Mrs Fred after 9 years has finally decided it's time she got herself a new pair of glasses. She got the last pair from the UK, but she doesn't want the hassle of returning just for glasses.

So does anyone know the drill?

Do you just walk into an Optician and make an appointment?

Can you recommend an Optician? (Would help if they spoke a little English).

What's the going rate for a pair of glasses these days in France?

Thank you.

Bric-a-brac. Organized by the Emmaus-Chatellerault Naintré at La Trimouille.

Friday, September 21 (10 h-19 h)
Saturday, September 22 (10 h-19 h)
Sunday, September 23 (10 h-19 h)

Salle des fêtes La Trimouille.

Free Admission.

Contact: 05.49.90.27.30

Get your Books, Trinkets, Clothing, Small Furnishings, Kitchen & Table Wares at bargain prices.

If you do go and meet some other Brits please mention aroundmontmorillon.com

Hi

I posted on the old forum as to our antique oil boiler and received two really helpful replies ... which have vanished into cyberspace with the demise of the site.

We are in the Uk at the moment but will be back soon and were looking to get the boiler serviced so can someone (I think the Admiral did it before) suggest an oil boiler man - prefereably with a few words of English please?

From memory, the two suggestions before were in Montmorillon itself and a very old, and very well rspected chap in Lassac les Chateau but my memory may be totally wrong on that score.

Thanks

Last year for the first time we got loads of Asian Hornets around one of our apple trees, it was around this time of the year and they go after the windfalls.

I've just checked out my beer traps and there was the first one among the usual hornets, apparently they are very bad for bees and can give a very nasty sting, so get your beer traps out now!

This is a photo from last year, it's not brilliant but if you click to enlarge you will see what they look like.

HP v40 Fax, copier, scanner and printer, waiting to go to a good home. Make us an offer. About 10 years old. Otherwise Emmaus awaits ...

Journet area.

Reply to this post, please!

Hi All,

please take a look at our website glass2france.com

We supply building materials & tools direct from the UK

from a few screws posted out to a van load of windows.

(extra discounts for Montmorillion customers, due to plans to open a trade counter / showroom there next year)

Salut Everyone

We are just about to purchase a place (wreck ? project ? life changing property?) just on the outskirts,

have been all over the country and just find Montmorillon a charming place.

Apparently there has been reports of some scammers selling Post Office Calendars, they are fake and you should only buy from your regular delivery Man/Lady.

The official Post Office calendars should not be available before October so be careful and only buy from your regular delivery person.

We always buy one from our regular post lady and we give €5, and for that we get excellent service. She will always keep an eye out for any letters we have left out pegged to our post box for delivery, and she will even take our post and tell us the next time how much it cost.

What about you, do you buy a calendar from your regular Post Office delivery person and what do you think of the service?

Not sure how to make your what's on ad stand out? Have a look at these handy threads by YOYO.

Starting a new thread.

Images in your post.


If you're still not sure and you need some help posting your what's on ad, give me a shout and I will do it for you. I'm not here all the time but I will get around to it as soon as I can.

Fred.

Not sure how to make your for sale ad stand out? Have a look at these handy threads by YOYO.

Starting a new thread.

Images in your post.


If you're still not sure and you need some help posting your for sale ad, give me a shout and I will do it for you. I'm not here all the time but I will get around to it as soon as I can.

Fred.

Not sure how to make your wanted ad stand out? Have a look at these handy threads by YOYO.

Starting a new thread.

Images in your post.


If you're still not sure and you need some help posting your wanted ad, give me a shout and I will do it for you. I'm not here all the time but I will get around to it as soon as I can.

Fred.

Not sure how to make your business ad stand out? Have a look at these handy threads by YOYO.

Starting a new thread.

Images in your post.


If you're still not sure and you need some help posting your business ad, give me a shout and I will do it for you. I'm not here all the time but I will get around to it as soon as I can.

Fred.

La Brasserie is just on the outskirts of Montmorillon [past the station, under the viaduct and then first left].

