Emails in France

The magazine article  "Help I cannot send emails when I am in France" continues to assist readers judging by the emails arriving in the Channel France inbox!  

The article was published following the surprising discovery that it was impossible to email from Outlook accounts set up for the UK when in France.  Visitors to the country naturally have not a clue about this and in any case do not pack an IT technician in their suitcase!  Those regularly going backwards and forwards to France have to change their email settings to accommodate this and then back again when they arrive in the UK or Channel Islands. 

The writer below is interested to know of other people's experiences.  Another reader's email, chosen at random from the emails received is also published.

If anyone has any comments - please post them?  

4/6/12
I found your article "Help!!!! I cannot send my Emails when I am in France....." through a Google search, and it sounds precisely like the problem I have just encountered.  I must also add that the same problem applies when going to the  www.orange.co.uk web site and trying to see your email account from there.

I will definitely try the 'fix' that your article recommends.  But what interests me is the reason mentioned - the blocking by Orange of port 25 (whatever that may be!) because I spent literally hours on the phone to both Orange in the UK and in France, and in person at the Orange shop where I had bought the Clé3G+ (dongle to us Brits), and not one Orange person gave this answer.  I guessed it had to be something like an access block - and my IT colleagues at work had the same opinion.

I'm not back in France until last week of June and will try the 'fix' then.  So fingers crossed.  If there are any more threads on this topic, where could I see them? 

Kind regards IAN

24/1/12
I just wanted to say thank you for posting the info about smtp.orange.fr on your website when using Microsoft outlooks.  I had been searching for help, and everything I read kept telling me to change the port #; which did not work.  Your solution worked perfectly, and was very understandable.
Thanks again!  Cyn

And finally a second blog post!!

Welcome back to the Channel France blog and apologies for the second post being slow to appear!  The intention is to have postings up at the very least once a month.  There are a host of articles on the website of course.

Improvements

The www.channelfrance.co.uk website was launched back in 2003 and was called Gites and More and principally an advertising related website on which Gite owners could advertise their property.  The “more” side grew and the information proved so popular that the concentration moved onto the magazine – hence the name change to Channel France.  Improvements are underway to the layout of the site as some of the older pages are a bit dated.  As a part of this you will see that the magazine home page has changed.  Firm believers in “keep it clear, obvious and simple”, the index was a traditional index as found in a reference book with links to the relevant pages.  Pictures have now been added in order to illustrate the content of the article more clearly.  More "smartening up" to other older pages is underway.

Guest Writers

Guest writers are always welcome.  Some of our writers have been ordinary individuals who have provided information about aspects of their lives in France.  In some cases this does help them in their commercial efforts but in the main, the intention has been to provide interesting articles for the website readers.  This month we welcomed Jennie Poate who works with Siddalls in France.  Jennie was in attendance at the Brittany and Normandy Property Exhibition in Jersey where she kindly offered her services.

Back to the Blog…..

The festive seasons …….

Since the writing of the last and what was also the first blog post, the observance of the length of time Christmas decorations stay in place has continued.  Apart from several baubles in a restaurant, these have now disapeared although it took a long time for the Father Christmas to be taken down from the wall and he was still climbing up his ladder in the weeks approaching Easter!

Easter was early this year but the weather was good enough to see some of the restaurants and attractions that close over the winter re-open.  An article concerning Easter in France was placed on the Channel France site in early April.  The bakery and chocolate shops have put in their usual, excellent effort.  The number of bakeries in small towns which are in fact no more than big villages and who are also excellent chocolatiers is impressive..

Vide Greniers – Car Boot Sales

The Vide Greniers held in the open air at weekends – mainly on Sundays – have recommenced.  There have been the very occasional Vide Greniers under cover during the cold of the winter and early spring months.  The outdoor sales are a delight and attract locals selling off their unwanted items and professionals who go to a variety of these sales.

Elections

The Presidential election takes place shortly.  The first round taking place on 22 April 2012 and if necessary a second round run-off on 6 May.

