Rob Roy

How long was it from the time of claiming to when you received the allowance? I applied before Christmas but have yet to hear anything; mind you everyone was probably on holiday for a couple of weeks until the New Year!

Our vet was wonderful when it was time for my old labrador to go (he had chronic arthritis in his rear end and couldn't cope any more). I took him to the practice and the vet came out to our estate car where my darling boy was lying; he gave him an injection to sedate him and I was able to sit and talk to him and stroke him until he fell asleep. The vet then came back and gave him the lethal dose and made sure all had 'worked'. He was so kind, and I'll never forget that. I brought him home and we buried him in a lovely spot in the garden. My thoughts are with you. I have a copy of the poem Jo posted and although it is sad it sums it all up perfectly.

Just an update - the French guy came yesterday, had a look but said he didn't know the make of cooker (It's a Belling range cooker - why do they call them pianos over here?) so wouldn't know where to get the parts but if we got the bit he wouldn't mind fitting it. That's when the fun really started! I've trawled the internet, made various phone calls to U.K. spares companies but all said the same thing, the part is obsolete and unavailable! Belling themselves were less than helpful, apart from giving me the actual part number. This is a £1500 range cooker first bought in 1999, so 13 years later (some) parts are not available including replacement gas taps which are probably used more than anything else! I have found one on E-bay for sale that has a problem with its ovens so going to see if we can buy that for spares, then OH will go and pick it up from Essex and bring it back; sounds drastic but there is nothing wrong with my cooker otherwise and I don't want to change it.

Thank you both. My husband would be happy to do the job as he used to be a panel beater & welder, so well versed in dealing with gas; getting a new valve could be the problem. However this morning I happen to see a chap who moved in near us a year or so ago and he does gas cooker repairs! I never gave him a thought as he drives around in a 'Phillips' van, but his parents run a shop in the local town and sell all white goods including gas cookers, so he's calling in today to see what he can do. I'm keeping my fingers crossed[:)]

Thanks, I have seen this site before but not really what we need at present. We've got to find a way to either isolate the burner or replace the valve and at the moment don't know how to get into the hob.

I was wondering if anyone can advise us about a problem with our range cooker. We have a Belling Cookcenter (their spelling, not mine!) duel fuel cooker (gas hob, electric ovens) connected to a gas bottle. One of the back burners on the hob is leaking gas, we've obviously turned off the supply which of course leaves me without any hob burners. I spoke to Belling in the U.K. hoping they would either tell us what parts we needed to repair it, or how to isolate the burner, but they were not very helpful, just suggesting we call out an service engineer. Quite frankly I'm not sure where to find a gas engineer around here (Dept 19, Correze), I tried Pages Jeunes on-line but all that came up were emergency numbers for GDF/EDG or the poision centre in Toulouse. Can anyone offer any practical advice please?  

Betty, I've just Googled to find out and it's only numbers if you've a licence issued since 1997. I've still got the old style pink paper one and there is no catagory for "eyesight correction" as they call it, which is now '01' in the numbers list. https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-codes

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]With the amount of extraneous stuff I apparently need to carry with me in my car "just in case" I end up  myopic and inebriated, broken down in the dark on a busy yet narrow road during a blizzard in a drought, I am wondering whether I need a bigger car or if I should invest in a trailer. [/quote] I think you've just about summed it up Betty![:D]

Thanks. Since I wear glasses all the time sitting on them is highly unlikely, in fact could be well nigh impossible![:-))]

I've noticed various passing comments about keeping a spare pair of glasses in the car if you normally wear them when driving. I've never come across this before, can anyone elaborate please.

[quote user="Théière"] I can only say that I would imagine the victims of such un wanted ( People who accompanied Jimmy Savile et al over several months may not be considered in the same way) sex attacks be they male of female must feel violated and degraded and possibly suicidal in much the same way but if you consider the age of teenage mums in Lewisham and indeed John Peels girlfriend, it is at least an anatomically correct orifice. So yes in some small way I do feel that it's worse for a boy. [/quote] This is something I have always thought too.

