Ford Anglia

[quote user="tenniswitch"][quote user="Ford Anglia"] [quote user="Patf"]Garden centres near us have very little in at the moment. Their stock is strictly seasonal and the season for planting shrubs is I think around April. Bigger bushes and trees Oct.-Nov.So if you wait a bit you might get some locally. Pat. [/quote] I bought two plants in France a couple of years ago. The first year they did very litle, now they are really going well. I just hope the wife's Jericho's Trumpets and what's that purple stuff that looks like bunches of grapes called, grow as well. [/quote] Do you mean wisteria? [/quote] That's the stuff: I can only ever think of Fuchsia or Forsythia. I know it's called "Glycine" in French........

[quote user="Patf"]Garden centres near us have very little in at the moment. Their stock is strictly seasonal and the season for planting shrubs is I think around April. Bigger bushes and trees Oct.-Nov.So if you wait a bit you might get some locally. Pat. [/quote] I bought two plants in France a couple of years ago. The first year they did very litle, now they are really going well. I just hope the wife's Jericho's Trumpets and what's that purple stuff that looks like bunches of grapes called, grow as well.

We also have the Stoves/Newhome range cooker, 1100, LPG dual fuel, green and brass. Cost under a grand in the UK. At that price, I just couldn't bring myself to buy French, and we NEEDED a cooker.........  

I've just enabled mine.[:P] I like it, as I can't always remember what a particular topic was about, so don't know whether I was interested or even if I've posted.[:$]

Some 18 years ago, I bought a new halogen light for a caravan, to replace the fluorescent one. When I got outside the dealer, the box contained two. I took one back, and was thanked, end of story. Bro in law recently bought a new external hardrive, by mail order, and later found it cheaper. He rang the comapny to ask what they would do for him, and they offered to cancel his order. He accepted, but was busy, so didn't order from the other company, and the next day, the hard drive arrived from the original company. He rang to enquire, and was told he hadn't been charged for it, but because it was already in the post when cancelled he could keep it. Strange days we live in............

[quote user="Teamedup"][quote user="Ford Anglia"] Local paper in Southern Haute Vienne last week carried a story that in the Limousin, only 22% of the people between the ages of 16 and 30, and born there, actually live in the Limousin.   [/quote]   Now why would that be then? [/quote] Is that a rhetorical question? If not, do you know the Limousin? I'd imagine the reason is that there are few jobs, few large centres to attract jobs, relatively poor public transport, few inhabitants, etc.  

I've used this stuff a fair bit, in the cans, and have cleaned up afterwards by letting it set, then removing it with a long drill. I can confirm that Acetone, (or Propanone, as it should now be known), will clean up any that gets where it oughtn't. Each time, I've been able to reuse the can until it was empty.   Editted to say: the set stuff makes good firelighters............yes, I KNOW it probably gives off noxious fumes.  

Most of the trailers I've seen for sale round here in the UK seem to have been MADE in France, so ought to be type approved?  

If you put the correct dedicated washer, dishwasher etc feeds in a buanderie, do you STILL have to have feeds for them in the kitchen, too?

Whatever happened to "Jackie"? My sister and I used to read the letters and snigger at some of the naive questions. But then mum WAS a midwife[;-)]

Local paper in Southern Haute Vienne last week carried a story that in the Limousin, only 22% of the people between the ages of 16 and 30, and born there, actually live in the Limousin.  

[quote user="cooperlola"] I'll ignore the illegals comment. [/quote] Why?

[quote user="Bugbear"] Did you know that; Bulbs Grow.......... &.......... Lamps Glow [I][I] [/quote] So.....................Edison/Swan invented the lightlamp? [6]

[quote user="Sunday Driver"] Certain vehicles over 7,5t are allowed to travel on Sundays - refrigerated foodstuffs, animal transport, any wagon with Portuguese or Spanish plates[;-)] etc. Even I'm allowed.......[:D]  [/quote] The Portuguese and Spanish wagons I've seen in 87/16 are certainly NOT all refrigerated........

Coming back through Calais, last saturday night, we took over an hour from reaching the port until joining the stack on the quayside. THEN the P&O ferry was running half an hour late. Holdups included a queue of over a km, which began on the port approach road, before even freight traffic had turned off. This was for UK passport control. A further queue of 20 minutes to clear UK security control, and at least 15 minutes queueing for tickets to be cleared. To cap it all, when we arrived at Dover, we queued from off the arrival ramps, over 20 minutes to clear UK customs. It's worse now by far than before the EC borders opened[:@] I could accept it, if it wasn't for the FACT that illegals are still streaming in!

An article in a local french paper last week stated that O'Leary had threatened to dismiss anyone NOT conforming to regulations in place over landing. Perhaps that explains his "jet-jockey" comment?

AFAIK, they will only comply with the normes if they have ALL RCD's and ALL MCB's double pole, ...........which I have NOT come across in the UK.  

