DerekJ

I use Spamfighter and whilst not perfect it has helped a lot...  http://www.spamfighter.com/Product_Info.asp A free download with most of the function is available from that site.

Steve. I'm sorry that I can't answer your question but I'm certainly interested in the feedback you get. We made an offer on a house back last August in Masclat (46) but subsequently pulled out of the purchase just before the CdV.  This was for several reasons none of which was a total showstopper but combined were enough to make us uncomfortable. The one relating to your question was that the farmer who owned the surrounding fields had been given access to the land belonging to the house to both graze his cattle and cut hay. His electric cattle fences extended into the garden/land of the house. We told the immobilier that if we were to purchase the house this arrangement would have to be stopped and the fences removed. Although we never wanted to start off badly with our new neighbours the current situation wasn't what we wanted. As we never got to the signing of a CdV and subsequent purchase, the legal aspects of assuring this were never entered into.  However, your question of how this kind of thing gets handled and who is responsible for tying it up from a legal perspective is of much interest. In a similar vein would be hunters rights as well.

I don't believe that anyone can define what is a better quality of life for someone else. It's entirely personal. What might appeal to me may not appeal to you.

I second that. Thanks Ernie, a very useful tip. I had a read regarding this virus but it wasn't clear to me whether it was just Internet Explorer related or whether I would be OK as Firefox user.

J'essaie d'apprendre le français et j'utilise le CD de Michel Thomas. Pourtant, c'est tres utile. Merci beaucoup.

Mentally retarded in my view... although I hope he isn't claiming benefits as it doesn't appear he is is working.

Sorry then Pads. I never meant to cause any confusion. The reason I like using it is that I don't have to think about reversing the word order or insert any "t" between vowels. I just think of it as its literal translation... Is it that... Anyway, hope the lessons are going well.

Why confusing Clair? I'd have thought that was a pretty straightforward way of asking that particular question..... I'm no expert though so I'm willing to learn.

Pads. You could start your question a little differently by using Est-ce que Claudette......

Since I retired I've done a bit of golf caddying and have caddied for a few interesting people. Among many of the rich and famous ...... Peter Alliss was certainly the most entertaining and a real gentleman. Been round with Gary Lineker and Alan Hanson. Chai Patel formerly CEO of The Priory and subject of the "Cash for Honours" scandal. One of the most interesting was Robert Rubin, formerly USA Secretary of the Treasury under the Clinton administration. He was playing with David Mills (Tessa Jowell's husband) and Alistair Campbell. What a combination!

I feel particularly sorry for the small teams and one man bands who have entered. I don't know what the position is regarding their entry fees (which are very high) but I presume they'll get them back. What they won't get back is all the other costs though, vehicle/bike purchase/build preparation, spares, flights, shipping etc etc. I spoke with Nick Plumb last year and I seem to remember saying that  his cost (for a bike entry) was in the region of £50k. Still, at the end of the day I think the organisers were between a rock and a hard place.

Bad news but understandable given the situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/7171426.stm  

Looks useful. Thanks a lot.

Marton. Excellent, thank you very much. Just what I needed and so easy to use.

Logan. perhaps I'm missing your point? But if one buys a property at the present time with Sterling when the rate is low, surely if/when Sterling rises again, the effective (relative) value of the property has decreased in terms of its sterling value?

Sprogster. You've worded your reply much better than I did mine but basically we have expressed a similar view. It is this hope that we will be in a strong negotiating position that is still tempting us to make another house hunting foray in a few months time. If the negotiating strength doesn't materialise I guess we will be walking away from any French house purchase. We very much still want to buy a second home in France but we don't intend to throw money away either.

Viewing the situation as a potential buyer in 2008 I can only say that with the downward spiral of the Pound against the Euro compared to the situation back in August (when we made our first house hunting foray) we will be very wary on the pricing. In the back of our minds will be what we would have paid versus what we might now have to pay. I suspect many Brits using UK based income/revenue will be feeling somewhat the same. What effect this may have on the overall French housing market I don't know but for some areas popular with UK buyers and also for those types of properties that are also attractive to UK buyers  I suspect the effect may be to depress sales.  Being selfish... I hope so.

Now you're talking... a lovely MV... very tasty.  Forget about your knees and wrists, it would be worth the pain. That first one you posted was awful. Some custom paint jobs look the biz... but not that one.

[quote user="ErnieY"] Their names aren't Ewan and Charlie are they [;-)] [/quote] I shouldn't think so... they wouldn't be able to get all their support crew through that road.

Btw. To make your LAYERS PALETTE visable hit F7. Make sure you have the right LAYER selected before you try and resize. If the BACKGROUND LAYER is the one selected you won't be able to to the "drag the handles" resize. If you have started with 1. NEW LAYER - this will show in the LAYERS PALETTE as the BACKGROUND layer. Once you've dragged an image into this file it will sit above the BACKGROUND and be called LAYER 1 unless you rename it. Subsequent image layers will be Layer 2, 3 etc

Try this.... Once you've dragged the image into the NEW document.... click on the Layer (in the Layers Palette) of the image you want to resize.... Go to EDIT >> TRANSFORM >> SCALE You should see the corner resizing handles which you can pull in/out to resize.  See if that works but keep the SHIFT key depressed so that the aspect ratio gets maintained. Although Will is right that you can resize BEFORE dragging into your NEW document, it's kind of easier to work out the size with it all laid out on the page.

Try this (and this is based on Photoshop CS2 - if you have another version I can't be sure it would work but it probably would). Go to FILE>> NEW and define the paper size you want to use... eg. A4 Open the first image you want to use. Select the MOVE TOOL (V on your keyboard) Click onto the image and drag it onto the NEW blank page. To resize it simply drag the corner anchors whilst keeping the Shift key depressed. this will maintain the correct aspect ratio. When you are done hit ENTER. Repeat this with the other images you want to use. If you have your LAYERS PALETTE open you will see the bottom layer is your NEW blank layer. Above it will be each of your new images in their own seperate layer. If you need to reorganise their position simply click on the correct layer in the LAYERS PALETTE and with the MOVE TOOL selected click on the relevant image and drag it to where you want it. Hope that helps.

Thanks a lot BCB and Colin. I'm glad you like it. Has it been Photoshopped... well, yes in the sense that Black and White points plus colour balance have been adjusted and contrast increased with a bit of an S-Curve.

I struggle with the view that the French should be able to speak English as a requirement to live in their own country. I would agree that if a French person wishes to do business in an international environment the current requirement is likely to be that they speak a degree of  English... and probably in the near future Mandarin. But if their lives or business is purely within the bounds of France why would one expect them to speak English? To do so would be pure arrogance in my view.

It might be worth you having a look on this site http://www.pepipoo.com/