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David

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Everything posted by David

  1. Anton, You mentioned a ground mount and block on concrete.  What is this, and where do you buy it?  It could be very good for our holiday home where we are not allowed to mount satellite dishes on the outside of the house.  At present we have an 80 cm dish mounted in a plastic parasol stand, which we take in every night, but the dish rotates in wind. Thanks, David
  2. That is very interesting. What happens when sometimes it seems that the aircraft are racing each other in the same direction, and one overtakes the other?  Presumably they are at different heights. David
  3. I really am not an expert in this matter, but another thought is that the Notaire, for inheritance tax purposes, may insist that your partner actually provides his own funds to become joint owner.  I doubt that unpaid work would count.  Perhaps before seeing the notaire you might think about this aspect, and have ready any paperwork needed. There are several books published which may assist you, or other people on this forum might be able to give you better advice. Good luck with the Notaire. David
  4. Just a thought which may be totally wrong.  You refer to your partner, rather than a husband/wife.  It is my understanding that French law only recognises married couples (husband/wife) for joint house ownership, and that any other relationship becomes difficult due to inheritance laws. I suggest that when you approach the notaire you explain clearly your legal relationship with your partner and then take his advice. If you have children, or any other relations, you may also need their permission to change official ownership of the house. Hope this helps, David  
  5. Ian, Not too nurdish at all, very helpful thanks. Do you know if it is possible to view Aerad maps on the internet, or do you have to buy them? Ideally I would like to find a web site showing aircraft lanes above say 25,000 feet.  Thus showing the lanes in which we see the contrails. I have looked at the maps suggested above, and they seem to be for visual navigation, and show roads etc., thus presumably do not show high altitude lanes. David
  6. Many thanks for that Andy, it is good to have a personal recommendation. Thanks, David
  7. David

    Coypu attack!

    This sounds very like an animal we were warned about today.  One of our neighbouring farmers visited us today somewhat concerned to tell us about "a large rat with big buck teeth". living in a pond very close to the house.  He described it as eating grass, burrowing into the pond banks, and weighing up to 14 kilos.  He said it was vicious, and that we should keep well clear. I asked him to write down the name so I could research it, and he wrote "rat gaudin" or "lievre de marais".  I think that "rat gaudin" sounds very like "ragondin". We do not have pets or small children, so should we be concerned?  The pond is about 10 metres from the front door, and the farmer said that they had come up from the river to make their burrow in the pond. Thanks, David
  8. I would like to add my support to Sunday Driver, and to those who have already posted in support of him.  I have found Sunday Driver to be unfailingly extremely helpful and supportive, both to me personally, and to many others, often going out of his way to assist people asking for help. I have noticed on this forum, that sometimes apparently lazy people try to take advantage of the good and helpful nature of posters like Sunday Driver and others, and ask silly questions which could easily be answered by a little research on the forum.  Often they could phrase their questions better.  These usually seem to be people new to the furum. I actualy thought that Sunday Driver's initial response to Krill was perfectly in order and somewhat restrained, a little gentle prompting to remember what happened when Krill bought property in France.  When I read it I fully agreed.  I remember our purchase vividly, and still have all the papers, and I would not have needed to ask the question that Krill asked, as we covered all that when we bought our house. Krill does not seem to be a new member on the forum, thus I cannot understand how he (or she) was not aware of Sunday Driver's reputation.  Krill's suggestion that Sunday Driver may be "one of those sad individuals etc etc" upset me and made me rather angry, as it was so unjustified. Please accept my support Sunday Driver, and please continue to help others as you have in the past. David
  9. I think you might find that what you describe as the longer route, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, is actually the great circle route, and is shorter than the east bound route over Ireland, which is more a rhumb line.  The planes fly westbound over the shorter route, and eastbound over the longer route as on this route they can enter the east flowing jet stream which gives them a strong tail wind. Mercator maps, which most atlases show, distort the land shapes, and what appears to be the shortest east west route, that is going due west, is actually longer than the great circle route which from London to USA starts off going approximately north west or NNW.  It is all about trying to show a three dimensional globe on two dimensional flat paper.  If you don't have a fancy atlas showing polar regions, the easiest way of finding the shortest great circle route is to take a child's globe, and stretch an elastic band between the two places you want to go between.  If you ping the elastic, it will take the shortest route.  I was shown this by my tutor when learning navigation, and it is quite remarkable when you try it between two places in high latitudes - say London and New York, or Los Angeles (or even Panama Canal) and Tokyo. I am thinking of trying this between London and Rio de Janeiro to see if it passes over Deux-Sevres, but I can't find a globe. Hope this helps, David
