Just Chris

Grève, what grève? Didn't notice anything different around here.

All ours are already out of their green husks when we pick them up - I thought that was the way to do it? This year, because it's been so dry, the nuts are a lovely golden colour, with no muck on them at all. Chris

If you have an SDS drill, raking out of old mortar is so much easier if you use a chisel bit... Chris

Seems to be OK now, I shan't be best pleased if it occurs again. Ours is not a free Hotmail account, we pay for it... Chris

This morning, went log into my Hotmail account for my E Mails, and all I get is Bing! It was OK last night, as was my wife's login on her computer, but this morning neither of us can log into our Hotmail accounts, the Hotmail sign-in page opens, then immediately reverts to Bing once we type in our credentials and press "Enter". Can't find anything out about this on the web, has anyone else eperienced problems? Bing seems to have hijacked us!! Chris

We got our Win 7 Ultimate from Amazon. Came very quickly, too. Now I'm running 64 bits with no problems at all. (Mind you, I completely rebuilt my machine). Chris

Oh yes, living in France (well this particular part, anyway) is a heaven-sent respite from the November 5th 3-month firework extravaganza in the UK. Also, New Year's Eve here is blissfully peaceful - not a firework to be heard. We can hear the odd distant display, (and we do occasionally attend) but they don't impinge on our sleep because they're so far away. But that was the whole point (or one of many) of living here in the first place.

We bought a Poolbuster a couple of years ago. It lasted less than one summer. So unless the design has changed, I wouldn't waste your money. It was fine for cleaning the odd bit of debris on the pool floor (we got it to save chucking in the electric pool robot for a small amount of muck), but the on/off switches also acts as access for the charging lead, and doesn't make a watertight fit. Ours is a saltwater pool, so corrosion set in quickly and it just gave up the ghost within a month or two. We've now purchased a pool robot as a standby to the electric unit. it's a Hayward, and yes it does operate via the balai outlet, but it is fully automatic and does the job reasonably well. (And is far cheaper than the equivalent electric robot) For odd bits and pieces we reverted to using the sweeper via the balai connection - it doesn't take long. Chris

Wimax, wimax, wimax. Inexpensive, unlimited, 2 mbs, generally reliable, available in quite a few areas otherwise not suitable for a broadband connection. Chris

Panasonic breadmaker, electric carving knife, slow cooker, Rotisserie and above all, the Remoska (which is utterly brilliant) - they all get regular use, and we wouldn't be without them. So many ways to cook - Esse wood burning cooker (for the winter), matching double electric oven (for the summer), gas hob, barbecue(s), and the other things mentioned at the start of the post. Chris

Nobody seems to give a toss around here. We were at pains not to do anything noisy on Sundays when we first arrived, but when the few neighbours that we DO have continued to mow, strim, talk noisily, and allow their dog to bark all day, we thought sod this, and we now do as they do. (Apart from talk noisily, that is - and we don't have a dog...) And as an aside, what's wrong with the word s0d? it's a perfectly legit word - isn't it?

If it wasn't for Ryanair, many of us would have difficulties returning to the UK for whatever reason, and the same for folk visiting us. Should Ryanair shut up shop, I can't see anyone else volunteering to fill the void, especially at those prices. Ryanair perform a service at a VERY reasonable price. Notwithstanding the poor customer service and relations, they do what no-one else can or will. So, an hour or two's discomfort at the most for a few quid, and you're where you need to go. A small price to pay, I think. The alternative is the ferry. Expensive, and invariably a long drive on either side. No contest, really. Incidentally, now that Brive Souillac has opened, with weekend flights to and from London City - anyone done this route, yet? I think that Cityjet hoped to capture the business market, as Brive is being heavily pushed in that respect. London City airport, though, will not appeal to residents in France, or holiday makers/visitors, so it'll be interesting to see how this develops, and whether Ryanair or another carrier add Brive to their own list of destinations... Chris

Your computer doesn't need to be wimax anything - so long as you have a network LAN card installed, or the motherboard has LAN on it, wimax will work. Most recent computers and laptops have this facility inbuilt. The wimax combined receiver/antenna is small and unobtrusive and can be fixed to a pole, the wall, a tree.... It connects to your computer with a simple network cable, and basically performs like an ADSL router. You can distribute the signal throughout your house using either wifi or direct cat 5 cabling. As has already been stated, the wimax transmitter needs to be within 10Km - 20 Km range, and not obstructed by terrain and vegetation. There are two well-known suppliers (Numeo and Idyle, and probably others as well). If you look on their websites you can ascertain whether or not they can supply a service to you, in principle. Set up is simple, prices are competitive (around E30 per month), speeds are quite good (2 Mb down, 512 Kb up), customer service is lamentable. But when wimax is good, it's very good...

