tournesol

Hi Just to add .....in some departments the charge for the bin/rubbish collection is also included on the Fonciere bill . The charge for the bin/rubbish collection is payable for a new build property once habitiation tax can be applied to the property.

Hello Thanks for your replies . No disks in anywhere so looks like it is a problem with the hard drive.  

Hello My Son has been given an ancient computer which was functioning perfectly well until he decided to mess around with various disks that came with it. It is an old Compaq deskpro and as soon as you switch it on the screen displays the following message.... Invalid system disk Replace the disk and then press any key He doesn't know which disk caused the problem having tried everyone he can find - so can this be sorted out in a straight forward way ( other than launching it out of the window) so the computer can function again ? As you have gathered I am no expert on computers so any information greatly received in 'noddy' language please. Many thanks. ps. I am currently having 'livebox' problems aswell so please treat with care as this woman is on the edge concerning computers/internet and anything remotely technical !

Hi I can confirm that Leaderprice sell Muffins ( La Roche and Fontenay ) as do Carrefour  (La Roche) but as yet I have never seen crumpets ( which I am taking to mean the ones with the holey texture).  

Hello If we have understood correctly  he cannot apply in his own right until he is 18 years old.   

Hello I realise this was posted sometime ago but wondered if you had a carte de sejour as it was stated as being a requirement for applicants. We have never required one having moved here in Jan 2004 .  Do you still have to apply for the carte de sejour purely  for the purpose of applying for french nationalisation? We will be looking to apply next year so our children gain French national status automatically through us. Our son wants to become a gendarme and we know he must complete the national service day and be a french national in order to apply when he is 18. So we are planning ahead  knowing  the process can take a while - doing what we can to help him and our other children be able to follow their chosen careers without the potential hassles/headaches of additional french paperwork. They will face enough of that  without this! lol Any information from those that have gone through / or are currently going the process appreciated. Natalie

Hello From the info we were given and the further enquiries I made you need to be a french national to apply and have completed the one day of national service training - normally around the age of 16 ( plus hold the certificate that is apparently given as proof of completion.)  Hope that is of some help.

Hello It is a career that my son is also considering , he is the only one in his year at college considering it . We do live in a rural area which may have some effect on this where careers for the boys seem to link to agriculture. The girls seem to be looking more at hairdressing or childcare . He has found generally amongst his peer group  both male and female that they do not like Gendarmes and therefore would not want to be one. Perhaps this comes from the parents influence or just the importance of being  popular among my sons age group . But in spite of their dislike for the Gendarmes they still have a respect for them and would not cross them . However, from the information we have already received it still seems to be very popular and therefore competitive to gain placement  with a 1 in 10 success rate . This was the statistic quoted in the gendarme recruitment information which I find interesting given their lack of popularity amongst my sons age group . However , the earliest age of recruitment is 18 so by then ones assumes  perhaps that popularity has a little less importance. Either that or the statisitical information is a little distorted ?  The Army recruitment officer at a college careers day said that the Gendarmes offered better pay, career advancement opportunities and an overall better package than that offered by the Army which I found quite amusing -  perhaps he's in the wrong job.  

Hello This formed part of another forum posting which I felt should be passed on to anyone with children (or  grandchildren) which use the internet in particular for things like msn messenger etc.... It is apparently not a true story but none the less effective in getting an important message across. I have sent  a copy on to friends /relations I know with children.  Read this... <<After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an instant message: ByAngel213: Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was following me home today. It was really weird! GoTo123: LOL You watch too much TV. Why would someone be following you? Don't you live in a safe neighborhood? ByAngel213: Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my imagination cuz' I didn't see anybody when I looked out. GoTo123: Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done that have you? ByAngel213: Of course not. I'm not stupid you know. GoTo123: Did you have a softball game after school today? ByAngel213: Yes and we won!! GoTo123: That's great! Who did you play? ByAngel213: We played the Hornets. LOL. Their uniforms are so gross! They look like bees. LOL GoTo123: What is your team called? ByAngel213: We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger paws on our uniforms. They are really cool. GoTo1 23: Did you pitch? ByAngel213: No I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye! GoTo123: Catch you later. Bye Meanwhile.......GoTo123 went to the member menu and began to search for her profile. When it came up, he highlighted it and printed it out. He took out a pen and began to write down what he knew about Angel so far. Her name: Shannon Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985 Age: 13 State where she lived: North Carolina Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall. Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because she had just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every afternoon until her parents came home from work. He knew she played softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team was named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey. He knew she was in the eighth grade at the Canton Junior High School . She had told him all this in the conversations they had on- line previously. He had enough information to find her now. Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on the way home from the ballpark that day. She didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games. Parents were always overreacti ng and hers were the worst. It made her wish she was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and sisters, her parents wouldn't be so overprotective. By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps following her. Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came back. She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her closely. He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed the sudden fear she had felt. After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He nodded and she smiled back. He noticed her name on the back of her shirt. He knew he had found her. Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon 's home, and once he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his car. Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time came to go to Shannon 's house. He drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move. Shannon was in her room later that evening when she heard voices in the living room. 'Shannon, come here,' her father called. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa. 'Sit down,' her father began, 'this man has just told us a most interesting story about you.' Shannon sat back. How could he tell her parents anything? She had never seen him before today! 'Do you know who I am, Shannon ?' the man asked. 'No,' Shannon answered. 'I am a police officer and your online friend, GoTo123.' Shannon was stunned. 'That's impossible! GoTo is a kid my age! He's 14. And he lives in Michigan !' The man smiled. 'I know I told you all that, but it wasn't true. You see, Shannon , there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them. But while others do it to injure kids and hurt them, I belong to a group of parents who do it to protect kids from predators. I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to talk to people on-line. You told me enough about yourself to make it easy for me to find you. You named the school you went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The number and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze.' Shannon was stunned. 'You mean you don't live in Michigan ?' He laughed. 'No, I live in Raleigh . It made you feel safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?' She nodded. 'I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and murdered her while she was home alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick you into giving out information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it again. Tell others about this so they will be safe too?' 'It's a promise!'  

Hi Having had problems ourselves with the builder of our home we had great help from an organisation called the 'UFC Que Choisir' ( a consumer advise organisation) who have advised us how to deal with our builders ( legally) so we knew where we stood ... then  put us in contact with an expertise ( surveyor) and then a solicitor and we are now going to court to claim damages against our builder and the cost of having the work redone by a contractor of our choice. It may be worth contacting  them . I don't know where the nearest office to you would be, we are in dept 85 and we have one based in la Roche Sur Yon. If you do an internet search I think they have a website which may give you further info. Goodluck

Hello We need a devis from a company that speciliases in house exteriors ie.enduit application and repair, exterior painting.Please can anyone recommend a company that covers the Vendee area?  I know that their are companies listed in yellow pages under 'facades' but we would prefer to use one through recommendation than just taking pot luck.  Many thanks.