  10. Many thanks, I will try them next time we go over. It is very kind of you to help, thanks, David
  11. We usually travel from North Deux-Sevres to Boulogne via Alencon and Rouen, and stay in the Boulogne Ibis hotel overlooking the river, before crossing the channel with Speed Ferries. However, our last experience with the Ibis was not good, and we wonder if anyone can recommend another hotel in the area? I need a "disability" room with a walk in shower, no steps to the room or hotel (lifts are ok), and secure parking at the hotel.  I also need a restaurant in the hotel as I cannot walk very far. I had hought of trying some of the hotels in the resorts south of Boulogne, but their web sites ae not very helpful. Any advice gratefully received. David  
  12. We live in North Deux-Sevres, and now that the clear summer skies have arrived we see a lot of aircraft vapour trails seemingly on routes like motorways.  My wife likes speculating on where the aircraft are going, and being a navigator I am supposed to know.  Unfortunately I only know about sea lanes, and nothing about air lanes.  I therefore mumble and speculate. I have looked on the internet to try to find an aircraft map of lanes, but without success. It is good on a sunny afternoon, sitting on the terrace and thinking of the grass needing to be cut, to daydream about the possible exotic destinations of the aircraft, but I wonder if anyone can tell me where to find a map of the air lanes over France so that I can restore some wifely pride, and earn some brownie points? Many thanks, David
  13. MargaretD, You have not understood me correctly.  I stand by what I said.  I simplified it for non technical persons, as I am not a technical person.  If your set worked as you describe, then you must have a dual standard TV set.  We eventually bought a French TV set, and it works as you describe. Some TV sets sold in Britain are dual standard, but most are not.  We started off with a dual standard boat television, and we retuned it.  Our British TV set was single standard and would not receive French TV.  You have to consider both receiving in colour and receiving by pal or secam. Previous threads cover this in detail. I do not want to mislead people coming over to France, so I say to them that dual standards exist. David
  14. Hi Dick, I think you have it exactly right.  The message quoted was not precisely the same as mine, but the intent was the same. I can now delete the pop up without shutting down my machine. Thanks very much.  Now off to try the quiz again. David
  15. Many thanks for your advices about the pop up.  I am relieved to know that it is a harmless pop up, rather than a malicious nasty.  One of my friends e-mailed me recently warning me about a nasty malicious pop up advertising spyware that installed a computer nasty when you pressed the cancel "x" in the top right corner, and I thought that this may have been one of those. I will have another go at the game tomorrow, and just blast away the pop up.  [:D] David
  16. Mark, Presumably you are asking whether a British TV set can receive French TV through a terrestial aerial rather than a satellite dish.  In other words use the sky dish for British TV, and a different terrestial aerial for French TV, both through a British TV set.  Is that correct?  If so, the basic answer is "NO". Yes a British TV set can connect to a sky box and dish in France and receive British TV. However, a British TV set will not receive French terrestial TV through a normal aerial as the systems are different. A recently purchased French TV is dual standard and will receive both British and French programs. If you have a British TV set, it will not help to connect the terrestial aerial to the sky box as the sky box will not convert the French standard signals to British standard. Therefore you need to buy a new French TV set, and all will work. This subject has been covered in great detail in earlier threads, and they will give you the specifications of the different standards.  We looked through the earlier threads, and they told us exactly what to do.  We followed the advice, and all works well. Hope this helps, David
  17. To Russethouse. Every time I go onto the quiz site I get a very dodgy looking pop up box from "casalemedia.com" stating "Warning - if your computer is running slower than usual, it may be infected with adaware or spyware.  To scan your computer for such infections, click yes below". In the past I thought that Norton might not be working properly, but I have just changed to AVG, I have scanned with Adaware and Spybot, and all three tell me that all is well with my machine. I have heard that these pop up boxes can contain a virus, and that even pressing the "x" to close the box can install the virus.  So after doing the quiz I have to switch off and close down my machine with the pop up box still showing. What is this box, is it a present from the quiz site?  Me no likee, and I will not go back to the quiz if this is going to happen every time.[:(] Would appreciate your advice. Kind regards, David.  
