David

My French neighbours have now bitten the bullet and are going to install their first internet connection.  They have contacted France Telecom and they have been offered two livebox packages, one of 1Mb for about 30 euros, and an 8Mb for about 35 euros per month. They are near the end of a long overland telephone line (I am at the end of the line), the connection will be for family use only, not business, and they have three children.  They know little or nothing about computers or the internet.  Also they will only consider France Telecom. When I installed my livebox about one year ago I was recommended to go for 1Mb as that was said to work better than 8Mb on long overland lines.  However, the neighbours say that France Telecom advise that improvements have been made, and their telephone number will work well with 8Mb. The family have asked for my advice, and I wonder if anybody can help me with my advice as I am not a computer expert. Many thanks. David

[quote user="Bugbear"]In UK law it's actually 10% +2.[/quote] Does that also mean that the UK fixed speed cameras are set for 10% plus 2? David

Back on thread for a moment. Thanks to the very prompt and excellent advice of BB, the controller has now dried out and seems to be working well.  Thanks to BB and all others who contributed. David

Thanks for that BB.  Now feel much more confident when passing fixed speed cameras. David

Thought it was already hijacked, but no complaints.  Much enjoyed the hijack. You might have fun in the lighter side with "Greek honey" and "Abbreviations". David  

While clearing out the cupboards today, the OH came across a jar of dark clear honey bought in Crete at least 15 years ago from a local beekeeper. The honey looks fine and has no crust on top, but is it still edible, or will it act like magic mushrooms? David

Thanks for that brilliant post Teamedup.  I can now see a rash of posting using all the abbreviations shown there. What about a competition for the post with the most abbreviations? David

"Read the bloody manual".  It appeared in a thread about Wanadoo live boxes.  I have actually censored it as the original post was "RTFM". David

Dick, Our posts crossed.  Many thanks for the offer.  As we live in France, if the controller does not dry out I may very well take you up on your very kind offer. David

Very many thanks BB.  Will do, but if we need a new universal remote I may have to come back to you for guidance in programming it. Can I put you up for a record in providing a very helpful reply in TWO minutes.  Great. Thanks, David

I have managed to decipher some post abbreviations such as "OH" and "RTBM", but please please put me out of my misery - what does "LOL" or "LoL" mean???? Thanks for helping a dimwit. David

This evening the OH had an accident with the sky remote controller in that she accidentally spilt plain water over it.  She wiped it off and left it on the table.  I then unknowingly tried to use it and found several buttons did not work.  Then suddenly the batteries died.  New batteries put in but even more buttons did not work and replacement batteries died.  The OH then owned up so more replacement batteries put in, as controller says to replace batteries within ten minutes, and controller put in front of fire to dry out. Question is should I try to open up the controller to dry it out, and if so how do I do that - it is a standard sky controller, or should I just leave it in front of the fire and hope? If it does not work tomorrow, how can it be replaced? Many thanks in anticipation. David

Our terrace on the Med coast is exposed to full sun, and is now in its third year.  It still looks like new, and has not greyed up. We gave it two coats of linseed oil at the beginning, and then each year one coat at the start of the summer, and another at the finish ready for the winter. Other neighbours treated terraces still look good, and they say that the second coat is not really needed. Because of the ease of application of the linseed oil, applying a coat is very easy - just splash it on with a paint brush, rather like creosote or wood fencing panel stains, and wait one day before using. Untreated terraces nearby have all greyed up, and are showing signs of splitting. Perhaps the secret of linseed oil is repeated applications? David

We have a wooden deck in Leucate, and as you say it dries out very quickly.  Ours was newly laid, so we did not have to remove varnish. We were strongly recommended by the neighbours to use a mixture of linseed oil to treat the wood, and we found this to be very successful. We are presently in northern France, so I cannot check the mixture requirements, but perhaps other posters can help. We bought a 5 litre can of linseed oil from a DIY store such as Mr. Bricolage or Super U, together with a small bottle of activator (or dryer accellerator) together with a 5 litre can of what I remember as white spirit (but please check).  The full instructions were on the can of linseed oil.  We mixed the linseed oil and white spirit 50/50 together with a small amount of activator and splashed it on the terrace.  The initial treatment was two coats, and this is supposed to be repeated with one coat once or twice per season. We found the results to be excellent, the application easy, and the mixture was remarkably cheap.  This seems to be the favoured method of protecting wood terraces in the Perpignon region, and any bricolage store will help with the required ingredients. David

