Etoile

No-one has mentioned St. Jean D'Angely in Charente Maritime. We moved there last year to run a B&B on the river and love the town. Large enough to have all the facilities, station, supermarkets, etc. but small enough that you bump into people you know in the street. Very happy with our choice, and barely one hour to FOUR airports doing budget flights, La Rochelle West, Bordeaux South, Angouleme East, and Poitiers North. Just off the A10, excellent sports facilities, 35 minutes from the coast. Many musical and artistic events in the year, and that long Charente sunshine. The town really does 'tick all the boxes' for us.

Hello, a bit of an old thread this, I know. But I notice you refer to voice-over work and I am looking to get into this work in France myself, being located in the Charente Maritime but able to travel. Do you provide an English or a French voice? Any pointers would be most welcome. Kind regards, Gerard Saunders

We have a super American man called Michael who is very capable and trust-worthy. He would need accommodation and works for us on the basis of Euro77 per day plus food but he cycles home at night. We are in the 17, Charente Maritime. An utterly good guy. Email if you wish to discuss.

Re. Above: Are you saying that Dave is lying then, as he is only saying what happened? The price difference between used cars in France and the UK is so great that many British, and even the occasional Frenchman, will consider RHD.

There can be no debate about the relative prices of cars in the UK and France. One year ago I bought a RHD HDI Citroen Synergie people carrier on Ebay in the UK, 80,000 miles, eight years old. The price was £2,500. Since then it has not missed a beat. Every Friday here we get the local paper through the door and I laugh when I look at the prices being asked for cars. One like ours would be circa 8,000 Euros. (I even saw a 20 year old Peugeot 309 petrol saloon for £1,200 Euro.)

Hello. Does anyone know if there is secure cycle storage at or close to Angouleme station? Also if it is open on Sundays. Thank you.

I detest low voltage lights in kitchens - one is for ever changing bulbs. Whilst moaning I cannot believe the number of different bulb types in France. You have to keep so many spares, then still have to run up to the Bricolage when one goes. The whole thing is a mess. Britain is not much better either now; once upon a time all we had were the standard bayonets; they rarely went and we all knew where we stood.

I do not altogether see the problem with selling a RHD car in France. Used cars are incredibley expensive in France and I am sure there is always a British person looking who does not mind RHD and would relish the opportunity to buy a car with French plates and all the right papers. The only people who really have a problem with it are those who like to drive three metres behind a lorry whilst constantly popping out to see if the road is clear to overtake. Quite often these drivers are themselves ovetaken by a much less powerful vehicle whose driver has sat well back and chosen their moment with care.

Well I might have broken the record. In eight days flat I have purchased LHD headlights from Italy for my Citroen Synergie in France, had them delivered to France, fitted them, obtained a Control Technique, Certificate of Conformity, completed my registration at the Prefacture, purchased my number plates and rivetted them to my car! That was last week. Ironically I am now back in England for the winter with the car, delighted that I will not have to road tax it...

Problem sorted I think. A nice man in Italy had a pair on Ebay and I expect delivery in a day or two.

Thanks, I am a bit clearer now. Looks like I might have to fork out for the blessed lights after all.

I know the subject of headlight conversion has been covered in depth before on this site but I am not altogether convinced that all the information on offer is based on actual experience. Sorry. I wish to register my 2002 Citroen Synergie (Peugeot 806/Fiat Ulysse) in France but I am aware that I need to alter the dipped beam pattern. There are plenty of people advising that one has to but new headlights but I am not sure this is the case. The car has the H1 style bulbs with a circular flange that has a flat side to key into the holder. The thing is, the holder is attached to the lamp unit with just two screws. I have a feeling that a LHD specification holder would be fitted the same way but would have the flat side for the bulb flange in a different position, thus casting the dipped beam differently. I have been advised that on most cars the glass is not an issue, as it assumed to be the case. If this is the case it would be a cheap and quick job to just swap over the bulb holders, leaving the light units in place. Any opinions would be very welcome. Thank you, Gerard Saunders

Your problem is Rouen - The town is being dug up the whole time and poor old Garmin just cannot keep up with it. Last month it took me forty minutes to get across the place.

Definately worth while and can be paid for with a UK credit card once obtianed from the SANEF website. Only last night I raced up from the Charente to Calais and it is such a pleasure to sneak past all the SUV's and BMW's at the Peage, who then give you looks to die for when they find themselves passing you for a second time. Sometimes there is a moment's delay before the barrier rises and you can see the Frenchman behind you in the queue thinking the 'silly foreigner has gone in the wrong lane'. A face full of black smoke usually has them thinking again.

We've just shipped our UK bought DeLongi range cooker to the Charente and hooked it up a treat. Fitting the correct jets was fun as at 46 I am much to old to be able to see the tiny numbers on them. However, trial and error soon got things working. We have actually gone from LPG in the UK to mains gas in France, so the other way around. We were also lucky that there was a flexible pipe coming from a fitting on the wall which fitted our cooker. I think there is a lot of nonsense spoken about gas. If the thread fits, the joint is tight, and there are no leaks, there is no problem. From a safety angle it is as simple as that. PTFE tape can help to ensure a good connection and a smear of washing up liquid on the joint will reveal any leaks as bubbles. Like so many trades these days the lawmakers like to bring in rule after rule which the trade lap up because it allows them to shroud their professions in mystery and charge accordingly.

