Alane

Deauville is a lovely place but it does seem to attract the most awful snobs and posers so this isn't surprising. People watching can be interesting there, especially at Film Festival time. I suspect they needn't be too worried. The BBC article is not correct when it says that this is the first budget airline route to Normandy. A few years ago one of the other operators (I can't remember which, it might have been flybe) set up routes to Caen and Rouen. Demand was not high and after a while the routes were combined and the plane would take off from Caen and stop of at Rouen en route to the UK and it eventually closed. Whether Ryanair can make it work is another matter of course. I wouldn't have thought that an airport so close to the ports at Caen and Le Havre would make much difference to house prices.

In defence of Sawday's. When we were first looking for a property in France in the 90's we regularly stayed in a wonderful B&B in Normandy and the owner told me that her goal wa to get an entry in the Sawday's guide which I had, until then, not heard of. On return to the UK after one of our trips I found the guide in our local bookshop and wrote a recommendation to Sawday's for the B&B. I got a charming, handwritten, reply and a Sawday's rep visited the B&B and they were put in the next guide, for which I got thanked by the host and hostess and received a free copy of the Sawday's guide as a thank you for the recommendation. After that I NEVER got to stay with them again as they were always full! Luckily this coincided with our finding our house so no great damage done but it made me think A great new hotel/restaurant has opened near to us and I'm wondering whether to recommend them and risk never getting to eat there again because the hotel rooms are full of Brits.

Chris I am back in the UK and was planning to return later in the week but will probably not now get back to France for some weeks due to other demands. In all likelihood the timber won't stay around that long so I won't follow it up. If you yourself or anyone else is interested  the ad was in the Pont Audemer L'eveil (not far from Honfleur and Rouen) and I can pass on contact details. .

Chris I've just seen this ad in our local paper "A vendre 15m3 de bois de charpente chene 15 ans de sechage. Differentes sections en un seul lot 4000 Euro. Particulier". Confirmation of your advice and I'm very tempted as I still need a fair amount of timber to complete my renovation and know that I could flog the rest on e-bay in the UK for far more than €270 per m3. I've brought oak from the local sawmill but this is the best deal I've seen..

Just got back from a weekend trip. Held up for an hour on the train going out after loading - no explanation other than an announcement from the driver saying he was waiting for clearance to leave so I assume a train held up in the tunnel. J.R. You're right that the management must have something going for them if they can keep the workforce happy in the circumstances. I had some correspondence with their customer service people a while ago and we touched on this and they did say that feelings were running high which is hardly surprising. This weekend as ever they were cheerful and helpful. My current batch of frequent traveller tickets are almost exhausted and I'm wondering whether to buy another set - I know that financially I'll be OK if I buy using a credit card if they go bust but if they continue under the current management and degrade the service still further with fewer crossings then the ferry becomes more attractive.

Bixy The woolly thinking here is not considering if the tunnel is a part of the strategic infrastructure or not. "Even if you never take your car through the tunnel, goods which you buy have come through it on the back of lorries." - They don't have to. The ferries did and continue to do a perfectly adequate job even in bad weather. Ferries have been withdrawn from the route because the Tunnel created over capacity. The country needs motorways because the A roads can't do the job, we need education because it is essential to the development of a stable and competitive economy. We need hospitals and a defence force. We never needed a Channel Tunnel and it would have been wrong to spend state funds on it which could have been better spent elsewhere on the other assets you have described. It has nothing to do with Society or Thatcherite thinking. You are correct in saying that the government can borrow money cheaper than business but the logical extension of that argument is that all major projects are state funded. Remember this wasn't a UK project but a joint French/UK job.  The goverments may or may not have made a better job of the construction project but I have my doubts and suspect that the costs would have been far higher - look at Concorde as an example of French/UK joint project - a superb product but years late and over cost. What will happen if the current management cannot reach a deal is that the debts of the tunnel will be reduced because the shareholders will lose out and/or the banks will write off part of their debts. The deal proposed earlier this year offered reduction in the debt level to a level at which the current management believed the tunnel could support - whether or not they do reach agreement it is really just an argument about whether the banks or the investors lose their cash. I hope they do reach agreement as I feel for the staff who continue to be helpful and courteous through what must be an extremely stressful time for them but given the apparent brinkmanship going on it has to be a close call. I'll be using the tunnel this weekend so hope they don't go bust today.

