Eos

[quote user="thunderhorse"]Undoing the levers at the bottom allows the bottom of the door (closed) to be pulled out a little and then it lifts up almost verticallyinto the chimney breast. [/quote] Ours swings out a little and then up & over the top of the fire box, rather like a garage door.

[quote user="Panda"] I have the same problem with my 21 year old cat, she has regressed it would seem and has started peeing randomly [/quote] Hi Panda, I believe older cats can be susceptible to kidney infections. Might that be part of the problem? Great age though!  

You could try covering the sofa with an old sheet sprinkled with ground pepper. It can be removed & shook out if you want to sit down, saving hoovering & should protect if there's a little accident during the sneezing. My mother tried this after one of her kittens kept overturning & emptying the kitchen bin, which never had food in it anyway as that always goes to the birds, but was a nuisance to clear up. It only took a couple of times before the kitten moved on to climbing the curtains... As for a name, well, given the rather gorgeous photo, how about Potter?!

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]  Ash wood (frène) is said by many to be the best for firewood, not least because at a pinch it can be burned green and requires very little seasoning [/quote] "Holly withered & ash green make a fire fit for a queen." I burn wood of all sorts in my woodburner, if need be, mixing the good with the not so good. I also get a lot of builders cut offs which burn very well and would other wise be buried in someone's founds.    

Hi Audio, Let me begin by saying that our gite is not in the area in which you are interested & both owners & areas can differ!! However, we welcome guests to our gite all year round, although business is substantially quieter outside the summer season and rates are lower. Due to our changeover arrangements, our minimum rental duration, regardless of season, is one week. Whether or not guests choose to stay the full duration of time booked, at any time of year, is up to them. For example, some have early flights for which they prefer to travel to the airport the day before, some are going on to gites in other areas with an earlier arrival day and some spend a night away during their holiday perhaps with friends holidaying further afield or, as in one case, in the hotel where they honeymooned some years before. Some gite owners accept nightly lets, particularly off season so it might be worth asking wherever you're thinking of staying. We choose not to accept pets but many gites do. Most usually say on their websites. I hope this helps a little. E.      

20lbs down so far with Atkins & will be happy with another 10. I lost a lot of weight with Atkins about 5 years ago, much more than above. I thought that I looked too thin for my age, particularly facially & so introduced some food items to put back on a little weight. Only problem was I forgot to stop & while I didn't go back to my original weight, I am now in the midst of a 30lb weight loss lifestyle change. I enjoy Atkins food & it would naturally make up the bulk of what I eat... I just love crisps & that Friday evening takeaway so they were my bggest challenges last time. This time I am more flexible in my approach & stick to the regime BUT if I want something every couple of weeks or so I have it. It does slow the weight loss down a bit but I don't have that restricted feeling with this choice I've made.

In my experience, each year brings it's own quibbles which, in our case, have ranged from could we do something about all the workers that appeared in the village during the grape harvest to the situation where a guest had forgotten to put any water in the electric kettle before switching it on & telephoned for a replacement. We had a complaint last year, not 10 days in but weeks after the season, not to mention the holiday, was over. In addition to the many unjustified complaints, the helpful decorative tips (ie all curtains need tie backs) and the racial remarks, two blown bulbs were brought to our attention. All our bulbs are checked at each changeover but, as most of us know, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are all going to work when next switched on. We provide ample replacements for such an eventuality and to have them handy on changeover day in case they are needed. It emerged that the root of the problem was not the gite but the third party booking agent with whom the guest had an ongoing battle before arrival. Not an issue of which we were aware & nor was it anything to do with us. Something about a change of ferry port. If they want a refund, they'll ask

Good idea of yours Suandpete but no, we are not close enough, often enough to regularly clear guests' rubbish ourselves. Laminated signs, Cooperlola, might well be an option. I had wanted to keep the property as homely as possible (we used to live there ourselves) and not have those "polite notices" you see in hotels etc, just information about the running of the house & facilities in the area in our housebook. But I suppose a sign or two would be preferable to digging through maggots! Clair, I too have left the information for the guests as you describe, as well as spare bin bags. I'm not sure I see the point of restricting access to the bins. The bags to which I refer are, in effect, bin liners for internal bins, then placed in the "wheelie bin" for collection and which the mairie asked all householders to use about three years ago in an attempt to keep unpleasant smells at bay. I don't see how these particular guests could have been any more confused than any of the other guests we've had, Russethouse, most of whom have successfully left the bin out for collection while others have left bagged rubbish in the bin, which is easy enough to dispose of prior to the next arrivals. This unbagged experience was a first! Maybe Zeb, we'll have to institute a "polluter pays" option as you describe re deposit. Anyway, thanks to all, as usual, for your replies.