Problem sorted, thanks a lot for all the help on here. I replaced the switches with the pulsing type but still had a lot of buzzing. 37 euros at the local Bricomarche secured me another telerupteur and that sorted the problem. I really like this system now - you can just hit any button to turn the light on or off, and having only two parallel wires to each switch it would be easy to expand in the future. Thanks a lot everyone who replied - I think I might get into sewerage next.......

I can only assume that it is not damaged and works when the teleruptor is not buzzing, ie. when none of the incorrectly fitted light switches are in the closed position. I am looking forward to flying down at the weekend and taking a look. Thanks for all the help.

Thank you Jerac, I feel confident that this is the system I have. It looks like someone has used the wrong sort of switches. When I am down at the weekend I think I will try removing the switches and just leaving the bare wires hanging out of the wall. I can then go round flicking these together and see what happens. (Marigolds compulsory.) I can understand the appeal of this set-up. As you say the actual wiring is very simple and easily expandable.

Thanks for that, but I assume you are assuming I have a traditional UK style three way set-up. I am however minded to go with the 'teleruptor' idea mentioned above, firstly because I like the word but also because there is this buzzing thing in the loft which I am inclined to think might be the relay where the switches all feed back to. I am back in France at Easter and might come back to you with the colour codes. Many thanks for your input.

Thanks for that, a good start. I actually qualified as an electrician in the UK many years ago, but I have never heard of these things. The switches look exactly like modern light switches and definately have no spring action but a traditional on/off click. I actually suspect that someone may have fitted the wrong units to the right wiring.

We have just purchased a property in the Charente Maritime and I am trying to get my head around the lighting. We have three floors and on the first floor there is a large chandelier which I believe is meant to be controlled via two way switches on the ground and second floors and an intermediate switch on the first floor. However, these seem to work in an almost random fashion - we have even had a person posted by each switch taking commands for several seconds before finally managing to obtain light. Furthermore there is a strange buzzer in one of the attics which 'sometimes' buzzes when the chandelier is alight. The other thing I find interesting is that with some of the lights you have to flip the switch one way and then back again to light the lamp, ditto to turn it off again. I wonder if we have some sort of relay(s) controlling things here. The house was built in 1632 but I understand it has been rewired since then, about twenty years ago. Any view on these things would be appreciated. Just to add to the curiosity my wife and our builder both spotted a ghost on the ground floor last week, but then I don't think a ghost could interfere with electrical wiring. I don't think they can actually do anything physical, and being sort of see-through I wouldn't imagine that they conduct either.

I actually wish to come to the defence of Ryanair. People want things for the minimum money these days but still expect a high level of service into the bargain. If people want smart service and great after-sales they should cough up and go with BA or the likes. Ryanair do a great job in a market place mostly full of people who cannot afford to go with the smarter carriers. What these people need to remember is that if it had not been for the revolution in budget airlines they would most likely not be flying at all, or rarely at best. Furthermore this would impact directly on the viability and accessability of owning second properties abroad. My wife and I have just moved from Sussex to St. Jean D'Angely in the Charente Maritime to run a B&B business. However, thanks to Ryanair I am able to keep the day job here in the UK for a while by commuting back from La Rochelle every weekend. Thanks to Ryanair I will soon have the option of Angouleme as well, with the added bonus of evening flights. Four of us recently took a weekend in the Charente for an all in cost of £48, including everything. That cannot be bad. Prior to the advent of cheap flying we would not have made the move to France so readilly. It would not have been possible to make the jump whilst still maintaining a UK income to bed us in. One must of course consider the polution aspect but there does seem to be an impression around that the more you pay for a flight the less damage it does to the enviornment. In an ideal world I would actually like to commute by rail, but while the SNCF do an excellent job at a good price, Eurostar has completely  failed to deliver a good product at a realistic price, instead offering a bad and inflexible product via 'Rail Europe' and that companie's completely useless website. Let's stop knocking Ryanair. Their crew and stewards are always pleasant and helpful. They may not be the most highly trained in the business but their helpfulness inspires confidence. Only this weekend I have escorted an elderly relation to France and back and as arranged there were wheelchairs and assistants in all the right places at all the right time.

Hello. I am looking to buy several small dining tables for our B&B in St. Jean D'Angely, Charente Maritime. I would like to find Shabby Chic style but I think they might all be in the UK now! Any advice welcome.

We had one almost identical, Glasgow address, tour company etc. We are only setting up for the first time this spring and find these quite confusing. What do these people hope to get out of it?

Just a point, it would really help those browsing if questions could be posted with taglines that give a good indication as to what the question is about. Most people are very good about this but there are some 'pretty vacant' exceptions. Just labelling a question 'help needed' is useless, and annoyingly relies upon the curiosity of the browsing person to open it up rather than offering the slightest clue as to what the question is about. There is even a question running at the moment with the tagline 'Um help'. What use is that?