Callie

Are you going through a notaire ? You would certainly be advised to do so. Long term unfurnished lets can become a problem when tenants stop paying at the beginning of winter. Otherwise I would suggest you look at this website, which is the equivalent of the Citizens Advice bureau. They specialise in rented accommodation such as you are proposing. They would certainly give you guidelines. clcv.org We have used them on another matter and they were extremely helpful.

[quote user="NormanH"]It's a good way to get into reading in French...and I read thrillers so could not be more low brow[:)] [/quote] Nothing wrong with thrillers or anything else that keeps your attention and helps with learning the language.  I started off with French versions of Barbara Cartland type books [:$].  Then I read every Carol Higgins Clark and Patricia Cornwell in French before I decided it was high time I read French authors ! ! So I started with Jean-Christophe Grangé "Le Vol des cigognes" - absolutely brilliant, and I haven't looked back !

Pogo - I've sent you a pm.

We bought our first house here in 1989, through a French estate agent, and we used it as a family holiday house as well as letting it for a couple of months during the summer to pay for its keep. We hoped to move France permanently one day as we have always loved it here - the people, the culture and the language. When we made the decision to come over permanently, we decided to live in the same area as our holiday house which by then we had sold. We knew the area very well and it didn't take us long to find what we wanted. As we had already been through the purchase of our first house, there were no real mysteries when we bought our current house nearly 12 years ago. Mr Callie's French was excellent, mine...er....less so. But we never hesitated to ask people to go through things with us and explain anything we didn't understand. The most important thing we learnt was : If you don't ask the question, the French will not volunteer the information!! We very quickly realised that all questions must be "open" questions !!

I have a Macintosh and I find that the "quote" button doesn't work with Safari, and neither do the smileys. But if I use Firefox or Camino there is no problem.

I was interested to read the postings on sooted up flues, and seeing the video. We put in our Supra about 5 years ago. The first winter, we kept it goin for two weeks. It burned away quite happily during the night and was easy to revive in the morning. However, it began to get very smokey and we decided to take out the flue. It was full of dry crispy flaky deposits and there was just a tiny hole for the smoke to get through. Luckily it was easy to scrape off with a flue brush. Since then we have never allowed the fire to burn all night and we haven't had the problem since. I do tap the flue every day with my hands (when it's cold!) just to shake off any small deposits. We NEVER burn any resinous wood and our wood is very well seasoned, so tar has never been a problem. I do have to stop Mr Callie burning anything plastic though....

Have you looked at the Télérabais website ? I haven't looked at it for a while, but I have used them for ringing UK mobiles.

There you have hit the nail on the head, Cendrillon. When someone decides to have children in their 40s or older (!), I wonder if they think ahead to how they will support them later on.....

I wonder why this woman wanted to have a baby at 70. I presume it wasn't her first. Is she looking for a home-grown carer to look after her in her old age ? However fit she may be at 70, did nature design women to have babies at that age? I don't believe she gave any thought to anyone but herself - she certainly didn't think of the life her little baby would lead. As someone has said, let's hope there is a caring extended family - that baby will need it.

Cendrillon - our oven door glass dropped after 8 years !!!!! But it shouldn't have dropped at all if people hadn't balanced heavy dishes on it. i got it repaired at Leclerk service après vente and they reglued it. Now I ask punters NOT to put heavy dishes on the door !

Sorry, forgot to add : Check carefully how the oven door is fixed. People have a habit of balancing heaviy dishes on the door if it's the pull-down type and always seem to break the spring. The other thing is that if the glass is literally glued onto the door, it will eventually drop (as ours did). Reparable, but not if you've got punters in the following week !

I must admit, I think I would favour an electric oven - much easier to clean. b The other thing about the gas hob is that you can use a kettle - electric kettles are often what trips the tripper !

Hi Fi I would definitely recommend a gas cooker for your gites, particularly if there is any risk of a power cut. Gas is much cheaper to run than electricity, and if your electricity supply cannot cope with two many electrical applicances at once, then a gas cooker would be the answer. What I'm not sure about is what the regulations are with regards to gas cylinders in the gite itself. Perhaps someone knows the answer to this. A smoke alarm/heat sensor (or two) is absolutely essential. A fire blanket and extinguisher are also wise precautions, and a robust fire/spark guard is a must. If you have room for a fender, that would also be useful as spark guards tend to block out sole of the warmth from the fire. A good hardware shop, or DIY/bricolage shop would sell all these things.

We know all our local pompiers - a couple of them were even born in our house ! Like everyone else in our commune, we open a bottle of red wine which they never refuse ! They get the 10€ and we get the calendar and the Pompiers membership card. The off they go to the next farm.......I often wonder what time they get home and in what state.....

