France because we think it is better - we are not particularly unhappy with what is on offer in England.The first thing our french friends said was "dont stay in England, carry on with the move and have it done over here" The idea that we haven't paid into the French system therefore we are not entitled is just daft. I have no objections to immigrants who come to England and use our health service. Surely we are not so narrow thinking that unless you have put it in you can't get it out - if you get my drift. So, we wait for Dec 4th and hope for good news.

We bought our house here in 2003 but decided in October this year that we would move permanently in Jan 2009. So back in England in November we arranged with an estate agent to put our house in England up for rental, started clearing out 40 years of rubbish and my husband went off for his annual outpatients checkup for his 'sticky valve'. We were distressed to learn that the problem has become much worse quite rapidly and he needs a further echogram at the beginning of Dec to see if he will have to have a valve replacement which would be a further wait of 3 months for the operation. As it has taken us 2 years to finally decide to move to France we dont want now to put it off but we are unsure of our position. My husband is 64 and I am 65 so I presume health cover is as the forum has advised and we shall just need to take out top-up insurance but can my husband have this operation in France or must he wait for it to be done in England?

I used to tutor adults with young children and some of the women attending were from the local army camp. They taught me and their fellow students so much about a life where the husband is constantly away for weeks at a time, often with only a few hours notice. On return the husband would expect life to revolve around them for the short period they were there. Their feelings were exactly as you have written apart from the money aspect; torn between resenting the disruption and being pleased to have him back. What they did say was that 1 - The woman needed outside interests to keep sane. 2. - The children needed a routine which they could rely on. For the army wives they had the consolation of being in accommodation where most of them where young with children but the downside was that they had to make friendships very quickly (constantly on the move, 3 years maximum stay) but only casual friendships as it was too painful to keep losing friends. The conclusion they came to was to try to keep their own lives going as far as possible but to give up some of their own activities to spend extra time with their husbands. I am sure you are not on your own in feeling how you do. Advice? difficult other than try talking to your partner. Best of luck.

Having suffered grubs leaf curl, etc on our fruit trees we have bought Bordeaux mix as a treatment.Please can anyone tell me whether we have to wait for all the leaves to fall or can we spray now? The french instructions say 'à la chute des feuilles' but not sure if this means after all the leaves have fallen or whilst it is happening!

Thank you for all the information and comforting words. We have re-measured with the formula of the least we could expect and we are still over a stere short. As this is a "Scea" and not just someone selling a bit here and there I expected better but will now go back to our former supplier.

If the weather holds this week we shall attack the offending stumps with bow saw,spade and renewed energy. We would prefer the tractor method but it would flatten our fruit trees as the hedge isn't on the edge of the property but divides the kitchen garden from the orchard area. It may be possible to get the tractor in a safe position but I'm not taking any chances with our friendly farmer! Thanks for all the help

My trust in people took a hard knock yesterday. We ordered 4 cordes of wood from a business which we had previously only bought fence posts. Yesterday the wood was delivered. He had promised a mix of apple, oak and false acacia. The first load arrived but the apple had been replaced by chestnut. My husband told the chap he was not happy with this as not only does chestnut spit (not really a problem) but also it is usually cheaper than the other three. Not really any satisfaction there as he said it burnt just as well as the apple. Second load arrived and we stacked it all in the barn where we usually keep it. My husband was not happy with the look of it. So out came the measuring tape and we find we are 1 corde short. We asked our French friend to come and see what he thought and he confirmed the amount was not 4 cordes. On ringing the man he accused my husband of lying and hiding some of the load but he couldn't come and see for himself as he was going to the Vendee for 3 weeks. Our friend suggested we get our neighbour to verify the measurements which we did and he also said we were short of a corde. My husband will not let this go and will follow it up in 3 weeks time but we don't expect to get anywhere. We shall only ever be caught once by this man and believe he is the loser as we would have continued to buy wood from him each year and also fence posts for around 2 hectares of fields. I know its probably naive but I always believe people will be honest and this experience has really saddened me. Do you think he thought 'the stupid english, they dont know anything about wood?'