I have just found a large flat black plastic disc, with a hole in the centre. It seems to have a groove and small circular label on both sides. Is this a record? Sorry, I'll get me coat[:P]

[quote user="Deimos"][quote user="Ford Anglia"] I'm interested in the statement that " the supply cable from EDF branches to two different fuseboxes which is against the norms". [/quote] The cable from my EDF 500mA disjoncteur ("theirs") goes into a grey box ("mine") with large dominoes from where a cable runs to the house fuse box and another the a fuse box at the central heating boiler. When I had an electrician round the other day to quote for some work he commented that it should be changed at the same time as the EDF cable cannot branch but should go directly into a disjoncteur (or something from which it can the go off to the different places (each with it's own isolator switch). He was not after work and was actually trying to avoid as much as possible !!. Thus my comment about the EDF cable branching was based on what he had said (despite his trying to do as little as possible). Ian [/quote] Hmmmmmm. And yet my electrician, albeit seeing me with his plumber's hat on, when shown my installation, commented that it was a good idea. Oh well, it works, it's saved me some money and time, and until someone from EDF tells me it's wrong, or poits to the actual passage in the normes, it stays.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Percy Shaw disliked the French, so refused to allow them to use his patent, and that's why they have no cat's eyes? Or is that another myth? Anyway, I reckon that the unlit french roads were the reason Cibie came up with such excellent lights, using the new "quartz-iodine", (now called "halogen"), bulbs in the late 60's, and also came up with "assymetric dip". My own personal favourite, having driven many thousands of miles after dark, is motorways with centre reservation barriers high enough to allow traffic moving in one direction to use full beams, driving lights, heck, even rally lights if you have them, WITHOUT annoying drivers in the other direction. Something the UK needs badly. The A1 north of Peterborough is a case in point: sparsely lit, if at all, LOADS of stuff coming the other way, so no main beams, and who wants to drive on dips at 70mph? I suppose I could do what an increasing number of ill-mannered people do, and drive on main beam, totally ignoring complaints from the opposite carriageway...........[:@]

[quote user="fulcrum"][quote user="pcwhizz"]Fulcrum, Sharing earths (even if it is allowed in the regs) can end up with an install looking like the inside of a pin ball machine! [/quote] Agreed. That is why I keep it all separate. It makes testing installed circuit impedances much easier when the install has to be signed off.. Anyway I don't want to get in to an argument. Especially on this forum. Perhaps I should have said, in my original post, No You shouldn't instead of No you can't. Peace  [:)] [/quote] Agreed, "I haven't, so I won't", to precis Magnus in a rather inverted manner[:D] I'm sure it's not the conduit diameter that's the problem, I very carefully followed the instructions in my book for number, and size of cables per conduit, and I APPEARED to have loads of room. So I did..........until it came to persuading the very stiff French cables round corners.[:P]

All I get is "the webpage cannot be found"[:(]

I'm interested in the statement that " the supply cable from EDF branches to two different fuseboxes which is against the norms". I have done this, branching at the terminals AFTER the EDF 500mA disjoncteur, and run 3 cables, LNE, through a 30mm gaine into the barn conversion area, supplying a seperate distribution board, (after much puzzling as to how to run the myriad of wires I'd need if I did it all from the original board, a total of over THIRTY sets of LNE, if I included outside lighting, power and lighting to the other attached barn, washer, tumble drier, American fridge, boiler etc etc.). My plumber/electrician has seen and approved of it. My TWO books on french wiring both show how to wire a garage, and BOTH show a seperate distribution board with an RCD and MCB's, fed from the mains. How is that different to what I have done?

[quote user="hoverfrog"]hornets are unusual in that they fly at night, so waiting for dusk is pointless. They are supposed not to overwinter or return to an old nest, although the overwintering queens will no doubt set up somewhere in the vicinity and if so you can look in your local pages jaune for pest control. Some people tackle the nests themselves but personally I'd rather pay the brave young man with the protective gear and the insurance :)[/quote] But apparently, they only fly at night during the summer? Anyway, see HERE: Control Measures European hornets, when not in direct competition with humans for space and resources, are very beneficial by destroying harmful insect pests. Do not control these hornets unless necessary. They are primarily a forest species, having few contacts with humans and present a minimal stinging hazard. Nest Destruction The best control measure is to destroy the nest. Work in pairs, wear protective clothing (with bee veil if possible) to cover the body and do the treatment after dark when most hornets are inside the nest. Use a flashlight (red cellophane over lens) while the other person applies the pesticide. Nests may be difficult to locate and out of reach high into a tree or structure. There are literally hundreds of products labeled for wasp and hornet control. Use special wasp and hornet pressurized jet sprays containing synergized pyrethrins, resmethrin or carbamates and rapidly volatilizing organic solvents. Sprays are emitted in a long, narrow stream 15 to 20 feet. If the nest is hidden in a wall void, puff carbaryl (Sevin), pyrethrins (Drione), bendiocarb (Ficam) or deltamethrin (Delta Dust) powder or dust into the wall hole that is used as an entrance. Workers in time will carry the dust back to the queen, giving good kill. When hornet activity has ceased, remove and destroy the nest. If the nest is a considerable distance from the entrance, spraying the opening may have little immediate effect. Never plug the wall entrance after treatment as hornets may chew out another entrance into the house.

It is still FAR from the norm to have even ONE RCD installed in a UK house, hence the need for RCD adaptors. My UK house was rewired 19 years ago, and has only the ring main, (sockets) protected by an RCD, although I did install split load and another one protecting the electric showers some years ago. In France, RCDs to protect everything seem to be the norm, at least in houses with modern wiring. Can you check your distribution board, (fusebox), and see if there are any there? If, like me, you find there aren't, or that you have one fuse "protecting" the whole house, it might be wise to invest in a new distribution board and RCD and start over. There are a couple of good books available from Leclerc which deatil "how to" install a new board. Not the cheapest option, but the best. If there is an RCD present, it should be easy to identify which circuits it is protecting. Simply switch it off, and check which circuits are dead. If your sockets are already protected, you don't need a plug-in adaptor.