With an exclusive deal with Ryan Air we are jointly sponsoring a competition through our web sites and giving the winners two tickets each month for the next three months.

The entry form is on our subscription page at...

....entry is FREE, you DO NOT have to subscribe to the digest to enter the competition.

Fill in the form with your name and e-mail and we will send you details of the competition for the first two tickets.

There is no catch, you do not have to buy or sign anything and we promise not to pass your details on to anyone.

If you have any problem accessing the form, please write to me and I will send one by e-mail..

mailto:RyanAir@Nizas.com

===

3. Rarer than Hens Teeth

I don't often write about individual properties for sale. But I have already mentioned this one in newsletter #41 and I was amazed to find that it is still for sale. The owner is 102 years old and it has been in his family since - for ever. I went mainly to photograph the owner, who attributes his long life to - drinking plenty of red wine and never getting married, but I found a unique large plot of land in one of France's most sought after towns.

Sete is almost an island in the Mediterranean, from the house you can see over the town to the Mediterranean and clear across the inland lake of Thau to the mountains of central France. Like many French people here he detests the realtors and refuses to deal with them, so he asked me to "tell the world" as he would like to retire to a nursing home. I have put the page on, with photos of the owner, at...

....if you would like to look at his property. The house is not very interesting , but plots of land like this are like horse feathers - less than $250,000 - you negotiate with him, he is much sharper than me. You could build three or four villas on this plot ( I wish I had the money).

===

4. Over 100 More Properties

am in the process of selecting and adding over 100 more vacation rental properties all over France. This is, for me, a mammoth task, but it will be done soon. Meanwhile if you are looking for accommodation than have a look at our site at..

....and if there is nothing listed in the region you are looking or the properties are not exactly what you require then please write to me and we will see what is on our new lists to be added shortly.

===

5. Availability of Villas and Gites

The first question we are asked about any rental property is usually "Is it available for the dates we want?". We could put an availability chart on the pages, some sites do this, but we strongly recommend that owners do not advertise openly when their properties are vacant as this not only tells their clients looking for a villa or gite in the sun, but also less desirable surfers who will know when an isolated cottage or villa is likely to be empty.

It is a sad fact, that the popular areas for visitors also attract cheats, tricksters and criminals. This is not just in France, it is a problem everywhere, but there are a larger number of homes here which are only occupied part of the year and it would be imprudent to advertise when they are empty.

One villa near our village has been broken into twice recently. The owner is now looking at ways of using Internet and inexpensive webcams to give an automatic surveillance of their property if there is any disturbance. It works by switching on the cameras if an intruder is detected, in a similar way to most alarms, and then dialing up the owner and sending the images by e-mail or recording them in a remote host. This seems to be a good system and is likely to deter intruders if it is announced on discrete panels around the property. Bells are considered anti-social in France and are generally ignored, there is no facility for a direct line to the police station.

Most owners have a local contact who has the keys or does the cleaning. Another service just starting is "Angel On The Med"...

This goes much further and offers services which can also help with security, maintenance and all sorts of other help for home owners.

Combine the AngelOntheMed service with webcam surveillance and this could be a whole new business - anyone interested?

===

6. Bargain Flights to France

Boston-Bordeaux: $340
Washington-Paris: $355
San Francisco-Nice: $425
Los Angeles-Paris: $416
Dallas/Fort Worth-Marseilles: $430
Newark-Strasbourg: $340
Atlanta-Nice: $397
Chicago-Toulouse: $411
Miami-Paris: $340
New York City (JFK)-Lyon: $340

You can see full details at...

===

7. The Nizas Project

Life in our village at...

The main topic of conversation is the new Mayoral elections in March. Our present mayor is not standing again and gave his farewell speech last Saturday. One of the big advantages of living in a wine growing village is that any occasion is an excuse for unlimited bottles of wine, pastis and champagne to be brought out, interspersed by bowls of olives and crisps.

Michel, the present Mayor, has only been Mayor for five years, our previous mayor was in the hot-seat for 36 years and said he was disappointed that Michele was not standing again as nothing could be done in such a short time. The Mayor has a very important position, they perform all marriages, are the head of the police and make all administrative decisions for the community. Only the mayor is voted for, not the other team members, the mayor names these personally.

In a community of 540 people, there is not the wide selection of suitable candidates to chose from. As in all political situations, motives for election are often "questionable" and to find someone with the ability, dedication and genuine spirit to serve the community is always hard no matter how big the country or city. Already there is muttering and maneuvering, this is compounded by the fact that the people planning to stand for election do not have to present themselves or their teams until the last minute.

With only a few weeks to go before the election, there are no names officially in the hat, interestingly we can scratch out all the names on the voting paper and add anyone else we like.

One way of finding out the likely candidates is to sit quietly in the village bar and to see how many free drinks appear on your table and who then smiles and gives you a friendly wave. This has worked very well for one of my friends in the village and through his information I am getting some idea of who the potential candidates will be.

===

8. Do You Speak English?

One of the articles in French Property Digest is about the world domination of the English language.

Living here in France, I am aware of many words I thought of as English which are originally French, some of which have shifted their meaning. This is also true of differences between American English and the English spoken and written in the UK.

The Internet is offering new challenges to the professors and guardians of national cultures and their grammar. I went to school in the UK and had an education in the English language, I would put the "u" in colour and "labour", but years of looking at computer screens, codes and software has totally confused me so now I invariably write center, color and labor, I put the letter "z" in words like dramatize and optimize but I still write a cheque to pay bills and see the stars at night. This used to worry me (a little) as I get a lot of letters from people saying "you are English so you should write in English".

I stopped worrying recently when I found to my delight that the "z" was originally used in most English words which now have the pretentious "s" and that the "u" was another affectation brought in much later. In fact the American way of spelling many "English" words is more traditional.

So now I will use my spell checkers and just accept whatever comes along as being OK or even "jolly good". But this is no excuse for real errors on the web sites, so if you see any mistakes (UK or US), or find any broken links on the main pages of any of our sites (not the favorites/favourites pages) , then let me know and a bottle of wine will be kept here for you in our cellar.

===

9. Mailing Lists

I always wanted to write, I loved compositions at school, but it is also clear that this is not my profession. I write this newsletter because I enjoy it, because many of you write to me and because Carole and I make our living by renting our vacation (holiday) homes here in France and there is lots to talk about. Since working with Val, the Editor of French-Property-News, I now understand what a real writer is.

I get a lot of mail each week and, whenever relevant, ask if the writers would like to be added to the mailing list for this newsletter. Each week some people ask to be taken off, some write in saying they enjoyed the letter, came to France, liked it but now they don't need the information any more, but happily each week many more join the list than leave so it is growing. I really do not wish to add to the vast amount of un-requested e-mail we all get, so there is always a simple un-subscribe link at the end of each newsletter.

About 6 months ago I added the address of a company I was exchanging e-mail with about tourism in France. I inadvertently added the addresses in the CC of their mail to me, (this is a function of Eudora you can automatically add both the "to" and "from" fields to the address book). The addresses went into the newsletter file and were merged. There were about 200 to 300 addresses merged with over 10,000 already listed and any duplicates were then stripped out by my mailing service so there is no way of knowing who was added accidentally. The original mail was not saved (another problem with Eudora 4.3) as it was too large.

I take e-mail and mailing lists very seriously, we will never release anyone's address to another company and I will personally de-list anyone who asks, as long as they write from the original address.