Jump to content

Fi

Members
  • Posts

    426
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Everything posted by Fi

  1. I think there is a certain lack of clarity about getting social security benefits from the AE scheme.  Otherwise everyone would do it and claim a minimal income and mzimum benefits - I don't think this was why the scheme was set up in the first place.   We get our CV via my husband's E106 (from the Netherlands).  On my AE form I didn't have a ss number of my own, but I'm not sure if simply registering is enough to get the benefits.  I have asked INSEE about getting my own number and was told it was en cours, they had a bezillion AE applications to deal with and I would be informed in due course.  Hey ho, the sun is shining and there are slugs to be slaughtered! Fi
  2. [quote user="Clair"][quote user="Fi"]I use the AE scheme for gite rentals and I have been given the interesting classification of "autre herbergements".  On my application form I just wrote "locations saissonieres - gites" - let the powers that be decide the official terminology.[/quote] I have registered under "location meublée de vacances", but the description on my paperwork is "Location de logements".[/quote] Maybe mine is different because they are in the same building as our main residence?  A thought.
  3. I want to put a sign up proclaiming the existence of our apartments (which are part of our house). The lane outside is very popular with walkers/bikers etc, and we are at the top of a slope so people tend to stop here to draw breath!  I don't expect any passing trade (although that would be nice) but it would be good raise awareness for their next trip.  I am not a member of GdF or any other official body.  All I want to do is put notice on the outbuilding wall nearest the lane, by our mailbox, saying something like "locations saissonieres - (6-8 personnes) and the phone number and website.  I have two (no three) questions: - do you need any special permission to put up a sign (A3 ish sized)? - I am not artistic and I don't want to pay a signwriter - but I don't want to be too amateurish either - are there any kits or anything available? - is this a bad idea?  Thanks
  4. [quote user="oldgit72"]I believe that letting furnished property is included in the AE list of occupations. Also unfurnished if you are a 'professional landlord'. Can anyone confirm this and also what constitutes being a professional landlord in terms of income and also what constitutes a furnished letting ie what needs to be provided/terms of letting etc.   Thanks. [/quote] I use the AE scheme for gite rentals and I have been given the interesting classification of "autre herbergements".  On my application form I just wrote "locations saissonieres - gites" - let the powers that be decide the official terminology.  
  5. [quote user="Nick Trollope"]And can I just point out that an incorrect flame can produce carbon monoxide. The soot on the bottom of the pan is carbon. I only takes a few oxygen molecules in the mix and ...... Have you got a detector?   [/quote] Yes.  And a smoke detector.  Going to give it a clean up, although it is quite clean really, and see if that does the trick.  Fi
  6. [quote user="RicandJo"]If you look here https://portal.bsh-partner.com/portal(bD1kZSZjPTAwOQ==)/PORTALFRAME.HTM you should be able to download the instructions for you cooker from Bosch.  It should contain therein instructions to regulate the flame if necessary. [/quote] The link didn't work.  But don't worry, I'll surf around - they're bound to be on t'interweb somewhere. Thanks anyway. Fi
  7. It's butane.  The regulator on the top of the bottle says butane too.  And it wasn't fully open (only by a few mm) . which has improved things a little bit.  I think it could be a cleanliness issue[:$] - what I would call the normal burners (not the wok burner or the diddy one) are the ones with the orange flames.  Don't have any kind air line but I could take out the burners and dig around with a bit of fine wire in all the nooks and crannies.  And if that doesn't help, will have a look for the air adjustment screw.  And if none of that works, I'll have to get the gas man out.  Another fun evening chez Fifi!
  8. We had the jets changed when we first moved here and changed from town to bottled gas (butane - the blue cannisters).  The problem I have is that the flames are orange, especially on one burner and the bottoms of the saucepans have some soot on them.  Gosub's suggestion of altering the valves isn't possible because I can' see anything to alter, even having taken the knobs off.   Basically there is the  metal bar the knob is attached too and not much else. Here is a picture: [IMG]http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr340/FNSH/new290.jpg[/IMG] Not that it looks as though it will be a great deal of help! Before I get a gas person here (or get the person back who changed the valves orginally) I want to be sure it isn't something blinding obvious to save my blushes. Thanks Fi
  9. [quote user="gosub"]I don't know how it could have changed, but normally you can pull of the knobs on the hob and you will find a small hole for a fine screwdriver or allen-key to do the adjustment to regulate the flame. I assume that if you have replaced the bottle you have replaced it with the correct gas. [/quote] I will have a go with a jewellers screwdriver.  Bloke is Mr Gas Getter (and is hiding in The Hague at the moment, and for the next 3 weeks) - the bottle looks the same as the last one, it's just a darker shade of blue.  And we always go to the same garage to swap bottles so there's no real reason to have picked up the wrong sort.  I really didn't take much notice when he came back with it.
  10. I think this could be bad!  We have a Bosch cuisiniere mixte - gas burners/elec fan oven.  It was originally bought in Holland and ran on town gas.  When got here as there is no town gas, the man from Gitem replaced the valves for bottled gas.  It has been OK, but not brilliant (I just blamed the bottled gas).  However, the burners now have some orange flames, as though some oxygen is getting in somehow, and soot is deposited on the bottoms of the saucepans.  I really don't want to spend a load of money because we plan to redo the kitchen entirely within the next year or so, but I don't want asphyxiate the family either.  Is it just a case of getting the valves tweeked  (if so, is it a DIY job) or do I have a more serious problem? Fi
  11. I translated jambon as ham, rather than a bit of jambe - and there was probably some wishful thinking going on there as well!  Petit sale is not the same - it is terribly good with lentils though.  Or as the one of the ingredients of Baeckeoffe or cassoulet
  12. I am slightly disappointed.  I bought a lump of something called jambon at the supermarket (it looked like a thick ( cm) slice of leg of pork (about 20cm across) but was labelled jambon.  I cheerfully cooked it in the usual (for ham) way - wrapped tightly in foil with a couple of bayleaves, a few cloves, a few peppercorns and baked for 90 mins or so. Had promised the mob ham, new spuds and cauliflower au gratin, and so we were very disappointed to find I had cheerfully cooked a lump of pork (i.e. uncured ham!).  It was a bit dry, boring and an unappetising grey colour - it'll do for a stirfry or something.  But it wasn't ham.  Anyone know why a slice of leg of pork would be labelled jambon en rond avec os?  I thought I knew my food - I refer to Larousse Gastronomique to check what cuts are the equivalent of the UK version, and check in my French cookery book what the optimum method of cooking is for each cut (i.e. braising, roasting, frying etc).  Neither covered this delight though! Any thoughts - be kind though - it's Sunday and the weather has been dreadful all weekend and the brats are driving me insane! Fi
  13. It was so miserable earlier today (11 deg, grey, wet, dare I say it Dutch weather?) I lit the stove.  It's June for goodness' sake. It was quite nice earlier -  stove lit, ironing, F1 and tennis on TV, then the sun came out, now hot, bothered and wondering if it would be really, really stupid to launch smouldering logs through the window???  Perhaps a drop of something nice would make me feel better? Fi (steaming gently) Phew, wot a scorcher
  14. It is our village fete at the end of June and our school is selling cakes.  I have volunteered to bake some stuff (I really enjoy patisserie - my grandfather was a patissier - maybe it's genetic!) but would it be more fun/acceptable to make a mini pyramid of fairy cakes with pretty icing/crystallised flowers etc, or, would a couple of big cakes (e.g. white chocolate and orange,  lemon and almond, chocolate and chocolate with extra chocolate), or, maybe something terribly British like Bakewell Tart / Treacle Tart ???  I did ask what they would like the best, and I was told whatever I wanted to make.  The only choice on the sign up sheet was sale or sucre (sorry, no accents!). Decisions, decisions ..... anyone got any thoughts? Fi
  15. [quote user="Edward Trunk"]The English, who have an Established State Church, abandoned Whitsun and secularized it as the Spring Bank Holiday. The French, who are determinedly secular, keep the Monday after Pentecost as a holiday, as they do Ascension Thursday, and the Assumption, and Toussaint. Who can explain it? Who can tell you why?[/quote] They're hedging their bets? 
  16. This doesn't seem to be working again.  Can someone fix it please? Thanks Fi
  17. Fi

