Rob Roy

[quote user="BJSLIV"] Its not as dodgy as some people are making out. Its a very common way of doing things. An agent will have a dedicated account (un compte séquestre) for holding clients deposits.  This normally features on his professional literature, business cards etc. We paid our deposit this way 15 years ago, and everything went perfectly smoothly.   [/quote] We also paid the agent, although it was only 7% from what I can remember. On the day of the signing he wrote a cheque to the notaire (from his holding account) for the deposit amount. The notaire did not seem to find this unusual.

If that was the case then this site would have been closed long ago and there would be no point of these forums My thoughts exactly Baz!

I don't do sampler kits, but do love embroidery and counted cross stitch, although I am not as prolific as you! At the moment I am working on a map of  Norfolk (where we lived in the UK), but it tends to be more a winter thing as I am outside tending the garden in the summer. Sorry I can't help with your query re groups, but regards the linen have you tried finding a fabrics/craft shop in Cahors (perhaps look in Pages Jaunes). I know you can buy it in Brive, but rather a long way from you!

[quote user="Philmco"]Lard in French is "Saindoux" and should be in the fats section of the dairy cabinet.[/quote] You would think so wouldn't you, and that is where I used to look - but it's with the cooked pork products (i.e. ham, charcuterie etc) in our Super U - no, I can't understand the logic either])

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]Thanks, Steve. Séné is handy for the in-laws so I'll try Leroy Merlin & Bricomarché. I need to start exploring the Bricos's anyway to get as many priced catalogues as I can find. Cheers[/quote] Catalogues? You'll be lucky!![:)]

[quote user="Miki"]Tut tut Mary, That, according to Eslier is advertising......I know its mad, you know it is..........................but !! So poor old TROC DE L'ISLE, as French as France itself, mustn't be mentioned. How daft is that ? We can ask anyone if they have anything then but, we can't expect a reply from anyone by way of the Forum itself......It is not that one can't ask but one cannot get a reply...am I missing something? You surely can't have one with out the other or, all you are saying is, ask for whatever you want and then people can PM you. So why can't we have a wanted thread ? [/quote] [:-))] It never occured to me that I was advertising. So can someone tell me the difference between my response and all the hundred of others that mention Mr Bricolage, BricoDepot, Carrefour, Auchan, etc etc etc in respone to where to buy queries?[8-)]

Do their respective spouses know about this, I wonder?[Www] More to the point, as I know them - do I tell them [:-))]

Why not try the Troc d'Isle, our local one in Brive has loads for sale.

Or one with arthritis in a couple of knees (like me!) [:D] Perhaps we can start Scuttler racing - I wonder if they are trainable?[blink]

What was that you said, Captain??[;-)]

You can change them at the bank/post office. They will give the appropriate money bags or plastic coin tubes to fill.

[quote user="missyesbut"] There is also 'Trawlermen' (this week-BBC1-7pmUK) These brave men up on deck day and night, out in all weather, buffeted by gale force 9 storm, fishing for prawns, haddock, cod, whatever they need to pay the crew a pittance of a wage and the bank!... I will not complain anymore about fish and chips or prawns being rather expensive.... [/quote] I agree. We lived on the North Norfolk coast at Sheringham and would hear the lifeboat maroon go off (sounds like a cannon) calling the men down to the seafront for another rescue. Funnily enough it was often in the summer when some stupid holidaymaker had got into problems [:@] 

I agree, the whole forum has been slooow for days now, drives me nuts![img]http://bestsmileys.com/angry2/2.gif[/img]

[quote user="Frederick"]Thanks for the information Val ......my wife was convinced I had bought her a duff cooker ..a Friday afternoon one ! ......she has  moved to roasting chickens  in a brick now as she has fast dried out and crisped up a few ...this thing seems to cook  with the heat of  a  bast furnace .... and its turned down low ! Its got the proper butagas regulator on the bottle .....I even changed that to see if it helped .[/quote] Don't start me on French gas ovens [:@] I found it helps to keep the roasting tray one notch below the other oven shelf and use the shelf with a normal roasting tin on it (and cook the roasts in foil). That way the tray acts as a deflector. If you need to use the tray as well try putting a rack in it so the food is not touching the bottom of it, it helps to eleminate some of the charcoal [:)]

Sorry I can't answer your query - but can tell you that my husband has just finished having root canal treatment at the dentist (a total of 4 visits) and has been reimbursed 70%. He has a Carte Vitale but has lived here too long to have an E121 now.

[quote user="Sunday Driver"] There are no legal ins and outs to disagree with. The regulation is quite straightforward. You may not drive a foreign registered car in your country of residence. That's it.  It doesn't get any simpler than that. Getting the CT done was a complete waste of money because the CT has no legal status on a foreign registered vehicle. [/quote]   We were asked to produce a CT when we wanted to re-reg our UK car on French plates.

Our farmer neighbour came in and flailed ours (as mentioned above) the first couple of times, then if you keep cutting and cutting the weeds and nettles will eventually loose out to the grass. We bought a ride on mower to do this - you couldn't see anything at all for nettles etc, but now we have a lawn (not bowling green standard!) and cleared orchard suitable for us and the dogs to enjoy. Not sure about the bindweed though - that's a real problem to get rid of - I still haven't completely conquered round the edges.

Apart from the legalities re. bringing them over what are you going to do with them when you are here? Did you know you have to belong to a Societie de Chasse to be able to use the shotguns - even on your own land? By the way if you copy Chris's post and paste on Google language tools you will get a translation

In my ignorance I couldn't understand why I was suddenly getting spam, (thought it might be from someone's e-mail I'd received) but I realise now that it is since Orange took over Wanadoo it all started, so thanks for clearing up that little mystery! As I obviously need to receive e-mails from 'unknown' sources i.e. people asking about B&B, I don't know how I can block them although several do automatically go in the Junk E-mail box every day, and the rest I add to my Blocked Senders List. Is there anything else I can do?

"Cue recovery position and first aid skills and call out for doctor" This raises an interesting point - how much first aid do most B&B owners know, and how often are the skills required or updated? For example, I was a designated first aider where I worked in the UK, but between one refresher course and the next the thinking on the recovery position had changed! I haven't done a course since coming to France (5 years) - perhaps it has changed again, although as long as I can put the person is put in some sort of recovery position I suppose that is O.K! Cerise, I think you deserve a medal - and no discount for the guests[:)]

He's lovely, and you can see he's waiting from the look in his eyes[:)]

Aahh! That's a dog's devotion for you. They are not called 'man's best friend' for nothing you know! Mind you - who's the one that feeds them most of the time.......![:D]

I always unplug computer and Livebox - should I also unplug the phone line, or is this only if you have a phone that recharges/has a base unit? We have a common or garden basic phone as we had big problems hearing people with the other ones. I have never thought of unplugging it before, can the lightening come down the phone line into the Livebox that way?

As an alternative to French used car sites do a search for LHD cars in the UK - you'll find a good choice available. Don't forget all the time you are driving a RHD in France you have problems overtaking when driving alone, paying for anything that involves a kiosk i.e. fuel, tolls, car parks etc.- it is so much easier to have LHD.

[quote user="Cassis"]We exchange freely with two other B&Bs in the area plus a small, privately owned hotel-restaurant; recently we have teamed up with a British owned gite near Alençon in case anyone asks us to recommend a gite nearby.  None of us charges commission. [/quote] Plus we advertise B&Bs in other areas of the country, if people are passing through! [;-)]