frexpt

We have discovered that our fosse toutes eaux discharges from the "prefilter" directly into a stream crossing our land. We had initially presumed that there was a sand filter which had become blocked, but excavations over the past couple of days have revealed the nasty truth. We bought the house 2 and a half years ago (just before the need for inspection), but only moved in 6 months ago and the problem has materialised as the fosse has been more regularly used. I think the basic principle had been that the free flowing stream was taking care of the odours, but the very dry period since we bought the house has brought the problem into sharp focus. We think the situation will be remedied by the installation of a sand filter, which shouldn't be too traumatic as we have plenty of space to site it and access is fine. We can also dispose of the excavated material on site. The fosse itself is a concrete 3000 litre, with the integeral prefilter chamber. There is no gease trap. The house is 240m² 4 bed + 3 baths. and we have been told that a 5m x 5m filter should be sufficient. We'll contact SPANC about this next week, but I was wondering whether anyone had come across something similar?

Yes, you're right, the safe mode start was just a coincidence. My wife's laptop in normal mode just beeped the arrival of the new messages...........

I've just started Outlook in safe mode and it has downloaded the messages from the server. Not sure why, but I'll read on and report back. If anybody more knowledgeable can guide me in from here, that would be great!

Just wondering whether anyone else was having a problem receiving emails to MS Outlook today? Neither my PC nor my wife's laptop will receive, although they appear to be sending. Our Orange internet connection is fine and we can access our emails directly on the server (1&1.co.uk), but they won't download to Outlook. I have rung 1&1 and they say no problem at their end. I'm wondering whether Orange have made some dastardly alteration and blocking a port (or whatever they do). Any ideas?

Thanks for that. I did find a similar post on here from 2008 and there certainly wasn't any problem then. But, as we know, things do change and, although I am not anticipating a problem, it would be interesting to hear from anyone who has travelled very recently.

Has anyone experience of taking walking sticks onto Ryanair flights? My wife has recently started using one and is travelling with RA next month. Given how pedantic the airline can be, I was wondering whether there was anything we needed to be aware of?

Following the winter storms and snow, it is clear that we are going to have to re-roof the house this year.[+o(]  It is presently in slate, but we are open to the idea of renewing in tile.  We are hoping that someone will have good experience of a roofer who would look at a job in central Deux Sevres. Many thanks

Just as a follow up to this, my son's machine is now being bombarded by MS to the effect that his Windows is not a genuine version.  As I suggested might happen, it appears that the licence has been invalidated.

[quote user="Cat"] Try right clicking on Vistalizator, then Properties, Compatibility, Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 7 ? EDIT, Doh! didn't spot the last page, I am but an echo [:$]   [/quote] Thanks anyway.  By doing what you suggest, it ran so far, but the service pack 1 was a barrier to the full download.........

[quote user="Danny"]it seems you have Windows 7 with service pack 1. try this, found on the web.... work-around is as follows: Right-click > Properties > Compatibility > Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 7 So as it is in French, right click on the Vistalizator program, choose propriétés/ compatibilité/ executer ce program en mode de compatibilité pour Windows 7/ OK and see if that helps. Danny [/quote] Okay, thanks everybody.........we got there in the end[:D][:D] The Vistalizator program installed with the work-around Danny suggested, but the language pack download didn't like the fact that we had Service Pack 1. After three attempts elsewhere, my son found a download http://www.pcdiy.com/22/windows-7-language-packs-rtm-mui-download that worked when taken in express mode.  The full version didn't like the SP1 either.

[quote user="AnOther"]On the Vistalizator file you downloaded and are trying to install. [/quote] Didn't realise it had got as far as the download folder[:$].........thanks again

[quote user="Danny"]it seems you have Windows 7 with service pack 1. try this, found on the web.... work-around is as follows: Right-click > Properties > Compatibility > Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 7 So as it is in French, right click on the Vistalizator program, choose propriétés/ compatibilité/ executer ce program en mode de compatibilité pour Windows 7/ OK and see if that helps. Danny [/quote] Will try that, but can you just clarify where I am right-clicking Properties? Thanks

We have tried the Vistalizator download, but are getting an error message for Vistalizator 2.40:  Error loading system configuration! Some errors occurred during in intialization: Unable to use this version of Windows 7.  This build (7601) is not supported.  Make sure you have the latest version of Windows. Any thoughts, please?

[quote user="Danny"]For what its worth, I can confirm that Vistalizator works perfectly on one (French) Vista computer here. It updates via Windows update no problem. All menus/items are now in English and it has been woking like that for over a year. If you want to try, there is nothing to lose. If you don't like it or want it, you can just restore the laptop to factory settings using either the recovery discs (which are recommended to make, if they do not come with the laptop) or hidden recovery partition on the hard drive. Then the laptop is back to new. Of course any personal files should be backed up elsewhere if a factory reset is used. Danny PS having the computer in French can also aid with learning the language! [/quote] Thanks......it would be the potential loss of updates that would concern me.  We'll have a look.

