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David

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Everything posted by David

  1. Many thanks for your very prompt and helpful replies, particularly St Amour. I have now accepted the TVA rate and returned the devis. Thanks again David
  2. Due to ill health we are about to employ a new gardening firm to build a fence, and do general gardening jobs for us.  This is a properly registered French firm with a siret number. However, they want to charge 19.6% TVA, whereas all other artisans we have employed to work on the house charge 5.5% TVA. Can  anyone tell us what the correct TVA would be for gardening, and is that different from house maintence which, at present anyway, is still 5,5%? Many thanks, David in the Deux-Sevres.
  3. Wood/oil boilers certainly do exist, and they are very common.  We have such a boiler, but we took it out of action when a problem developed in the oil burner side, and we replaced it with a new oil boiler. If any one wants the old boiler they are welcome to it for free, just for taking away.  The wood burning side is only five years old and in good condition.  The oil burner side needs attention.  We live in the Northern Deux-Sevres near Bressuire.  Please send me an e-mail if anyone wants it. Can anyone recommend how to find a properly qualified artisan to service the new boiler, as I was concerned to see that the boiler needs an annual service, and ours is two years old?  We cannot use the man who fitted it as he is a plumber, not a boiler specialist. David
  4. Sorry to be so slow in replying, but we have had a lot of thunder storms here and I did not want to fry my computer - again! Many thanks for the kind and helpful replies, particularly the legal ones.  I will print them off and present them to the committee.  If the committee is bolshie, then I will take the formal steps. Thanks very much for your help. David
  5. We live in Department 79 and have sky free to view with no problems. We are buying a new holiday apartment in Leucate near Perpignan and we had planned to take our sky box and free to view card with us, and then erect a dish to receive the signals after buying a new French tv. We have just found out that on the holiday development, all satellite dishes or terrestial aerials are banned.  There will be a central dish system sending tv signals by cable to each house, but we are told that these will be only French and German tv channels.  At this time they could not give technical details as the full set up will be determined by a residents comittee (all French and German) when the development opens in early July.  We can ask for British tv, and the committee will consider the matter. Does any one know if we could plug the sky dish into the house tv cable and receive free to view, or is there any way of setting up a portable sky dish through a window or on a moveable tripod on the terrace? Alternatively does anyone know what questions we should ask the committee, or what reception we should ask for? Many thanks in advance. David
  6. Dear Tresco, I sent my son an e-mail about my knuckles, and another about nursess skirts and walking sticks, but so far there has been an ominous silence from son. I think daughter has tipped him off. It was fun while it lasted. Since then I have been on my best behaviour, so no new stories at the moment. At least I did not throw any cans of baked beans!
  7. Thanks for the idea Tresco, I have sent daughter an e-mail telling her to keep quiet, but I cannot guarantee that she will as the two renegades support each other; that is daughter supports son, and will hear nothing against him.  Protective female I think. I have in mind sending off an e-mail along the lines you suggested - thanks. THE MIND BOGGLES AT THE POSSIBILITIES!! David
  8. Thanks for your replies Tresco and Miki. I think the next instalment has already arisen. Last night while navigating from the kitchen to the living room with a handful of cutlery to lay the table, my knee gave way and I fell.  While falling I put out my hand rather rapidly to try to save myself and caught my knuckle on the door post. This morning I had to go to the hospital, and my knuckles are now bandaged. So I am going to send my son a message that my knuckles are damaged (true) and that I was at the hospital (true).  Let him draw the conclusions. I will let you know the results.  Only problem is that I am left handed, and I damaged my right knuckles! By the way, daughter did not fall for it, she saw the joke and groaned. I may start a new thread - any suggestions for the title?  Perhaps "The old dodderer"?  Then all can contribute??
  9. Dear Tresco,   I did not know that there were songs about the air crash, so I apologise if I have offended anybody by raising the subject. I think that what you describe is awful, and I cannot comprehend people who would sing such a song. I am a lifelong Arsenal supporter, but I still recognise good teams, and I think that the "Busbies Babes" were great. I still mourn for the "Babes" and what might have been.
  10. "but you wont beat the football Man Utd played in and around 99."   What about "Busbies Babes" who were said to be the best team ever before the awful air crash. Also the players were all British - I think from memory!  