  18. I am now the proud user of AVG!  All seemed to go well.  I uninstalled Norton using windows add & remove, and it seems to have gone.  I then loaded AVG, followed the instructions, and all seems well. I have only two comments.  My computer does not seem to have speeded up with the removal of Norton - perhaps there are some bits left? Once AVG was installed it did a virus check and found a dialler virus.  The list just showed the virus, but there was no automatic repair.  I highlighted the virus, and was then offered the option of putting it into the vault, which I did.  There was no option to repair or delete the virus.  I then did another virus check, just to be sure that I had quarantined the virus, and AVG found another dialler virus!  I put this into the vault, and did a third virus check - yet another 40 minutes, and no more viruses were found.  I presume that these viruses got onto the machine while Norton was disabled after installing the livebox, or could it be that they bypassed Norton? With regard to AVG, is it correct that no automatic repair takes place?  Was I correct to put them in the vault, and will they be safe in the vault? I must say that so far I am impressed with AVG, which seems to be a serious bit of kit, and I now seem to work faster on the internet. Many thanks for all your help. David
  19. Many thanks for all your advices.  I will download AVG tonight and then try to uninstall Norton. Kind regards, David
  20. Have checked the post and the windows product was called "windowsonecare".  I wonder if anyone has any info about this product? I must decide whether to try to get Norton to use the livebox connection, or dump Norton and install either AVG, or windowsonecare. The cd drive seems ok, and I am now trying to format another brand new disk just out of it's sealing packet.  Going ok so far -here's hoping! Thanks for all your help. David
  21. Hi Tenniswitch & Peter, Sorry not to reply sooner, but I have had a somewhat stressful day on the computer.  Thanks for the photo advice, and I have now sent the photos.  I will find out tomorrow who they were received. My stressful day started when I visited the fun quiz in the lighter side.  Every time I leave this site I get a blurred and somewhat dodgy looking message to say that my computer has a virus, and I am invited to visit a site and let the site fix my computer.  I seemed to remember warnings about this message, and that even to click the "x" to close the box installed a virus.  The computer was locked, so I just switched off manually.  Thinking about it I realised that Norton should have stopped this.  When I re-booted I checked Norton only to find that it was switched off, and that the virus definitions were out of date.  When trying to switch on Norton the new settings would not hold, and the software froze.  After much virus checking with adaware and spybot, I visited the Norton site which reported a fault and tried to correct it.  I still could not use Norton so I went into system restore to a date before the last virus definition update.  This then lost me all my computer settings, so much that my cd drive would not work.  I undid the restore and got my settings back, or most of them anyway - these included thelivebox connections. After much mucking about I now have one remaining problem with Norton, in that the live update insists on trying to use the old dial up connection.  I cannot find out how to change it to the livebox. My Norton subscription runs out in July, and I wonder if I should change to AVG or the new windows virus checker mentioned on this site.  Sorry but I forgot to check the name of the new windows checker before starting this post.  I think it was in internet security. While typing this, I was trying to format a new blank CD-RW, and the blasted machine has just told me that the format failed because of media damage.  I hope my CD drive is working. My feelings towards Norton and liveboxes are not very friendly at the moment. Must close as I am working without a proper virus checker, and I want to see what has happened to the cd drive.  I had better come off line for a bit. David
