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Sydney and Huggy

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Everything posted by Sydney and Huggy

  1. Val, have you had a look at the French Ikea web pages , they offer an English speaking service (http://www.ikea.com/ms/fr_FR/customer_service/ikea_services/ikea_services_eng.html).
  2. [quote user="Russethouse"]It's a long time since I've been given a steak knife in a restaurant . I like my meat tender......like my men [:)][/quote] woman, man + knife - bad, bad combination
  3. Haven't got, or ever used a Canon and haven't looked at the spec for the 40D  but would suggest that whatever you buy make sure it has the self cleaning facility for the low pass filter.  A couple of minuscule spots of dust on it is infuriating, irrespective of how careful you are when changing a lens. If it doesn't blow off with a blower (don't touch it with a brush) then its an expensive job to get it cleaned professionally.
  4. Scooter Does it have to be from the airport - Le Clerc (and I believe some other supermarche chains) do camion hire of various sizes, and at good rates.  Brochures are available in store, if not obvious, then at the customer service desks.  I don't know if they do the likes of minibus stuff.
  5. [quote user="Pickles"]IKEA has a cabin bag of exactly the right dimensions which also has the advantage of being very light - hence not eating too much into your 10Kg (on Ryanair) allowance - unlike some of the hard [/quote] Just bought one yesterday to use on Ryanair and for what you pay for it there's a lot of room in it.  The IKEA lady I spoke to told me to use a polythene bag inside it to put everything in as its not waterproof.  Though I suppose the only time you would need to worry about it getting wet would be if you checked it in and it ended up sitting on a trolley in the rain.  Its a bit flimsy but if its not leaving your side other than going in to an overhead locker then there shouldn't be a problem.
  6. We have booked Edinburgh - Limoges and return in early July, and booked the car through Ryanair (car rental was as good a price as I could find anywhere else).  Considerably cheaper than driving to Hull, ferry to Zeebrugge and driving down.  The down side - no restocking the cupboard with wine.  No problems with rudeness - did it all on line. My brother had an experience using Ryanair in the past when the flight was late arriving at Limoges (surely not you say [;-)]) and he had booked the car through Ryanair - think its Hertz they use as partners.  Their desk had remained open to await the flight but the other car rental desks had closed up and staff gone home.  Left a lot of unhappy people trying to find a bed for the night so that they could pick up their car in the morning.
  7. We never saw any paperwork as the architect dealt with the Mairie and Batiment de France for us.  I'll ask him first chance I get to see if he submitted it.
  8. Thanks Kathy.  We only bought last August and its been a building site since.  The builder finished the bulk of the work in mid April so it was only after then that anyone could contemplate staying in it.  It was only in May this year that we got furniture in and stayed there.
  9. We looked at prices at home and from IKEA in France to buy on-line.  A few things worked out about the same, like dining room chairs, but very few articles are cheaper there.  Does seem incredible when it all comes from the same factories.  Some of the differences are astounding - eg dining table worked out £100 more in France so bought it here and took it over.  Some things don't come flat pack and just won't fit in the car so had to buy there, like beds and mattresses.  The delivery price varies according to the total cost of your order so either make sure if you slip in to the next band up to make full use of the balance or knock something off to come under the threshold.  The order gives you an indication of what week you can expect delivery and they phoned us on the Monday.  Stuff delivered on the Wednesday, though the driver had a big problem finding us.  My brother went out to look for the IKEA lorry after the driver phoned for directions but it complicated matters when the driver turned up in a plain white truck - a sub contractor.  If you order something that is made to order, such as a leather sofa, the delivery cost is built in so nothing extra to pay (though you can't tack a couple of chairs on to have them delivered free at the same time!) The alternative is to do an online stock check for the things you want and, if they are all available do as some have suggested on here and hire a van.  Our initial enquiries to get hold of a van before we came over in January suggested it was impossible to hire a fairly large van in Moulins but would have to go to Clermont-Ferrand to get one.  First morning there drove in to the Leclerc car park in Moulins and there was a row of them, all shapes and sizes.  The girl that dealt with us the next morning would not accept my brother's old style driving licence as she'd never seen the old green sort before so make sure you have your photo licence (and the counterpart) if you are hiring.  It would probably work out quite a bit cheaper to do it that way if you are buying a load of stuff.
  10. We went out the first 2 weeks in May and put the furniture in as the builder has more or less finished so not looking to have to pay habitation this year. (Though have since discovered the chaudiere 'est morte' and having to find cash to replace that)  Builder and his friends (ex-pats) have been there for several years and keep telling us "just wait, don't ask about the taxes as they'll bill you in due course". Bit cautious about this as don't want to land a bill for 2-3 years at once.  I seem to recall reading the fonciere bills are issued in the 'third quarter' but don't know if that refers to the current year or for the forthcoming year. I know one of you out there will know, can you please tell us?  [8-)] Thank you
  11. We have just had a new fosse installed (the estate agent forgot to mention there wasn't one, or rather, lied through his teeth saying there was one) and the filter bed is only about 5m from the well.  Been inspected by the water people and passed as Ok. [:D]
  12. Thanks Charles - yes, he is authorised to issue the paperwork so that's good news.
  13. Have a nose around here and see if you can get an idea of prices to compare  [8-|] http://www.bricodepot.fr/montlucon/bois-et-materiaux
  14. At long last we have managed to get a plumber to fit new piping from our tank after TotalGaz took away the big old eyesore and buried the new one for us.[:)] We know that the certificate of conformity has to go to Qualigaz to be authenticated and then returned to us before TotalGaz will fill the tank and quite understand why.  Does anyone know what sort of time scales are involeved in sending the certificate to Qualigaz and then having it returned to allow us to get the tank filled please?  [8-)] We are due out in a couple of weeks time and it would be good to have hot water running to the shower.  We are just outside Souvigny, Allier
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