[PROPERTY MARKET]

[quote user="Dee"]Is it....a buyers market ?

[/quote]

It certainly would appear to be in certain areas - possibly less so in town or village situations though.

Good hunting [:)]

[Cutting grass when it's over a foot high.]

[quote user="Ford Anglia"]

We've just got back from our place in the Southern Haute Vienne. The last visit was in April, when we cut the grass to a SHORT level. Arriving back last week and the place looked like a wilderness.[blink] There was main grass over 12" high, some grasses in clumps over 18" high and weeds in places over 30" high.

I KNOW it's the main growing season, but my lawns in the UK don't grow like that[:@]

Anyweay, what with the foul weather, (it rained HARD at least once every day), we only managed to cut it to maximum height and NOT collect the clippings.

What I need to know is, will the clippings left all over have any lasting bad effect?

Thanks.

[/quote]

FA you know the answer very well - the clippings will not have any lasting bad effect but they will look a mess [:D]

guilty conscience - go mow it again

and spare a thought for those of us who do it for a living [:(]

[Starting a business without actually starting a business]

[quote user="Dee"]regarding the sign of the

twins.....Gemini...Could...and probably relates to a stonge willed

person, open, direct...a person who really enjoys sharing..

[/quote]

Yes, I could relate to that - but I find the worst aspect of being a

Gemini is being able to see both sides of most arguments, makes life

very complicated sometimes [blink]

Better continue this by PM's before we get pounced on for going off-topic :)

[Starting a business without actually starting a business]

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]They don't make life easy, do they? :(

[/quote]

Unfortunately not - unless Nicolas Sarkozy does something about it (living in hopes!)

[Decisions]

[quote user="graone"]

Hi everyone, we've bought our dream property and now we are trying to decide when the time is right to make the final connection.

We are just about to turn 50, we still have our uk property but a lot of questions still stir that insecure feeling.

Please, how many of you are entirely happy with your decision, or those of you which are unhappy and now cannot return due to the

uk housing prices.

We are looking forward to moving and really do not want to leave it until we are 60+.

Many thanks to all your replies. Graone.

[/quote]

The biggest question has to be: what are you going to do over the next 10 years - how are you going to exist financially?

[Car insurance costs]

[quote user="TheVicar"]As in the UK, you will probably get a better deal on the internet. Try

www.direct-assurance.fr for example. They are the French equivalent of

Direct Line.

[/quote]

Thanks Vic - I think that link could be very useful  [:)]

[Vegetable garden location]

Hi Billy and welcome,

if this is your only possible place for a potager then give it a try is my suggestion -

certainly the oak tree will take a lot of the light and sun (depending on where it stands in relation to the potager ) and it will take a lot of the moisture but you can deal with that by buying a decent sprinkler - also throughout the month of May it will drop it's annoying seed heads all over your plants - but if your fosse is supplying extra nutriments then no doubt some of your plants will do well, carrots potatoes and parsnips in particular if memory serves me well! Certain vegetables need plenty of sunshine so I would plant tomatoes etc in the sunniest spot you can find and beans assorted in the shadiest area - and everything else in between. Don't forget the fumier though it's all important!!

Good luck with it - and by the way if you like asparagus I would recommend that you plant a dozen or so roots in a special bed, I don't think they need much sunlight so towards  the tree would be fine - should give you plenty of crops for 5 or 6 years , erm, slugs and asparagus beatle allowing  [:D]

[Saturday school]

[quote user="EuroStar"]Do French children have to go to school on Saturdays?

[/quote]

It was voted on area by area by parents so it does depend - you need to ask locally.

[how many hours for a changeover?]

"Am I right in thinking this seems excessive?"

Yes - 6 to 7 hours for a normal changeover should be about right especially since the property had already had a 21 hour thorough clean. Unless they are including the time for linen washing?

[not so free phone calls with Free]

The good news is that since validating the CGV all my international calls have been at zero cost, even those over one hour.

The bad news is that as it appears to have been my fault I have no chance of reclaiming my money from Free - grumble grumble grumble !!

So, any Free abonnés reading this in the future - I suggest, follow the instructions on Danny's post and make sure everything has been completed -

Cheers Danny [B]

[I've done i!!!!!]

Well done Aly - that's no mean acheivement  [:D]

[Poele Aggravation]

"No joy (for either of us), the distillate (brown liquid like the inside

of a soggy ash-tray!) still drips from the pipe joints, and I'm getting

fed up with the mess."

"The wood is well seasoned and dry."

the wood should have been cut at least 3 years ago otherwise it will certainly produce plenty of the tarry liquid regardless of how your pipes are fitted!

[hi new user]

[quote user="katmando620"]

hello i am very much hoping to move to france south west region will i a seperated 45 yr old hairdresser find work?as a hairdresser or office work i have some french and can understand quite well

is it realistic to make the move anyone got any tips PLease!!

[/quote]

No.