Many thanks for the tickets, and apologies for the late reply. Gay, I did get there on the Friday, but we (my wife and I) arrived a little late, and had to leave a bit early to beat the rush hour. We were staying in an hotel in Greenwich, and we went by underground with me in my wheelchair.  Quite an experience - perhaps a long story for another day.  The underground system seemed to be in chaos that morning, and after eventually getting to Earls Court we found the trains to Olympia were up the creek, so we gave up and got a taxi for the last bit. I did go to the Living France stand at about one o'clock, but the stand was almost empty with only a smartly dressed young lady, and a smartly dressed young gentleman, with both looking very formal, harrassed and busy.  Far too busy to disturb.  I hung around (or lurked) at the edge of the stand in my wheelchair for a while, but they remained busy and no one else turned up, so I left.  I returned about half an hour later, but the same happened, so I gave up. I did enjoy the exhibition, but it seemed much smaller than before.  I was disappointed with the food, there being only a very expensive restaurant, taster restaurants for about five pounds for literally a taste of food which could not satisfy hunger, or sandwiches.  The last time we were there a few years ago there was a self service restaurant selling good hot French dishes in reasonable portions for reasonable prices, but that was not there this time.  Perhaps that was a condition of the expensive restaurants appearing there? While I was there on the Friday, I saw only one other wheelchair user. I was sorry to have missed you all, but perhaps next time? Best regards, David Edit - I also missed the pastis stand!

Strictly speaking, as a UK national you do not need a UK passport to enter the UK.  You only have to convince the imigration that you are a genuine UK national.  My daughter did this once with an electricity bill and a driving licence (without photo).  She also had a group of friends vouching for her, and she chose a male immigration officer and batted her eyelids at him.  She got through. The difficult part if travelling without a passport is convincing the carrier to take you to UK in the first place. David

Many many thanks for my tickets which arrived today.  Thanks also to the sensible person who completed properly the address on the label for me. Will be going on Friday, and will be in a wheelchair.  Hope to see some of you there. David

Looking forward to the exhibition, thanks very much. However, I am now a little worried as I seem to have been rather stupid.  I checked my e-mail reply, and being in France and talking to a French subject forum, I forgot to put "France" at the end of my e-mailed postal address, thinking the tickets would be posted in France - Doooh! Are the tickets sent to an automatic print out of the address, or will some human realise my mistake and add "France" to the bottom line for me before posting?  Otherwise I can see the tickets becoming lost in the UK postal system. Apologies. Gay - I have been to Olympia once before, long ago when I was fit.  I seem to remember it became rather hot and I had to leave my jacket at a cloakroom.  However, in a wheelchair I am not sure whether to do that, as it can get very cold just sitting on the wheelchair.  I will see when I get there. David Linacre

Very many thanks for that Gay.  Very useful indeed, and I will research the links tomorrow. David Edit - and such a quick reply too!  How do you do it?  Many thanks.

Probably one more for Admin, but does anyone know if Olympia can be accessed by wheelchair users, and if so whether advance arrangements have to be made?  Or is it possible to arrive on crutches and hire a wheel chair at the venue? Is disabled parking possible?  If so how much does it cost, and what advance arrangements have to be made? Please, please can you let us know the results of the free tickets.  I entered without telling my wife, and if I won, then the tickets would be a surprise for my wife.  Unfortunately my wife is now badgering me to decide if we will be going over, and to buy tickets on the internet quickly before they run out!! Thanks, David

Teamedup, In an earlier post you say you smoke your own joints.  Very grateful if you could give some advice as to how to do this.  Does the end result taste like gammon? David

Ron, Did you ever find a bigger joint? We have been trying without success to find a gammon for Christmas and New Year. In one French cookery book we found a recipe for Jambon Frais, and the photo looked exactly like a proper gammon, but no-one here seems to recognise the term. David

Never done it before, but perhaps I should take my French reg car over to London and enjoy speeding, congestion charges and illegal parking while I can?  What fun.  Must buy a new GPS with all the speed cameras loaded so I can speed past them. Or will all that be backdated??? David

