David

Since experimenting with downloading Adobe, I now have versions 5, 6, 7 & 8 on my machine.  Should I delete some of these if so, how, as only versions 5 & 8 are shown on the add and remove program? Many thanks, David  

I did try downloading version 5 as you suggested Ernie, but perhaps I did something wrong as I could not get it to load on their French computer running windows XP. I assumed it would not load as the version 5 was advertised for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and not XP, so I did not investigate.  Perhaps I should have tried harder to get it to load, but I found it difficult working on a French computer with the family gathered round and assuming that I am something of a computer guru, which I am most definitely not.  So I settled for loading the manual from the disk, and let the Adobe drop. Many thanks for the suggestion. David

Many thanks for all your advice. This morning I went to the neighbours house and checked their TomTom box.  In it they had a disk which contained the manual - DOOH!.  After loading the disk the manual was accessible for them in French, so job done.  They are now loading the TomTom into the car and going for a happy joy ride this afternoon to test it out.  Good result I hope, as if they have more problems I will have to sort it out for them.  I should say that these are wonderful people, but they know nothing about computers or any modern electrical gadgets.  The kids have just mastered video recorders. I also checked whether their machine had Adobe loaded, or in the bundle of disks which came with the computer, but no joy.  I tried the memory stick with the manual loaded, but their machine could not read the manual.  By the way the memory stick has 244 mb memory so no problems there. However, the theoretical question of how to download Adobe for transfer to a computer not connected to the internet remains.  Every time I tried to download it via the places recommended here I was only able to download the first part.  After that the Adobe download wanted to talk to the computer, not possible for the neighbours, and I was not able to copy the download either to memory stick or disk. Think I will give this a rest now, and go and have lunch. Many thanks, David

Thanks Ernie and Dick. Did try drag and drop, but that took the program off my machine, and it did not seem to work on the copy media.  If all else fails will try your link Ernie, but I have been reminded that the satnav came with an installation disk - DOOH(?) idiot me to forget it. My neighbours have a computer, but do not know how to use it, and are frightened of it, so I bet they have not loaded the disk. I also suspect that the manual will be on the disk, so hopefully problem solved. Tomorrow I will raid their computer and find out, if not successful I will try Ernie's link. Many thanks, especially for your fast response. David EDIT - I tried Ernie's link, but I had the same problem, it would only download the first part.

For Christmas my French neighbours were given a TomTom One GPS system.  They have a computer, but they are not connected to the internet. They asked me to download the full instruction manual which I have done, and saved to a memory stick to copy to their computer, but this manual is in Adobe Acrobat format. They do not have Adobe on their machine, so I have tried without success to copy the full Adobe program to the memory stick in order to copy Adobe to their machine.  Any download to "Save" only copies the first folder, and then stops before downloading the program.  Clicking on the saved folder starts downloading the program to my computer without the option to save to disk (or memory stick). I have tried copying the Adobe folder in Windows Explorer, but again only the first file seems to copy, not the full program. I have also tried to convert the file to Microsoft word but without success. We both run windows XP, but theirs is French, and mine is UK. Apart from printing out the full manual, I would be greatful if anybody could advise how to copy the manual from my machine to their machine. Many thanks, David

Is it correct that, if you have a septic tank, then you have to have a certificate of conformity for the septic tank? David

Two days ago I was unable to connect to the BBC news section for several hours.  The page part loaded then froze.  Same with other "news" sections such as sport.  I am still finding that photos in the news section do not download. David

Many thanks for that Vern, I had not forgotten your previous post, but I wondered if anyone with experience of both could compare a Garmin to a Navman, in the way that mmaddox was able to compare the Navman to a TomTom. Best regards, David

Matt, Thanks very much for your very helpful postings about the Navman N60i. Brilliant postings of your happy experience, especially as you have experience of TomToms, and you comment on your opinion of the differences. You have convinced me to buy a Navman, but my OH is at me to buy a Garmin, as her friend says they are easy to use.  As my OH has been left to drive quite long distances by herself when I have been taken into various hospitals, I must consider her opinion, especially as she is not exactly computer or GPS literate. I wonder if you have experience of Garmins, and if so whether it would be too much to ask if you could give your opinion of them with regard to Navman and TomTom, so that I can get her agreement for me to buy my Navman? Many thanks for your help, David

thunderhorse, Thanks for that, so it looks as we will have to join the herd, and live on a street. Actually that might be good for us as presently strangers, who do not know the area such as couriers and delivery vans, cannot find us and leave deliveries at any old house in the local commune. A few days later we get a phone call and have a 5 kilometer drive to collect the delivery. It will be interesting to see how they name the road as it starts in a different commune, and then enters our commune where we are at the end of a dead end road, and we are the only house on the road in our commune. For GPS purposes, our house is named on the map, so the GPS recognises the house name, or at least, one of our friends GPS does. David  