I knew it wasn't going to be easy!! I don't think we shall go ask our local farmer to bring his tractor but I bet he would enjoy doing it. In the past (way back in the dark ages) we drilled holes in unwanted stumps and then poured creosote into the holes. This was very cheap but think creosote is now banned so will try a stump-rotting product. Do they all work equally well. Can I go for the cheapest?

We have finally got round to sorting out a very old, tall and wide laurel hedge which has left us with some large stumps to remove so that we can re-plant in the gaps. Can anyone suggest the quickest method of doing this apart from trying to dig them out please?

I picked up a very large 4 litres aluminium kettle for 2 euros at a vide grenier a couple of years ago which I keep on the woodburner all winter. I only use the water for washing up etc., never for tea, as I think it tastes funny! I have 3 different height trivets for it to sit on as the heat intensifies so that the kettle doesn't boil dry. Wouldn't be without it (or the Villager) as I abandon the gaz hob during the cold months and use the woodburner for all the cooking . Started lighting the wood burner in the evenings on Wednesday.

OK we have found a second one! Can't think it is a truffle so Ihave had another look on the internet, this time at puffballs. {I didn't know you could get solid ones} - so my "truffle" is possibly a Common Earthball. Might take it to the chemist tomorrow and ask if it is edible as the french seem to enjoy eating a wide variety of fungii.

I will try the photo before I go and get a pig!!!

I have just dug up a fungus??? It is walnut size dark grey, dense and black inside not a bit like a puff ball or anything else we have ever found. I was listening to a programme about truffles in Hampshire which made me and wonder if this is what I have found. Could anyone help please? For the first time, we have found mushrooms in our fields which have been really delicious perhaps the weather produced something different!

We had work similar to this done in 2004 when we were updating our electrics. Our house had 2 meter boxes - both 520 x 520 set into the wall outside the kitchen door (very ugly) and overhead cables attached to the wall via a triangle of heavy metal over to an electric pole in our neighbour's garden. As the house needed re-wiring we decided to have a new meter box set into an outhouse wall next to the pole, bury the cable and come into the house into a new box. We thought it was very expensive - 750 euros for the whole lot including fixing the internal EDF meter box to a new fuse box which our electrician had left ready. I think we waited around 6 weeks from receipt of the devis to the work being completed but we could have delayed asking them as we had to dig the trench (quite deep) to house the cable. BUT we are so glad we went underground as the house is around 15th/16th century and the iron bars on the house were enormous! Probably would not have been able to afford it now! PS 'had to dig a trench' euphemism for 'getting in a man with a minipele'.

Thank you so much for the info. It seemed to make sense to my husband. He is shut up in the bedroom wirebrushing the beams prior to sorting out exactly where everything is to go (I am banned because of the dust) so am acting as go-between. I also found some very interesting info in the Lapeyre catalogue so shall increase my knowledge and technical vocabulary at the same time!

We are installing a toilet, basin and shower into an upstairs bedroom. The toilet will enter the waste pipe at floor level, so at what level should the waste from the basin and shower enter the vent pipe below the toilet waste entry? I hope this is clear as it is my husband's query and maybe I haven't written it correctly!

Thanks for the prompt advice. We opened a flexaccount this morning and will give Barclays a miss. We might just be able to manage on the euros we have this year as we only stay the 6 months in France. Next year we hope the house will be fit to live in permanently. By then I hope the exchange rate may have improved - and we shall have saved enough to use a dealer! Our house must be quite close to you as we live twixt La Flèche and Durtal with Le Mans about 40 mins. away. Isn't it a most beautiful area? Thanks once again

Has anyone had experience with Barclays Bank France? We live in Department 72/49 and it appears our nearest branch is in Nantes. Having visited our local branch today in England the information we received was zilch.... We have had a Credit Agricole account for some time and have used Hifix or Currencies4less, to exchange sterling once or twice a year. As we already use Barclays in England it would seem to be an easy way of transferring money. Can anyone help please?

Thank you so much for that. For over a year I have erroneously thought I needed this £1000 per month. I have now filled in the online application form and await my card!!!