BEACHES Beaches are public property within 5m of the high-tide mark, so you can kick sand past private villas. Under a different law, however, you can't camp.

CAMERAS AND FILM Film is considerably cheaper in North America than France or Britain, so stock up before travelling. If you're bringing a video camcorder, make sure any tapes you purchase in France will be compatible. Again, American videotape prices are way below French prices.

CHILDREN AND BABIES Kids are generally welcome everywhere, and in most bars and restaurants, though French children seem to be much more well trained at a younger age in restaurant etiquette. Hotels charge by the room, with a small supplement for an additional bed or cot, and family-run places will usually babysit or offer a listening service while you eat or go out. Especially in the seaside towns, most restaurants have children's menus or will cook simpler food on request. You'll have no difficulty finding disposable nappies ( couches à jeter ), but nearly all baby foods have added sugar and salt, and French milk powders are very rich indeed. SNCF charge nothing on trains and buses for under-4s, and half-fare for 4-11s . In most museums children under 4 are free and it's usually half price for under-18s, while entry to many monuments is free for under-12s. Most local tourist offices have details of specific activities for children - in particular, many resorts supervise "clubs" for children on the beach. And almost every town down to small ones has a children's playground with a good selection of activities. Most parks, even in Paris, have a children's play area; unfortunately the majority of parks are gravelled rather than grassed and when there are lawns they are often out of bounds ( pelouse interdite ), so sprawling horizontally with toddlers and napping babies is usually not an option. Something to beware of - not that you can do much about it - is the difficulty of negotiating a child's buggy over the large cobbles that cover many of the older streets in town centres.

CONTRACEPTIVES Condoms ( préservatifs or capotes ) are available at all pharmacies, as well as from many clubs and street dispensers (10F/¬1.50 for 3-4 condoms) in larger cities. You can also get spermicidal cream and jelly ( dose contraceptive ), plus the suppositories ( ovules, suppositoires ) and (with a prescription) the Pill ( la pillule ), a diaphragm ( le diaphragme ) or IUD ( le sterilet ). Test sticks ( tests réactifs ) for the Persona monitor (only available in Europe) are readily available in pharmacies for 95F/¬14.49 per packet.

ELECTRICITY This is almost always 220V, using plugs with two round pins. If you haven't bought the appropriate transformer before leaving home, the best place in France to find the right one is the electrical section of a department store, where someone is also more likely to speak English; cost is around 60F/¬9.15.

FISHING You get fishing rights by becoming a member of an authorized fishing club - tourist offices have details.

LAUNDRY Laundries are common in French towns - look in the phone book under "Laveries Automatiques". They are often unattended, so come pre-armed with small change. Machines are normally graded into 5kg, 8kg or 10kg wash sizes, and the smallest costs around 12F/¬1.80 for a load, though some laundries only have bigger machines and charge around 20F/¬3. If you're doing your own washing in hotels, keep quantities small as most forbid doing any laundry in your room.

PEDESTRIANS French drivers pay no heed to pedestrian/zebra crossings marked with horizontal white stripes on roads. It is very dangerous to step out onto one and assume drivers will stop as in Australia and Britain. Take just as great care as you would crossing at any other point. Also be careful at traffic lights: check cars are not still speeding towards you even when the green man is showing.

PETROL The cheapest gas ( essence ) or diesel fuel ( gasoil ) can be bought at out-of-town superstores. Four-star is super ; unleaded is sans plomb .

SAFE SEX Paris has the highest number of people suffering from AIDS of any city in Europe, and studies show that there are almost equal numbers of heterosexual and homosexual people who are HIV-positive. Among heterosexuals (excluding drug users) the number of women who are HIV-positive has overtaken men.

SWIMMING POOLS Swimming pools ( piscines ) are well signposted in most French towns and reasonably priced, usually around 16F/¬2.44 for a swim. Tourist offices have their addresses. You may be requested to wear a bathing cap, whether you are male or female, so come prepared.

TIME France is one hour ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) throughout the year. It is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, and nine hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time. This also applies during daylight savings seasons, which are observed in France (as in most of Europe) from the end of March through to the end of September.

TOILETS Ask for les toilettes or look for signs for the WC (pronounced "vay say"); when reading the details of facilities outside hotels, don't confuse lavabo , which means washbasin, with lavatory. Usually found downstairs along with the phone, French toilets in bars are still often of the hole-in-the-ground squatting variety, and tend to lack toilet paper. Standards of cleanliness are often not high, and men shouldn't expect much privacy in the urinal, which often won't have a door. Both bar and restaurant toilets are usually free, as are toilets in museums, though toilets in railway stations and department stores are commonly staffed by attendants who will expect a bit of spare change. Some have coin-operated locks, so always keep 50 centimes and one and two franc pieces handy for these and for the frequent Tardis-like public toilets found on the streets. These beige-coloured boxes have automatic doors which open when you insert coins to the value of two francs, and are cleaned automatically once you exit. Children under 10 aren't allowed in on their own.