  11. I am afraid that I have a confession to make.  I thought your joke was so good that I copied it into an e-mail to my children, a son of 30 and a daughter of 26. I should say that I am 58, overweight, live in a wheel chair, or at best for short journeys around brico depots I use two walking sticks, and I am quite a gentle soul. So I copied your joke into an e-mail for the enjoyment of my kids, and what happened? Two minutes after I came off line my son phoned most concerned that I had got myself into trouble!  I could hear the amosphere "What has he done now, we cannot let the senile old bloke out by himself".  Unfortunately I creased up, implied that the message was correct, promptly handed the phone to my wife, and wheeled out into the garden to laugh.  Wife also creased up and changed subject to son. Son left thinking I had decked a shop assistant (while on two walking sticks!!!), and been thrown out of the shop by the collar. Wife and I have had the giggles ever since, and do not know how we are to answer the phone when daughter phones.  Or even when son next phones.  Any advice anyone?? Many thanks for a great joke which left us laughing all day. p.s.  We managed to give the gist of the joke to our French neighbours who also creased up, so you have made four people very happy today. Thanks, ..... but how do we get out of trouble with our son?  
  12. Aaah but ----   Does anybody think we will have another canicule this year?  After shivering most of last summer, we have fond memories of the heat wave when all work stopped and we had a perfect excuse to "rest" on the terrace under the shade of the trees, with copius amounts of long cool drinks and splashes in the inflatable paddling pool (we do not have a swimming pool). Being selfish, and of course hoping that the French health system has improved, we would love some heat in the northern Deux Sevres this summer.
  13. I think that Mazan has already answered this question definitively in another thread which I cannot trace at the moment. I think he referred to "freeview", or non subscription channels, (could be free to air or some such thing - I do not know the exact term, so do not get exicted and castigate me please, I merely say sky non-subscription cards that receive free to view channels such as BBC, ITV, CH4 and CH5). I think he said that it was not illegal to receive sky broadcasts in France, even with a purchased free to view card, but that it was illegal for sky to knowingly sell cards for reception in France, as they only had the licence for UK. He likened it to buying a book in the USA, which was only allowed to be published and sold in the USA, but then reading it in another country. This seems to me to mean that you can buy a non-subscription card in the UK, and then legally use it outside the UK. I am not a lawyer, but this seems sensible to me. Any comments?
  14. Hi, I am learning about these computers! I did a google search for "dso exploit" and all was explained. Apparently if you are running the latest Internet explorer, and it is up to date, then the dso exploit has been repaired, and is not a problem. The problem is with spybot which keeps reporting it as a problem.  Spybot is being fixed, and the latest version of spybot apparently overcomes this - it reports the apparent problem with dso exploit once only. I will run it again and see, but i now know that dso exploit is not a problem on my computer, but is a spybot problem.
  15. Just to let you know that there seems to be a fault in the Western France site in topic Where did you move to.  Page 4, or perhaps 5, will not display, and when I posted a reply I was given the same fault.  Had trouble exiting from the posting of the reply.
  16. We moved in two years ago to a small village called Chambroutet in north 79. Very quiet rural area north of Bressuire David
  17. p.s. As I only downloaded spybot today, would I need to download a patch, if so what patch, and what does the patch do? Thanks, David
  18. Sorry to be thick, but I am not a computer expert, and I do not understand the replies.  I would be grateful for your assistance. I am running windows XP with SP2, norton, and adaware.  As far as I can tell all are fully up to date. I downloaded adaware following the kind instructions of Will the Conquerer in the FAQ section.  This was a success, so today I "gulped" and trusting the FAQ, downloaded spybot. I read the manual, and did my first check.  There were seven red items, and two were clearly cookies which I asked spybot to deal with.  The other five were described as DSO Exploit, and related to registry changes in Windows Internet settings. I have a slow dial up connection which connects at about 46; the machine seems to be working properly, but does sometimes seem to send a lot of data when I first connect, so much so that it takes ages to load the home page, and even longer to change to the BBC or this forum. I have not asked spybot to deal with the five DSO Exploits yet, as I did not know if they were malicious, or whether they were a part of windows reporting faults back to Microsoft.  That is are these Microsoft settings, or are they malicious changes? When I read the spybot pop up window, it just said there was a security hole in internet explorer, but it did not say that the registry had been changed by outside malicious means. Should I ask spybot to deal with these registry entry changes, or should I leave them alone?  If you wish I can give the full spybot entries. I also have a lot of tracking lines (green entries on spybot) but I cannot tell which ones to delete - any advice welcomed.   Kind regards and thanks in anticipation, David