Hi Ernie, I think apologies are in order.  I cannot now remember the order of downloading, but either before or after your advice I had tried to download all the various Adobe versions recommended for Windows XP.  Certainly before your advice I had not managed to get past the first stage. I did download your recommendation, but I had not realised from your posts that you had actually tried it out with Windows XP. I thought I had a full download as the memory stick showed 8614 kb, so that was the version I tried to load on their machine. As noted before I managed to obtain the manual from the installation disk, so the question of Adobe assumed far less importance. After loading the manual, out of curiosity I tried to load your Adobe version.  I did get warning signs in French, but I cannot now remember what they were.  At that time I was surrounded by the extremely interested family.  I had two kids to my left shouting instructions and with the youngest trying to press buttons and me trying to fend him off.  To my right I had the oldest kid (14 years old) offering differing advice about the messages displayed, and she took the huff if I agreed with the two younger boys to my left.  Behind me I had the parents, also arguing and offering yet different advice about the French translations.  My French is not good and in those circumstances it failed me completely.  Therefore I cancelled the Adobe installation, showed them the manual, and the parents and myself enjoyed a celebratory pastis. This is where the apology is due.  I am afraid that I bottled out and cancelled the installation because I thought it was wanting to connect to the internet (my first thought after my previous experience in the safety of my study), or that it was conflicting with XP, or that it was conflicting with the French computer.  I then posted here and made an unjustified assumption that the problem was with the download. From your latest post it seems that I was wrong, and that the fault was mine.  I would like to go back to the neighbours, but on balance as they have the manual I think I will chicken out, and leave well alone. Sorry if I upset you with my incompetence Ernie. Many thanks to all the other posters, your advice and offers of help were very welcome. Yes Ecossais, the neighbours are planning to connect to the internet in about one months time.  I dread being called in, as I will be, to handle all the updates, firewalls and virus checkers when they do connect.  I am hoping to persuade them that somewhere they have a family member who can do it for them.  Still can't complain as they do an enormous amount for me.  I just worry about letting them down and ruining their computer.  Perhaps I will go away on holiday? Many thanks for all your help, David  

[quote user="whistleway"]Thanks for the info Clair, I had heard that somewhere before, but the Immobilier we are dealing with told us that we could not make our sale a condition.[/quote] I think that sums it up.  In your case it seems that the immobilier you are dealing with, and who acts for you, has advised you that you cannot make your UK sale a condition.  You give no reasons for the immobilier saying this, but it could possibly be that he has discussed this with the vendors, and they have refused. If that is the case then it seems to me that you cannot force the vendors to agree to this condition, regardless of whether the law would allow it or not.  Remember the deal is basically between you and the vendors, and both of you must agree and accept all the conditions, or you do not sign the contract.  I suspect that even if the vendors accepted this condition, legally you would be in difficulty if your UK house sale fell through and you wanted your deposit back, unless you had varied the purchase contract, and had the change of conditions specifically initialled by all parties. Any sale and purchase agreement can be subject to negotiation, and variations on the standard format can be agreed.  This is a matter between the buyer and the seller.  In that case it is essential to ensure that any non standard clauses are fully legally binding on both parties.  In my experience, house buying contracts are standardised to simplify matters and to keep legal costs down - they can be changed, even in France, but it can involve additional significant legal costs.  Any standard contract, and also any changes must comply with national law. You could, for example, negotiate a deal which did not require any deposit, and which solely relied on your successful UK sale completion whenever that may be - six months, two years?  That being said, I seriously doubt that any sane vendor would agree to those terms.  Unless of course you were paying a vastly inflated purchase price!  Perhaps you could negotiate a lower deposit, in order to fund a bridging loan?  You do say that you can't make use of a bridging loan, but you do not say why.  Perhaps you could increase the price of your UK house a little in order to fund a loan? When we bought our house on a standard format we declared that we did not require a loan to purchase the house here, and in that case we were firmly advised that the deposit was non-returnable in case of non completion of purchase for any reason whatsoever.  Even if both principals died e.g. in a car crash, then our children, or other heirs, would be liable to complete the purchase.  The only possible get out was if we declared that we needed an official loan, such as a mortgage, and that loan was refused.  We agreed to these standard terms as it suited us.  In reality, although I have outlined possibilities, I suspect that your vendors will insist on a standard contract - unless of course you make it worthwhile for them to change the contract and take a risk. I think you should get proper legal advice before signing anything or giving a deposit, and I agree with everything that Ernie has said. I suggest you go back to your immobilier and ask him what negotiations can be undertaken with the vendors, but in short, from what you have said I think that if you go ahead and pay the deposit without special conditions being added to the contract, and then you are unable to complete because your UK house sale fell through, you would lose your deposit. I must add that I am not an expert in this matter, and that my advice is based on personal experience and research only. Good luck. David