Thunderhorse, I don't think that is quite correct, but I may be wrong. We live in department 79 and we have neither a number nor a street name. We have only a house name, post code 79xxx, and commune for our address. The best the bank can do for a full address on cheque books and formal letters is "Lieu dit (house name) (post code) (commune). Thus it is not correct to say that "All properties in 79 have to be numbered and all streets named". I have to say that we are rather rural, and live in the middle of nowhere, or alternatively we are surrounded by fields of grass, maize and cattle. Our house is, however, marked on the larger scale maps. David

mmaddock, Sounds very good.  As you bought the system in France, was a manual in English included in the box? Can you change the preferred speeds for the various types of routes and roads? David

Hi tj, Many thanks for your post.  Sorry about the delay in replying, but I had been waiting to see if any one else posted. You are right, a trip to the dentist is not top of my favourites list, especially if they do not speak at least some English.  So far in Bressuire I have either been told that there are no appointments for at least three months, or that their lists are full, so your suggestion of a clinic in Nueil les Aubiers sounds great, especially as it is not too far from us. Today at a specialist ENT doctor, I was told to get myself to a dentist asap, so I have to bite the bullet now. I have looked up the Pages Jaune, and it seems that there are two in Nueil les Aubiers, and I wondered if you might remember which one it was that you went to? First one, Sebastien Abin and Guillaume Gerard at pl. Croix de la Jeunesse, and second Pierre-Emmanuel Brillouet at 9 chem Gue de l'homme. Very grateful if you can remember and thank for your helpful post, David

Many thanks Clair for your time and trouble.  Unfortunately my French is not up to understanding properly the sites you linked to. I drive a car, and just wanted peoples opinions of GPS systems they have experience of.  For example, my friend bought a ViaMichelin X-950T which seemed absolutely great with free speed cameras, free traffic info, restaurants and the green guide.  No bluetooth etc.  Brilliant concept.  However, he said the machine came with out of date maps, and was extremely difficult to program.  He said you needed to be a computer expert just to get it up and running with all options activated.  Once running there was no way to express route preferences other than to say either quickest or shortest.  When used both provided wierd routes.  No provision for way points or route planning.  Once screen was occupied with various warnings such as next junction, very very little space left for the actual and most important route map, which was too small to see when driving. TomTom seems better, but also no choice of routing other than quickest or shortest, good route planning, but pay for speed cameras and traffic warnings.  Also pay for the facility to run mobile phones, ipods, etc., which I will never use. Thought this might be a good way of exchanging ideas for a simple to use machine, with a big screen, no un-necessary gizmos or gadgets, for those of us retired, non technical people, who want to get about and find obscure addresses.  e.g. Tomorrow I go to a medical specialist in Thouars and I only have the address, I would hope that a GPS would take me there.  I say this with feeling after getting lost trying to find the hospitals in Angers and Tours. Any ideas? David

I am thinking of buying myself a simple GPS system, no bluetooth, ipods, etc, but simple to use and with a large screen. Any thoughts anyone? Many thanks, David

Having finally summoned up the courage to try a dentist, I have not been able to find either an English speaking dentist, or one who is willing to take us on their books. Has anybody any good experiences of dentists near Bressuire in North Deux-Sevres? Many thanks, David

Glad to know it's not just me. Touch wood, everything seems to be working now. David