  22. Tenniswitch, you are so right.  Even though I could, with difficulty, send and receive e-mails through Wanadoo, I was lost without Outlook Express which I have learnt to understand. Even more important, my son is getting married in early June, and the best man has asked for some embarassing photos of my son's early life.  I was to scan them in and e-mail them.  However, I could not figure out how to do this on Wanadoo and was panicking, but with outlook express it will be a doddle.  I cannot set the sizes, and the photos may take hours to send, but they will send. Again many many thanks for your very kind assistance to a total stranger. That is one thing I very much like about this site, total strangers go out of their way to help others.  I hope I can reciprocate in future threads. Kind regards, David
  23. Dear Tenniswitch and Peter, Very many thanks for your two very kind and detailed assistances.  I followed Peter's advice, and also checked all the settings as described by Tenniswitch, and bingo!  My outlook express works. I think that where I went wrong was to try to set up a new account for the wifi connection, instead of changing the dial up connection.  So I started by deleting the new account, and then changed the dial up connection. Many thanks, and much appreciated. David
  24. Tenniswitch, Very very many thanks for your very kind and detailed assistance.  My only account is "Courier Wanadoo/mail/dial up connection".  I tried to set up other accounts but the outlook express ignored them and tried to dial up, even though I had set them up as default. I have printed your instructions and will follow them, perhaps tomorrow as it is a bit late now for concentrated thought.  Will let you know how I get on. Many thanks, and much appreciated. David
  25. Recently I got talked into getting a wanadoo livebox.  I was promised instructions in English, but needless to say they did not arrive.  Unfortunately when I discovered this I was not able to access this forum as the line had been changed and my old dial up connection did not work. After staring at the box for several days, reading the instructions in French, and remembering the horror stories on this site, I summoned the courage to try to install it.  I have a lap top with windows XP service pack 2, and a wifi connection.  I actually found the installation by wifi to be quite easy, as windows did it all, and I did not need to use the installation cd supplied by Wanadoo.  Once I get my computer sorted, I will connect my wife's computer by wifi as well. The broad band connection works well, and is much better than the dial up, but I am left with two problems which I cannot solve.  These are the telephone which does not work on the live band, and my e-mail.  I will leave the telephone problem for another post, as it works on the old line, but I would be very grateful for outlook express advice. I cannot get outlook express to work with the live box.  I can send and receive e-mails via the Wanadoo web site, but I would much rather use outlook express so that I can keep records of my e-mails on my computer, and so that I do not have to build a new address book on Wanadoo. I have tried to configure outlook express, but it insists on trying to use the old dial up connections, and it will not connect to the live box, although inernet explorer works fine.  I have set up internet accounts before, and I set up the dial up connection manually without using the Wanadoo cd (that cd ruined my last computer and I ended up buying a new one), but I cannot set up outlook express this time. Following the Wanadoo instructions, the only way to connect outlook express is via "Espace Wanadoo" but I realised that I do not have "Espace Wanadoo" on my machine.  In fact the instructions on page 42 state that "Espace Wanadoo" is not available on pc type computers!!!!  So according to Wanadoo it is impossible to use outlook express with the live box on a pc, but I have seen on other threads that it is possible. On other threads I have seen settings advised such as "Country France, VPI 8, VCI 35, protocol PPPoA, encapsulation LLC" but I have no idea how to enter these settings, or where to enter them.  I cannot find anywhere in outlook express to enter them. I would be very grateful for advice about how to get outlook express working. Many thanks in advance, David
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