Not for the first time, we have had guests holiday in our gite who decided, during their two week stay, not to put the refuse bin out for collection on any of the four days available.  Likewise the recycling bin for neither of the two collections. Normally, this isn't too bad as I always ask guests, as requested by the mairie, to put all household rubbish into bin bags prior to binning. This makes it easier, if not exactly pleasant, to lift unemptied rubbish into the boot to bring to the dechetterie, to which guests are also given directions in case they decide to use that option. Yesterday, two weeks worth of unbagged, maggotty, stinking refuse awaited. Is there anything that any of you do that could help encourage guests assume responsibility for their own waste disposal? ie wheeling the bin less than 10 metres to the gate & back for collection.

Small update: I collected my daughter from her travels yesterday morning in Montpellier. She spent a fantastic week with her friend in Turkey and then three days with my SIL in Amsterdam as planned. She travelled Dublin - Amsterdam with said SIL & Aer Lingus, Amsterdam - Bodrum,  Bodrum - Amsterdam, Amsterdam - Montpellier alone but with Transavia & the lot for a little less than E500. I'm delighted that everything worked out so well for all of us. She's a great girl & a credit to herself.

[quote user="oakbri"] The routine is becoming depressing, nice weather all week in Ireland and then returning to the usual rain and greyness of Picardie. [/quote] No longer a problem. I'm sitting here on the Irish east coast, wood burner going at almost full blast, barely able to see the Irish Sea through the rain splattered window. Still, back to the Herault on Friday so looking forward to some heat and some sun.

Thanks Pads. Yes I do have the catalogue and I've checked online. While the stores are listed, they make no reference to size etc. I could ask in Beziers, or telephone really,  as I won't be in the store there before I'm likely to be in either Lattes or Sete. Anyway, thanks again. E.

Not sure if this is as much a regional question as a shopping one but here goes! Maisons du Monde have shops in both Lattes and Sete. Does anyone know which has the better range of the larger furniture items on display? The shop in Beziers is great for the smaller things and I know I can order online but I would like to have a bit of a look-see first. Thanks in advance.  

Go on...give us a clue!!!

Ireland cannot introduce legislation, such as the Lisbon Treaty, without a referendum, as enshrined in the constitution. The Lisbon Treaty does indeed state that if it's not ratified by all member states, it then becomes a non runner.   However, the Irish voted "no" for a myriad of reasons, many nothing to do with the treaty at all. Internal politics played their part as did the current and future economic situation in the country. The fact that this has now become clear to the government, who I think gambled on a nation with a good relationship with Europe and a good history of voting in European legislation, means that a second referendum has not been ruled out.      

I do wear a wristwatch...but it must be for decoration, as I've just realised from reading this thread,  because it only has hands and no numbers! I always have a rough idea of the time but if I need to precise, I refer to the phone.

[quote user="oakbri"]  it DEFINITELY rains more in Picardie than in Ireland [/quote] Don't know how long you will be in Ireland but my inlaws live in the West and  their conversation revolves almost totally around the rain. As in, it's raining, it's drizzling, it's pouring, just started, just stopped, just tailing off, you get the picture. It has been very dry, for the West, this year but I think it's making up for it in one go at the moment. Enjoy!

I have little idea about how cars work and what makes them do so! With that in mind, have you considered the Feu Vert stores? They do stock car bits and pieces and seem to be fairly nationwide.

Yearly, as opposed to per trip, insurance is very cheap and provides for most of the unexpected while the EHIC caters for the basics, imo.

NR, I bought a year's sub for Setanta for my OH as part of his Christmas present. IMO, well worth it. My son also gets a great deal of pleasure from it and every so often they both invite friend's who support a mixture of clubs over to watch a match and the craic is 90! 

I thought it a spectacular evenings entertainment from the off. I wouldn't have missed it for worlds.  

[quote user="Thebiga"]  One thing that I did not ask for was peoples opinion on what they would think about a coin operated metre etc (Eos) as being put off. I can not understand this forum sometimes that a thread can just turn into what people think about something, Whether they like something or not or just turn into a plain argument. It saddens me. Please just stick to the questions and thats that.  [/quote] Let's not get into who's being argumentative. In my years of rental experience it takes little to sway a client between properties of an otherwise similar standard. Again, in my experience, people generally do not like to rent properties with metres such as you mention. I guess in your case they will have to get past your attitude too. I won't try to help again.    

I'd suggest a storage heater. They are cost efficient as they utilise off peak electricity during the night for day heat release and many also have an option for a "top up" fan heat if required using normal tarrif electricity. I too have not seen a coin operated metre in France but would be put off if anywhere I was to buy or rent had one. I think Clair's suggestion would be preferable.

I did see the link on the website but it seems only to be for owners to join / register. There is no option, either for potential holiday makers or interested gite owners, to look at already registered properties anywhere, either through the website itself or a search engine. In fact, the search engine brought me back to the registration page. BTW, £100 didn't seem exhorbitant to me. Well, I suppose not if it worked!!  

In the interest of not misleading the public, perhaps the title of the thread should be "Airline ripoff" as the problem, based on the article cited, is endemic in the aviation industry as a whole.