Montmorillon Hospital from next week will open a new specimen collection centre for blood & urine. It's not intended as competition of the Laboratory in the town, as it will only be open between 07:30 09:00 Mon - Fri.

You will need a prescription from your GP to use the service and apparently you can just turn up and wait your turn, but it may be best to make an appointment if you don't want to hang around.

The laboratory in town will continue as normal.

If you do use it please post feedback here.

Big vide grenier in Lathus on Sunday September 8.

For those of you interested in buying odd-shaped bits of rusty metal, clothes that would fit a midget, well-thumbed tatty books and other delights, kick-off is at 0700.

Bar, buffet serving up chips and lightly grilled bits of shoe leather cunningly sold as "steak" plus all the usual trimmings one would associate with the thriving metropolis that is Lathus.

If you fancy turfing out any long treasured tat from the garage and selling it to unsuspecting punters, you'll have to set-up early. "Emplacements" are free.

It's a harmless way to spend an hour or two before the Hope & Anchor opens. Oops..sorry....wrong country.

Well that's good news. Despite being a few thousand kilometres away from France I've been able to close my accounts with both Saur (water) and Soregies (electricity).

Both accounts have been cancelled simply by completing their required forms and giving proof of having sold the house.

We sent both sets of documents by way of courier (yes I know could have done it using the online LRAR I previously posted about), but at the time the courier was more suitable.

So it does appear that France is coming into the modern age, neither supplier needed to visit the house to take a final reading, they were happy to take my word for the final reading.

Interestingly enough, Soregies had done an estimated bill for the last period (it was due to be read a couple of days before the sale finalised) and they have happily removed the final invoice without any fuss, which is great because of course they had seriously over-estimated how much electricity an empty house uses .

Saur, we were previously paying monthly and had already accrued more than enough to cover the use this year and have creditted it all straight back into my bank

We all know and love the French distrust of mailing important documents such as account resiliations and the fact that unless you utilise the La Poste registered mail service (a.k.a. LRAR - Lettre Recommendee avec avis de Reception) they'll never acknowledge having even heard of you .

But what to do when you're not present in France and don't want to go to the extreme of sending by courier or international registered letter (where you may never even get proof of receipt).

Well, it's easy - there is an online facility provided by La Poste to do all of this online.


1). Create your document, best is by way of a PDF file (although they do accept other formats, just that PDF preserves your formatting and page layout best).

2). If you don't already have one, open an online account with La Poste HERE...

3). Then follow the reasonably simple instructions at THIS page, uploading your document and filling out all the address fields.

4). Pay the fee, they take credit and debit cards.

Your letter and any attachments you've included will then be printed out by La Poste and delivered directly to your recipient from the nearest sorting office, the receipt for the delivery can then be tracked online as well as being sent back to the sender address you used.

If like me, your French address is no more (just sold) - then use a friend's address to have the 'avis de reception' sent to.

I've used this service a few times now and have to admit that it works very well. Three pages just sent (black and white print) and it only cost me € 6,62 which considering it's only € 1,81 extra for the privilege of having them print out the document is often cheaper than the cost of fuel and time involved in trudging down to your nearest La Poste office (courier from where I currently am would have been € 16 )

We've got these nasty little wasps with long legs keep making nests all over the place, there was even one under the lid of the rubbish bin. They are settling in the patio table brolly and have started building nests under the tiles of the roof.

A good spray of wasp killer does seem to do the job, but it's becoming a bit expensive. Especially the other day when I had to buy those long reaching ones that can squirt 6 Mts to get to three nests on the roof, €14 from Spar in Lathus and as much as I would like to support the smaller shops they are only €8 in Leclerc and I needed two the other day.

Has anyone got any suggestions for stopping the wasps building their nest in the first place? We have the usual Beer Traps but that hasn't stopped them, and at the moment I'm trying Cucumbers! Yes cucumbers, apparently wasps don't like cucumbers. And so far after removing the existing nests and laying slices of cucumber around I haven't seen a wasp.

Any more tips welcome.

Anyone got any knowledge of solar electricity systems?

I'm trying to find out the pro's & con's of going off grid for electricity.

Thanks.

Fred.