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[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="sweet 17"] That was me saying that so I think I now need to correct myself.  Actually the age of consent in Spain is thirteen![:-))]At least that's what the poll's about...... Someone who knows these things better than I do kindly pointed this out to me: http://www.20minutos.es/encuesta/4872/0/0/ [/quote] Certainly is, you might find the following link interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe . Seem in the Vatican City there is no age of consent at all, I could make a joke about Catholic priests but better not. [/quote] I think you'll find, if you bother to re-read it, the age of consent in Vatican City follows that of Italy.

It's not an Elephant Hawkmoth is it? I found one some years ago:   [IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i312/Bouillaguet/2007_08290002.jpg[/IMG]  

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]I have registered 2 Citroens (2003 & 2004) using the code in section K of the V5, at the Prefecture in St Brieuc. No question as to the validity of the type approval number was even hinted at. I don't understand why people don't just try it! As has been said, what will you waste? What will you gain?[/quote] You are obviously one of the lucky ones! I tried it (as stated above) and wasted most of an afternoon getting there, waiting and getting home again for 3 mins of being told 'Non' to all my reasonings[:@]

A nice idea AnOther but I can't see it working somehow. If they won't accept the information in Section K, and our Prefecture wouldn't even though I pointed out the car was built in France anyway (a 2004 Citreon), then I can see they'll tell you to go to your own Dept prefecture to re-register.

£38?[:-))] It's bad enough having to replace proper shoes at least twice a year, without paying that sort of money for what are essentially 'posh' wellies. I'm afraid my children (if they were still at that age) would have to make do with basic welly boots, with room to grow as they can use an inner sole to start with! (Besides wellies are taller, so keep more of the leg dry[:)])

[quote user="HoneySuckleDreams"]Technically, the newer V5 documents have the E number on them. However, I would bet that your prefecture will still demand a CofC when you apply for your CG. We have just gone through this and we got a shrug and "I need the CofC".[/quote] This is exactly what happened to us, even though I pointed out it was a Citroen made in France!

I'm so very sad to read this news; a lovely and courageous lady. R.I.P.

I got a call about this the other day and also put the phone down as I thought it was advertising! As our phone book is half Pages Jaunes and half Pages Blaches I don't quite see why they are asking.

I found the ones for my Citroen C5 on www.leboncoin.fr (a small ads site covering all France, by department). I bought each side from different buyers.

We also got rid of most of our U.K. furniture before we left, just kept a few favourite bits, because many people told us U.K.furniture doesn't suit old French houses, which I think is true on the whole.. I asked on (another) French forum re. storage in the Limousin and got offered the use of a secure barn. We came over with a caravan to live in which we used for 2 months, then ended up renting a gite for 8 months before finally getting our house.

To get back to the original posting - one of my brother took up the case of our parents who were both in a care home suffering from senile dementia. My mother was the more severely affected and needed nursing as well as social care for 4 years. It was a ten year fight to get the relevant authority to accept liability for her nursing care, by which time both my parents had died - but in the end it had become a matter of principle to make them accept their responsibility ( they were one of only two authorities who had refused to pay anything). In the end a court ruled in our favour with the result that the authority had to pay back the proportion of contribution agreed to be for nursing care - plus the interest that would have accrued over the years, so it cost them far more than it should have done if they had agreed payment in the first place. I'm sure they hoped my brother would give up (or die himself as he was in his 60's at the time!) without a settlement being reached. As it happens his daughter is a solicitor (she was still in university when he started) with a friend who's a barrister and they helped him. What about those people who are not able, or can't, put up such a fight? The law says these payments should be made, but the line between 'social' and 'nursing' care is a very fine and rather gray one.

I agree, I know it hard, but it's kindest to her to stop any more suffering.

[quote user="James2"] Bricontes are known in France for second hand or reclaimed building materials. A wood yard such as PointP and Rouseau Pro sell stock timber to the building trade. My search for seasoned timber relies on finding a briconte in my area ` 24 ` If all fails I may have to travel further, such as Perigueux or Bergerac.[/quote] Thanks, I didn't know that but they are the sort of places we use, as well as wood yards where they cut it as you want (even off the tree trunk!) - not Point P etc.