passepartout

Good morning one and all, this 'gizmo' am I right in understanding that this is not an external edf meter. We have an internal meter and have had to call EDF for an appointment to read the meter and of course there is a charge for this, which will apprear on our next bill. If someone could give me the name of this gizmo in french I can contact edf and make the necessary arrangements for one tobe fitted. How big are they, I s'pose they are not that big if some of you choose to have them in your bedroom!

Hi, do you know if this gizmo that you had fitted requires an outside meter, and what was the gizmo called, bit difficult going into EDF and saying I would like a gizmo fitted, you can imagine what they would think or ven say!

Good morning, Thank you all for your info, it will make our decision a lot easier as to how long we will stay in France when we come down in mid Jan. Weather  here in West Sussex, not cold or raining, but very misty can't see the South Downs. A bientot MERCI

Polremy, thanks for the info, just need to know a couple of things, what sort of speed are we talking with the internet, is it SLOW Cooker or QUICK stir fry, et voila! Is the internet/phone reliable, (excluding  bad weather, when everything goes to POT) hubby needs tobe contactable and have a reliable source of communication. Sorry to keep on, but this is the last bit, what does one need to open up one of these accounts, apart from an address in France.... Thanks for taking your time to answer.... Liz PS, weather here in West Susex is 'orrible

Hello, we are considering getting a tel line and internet, but, we are not living at our home in france full time, and I thought I read somewhere that you could have a line installed, and then whenever you visit your home you contacted the provider and they plugged your line in ! then on departure they unplugged it, not explaining this very well, does anyone understand what I am trying to explain, or am I getting confused with some other utility provider.

Hi parsnips, The only reason is  to know if our finances would be enough to live on, he would like to hang his boots up, and wondered if our private pension or savings would be enough...if necessary he could do some consulting but would rather not.

Hi there everyone Have just returned from our home in 47, and hubby is seriously considering packing it all in over here in the Uk and retiring early to 47, lovely, but we have to take into consideration our £££, and has this query if any one can help, does any one know what the average GROSS salary in the area might be, or where could I get this info?

Boiling a frog, I wonder, would an expert de batiment be any good for our situation, we had a mason do some work on our home, make openings in stone walls and fit corner stone reveals, we are far from happy with the workmanship, he is siret registered, but says that his work is excellent, and refuses to budge on doing anything about it, would an expert de batiment be able to assist, how does one go about finding one, and are they expensive?

Good morning folks was reading this and thought I had better invest in some  of these flea smoke bombs/ fumigate can someone advise what they are called in French and where to buy them,thanks

Hi Les, does one get the H1 from the local Mairie, who has to sign it,  

We are nearly finished with our extension and when we are down next will have finished the stair balustrade, do we have to get the work signed off by the architect or someone.

Hi, on behalf of my other half, does anyone know if we can purchase in France 20/50 low detergent motor oil for a classic car, and if so, what it is called. Thanks

Hi, we found a very good timber yard in Libourne (well we thought it was) on the road from Libourne to Fronsac, just on the other side of the bridge (from Libourne) follow the road and you can't miss it, its on the right hand side.

Hi, my husband and I live at the moment in W Sussex, we have about 1/2 hectare of vines, at our home in Duras, and need for these tobe tendered, we have been introduced to a young viticulteur who would look after the vines, harvest the grapes etc, he is prepared to pay us Euros 125 a year, not a lot but at least we keep the vines in production. Now here are our 2 questions,firstly, we do not have to produce any tax accounts for france at present as we are living and earning in the Uk, would accepting this offer of 125Euros, mean that we would have to make tax return in France, and if it does would we be better just letting the viticultuer look after them free of charge. Secondly, he has asked us to sign a letter stating that he is looking after these vines, which we don't have a problem with, BUT what about his use of our land as a living and not being able to reclaim the land as ours when we want, and then having to maybe pay compensation to him. Does anyone get the gist of what i am trying to say here, we read somewhere about letting your land out to locals and ending up having to pay them compensation for loss of earnings.... and now can't find the info. Sorry if this sounds a little dis-jointed, or if you already have answered this. Much appreciate your words of wisdom....

Hi, pity you are so far away,we need to get rid of a bees nest that is in the stone wall of our house,not the first nest we have had, the last was between the shutters and the window, we are having a devil of a time finding someone interested in coming to collect the queen, if we don't have any luck our artisan is going to have to get rid of them in other ways, as his pointing of the stone is getting close to them, does anyone know of a bee keeper around Duras that would like to intervene, have tried the yellow pages, but to no avail.

Sweet 17, sorry about the 16 there. Thanks for the info, will read the thread about raisins. We are not yet living permanently at our home in Duras, and when we are down, Winston loves his freedom, spends hours trying to catch lizards that disappear into the stone work, and sometimes is left with a wriggling lizard tail, much to his surprise, I am forever calling him back to make sure he is around, generally he stays close by, though not always in sight, so as soon as we can we'll get some sort of fenced area sorted out for him. Hope doggy is feeling better....thanks all

Hi sweet 16, pleased to hear that your Spaniel is on the mend, but what a fright, I would be mortified if I found my Winston in such a state. Can someone tell me what are ASPICS, and also Plum stones are they dangerous to dogs, we have a huge Plum orchard, and Winston goes off walkies on his own, and returns looking very pleased with himself, also are dried up grapes on the vines dangerous for him. There were we thinking that he has all this space to roam to his hearts content, never thought that it could be dangerous for him.

Thanks folks,we can go ahead and order the bits of wood and stuff....

Yeh, thats what we thought, we needed them for the center island, we went to all the electrical outlets and they looked at us as if we had just landed from Mars, even Legrand do not have them in their catalog, so we swallowed very hard, and are pleased with our decision...Even the other half eventually agreed that it was money well spent...

We want to fit a new wooden balustrade around a new stairwell. Could anyone advise the MINIMUM HEIGHT of the hand rail and the MAXIMUM spacing between the spindles. We ask the question as we were advised that the old stairwell would not conform to the regs of today.

Hi,we had difficulty finding these pop up sockets around our area, and eventually ordered them Schmidt kitchens in Marmande, cost about 100 Euros.

Hi, I may be placing this in the wrong section, but as it is to do with vehicles, hope someone will be able to help. My husband has purchased a 60's citroen fourgon and is needing to replace the 6 volt battery, but have not found anywhere that can help with reasonable prices, does anyone know of somewhere in the vicinity Duras

Hi, yet again hubby has asked if anyone in the environs of Duras has a lock up garage that we could rent for his old citroen, we are having major work done at the house and we need to move the car to a dry and safe garage whilst we have demolition work done this summer. merci.

Hi there, I 'm asking this on behalf of my hubby, and am not sure that I have posted this in the correct section. So please bear with me, he has purchased a 1960 Citroen Fourgon and needs to replace the 6volt battery, any useful suggestions as to where he may find one. Merci folks

Patf, OK