I also would respectfully disagree with SD, and would endorse the other postings.  In my experience, even for a broken leg, always call the pompiers. Unfortunately I have had to call the emergency services twice, both of which I would have called an ambulance for in the UK. The first one was a sort of broken leg (actually a broken tendon, far worse than a broken bone) while stranded in a field.  The pompiers arrived quickly, with the proper medical help, and the patient was taken to hospital quickly and efficiently. The second one was a head injury.  The pompiers arrived quickly, stabilised the patient, then called SAMU.  SAMU took ages to arrive, and consisted of two doctors out of the local hospital casualty department with an ambulance.  Later I spoke to one of the doctors who had good English.  She explained that they had to hand over their patients in casualty, change clothes, collect bags, wait for an ambulance, and then got lost trying to find the house. In any emergency accident situation please call the pompiers first. David

Has anybody else had difficulty accessing this forum over the last couple of days?  I was getting very worried, and I even joined another forum so that I could ask for help. Before asking, I gave this site one last try, and hey presto - here I am. Recently my machine decided to update to IE7, using Windows XP home.  It seems that since then I have had trouble accessing various web sites.  First an important French site (to me) would not load due to data base error with an invalid SQL. Then slowly other sites, one by one, would not connect, with the message that my internet explorer could not connect to the site.  I was also having trouble with this forum saying that the server was out of memory.  After deleting the non connecting sites from my favourite list, and cleaning up my temp folder and history files,  I tried this forum again to be told that I that my computer was unable to connect.  I rebooted, but got the same message, and trying Radio Times as well I got the same message.  Finally I could not connect to any Living France site, even by trying through Google.  I also noticed that my computer was very slow in changing some pages or sites, but instantaneous with things like BBC and Google. I tried another French forum with no problems. Tried this site again, and suddenly no problems. Does anyone have any suggestions, or is it just the gremlins? Thanks, David

Glad to see you back on this thread LanguedocGal, I think that you have much to contribute.  (Hurried edit - not patronising, but friendly and welcoming). Sorry to hear about your friend's problems. I too had problems, both with Britline, and also with local CA branches when I was still with Britline.  I do not know, but could there be some resistance by some people in local branches to dealing with Brits who stay with English speaking banks such as Britline?  Unacceptable I know, but perhaps human? I can only say that I have had no problems since changing to a local branch of CA.  They have stopped cheques by my request over the phone (I thought this was impossible in France), they have chased up debit card re-imbursements for me, they have sent authority to draw cash at other branches when I have asked by telephone, and they even try to speak English (rather well) when my basic French falls short of the mark. David

Oooh yes, my favourite - not.  Since being fed frozen sprouts lightly boiled with the centres still frozen many times by my Mother in my youth, I now cannot stand the sight or smell of them Have not touched them for 40 years. David

Evening Chris, Many thanks for your reply.  Sorry but I think my rambling post has caused some confusion, and I am not sure what you mean in your reply. In short I understood that you originally said that for example when you go to cut someone elses timber, and they do not help, you keep 2/3 of the timber and they keep 1/3.  Is that correct?  That seems fair to me, and I can understand it being set in stone. But I wonder if this case might be different to your professional approach?  In my case I own the timber, I will be spending all the money, I will be supplying the victuals, I will be helping as much as I can, and the neighbours are coming to help me because I cannot physically do the work myself.  They will not be spending any money, and only one will bring his own chain saw.  A sort of comunal effort.  In that case I thought that your percentage, of me only keeping 1/3 and the visitors taking 2/3, if that was the local custom here, would be unfair to me. I have to spend the money even though we are only talking about three trees.  One fell recently, and the other two have now been declared unsafe.  When the biggest is felled, it will block the access to the house, so must be cleared quickly.  When we have all this help, it would only be sensible to clear the other two trees at the same time. My close neighbours say that I should keep 2/3 and give my helpers 1/3, that being the local custom for a communal effort.  I have not yet discussed this with the people who are coming to help, but I do not want to upset the neighbours, who have all been very good to me. I feel that, even if it the local custom is for me to keep 2/3, rather than for me to keep your suggested 1/3, this might be thought a bit harsh on the visiting assistance, some of whom are British and may not understand the local customs. Thus I am caught between the local customs, and my best neighbour and friend (he is French), who wants me to keep 2/3, and the visiting assistants who may think the local custom is 2/3 to them.  Thus I wondered about 50/50. I would very much appreciate your advice. Thanks David  

