Bob T

Miki, Not dry white, but I have just written a post on local wine on my blog a couple of day ago. I normally only drink red myself, but also like a medium white. These are local to the Dordogne though.

Just did the verysame job 3 weeks ago. I used standard concrete squares, with standard morar. I have put a flexi flue liner of 180 mm up the hole. Bought a proper concrete cap for the top and intend to use tonpier coloured crepe for the outside. On the ceiling I fixed a stainless steel square with a 180mm hole in it to which I connected the inox pipe from the bottom and the flue liner from above. I also bought a zinc roof seal plate from Brico Depot and fitted that around the chimney to stop any rain getting in. We have had it lit a number of times and it works great. The only problem that I encountered was my wife telling me that I should not be on the roof as it is too high. I survived just to prove her wrong.

I am also a great believer in the Netgear route, I have a 834G here with three PCs running off it with no reduction in speed. I have also helped around 20 others set up networks over the past year or so and every one of them is running on a Netgear now. Throwing the livebox out and removing the Wanadoo software is the best thing anyone can do with an internet connection. I would agree with hte above post in that if you have only one PC then a Wanadoo modem at a cost of €1 is a better option. Having said that, this will only work with a windows setup (maybe a Mac too) but not with a Linux operating system as USB modems are not recognised by any serious operating system. I can hear you all saying that everyone has Window, not true, over 70% of the internet will be working on Linux servers.

I buy my bacon from Leclerc in Perigueux and it is just as good as the bacon we used to buy in the UK in my opinion. As for sausages, I love French ones and if I were ever to go back and visit the UK would try to get French sausages, at least they have meat in them.

A common problem. I have seen it a number of times on various PCs. Tou should have a letter which you received when you set up your wanadoo internet, this gives the mail password.

Ron, thanks for that info. So I will pay on the interest from my UK bank then, does that mean that I ned to have some money in the UK to earn interest? I did not think that I had any. My only income is my RAF pension, so why do you assume that I have other income? I have broken all ties with the UK apart from having to pay tax there, and I have no choise in that.

Sorry Ron, but I thought that you posted a question about liveboxes on an open forum for all to answer.

The pompiers will charge you for removing them these days. They are not as bad as people think, I have removed nests from my chiminey without problems. Dress up well though.

I would never have a livebox in my house! If you want a WiFi modem router then buy a Netgear or similar. Only connect it via ethernet or Wifi and under no circumstances put any Wanadoo software on a PC. If you do then download and run A squared spyware checker and it will remove the wanadoo software. With a decent modem router all you do is click on your web browser and you are on the internet.

I thought they were called sprigs in English, but I have used small nails myself before.

If you want anti virus protection then don't pay Mcafee or Norton, instead use the excellent AVG free, which can be downloaded from the web. Same goes for a free safe firewall, that one is called zonealarm, which is better than window firewall.

Cat, I have just taken out a small woodburner to put a bigger on in. The small one had a flue of only 125mm as standard. Would that sort of thing do? At least that way there is no chance of an open fire spitting hot bits onto your floor.

Think that you will find that as you can't seem to get double ovens here, they will all be the same size. Try looking at cdiscount.com for good value ovens. My sister in law chose one in Leclerc and returned to the UK. While she was away I bought the same model from the above website and saved her 160 euro.

I have just tried all three and they are all similar. Internetfrog is slightly lower, but the zdnet one gives me a download of 1160, This cannot be correct as I have 1 meg ADSL and that should be a maximum of 1024 kbs

As I said, Susan, just my opinion. I don't know what your profit margins are, nor is that anything to do with me. I just thought that some feedback from a potential customer might be of use to the gite owners on this site. Even if your website said there will be an extra charge for wood, I would find another that doesn't. Don't think that I am telling you how to run your business, because I am not. But I would be a booking lost if I were to look at more than one gite website.

Poppy, no I didn't, but I am still on the E121 or is it the 106 for medical. Not sure if I will next year, but our income is bellow the combines allowance here so I am not sure if that makes a difference.

If you can't get ADSL why do you have a livebox? A livebox is an ADSL modem/router and will not work with a dailup only ADSL. If anyone wants to test the speed of an ADSL connection then go to www.internetfrog.com and click on the speedtest button on the right, this will give you download and upload speeds.

I am not a gite owner but have stayed in some. If I stay in a gite, I would expect it to be warm and comfortable. If I found that I had to pay extra for wood, which I would expect to be built into the owners profit margin, then I would not return to that gite again. I would find it petty to have other charges for renting other than that which was advertised. Not trying to be offensive in any way here, just my opinion.

Even if you become a French resident, your pension will allways be taxed in the UK. Being an ex civil servant in early retirement myself, I have looked into this. I also get an RAF pension which comes under the same rules and I live here with no ties to the UK (except for having to pay tax on the pension). If your pension is your only income then there are no worries.

Try and get married over here then, you will find that you need a medical!

Sorry for pinching your subject, I had not realised that this warning had been posted a couple of days ago.

The season for the catapillar know as the "processional Catapillar" seems to have started. We have two nests in the trees near our house that have apeared in the last week, These can be deadly for some pets so dont lets your dogs or cats near them. If you are not sure how to spot the nests then take a look at my blog as I have put a couple of pictures on there.

[quote user="J.R."]Auchan have one on promo at the moment for 169 euros, don't ask me for any more details as I just saw the billboard while passing and am not an afficionado.  I would not have one myself preferring to use good old fashioned maps to gain my "sense d'orientation". [/quote] Just because there is a sat nav system in a car it does not stop you looking at a map at the same time. You can open a map then look at the GPS and see where you are on the map. The best bit is the GPS can show a large scale map of the whole of France down to a very detailed map of a town with all the street names. You would need a very large car to carry that many maps!

When we moved here two years ago, we spoke no French at all. I don't have to work as I have a small RAF pension (at 48). The lump sum left over from hte house sale in the UK helps, but we try not to touch it. We have managed very well and run two large motorbikes and a car. But one thing we have done is break our ties with the UK and never want to go back even for a visit. Many people could not do this for family reasons. If you want to read how it all happened then see the blog below. We now manage to talk to locals and don't have many Brits close to us. Our income is about 15% of what we had in the UK but we live a much better life.

I did not bother about having our land measured as I had the maps from hte Marie and we are surounded by woods anyway. Who cares where the bouderies are. If you are about to move here then have a look at the latest post on my blog, I have just done a brief description on what may be good to know before you move. Used with this forum to get more detailed information, it could help.