    Eye Tests

    Thanks for that info, but, where do I go to get the eye test/prescription? Thanks
  18. Fi

    Eye Tests

    This has probably already been covered somewhere, or I am being particularly dim, but I need to organise eye tests for the children and me.  I know the form in the UK (i.e. go to the optician) and in the Netherlands ( for children GP does basic test and refers to specialist if any problem, adults ditto UK) so how does it work in France?  Even with mutuelle cover the reimbursement for glasses seems feeble (both parents are short-sighted so chances are the children will be too) - or is that adults only? Many thanks Fi
  19. I thought so.  Many thanks.   Back to the beans.
  20. Is Monday (1st June) yet another public holiday?  I know the sous-prefecture is closed because I was going to sort out my driving license, but other people seem to be a slightly non-committal..... I suppose I should ask at school but the monsters usually make their own way there and back and I have to plant the runner beans, so I am wearing gardening clothes which are not for public consumption.  Thrills and spills. Fi
  21. Just had our first booking from bike-stay.net for a week's stay for 5 in July. We've only been on the site for 2 weeks!  And they will be our first British guests (all the others so far have been French or Belgian) - this is our first year though.  All very exciting! Fi
  22. Can anyone recommend a french teacher for my 2 children (9 & 6) during the holidays?  They understand a lot, read some, write some, speak little.  I'm afraid they'll forgot everything before September.    They do go on to the nearest holiday club, which helps a little, but I would really like them to go back to school speaking.  I think their main problem is one of confidence! We are near Gerardmer in Vosges. (not sure if we are North East or East so have posted in both - apologies in advance!) Any suggestions gratefully received. Fi
  23. Can anyone recommend a french teacher for my 2 children (9 & 6) during the holidays?  They understand a lot, read some, write some, speak little.  I'm afraid they'll forgot everything before September.    They do go on to the nearest holiday club, which helps a little, but I would really like them to go back to school speaking.  I think their main problem is one of confidence! We are near Gerardmer in Vosges. (Not sure if we count as North East or East so will post in both - apologies in advance!) Any suggestions gratefully received. Fi
  24. [quote user="Maricopa"][quote user="Fi"]immatriculation [/quote] Beat you to it![kiss] [quote user="Maricopa"]Immatriculation, so difficult to say, many people don't bother[6][/quote] [/quote] ooops.  But it is a tricky one.  And this is a very long thread. Another deceptively tricky one is rarement - all those r's (be careful how pronounce that in English ...)[:D] Fi
×
×
  • Create New...