We get mice in the house occasionally. We have three cats, two of which are good mousers, so a combination of cat and trap usually sorts the problem out. I can't be squeamish, I'm afraid - it's them or us, and it definitely isn't going to be us! As a corollary, the cats lap up the praise for catching the mice, but have an annoying habit of catching mice OUTSIDE, then bringing them in, dropping them and losing them amongst the furniture. So we're never entirely sure whether mice found inside originated outside, or vice versa. Chris

Wimax. Chris

Yes, many of us use this. There are two services, WiFi, and wimax. We use wimax - if you do a search on this and other forums you should be able to get a reasonable idea about how it works. You need a wimax receiever and a contract, both of which will be supplied by whoever provides the service. The two best known suppliers are Numeo (known for it's poor customer service) and Idyle (known for it's slightly less poor customer service). You will need to pay up front for the equipment (about E150, if my memory serves me well), and monthly for the contract (I think a minimum of 12 months). It's not expensive - less than E30 a month, and you get unlimited use of the service at 2 Mb down, and 512 Kb up, which is comparable to a reasonable ADSL line. The equipment is a simple receiver/antenna which you mount outside - it's very small and unobtrusive, but is susceptible to terrain, and distance from the transmitter. Our experience is that when it's good, it's excellent, and when it's bad, the service is non-existent. It does go down occasionally for an hour or two, or a day or two, and in one case a week. Considering the alternative is either dial-up, or satellite (not good due to bandwidth limitations), wimax is generally pretty reliable and worth the money. WiFi (available in some areas) I've had no experience of. Chris

Exactly the same situation here with the cherry tree. We've been here four years, the first two produced no cherries at all from our old tree, and the leaves fell off during June. Last year, however, we had a bumper crop. The signs looked good this year, as well, with thousands of juvenile cherries forming. But that's as far as they've got. They're not getting any bigger, and just turning yellow and going bad. Many have fallen off. Any suggestions? Could it be the persistent wet weather? Chris

Must it be an Aga? We installed an Esse woodburning stove last year (looks just like an Aga...), and it was brilliant throughout the winter - kept the kitchen warm, and cooked superbly. Chris

We couldn't get ADSL (and still can't in the "normal" way). After suffering dial-up for the first year, we "graduated" to a hybrid satellite system (dial-up uplink, satellite downlink) for another year. This was OK, but not terribly reliable, and suffered from the usual "fair use" policy where your bandwidth was restricted if you went over your quota. We ditched that in favour of Wimax (which is now available throughout the Correze). It hasn't been without it's own problems, but generally it's pretty fast, as cheap as "normal" ADSL, and unlimited. We, too, would be willing to meet up, if it would help you in your decision-making process (said he, blithely, without consulting the wife, who is asleep...) Chris

I don't read The Daily Mail and I don't often read well written letters by first time posters ,especially when they are posted word for word on other forums. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leo. www.vianormandy.com ___________________ Which begs the questions, what DO you read, then, and if you don't read well-written comments, how do you know that they exist on this (or any other) forum? Just wondered...

Well, we live in the Correze - have done for four years, and we love it. We're in the verdant, rolling hills somewhere between Tulle and Argentat, and fairly isolated (which is the way I like it). It's truly beautiful here, surrounded by nature - the only noise being birdsong, crickets, deer (and the neighbour's dog) barking, and occasionally the French Air Force playing silly buggers. We are at about 450 metres above sea level, and on the top of a hill. It can get a bit blowy, but it never gets too hot in the summer, or too cold in the winter. Rainfall is about average for the area. I am quite happy here, not being a particularly social person, I love the isolation, with few neighbours, but we're no more than 15 minutes away from "civilisation", and under half an hour from Tulle, and about 50 minutes from Brive. Bit of a slog to Limoges, though (for the airport) - just under 2 hours, but Brive Souillac opens next month.

We have exactly the same problem, and according to our plumber, exactly the same remedy is in order - the Gluestick one! Chris

Just wondering if you had any preferences with regard to the part of Limousin that most takes your fancy? We're in the Correze, and it's beautiful! Chris

Thanks for the replies - we'll download the forms and see what occurs... Chris

This has probably been done to death, but I can't find any answers specific to my question, which is: I want to change my pink paper UK licence for a French one.  It has the usual bog standard groups.  I've been told by friends who recently changed theirs, that a medical is necessary.  They say that they had to undergo one, merely to change from UK to French driving licence, because they need to tow a trailer.  We have (and tow) a small trailer regularly on our British licence here in France and I've not seen (nor heard of) anyone else mention the requirement for a medical just for changing to a French licence.  Can anyone confirm this, please? Chris