[quote user="Alex H"][quote user="frexpt"] I'm not sure whether this is the best section to post this, but here goes anyway......... My son has just bought a laptop from Amazon.fr as he wanted one with an "azerty" keyboard.  He has encountered a problem, in that Windows 7 (Home Premium 64 bit SP1) appears to offer no language option other than French.  We have bought many machines for the household over the years, but I am pretty sure that Windows normally offers a choice of language at the initial set up.......[8-)] Any thoughts please? [/quote] Going back to the original post - what's the idea behind this? Does he want the AZERTY keyboard to help him learn French? [/quote] He is pretty capable linguist and speaks French very well already.  He works for the local Chambres de Métiers in a completely French speaking environment.  At the moment he is also following a TEFL course, as he would like to do some English tutoring on a more formal basis. He wanted a notebook with AZERTY keyboard to make it easier to write bits and pieces in French, wherever he was.  It was just a bit of a surprise to discover the language limitation.

[quote user="AnOther"]I don't see why you think it's a rip off. When you buy Windows 7 you buy a licence to use it on one computer and in the overwhelming majority of cases buyers will want the version for their native language. What would be a rip off would be if Windows 7 came with a comprehensive choice of languages included but at a higher price because of it, you would then have hoards of punters, me included, complaining about having to pay extra for something we neither want or need. In common with most software I think you'll find that MS Office will default to the language of the OS. You might try Vistalizator www.froggie.sk [/quote] So far as I recall, a new machine with a Windows operating system (pre-Windows 7), purchased in the UK, asks you to select the operating language during initial set-up.  The keyboard then defaults to such setting.  That sticks in my mind as I once selected English (US) rather than English (UK) on a new machine and had to undo the installation.  So far as Vistalizator is concerned, the MS website states that downloading that installation will invalidate the MS licence of the original operating system.

[quote user="Alex H"]To follow on from your post - does English Windows work fully with an AZERTY keyboard? Do the E keys with accents still work? [/quote] Yes, it will.  I have an AZERTY keyboard with the (UK) PC I am using.  It just needs to understand which keyboard is being used (little language bar icon at bottom right of screen.....FR at the moment, but can switch to EN for QWERTY keyboard.  I think I got help on that on here as well!

[quote user="Quillan"] Only Wondows 7 Ultimate and Ultimate N allows you to change language. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/compare   [/quote] Thanks for the reply.  I had a "Google around" in the meantime and thought that was probably the case, but what a rip-off!  It may not be a huge problem as the individual software may well be usable in English.  We have a product key to activate MS Office for 3 machines, which I bought in the UK with my wife's laptop, so it will be interesting to see how that works out.

I'm not sure whether this is the best section to post this, but here goes anyway......... My son has just bought a laptop from Amazon.fr as he wanted one with an "azerty" keyboard.  He has encountered a problem, in that Windows 7 (Home Premium 64 bit SP1) appears to offer no language option other than French.  We have bought many machines for the household over the years, but I am pretty sure that Windows normally offers a choice of language at the initial set up.......[8-)] Any thoughts please?

Sorry, forgot to put a link in to the brokerage we have used...... http://www.interparcel.com/ You can get an online quote, by entering the dimensions and weight. Good luck

[quote user="Chrissie"] I want to send a large item weighing 20-30 kilos to Australia.  Would a carrier like DHL be the best/safest way? Chrissie (81) [/quote] We ended up paying 40 euros for 1.963 kilos with La Poste.  However, we were able to track the parcel and it was safely delivered a couple of days ahead of the projected date. We've used couriers for large stuff in the past to various overseas destinations without any problem.  Certainly from the UK, they can be more cost effective that the nationsl postal services.

Our plans for next year are to convert our 2nd floor grenier to usable accommodation and put in a number of velux windows.  The house is presently roofed with slate, which I am assured in in reasonably good order.  However, we do have a few drips and we did lose a few slates last winter.  Looking at the crest from inside the grenier, there is a bit too much "mousse expansive" in evidence for my liking. Anyway, given the amount of upgrading we will have done here, I think it makes sense to consider a re-roof, but I would favour replacing the slate with tiles, to match the roof of the extended part of the house. Looking at other houses with tiles around here, the pitch of our roof is a little steeper and I am not sure whether tiles will be a feasible option. The slope of the main roof (measured from horizontal) is 36°.   Internal dimensions of each side of pitch - 2.5m (eaves to centre of grenier) x 1.8m (floor to crest) x 3.1m (eaves to crest).  The roof is 12.5m long. I am supposing that a ceratin amount of strengthening might be needed, in view of the additional weight of a tiled roof, but it is the question of the pitch that I would appreciate some thoughts on just now. Many thanks

Thanks for the reply.  That is the way we have decided to go.  My wife has just gone off to St Maixent, so will learn of the extent of the damage to our finances later.[:(]  We could have just put some cash into the daughter's account at no cost, but no...........must have something to unwrap on Christmas Day!! Bah.....humbug!![:P]

Any suggestions on safest way to send a shoebox-sized of Christmas goodies from France to daughter in Australia please?  Does La Poste offer a fully tracked service or can anyone recommend a courier? Many thanks

Thanks for the confirmation.  I had a sinking feeling that was the case, but one lives in hope...............[:(]