bubbles

And very woolly, Wooly

Oh, yes!!!!!! Caesar's Gallic Wars. Brilliant stuff. Can't beat the old ablative absolute.

Our removal man has all our worldly possessions. He intended to leave his premises with them today - somewhere between Bayonne and Mimizan - and drive up to cross the channel at around midnight. Can someone reassure me that this is passable and possible and that I just might see my stuff delivered in Cambridge tomorrow?

You've had a facelift, Albert

We always found that, if we did all our shopping in Leader Price it worked out the most economical. We did have to buy a few things in Carrefour - Nescafe and Weetabix I seem to remember. (it was next door) Our local Lidl was quite a small branch and didn't stock everything we wanted so we never used it for a full weekly splurge.

And our removal man is meant to be delivering to Huntingdon today - travelling from somewhere near Bayonne. Hmmm - wonder if we'll ever see our goods and chattels again.

Thank you for such a clear explanation.

moi aussi!!

No harm in asking, Rose.

And it works here in Tenerife too. Please put the ceiling fan on, I'm sooooo hot.

Oh, yes, Sweets. That reminds me. I have a room earmarked as a dressing room for when we move back to England. It is about the same size as yours. 2.something x 2.something. There is a window in the wall facing you as you walk into the room (it is presently the kitchen but that is about to change) Would love to hear your plans so that I can perhaps copy them!!!

Sorry. Am a bit confused. Can you please explain what you mean by that?

Our French agent (well, one of them) wrote to us to inform us of the new rule.

Well, I wrote them three more emails asking for an explanation since I could see quite clearly in espace client that my internet connection was "desactive". Got no reply. Somehow found "mediator" so started the procedure to claim against Orange. Also wrote the resiliation snailmail letter and posted it off to Lille to make sure that at least I didn't get charged again next month. Then, yesterday, I received an email from someone a little higher up in the Orange chain (not sure whether that was down to the mediation form which I had filled in online) who explained - hilariously: "Oh, yes, we can see, you switched off your internet and it was in fact disactivated. BUT..... unfortunately it hadn't registered??!! and Orange didn't realise that it was switched off!!! It is always best to send us an email as well!! And, to be on the safe side, also send the snailmail resiliation letter by recorded delivery!!!" The message also added that they have now rectified matters and I can rest assured that I won't be charged next month. Well, gee, thanks. How kind of you.

Can anyone explain what difference there is in the new requirements please? Is it just that you need the energy test as soon as you put the house on the market, not after you have found a buyer? We had a full set of diagnostic tests done in September when we thought we had a buyer (long story). Hope that means we have done all that is required.

I put "fubar" into my spellchecker but it didn't come up with anything.

Ah, yet another disadvantage of our latest move to a bungalow!

[quote user="Iceni"][quote user="pachapapa"]whereas their counterparts in UK seem to be minimum wage jobsworths without much of a clue. Are you implying that a person having followed a "neuronal rest cure" at a minor breeze block UK University would do any better?[/quote] Where do you think Border Control (joke) finds its minimum wage jobsworths if not former polytechnics? thought that said pyrotechnics for a minute! John [/quote]

Ok. Normally we leave France around the end of October and go to warmer climes. At that time I send an email to FT and they suspend our ligne secondaire. They always send an immediate email - excellent service. When I want the phone back on I do the same. All they ask for is the exact amount of my last phone bill. With internet I always go to espace client, services and deactivate myself (you know what I mean). It is almost immediate and has been no problem. I reactivate it as soon as I have got the phone switched back on in the spring. As it happens, we hope that we will not have to go back to France at all and that this disconnection is permanent BUT the house sale is proving a bit complicated so I didn't want to burn our boats just yet - just suspend both accounts. Can't think why anyone would want to deactivate internet and then continue paying for it, can you? I mean why give you the facility for deactivating it and then demand notice in writing. Am waiting to see if there is a further response from them by email tomorrow. If not, then I suppose I will have to write a letter, stick a stamp on it and post it from here in the Canaries!!! Doubt it will arrive before Christmas. (By the way, we don't have any of their equipment - we used our own wireless router in France)

When we left France last month we switched off our internet connection on line - using orange's espace client, services page. it was almost instant. we checked afterwards that it was no longer working and were satisfied. we have now found out that orange are charging us for this month's internet. i emailed them and queried this. they said that, although we haven't used it, internet is active and, unless we can prove that we have confirmation that we have cancelled, this month's charge will stand. if we want to cancel we have to SEND THEM A LETTER BY SNAIL MAIL!! this didn't happen last year. we are no longer in France. The phone there is disconnected. we have no way of sending mail from our orange internet address. i have replied by email stating all this. what have we done wrong? help!!!

Haven't you got a plane to catch?

I've read both of them! Hope that is reassuring. Thanks.

Well, f*** me. Yes, it does work.

I tried it. (I try anything once) And it didn't work.

This may be a bit late but my brain is not as fast as it was, Edward. I think you will be ok if you stick to the Trunk roads! Ho,ho,ho!