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oliveau

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Everything posted by oliveau

  1. Our 75Cu M saltwater pool was installed in 2005, and during the first winter the filter and pump were left drained. Subsequently we've left the whole thing in operation during the winter, with the pump running an hour per day and the chlorination control box set to  the winnter position. Lowest temperature of the water last winter was 6C. I also give it a clean with the robot a couple of times during the winter - Nice clean pool in the Spring! It gets in the order of 6-8 bags of Water Softener salt from the Brico each Spring.
  2. I generally keep mine closed, as it reduces heat loss from the wind, and keeps the dust and muck out. However, when it's really sunny I tend to open a couple of panels about 6" to reduce the condensation, as i think the water warms better if the plexiglass is clear.
  3. I re-registered a Spanish car a couple of years ago [A Ssangyong Musso]. Although the Spanish registration document clearly showed the 'e number' [ie the certificate of conformity], the Prefecture wouldn't accept it and insisted on a full CoC. I went to DRIRE who completed a dossier which was then forwarded to the Prefecture. This was cheaper than getting a CoC from the manufacturer. Of course, the Prefectures are supposed to accept that the 'e number' on the registration document IS the CoC, but YOU try telling them that!
  4. Following a series of quick power cuts on Friday, my PC has died. Does anybody know of a good 'Pointy-clicky' in the Loches area [southern 37, or northern 36] who could have a look at it. A bit of English would help!
  5. If you have problem with your phone, but your Internet connection is working, you can report the fault to FT on their website; The bit you want takes a bit of finding, but it should be within the SAV section of the website.
  6. My French pool installer sold me pool salt with stabiliser at a very exhorbitant price, so last year I started to use ordinary water softener salt from the Brico. It's fine. It's a 10m x 5m x 1.5m[av] pool with an abri, and I put 10 bags in last year, and have just put 12 in this spring.
  7. ....Mlle Lafarge being entertained in the organ loft by Father Jacques. At the other end of the village Enid Truscott was .............
  8. [quote user="mousseux"] We're a bit stumped now as even DRIRE seemed uninterested.[/quote]   I wonder if this model was imported into France under a different name? For example, if you said 'Vauxhall Astra' to DRIRE, all you would get would be a Gallic shrug, whereas 'Opel Astra' wouuld produce a response.
  9. As usual SD is concise & to the point!  
  10. [quote user="Sunday Driver"]  If it's less than ten years old, it'll come with an EU certificate of conformity, so no problems in registering it.   [/quote] I don't know how this works with cars emanating from the UK, but in my case, the Spanish log book said [in Spanish of course] that the car conformed, quoting a conformity number. There was no separate certificate, and I believe the same principle applies with UK registered cars. Although I suppled a translation,  the prefecture refused to accept it the Spanish log book, and demanded a 'Certificate of Conformity'. Hence I had to go to DRIRE and pay a fee.