  19. Thank you for your replies. I am sorry to be so slow in answering, but we have had a lot to cope with lately. What I meant by asking the question was whether any one had experience of persuing a medical negligence claim in France; whether they found it difficult; did they have difficulty in finding French doctors to testify on their behalf, etc. In my case, I tore the tendon off my right kneecap, was taken to A&E, who x-rayed and found no broken bones, sent me home.  Two days later I saw the local surgeon who said "bizzare" and prescribed a linseed mud-pack - REALLY!.  Ten days later on follow up visit, torn tendon was found by ultra sound scan.  Local surgeon immediately moved into helpful mode, and instead of referring me to a knee specialist bungled the operation himself.  This left me, after one year now, unable to walk and in a wheel chair. After much pushing - my GP has been great, I have seen one hospital, and two specialists who said it was too difficult to operate.  That was when I considered legal action.  However, the second specialist was honest and said he had no experience in repairing the problem, and referred me to what he described as "God" - a professor. I have now seen the professor who has agreed to operate and repair the damage.  This will be difficult and take many operations, but he says I will walk again.  That is all I wanted, so I no longer consider legal action. Why I wondered about getting a French doctor to testify, was that initially (hospital and the first specialist) assumed that the original operation had taken place in UK, and seemed to be rubbing their hands in glee.  When they realised the operation was French, they beat an immediate retreat, and basically did not want to know. The professor did not concern himself with this aspect, but asked if I had a copy of the "protocol" of the operation, which I did not have.  He is going to demand that document. Many thanks for your replies, David
  20. I have searched the forums, but cannot find any reference to this subject, so I would be grateful if anybody could direct me to a relevant posting. By medical negligence I mean a bungled operation in France on my knee which looks like leaving me a permanent cripple. Would also be grateful for any advice about obtaining a blue badge for parking, and how to obtain an invalidity card.  I ask the last one, as when I was a the local tax office this week they told me that I should see my doctor to get an official invalidity card.  Also does anyone know what an invalidity card is in France, as I do not know of a UK equivalent? Many thanks in anticipation.  
  21. Dear Will, Just a quick message this morning to free the phone up, I will respond fully later. I do agree with you completely about sub-standard merchant ships.  Having been a P&I surveyor for many years I have seen many of these ships, and have tried to have their insurance withdrawn, often successfully - I could go on for hours about them. I do think that Ellen has achieved a remarkable feat - I would be terrified just to go out into the Bay of Biscay in a sailing boat. I just wondered how this sport complied with the regulations. Regarding the internet alert, I would be grateful for any details you could supply, Many thanks and kind regards, David
  22. I have read all of this thread with great interest.  I am neutral in this matter and I agree with many of the comments from both sides, apart from the unreasoned vitriol of one particular correspondent who I consider brings hunting into disrepute. I would like to prepare a properly reasoned response, but I only have a dial up connection which blocks the telephone line.  Can anyone tell me if it is possible to prepare a response "off line", perhaps in microsoft word, and then post it to the relevant thread? Perhaps Mazan could advise if he is still speaking after the vitriol directed towards him. ps could someone also advise how to use the spell checker.  When I open it the box is too small, and the tabs to the right are obscured.
  23. Sorry to be a drag on this one, but I have difficulty with single handed sailors.  I am a professional seaman, having spent many years at sea, and I am a qualified Master Mariner, although now retired.  I am also a life governor of the UK RNLI. I do not agree with this type of sport as I do not see how a single handed yacht can comply with the international regulations for preventing collision at sea, for example keeping a good lookout at all times. Having experienced much bad weather at sea, and having had very close quarters situations with pleasure yachts (that is nearly colliding with them in narrow channels and elsewhere), and having witnessed rescue operations, I wonder how this sport can be lauded in the way it is. I do agree that Ellen has completed a remarkable achievement, and I recognise that she has been made a Dame, but there seems to be no understanding of the dangers and difficulties to other seamen that this sport poses.  I recognise that when the yacht is deep sea any risk is low, but the risks multiply when the yacht is anywhere near sea lanes. I wonder if any of the people applauding Ellen have considered this aspect.  I would also be grateful for any advice or response from any person who has had experience of long distance single handed sailing, so that I can appreciate their point of view. I would like to reply to this, and other threads, properly and in a reasoned manner, but I only have a dial up connection and the phone is blocked when I am on line. Can any one, perhaps Mazan if he is still talking after the hunting thread, say if it is possible to prepare a reply off line, and then post it to the proper thread?  
  24. You can get radio speakers which will receive signals from a box attached to the sky box.  I understand that these are completely legal, and I know that they are supplied by satellite dish suppliers who advertise in magazines such as Living France. I bought two speakers, plus the box to attach the sky box, for Christmas and they work very well, we can now receive UK radio throughout the house.
  25. Many thanks for your kind and helpful reply.  Yes I would enjoy the work to keep my brain active. Unfortunately even after much searching I am not able to find an English speaking French accountant in my area which is the northern Deux Sevres - Dept 79. I would dearly like to find such a person, not only to help with this problem, but also to help with transferring all other matters from UK to France such as peps, etc, and claiming tax allowances etc. The only ones I can find are those advertising in the English language newspapers and magazines, and they charge a fortune.
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