19/04/2012

A strange sort of day. We fetched the aged FIL from Vierzon hospital, and once again there was no communication regarding his post-operative care. Very odd indeed. We’re starting to think that this is the norm for the French medical system.

LSS received a letter notifying her that her bank account is finally open. Unfortunately she is unable to transfer any money into it because she doesn’t have an electronic card reader. So if you’re reading this, have a Natwest bank account, and want to do an online transfer from the UK, make sure you have an electronic card reader before you leave. As for me, I can transfer funds quite happily because I’m with First Direct in the UK. That is to say, I would be able to transfer funds quite happily, but am currently unable to do this because I still haven’t managed to get a French bank account.

We’re currently also researching buying a wood stove with back boiler so that it will provide domestic hot water with hopefully a couple of radiators (especially in the bedroom which is a bit cold!) After all, there are 30 hectares of woodland so we shouldn’t run short of fuel!

Today I received an email reply from a UK supplier of wood stoves. I had seen on their website that they had wood stoves with back boilers, and wanted to know whether it was possible to have one delivered to France. Unfortunately this information was not forthcoming. Instead the email basically said (regarding back boilers) “Don’t do it! Rather buy the biggest woodstove that money can buy and rely on other methods of heating water. We’ve now stopped supplying stoves with back boilers because no British plumbers know anything about fitting them.”
Er, what?

LSS has written a letter to Honda France enquiring about getting a Certificate de Conformité for the ST1100. This is apparently needed before you can get a “Carte Gris” which is the name for the document which registers the bike in France. She also wrote a letter to Hyundai so that she can get her car registered here too.

Oh, and Orange/France Telecom turned up to look at the problem with the line. Let’s see, this will be engineer number 3.

Unfortunately they haven’t fully explained the problem to him. He can see that the line is trailing along the ground; however, as the only equipment they’ve given him is a ladder and a wooden stick, there’s not much he can do about fixing it to the EDF pylons at twice the height of his ladder. You think I’m joking? No, I’m not. This is what privatisation is all about, people. Departments not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing.

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