There are ten candidates including the present president Nicolas Sarkozy.  In order to stand these must have collected the signatures of a minimum of five hundred elected representatives of whom there are a huge number in France – approximately 47,000 it is believed!   These include senators, deputies and elected French members of the European Parliament as well mayors, general and regional counsellieurs which effectively sees off a representative of smaller groups like “The Monster Raving Loony Party” - sorry folks but look at it as a plug and your website is very amusing incidentally and I like the comparison of petrol price per gallon to apple juice, brake fluid, Evian water, Tippex etc per gallon!  Fortunately cars do not run on cider!

The voter turnout for the last Presidential election in 2007 was 83.97% according to my researches on the web.  If I am wrong I stand to be corrected!  Figures obtained from The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance http://www.idea.int/vt/ . 

The Channel France site does not concern itself with politics normally but the election is creating a lot of interest!

Events

Moving away from political events the calendar pages for Brittany, Normandy, Jersey and the Guernsey Bailiwick are well under construction too.  It still continues to be a hard task but there should be a mass of information on the pages next week.  Most of the major towns events in Brittany and Normandy are already listed.  Jersey is complete although there will be more additions, I am sure. Guernsey events for the summer are to go on but April and May are in place.  Remember the Barclays Jersey Boat Show on the 5 - 7 May 2012 which describes itself as the largest free marine festival.

With the extra daylight at the end of the day and the sunshine we had a few weeks ago, summer is surely approaching.

Dogs

Pet travel to and from France improved from January this year with just the need for the rabies vaccination and no subsequent blood test, it having been realised that the vaccine had come a long time since the time of Louis Pasteur!  Pets still need their pet passport and to visit the vet for worming and tick treatment but the window in which to travel has increased.  Taking your pet to France and back is now much easier unless you are traveling in a van from the Channel Islanders or England via Condor Ferries in which case apparently it is has become a costly event as the Jersey Kennel Club will vouch and who complained loudly about Condor Ferries categorisation of vehicles! 

Future pages on channelfrance.co.uk will include the Saints Glaces, a visit to Lehon and a newly updated Travel News Page.

Christmas comes but once a year but I thought it finished on fifth night .............

Driving home through the village, a set of flashing white party lights  brighten the early evening gloom of this late February evening.  They are entwined around the balcony of a small neo Breton house.  I notice that Father Christmas is still climbing up the wall of a house further along on the right.  It is a classically smart house giving the impression of owners far too sophisticated to have an artificial Father Christmas climbing up a ladder into their bedroom window!  A snow scene, complete with white reindeer and sparkly Christmas village scene fills the Bakery window opposite.   This is late February in North West France! 

There is not the pressure to take down decorations by Twelfth Night in France and celebrations and greetings card sending continue throughout January which spreads out the fun and takes the pressure out of the seasonal card send.  However it is nearly March!  Dining in a Chinese restaurant a week ago, the young relation humouring his grand mother by his presence said he could see seasonal decorations.  In knowledgeable grandmother mode, I explained about Chinese New Year and this doubtless being the reason for the festive décor.  “Well why is there a Christmas tree then?”  And there was.

The decorations usually gradually peter out throughout the month of January  with the spectacular and expensive displays in the towns disappearing more rapidly. 

The collection of advertising literature in the post box today includes a flier from Casa detailing Easter Egg shaped candles –“bougie en cocque”, an Easter wreath for the door, a little Easter tree with hanging white and lemon eggs and all the co-ordinating table linen that the hostess’ heart could desire.  All very tempting in spring green and lemon. Well timed by Casa for the forthcoming season and very reasonably priced too.

I notice  from this flier that cup cakes are clearly very “in” now in France because they are also selling cup cake stands, moulds and storage boxes covered with cup cake pictures. The popular little cakes are titled “cup cakes” by the way and not “gateaux en tasse” or something more original that indicates that they were really French in the first place and that the rest of the world has copied the idea in a way vastly inferior to the "Cup Cake de la France"! 

I digress … well why are the reindeer still in the bakery window and the Father Christmas still climbing up the wall in late February?