[Shall We Shant We?]

Not trying to be rude but why not ask your sisters and your mum? After all they've settled here and have settled well so they would know the ins and outs wouldn't they ?

or is this another wind up?

[Printer]

I bought a Canon MP500 around 6 months ago for I think it was 169€ including delivery from Amazon France. I know it's more than you're hoping to pay but it has smaller brothers as well with similar specs. It's a multifunction printer and scanner which I find very handy as I frequently scan and save documents directly into my PC for the next time I need a copy for some French administrative department or other! I can't fault it's performance, it's quick and not noisy. The inks are individual - I wouldn't have bought it otherwise. I don't use it for photo printing but by all accounts it performs well if that's what you want. If I have a complaint with it it is that it's large - seriously large - but if you can find enough space I would definitely recommend it, or one of it's brothers!

I think the latest version of the one I bought is model MP600 -

Canon Pixma range here: http://tinyurl.com/322p3p

Price guides here: http://tinyurl.com/2me4tl

[English Pub near Revel (31)]

I don't live in the area but I think it would do a bomb - in the holiday periods, both for English and for French but for the rest of the year: forget it - just imagine: an English pub in France during the Winter - I don't think so, I can't see resident Brits using it very much to be honest!

[Are the plants going nuts, or what?]

Probably depends where you are in France - certainly here in West Dordogneshire the grass and weeds are going nuts - in fact  they are going more nuts than I can ever remember and I'm struggling to keep up with clients gardens never mind my own!!! Could be something to do with all the moisture we've had for two or three months! I just wish we could have several dry days in a row so I could catch up a bit.

Funny you should mention peonies - ours have been in full flower for a week or so except as usual they have been decimated by wind and rain and now are a rather sorry bedraggled sight which is rather sad but in answer to your question I would say "yes" this has been a bountiful Spring for most plants and shrubs but it would be SO nice to have a warm dry spell for a week or two. Maybe I should put away the hose and sprinkler that I got out several weeks ago - that should do it [:D]

[Swamped with 5,000 spams today!]

I usually get 2 per day which arrive during the night from the States and are always about "replica watches etc" - They're always marked as junk by my mail handler and I always just delete them - it's been so regular now for several months that when I don't receive any I almost feel neglected! I use Mozilla Thunderbird which is the mail handler program from the same team as Firefox - it's available at no charge here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Actually Loiseau I don't think it's your computer that's infected but someones who has you in their address book - well that's what happened to me a while ago - either that or your pc is being used as a bot but that should show up on a virus scan.

[not so free phone calls with Free]

"If you continue to experience problems please call customer services on 0870.............."

LOL - you old cynic [:P]

[Do you know of a good Swimming pool installer]

I expect I'm not allowed to suggest a name here but we'll see:

I had dealings with Mathieu Piscines at Beaussac near Mareuil on behalf of a client - they were extremely professional and did a very good job.

[glut of strawberries]

Funny you should say that - I, my son and my daughter are just about to consume a 300gr punnet of Garugette each in a few mins plus of course the obligatory cream and a little sugar - I buy them at our Friday market for 5€ for 3 punnets. I did buy some from Auchan at Perigueux the other week but they hadn't travelled well and were rather damaged so now I only buy at the market. As for price, well I don't think it's any different from last year to be honest but Garugette are more expensive than "yer average" strawberries and well worth the extra in my opinion [:P]

[How do they do it?]

[quote user="mooky"] He hadn't even manured his. Do you have to be french to have fantastic potagers?[/quote]

Are you sure? Fumier is the n°1 ingredient in any successful potager, well that and water :)

[Abandoned Ducklings - What should I do]

Sorry to hear that Panda hopefully the others will continue to do well - I expect they will have some choice food to thrive on [:)]

and who knows maybe the missing one did find it's way to safety elsewhere - apparently lost or abandoned ducklings are often adopted by other mummy ducks [:)]

[Abandoned Ducklings - What should I do]

Panda i think it very unlikely that a duckling would actually drown like that - dry your tears and wait until morning when hopefully there will be 5 - then you have to decide what to give them for breakfast :D

[Abandoned Ducklings - What should I do]

Panda I think you should wait before doing anything just in case mum is in fact OK, at least until tomorrow, not sure what you would or could do then to be honest I doubt that showering them with breadcrumbs would help much unless you had other plans for them!!!

As always there's plenty of stuff on the net about it but I did find one story which included this: "Every day, they got a bath in our kitchen sink, a weighing session, and 3 meals. Their usual menu: lettuce

(given to them in their bath in the sink) , tomatoes, cheese, chips, and anything else they liked." What, no burger?? If you want to read it the link is here: http://mchristi.wso.net/ducks.html

Personally I think I would wait until tomorrow and if they are still alone and distressed and if I couldn't easily catch them I'd shower them with a mixture of  foods and see what happens.

Good luck and do let us know how it goes please :)