Tee hee !!!!!!!!!

It's more a question of what you do with it than size......

One would rather hope that the current situation would start to make people think a little before spending...... but to push and shove in that manic way - and then the reaction on being told that a man was dead..... Didn't anyone have a conscience at all ??

Sweet, j'espère que tu t'amuseras bien ce soir. Nous avons participé aux diners Rotary, mais nous avons trouve que le club pas très loin de chez nous (pas Saumur) était plutôt un club de vieux hommes ! (beaucoup de membres agés plus de 70 ans et peu de "jeunes"). En plus il y avait un peu trop de 'in-fighting" qui nous a pas trop aimé.....! Mais heureusement, ils ne sont pas tous comme ça. Je me sens un peu mieux, on verra..... J'ai mangé avec une amie à Flunch et nous avons tous les deux attrappées quelque chose........ aaaah !

Bonjour tout le monde.......j'ai souffert d'un empoisonnement our je ne sais pas quoi.......[:'(][:'(] Il est très difficile de quitter la maison qu'on aime.  Encore d'entendre que les acheteurs parlent des changements qu'ils veulent faire.  C'est pour ça que je n'ai jamais voulu visiter notre ancienne maison dans le Dorset.......  Par contre, apparement, elle n'a pas changé vue de l'exterieure..... Odile, rien n'a changé à Saumur en ce qui concerne l'attitude "bourgeoise" !  Avec la présence militaire, je vois les gens se comporter d'une façon qui me fait rire ! ! !  Nous étions invités à un bal après le Carrousel il y a quelques années (Mr Callie était militaire....) et j'étais un peu surprise que la plupart des femmes qui n'etaient pas avec nous portaient des robes courtes.  Evidement les choses ont changées depuis notre époque !   Mais ce qu'il  ne faut jamais oublier, c'est qu'on n'a rien a prouver à qui que ce soit.  Ceux qui ont besoin de vanter, frimer ou  se comporter comme les snobs or whatever,  c'est EUX les arrivistes (ou même les parachutistes !!!) avec un problème !!!! Quel honneur pour ton amie d'être invitée pour la visite royale.  Je ne sais pas la derniere fois que quelqu'un d'un tel importance à visiter Saumur.  Est-ce que tu a déjà vue une reprise du Cadre Noir ???  C'est très impressionant......  J'adore le Carrousel qui se deroule en juillet.  J'y travaille tous les ans comme secouriste equipier.

Fi - Don't rule out an Australian Shepherd as a shadow for your son. They are nicknamed "gluepots" as they are just that - very faithful and protective, fun and loving. We have two and they give us so much pleasure ! They are so nice natured, that I don't think your old boy would have any problems - he would probably feel a bit protective to a young dog.

Any time really from end of November to March. Oaks come into leaf in our area in about May. The commune does its cutting of low branches in December or January. We had a load of branches which overhung our plantation lopped at the same time as the commune did theirs (it was cheaper too !)

In tyhe case of young girls - partivularly minors - perhaps it should be routine for hospitals to take DNA tests in the event of pregnancies/babies. If the parent of the child is routinely tested as well, it could be revealing. Regrettably, it has been found the mother often knows what is going on but is only too happy to get her husband off her back despite the abuse of her daughters.

Je pense que tout le monde est allé se coucher........alors.....moi aussi, je m'en vais ......zzzzzzzzz Bonne nuit à tous......

I have been told by a French Rheumatologist that he is obliged to work for 40 years to qualify for his pension. By the time he finished his education and received his medical qualifications, he was in his upper 20s. Would anyone fancy having a delicate infiltration for tendonitis administered by someone who is nearly 70 ???? The state medical system is different - I believe they do not have to work so many years for their pension. Incidentally, the doctors in the private secteur have huge charges, as already said, plus a lot of them work incredibly long hours just to try to get a decent salary. A lot of medicin traitants are like Ame's - and it may be the wife who is the receptionist. Employing people in France costs the emloyeur a fortune....but that's another issue !

Un ami de nous, un vrai homme de cheval (je deteste l'expression "chuchoteur") a travaillé pendant quelques années dans le Jura. Son fils travaille actuellement là bas avec des rapaces (birds of prey) ! Je n'ai jamais essayé ski de fond mais j'ai en vie de le faire. J'ai fais du ski depuis l'age de 16 ans ...... mais depuis nouss habitons en France, on ne le pas fait..... Voilà pourquoi il est peut-être le bon moment de s'initier dans le ski de fond !