Chris, I may have this wrong, but I understood from French neighbours that around here the split is 1/3 to the visiting helper, and 2/3 to the tree owner, in all circumstances. The particular circumstances of of my question to my French neighbours on this were that the tree owner (me) would himself be working at the felling, splitting, etc, he would supply the equipment, he will pay for an expert tree feller, hire a tractor, buy a 9 tonne log splitter (many euros), and provide the necessary victuals (perhaps curry and beer or pastis with lots of red wine).  The visitors, or neighbours, would come along to help, and to take away some wood for themselves.  One particular French neighbour is our salvation in all matters, he will probably do most of the work but he does not want any wood, just friendship.  We help him where we can so that is no problem.  He will probably be in charge of the operation, and he suggested 2/3 of the wood to me, and 1/3 to the other helpers. I can see that a 1/3 to the tree owner, and 2/3 to the visitor would be fair if the tree owner took no part at all in the cutting process, but would you agree that the usual custom where the tree owner was working hard would be 2/3 to the tree owner? Or would a 50/50 split be appropriate? I just want to understand and get the local customs correct before we go ahead with our felling and splitting.  I will not be able to help much, but I will be around on my electric mobility scooter, and I may be able to work the log splitter.  My wife would be busy cutting and loading light branches to the trailer of my ride on lawnmower, so that I can haul them to the bonfire for my wife to unload. Thanks, David

In this thread I really do think that you should distinguish between England and Scotland, rather than using the term UK.  The two systems are very different, and all of the comments I have read on this thread only apply to English estate agents. Further, in Scotland, both the fairly new estate agents, and the solicitors who traditionally handle house sales, charge extra for accompanied house visits. David.

[quote user="LanguedocGal"] [quote user="Kristine"]I have lived an equal lengh of time in both france and Spain, believe me if you find French systems ,banks,health system etc archaic ,don't ever consider moving to Andalucia .Compared to the way things operate there french systems are wonderful .At least if you go with the flow and follow the laid down proceedures everything works and you achive your goal. In Andalucia no system works because the people will not work to a system.Stay where you are and be thankful you're not here ![/quote] Kristine, I spent just under a year in Andalucia a few years back and I wholeheartedly agree with you when talking about institutions in general but I found the Spanish Banking System no worse than the French.  However, I feel David has unwittingly highlighted some of the problems with French banks and other institutions. He is praising (rightfully if he has had a good experience) an individual branch of a banking network.  As a client, I do not feel the need for the staff of any bank/branch or institution to like me. They are employed to offer a service and I do not need to transfer my financial portfolio (if I had one) to them or anything else. Simple professionalism is all I ask from any institution anywhere and it should not be too much to ask from France.  David then mentions his personal experience in the UK, so I will do likewise. Out of 3 banks (not branches) with which I had accounts in the UK, 2 provided me with excellent professional service for over 20 years. I could move around the UK and abroad and call 24/7 if I ever needed help or stranded anywhere in the world without having to go in, smile at them whilst asking about their kids, cats and dogs. (Not interested!) I suppose what we seek depends on our lifestyles and a bank with the ‘village’ mentality may suit some but not others. Not every French person lives in a village anymore as far as I’m aware.  It's a little pointless always making comparisions with other countries though. I live here now and if I find institutions here ineffective, I will demand professionalism, as I would expect them to do if they were seeking a service from me. It’s not personal.   [/quote] I apologise if my post was not clear, but even after re-reading it I think it is clear. However, to set the record straight I did not unwittingly highlight problems.  I was replying to the original poster that I found it very easy to change from Britline to a local CA branch - that was the question was it not? I did not feel the need for the staff to like me, and I did not discuss kids, cats and dogs.  I do find it a more pleasant experience if transactions can be conducted in a pleasant, professional, polite and friendly manner.  I have been through too much to go looking for hassle, and in a strange country (of which I have worked in many) I find that a smile can go a long way. When I said they still welcomed me with open arms, I should add for clarity that this is their approach to all customers. I did not need to transfer my "financial portfolio" to them.  I did it because they were efficient, professional, helpful, polite, and offered lower quotes for better insurance than I could find elsewhere.  They also have a claims service where they assist the customer with any claims that the customer may wish to make.  Not a "village mentality" I think, but a helpful service to those who do not know all the ins and outs of French insurance. To re-assure the original poster, I found it easy and hassle free to change from Britline to a local CA branch.  I went into the local branch and they did all the work efficiently and professionally, while being friendly as well. David