  11. Having  gone through the hoops with importing a couple of vehicles into France, I thought I'd air my thoughts for those who are still in a "should I or shouldn't I" position. I started off trying to register a UK register 1992 Isuzu Trooper. Got the CT OK, then found that it was too old to have a Certificate of Conformity [CoC]. DRIRE couldn't help because the Mk 1 Trooper had never been homologated in France. I got the original DoT Certificate from Isuzu, but my department won't accept it [although some apparently will]. So the car had to go to DRIRE for an inspection. By the time all this rigmarole had been sorted out, the CT was more than 6 months old and the car had to be retested. I also had to buy LHD headlights, which I'd put off until I was sure of being able to register it. Anyway, I gave up, and the car's back in the UK. Then I bought a 1999 Ssangyong in the UK, Spanish registered and LHD. It cost me less than half what it would have cost in France, and I didn't have to change the headlight, and the speedo's in Km's. I went to DRIRE with all the paperwork, because they will prepare a dossier for you which goes to the Prefecture. Despite the fact that the Spanish logbook had a CoC, DRIRE couldn't find the Coc number on their database, and told me to contact Ssangyong France. S France wanted 150 euros, and as I was convinced that DRIRE weren't trying hard enough I persisted with them, taking in paperwork for several other Ssangyongs to proove that they are homologated in France. Eventually I got someone more senior who saw my point of view, and dug a bit deeper [Turns out it's called a Daewoo in France!]. So re-registered in about 3 months. Conclusions: If you are resident in France, I think a LHD car is easier - for instance, it makes you look the right way at roundabouts! If you are thinking of importing your own car, make sure you have got a CoC that the French will recognise, or that your car is on the DRIRE database. If the idea of a second hand LHD car appeals, think about buying it in the UK - MUCH CHEAPER. Subject to the provisos above. If you want a new or nearly new car, then buy it in France. Be prepared to get to DRIRE or the prefecture only to find that they are closed on one day in the middle of the week. Be prepared for Gallic shrugs. Be prepared to wait! 40% of French employees are civil servants, but most of them haven't been trained in their jobs , so they are completely flummoxed when presented with non-French paperwork.   Bonne courage, Oliveau
  12. "Enough of this fiddle-faddle!" cried Yvette. "My chimney has not been swept for nearly 4 years" [New readers - read page 18] " so come inside and..........
  13. ...dancing the tango with the little fat gendarme. Gaston showed Yvette what was in his other hand, crying, "Ma cherie, I 'ave just returned from Angleterre and I 'ave a bouteille of Natchbull's Leg Trembler 8% which should make you........
  14. ....she saw that standing in her garden was none other than Gaston Guillemot, her childhood sweetheart, holding in one hand a big red cock, and in the other a.................
  15. ......let you down, or to be more exact they let themselves down, Heh Heh!" Yvette stamped her foot in petulance, " You stupid old man, if I have something inflatable it will get stuck half way up my chimney. What I really need is something that will.........
  16. .........Stade de France, where Condom were playing Nice in the National Tiddley-Winks final. Meanwhile, Yvette Camembert was off to the livestock market because Mlle Roture, the milliner, had suggested the purchase of a a rabbit to satisfy her urges.......
  17. ....Waitrose Melton Mowbray pork pie which was lying abandoned in the gutter and tossed it through the Mairie window - fortunately open at the time - while screaming "..............
  18. Hello to Ian & Jehe We are between Villdomain & Loché sur Indrois - not very far from you at all. I'd certainly be interested in book swap/loans. For a good 10euro lunch, try the auberge at Heugnes: They are currently operating at the Maison des Associations [the old station] while the auberge kitchen is being refitted. Peter
  19. ........late for an appointment with the taxidermist. Mme Yvette Camembert from the fromagerie -La belle veuve- was getting increasingly frustrated at her lack of success in finding a lusty man to sweep her chimney; After all she had been waiting since last July, and had even considered buying some sort of device to do it herself, but........
  20. .........airing his credentials to Madame Lafarge. Meanwhile, Enid Truscott, the newly arrived spinster who had taken the gite at Les Corbieres for 3 weeks, suddenly......
  21.    The driver, not the council, killed the baby.   I'm sure the parents will take great comfort from your cynical comment. [I hope tp God that they don't subscribe to this forum.]
  22. I wouldn't disagree with that, but I wasn't thinking of snowy conditions, but rather of black ice. That is, there was a prediction of rain showers at dawn, and the overnight temperatures had been -7 for 10 days, so should the roads be gritted in anticipation of black ice? I don't think snow chains would have saved any of the cars that went off the road here last Saturday. Apparently one car hit a telegraph pole, resulting in the death of a baby. Peter
  23. Not quite true actually. Everybody was driving extremely slowly, but still no end of cars ending up in the ditches etc because the road surface was so treacherous. And I wasn't advocating litigation, merely enquiring as the the local authority's obligations. Peter
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