If the project had been financed by the EU then people who never use the tunnel would have been underwriting the travel and transport costs of those who do. Whatever the arguments about the tunnel the fact is that the ferries provided a good service before the tunnel existed and continue to do so. There was no strategic need for a tunnel and the UK government agreed to its construction on the basis that it was privately funded. Investors had a choice as to whether to invest or not- which would not have been the case if taxpayers had footed the bill. When I last checked I didn't have the option of not paying taxes unless I wanted a close ongoing relationship with the tax man. The original estimates were of course way undercooked and the investors got burnt. The other way of looking at this is that a wonderful civil engineering asset was created that can be used by all. Forget the Millau bridge - this was a truly fantastic achievement it's just a shame that as it's underground it doesn't look so impressive. It won't close down, it will just change ownership and will continue to operate. Whether a management team appointed by the banks will be better than the current crew is a matter that only time will tell. I remain of the opinion that the current management have got it wrong and would be better operating a turn up and go service as all my bad experiences are related to the operation of the tunnel as a service for which tickets must be booked. But then, I'm just a regular customer who doesn't have to juggle with conflicting demands that go with operating a major transport operation, so what would I know anyway.

The only way we have found is to use the wire traps. Not very pleasant but it does work. Eventually new moles will arrive to re-colonise the tunnels and I have to start again but by being persistent over a number of years I've only had one lot try to move in this year. Set the traps as soon as there is any evidence of activity - I tend to set 5 or 6 around the area. I keep the traps in a large flower pot outside so they don't pick up any human odours and wear gloves to handle them.  

The numbers are down without a doubt. The trains run less frequently and are rarely full. The only exception seems to be bank hols and sunday evenings in the summer - when they still don't run a full service. I've suggested to them on several occasions that they go back to the turn up and go model - if their forecasting was any good they'd be able to shift people quickly on bank holidays anyway if they run the 4 shuttles per hour they used to at busy times. It's very rare not to be able to book a ticket right up to the last minute even at bank holidays so why the belief that too many people might turn up? My experience is that the booking service is a bit of a waste of time anyway. If the shuttle isn't busy then I may have to wait for the booked shuttle and if it's busy and I turn up on time it is rare to actually get on the booked shuttle because they are so poor at getting passengers quickly from arrival to the shuttle loading area. The self service check in has made things worse at busy times and it isn't uncommon to queue for 20 or 30 minutes before even getting to the booth. Time and again I've been held up by passengers who are making a fuss because they've arrived either early or late and the auto check in has allocated a shuttle time they don't like.  They always say that they know their own business best but they must have significant costs to cover for the booking service when they could just swipe a credit card at check in and charge a fixed fee.

Cassis I called SANEF and they sent me a new one PDQ. They charged me a deposit on the new one and I had to post the old one back and they then refunded the deposit on that one although the refund took a while to come through. I think I could have just taken it into one of the bureaux for replacement but I was on my way back to the UK and didn't have the opportunity to do so.

Our battery failed after just over 3 years of use. I recall some others had the same problem after a similar period. It's obviously expected, as when we had problems the person in the booth diagnosed the problem - luckily ours failed at a small station with only one lane for both telepeage and payments.

We've put a DPM beneath the slab and have had no problem with damp in the adjacent brick and flint walls which were originally laid using some form of mud mortar. I was aware of this being a potential problem and comparing the walls adjacent to the slab and those where we haven't laid a floor there is no discernible difference. We are in Normand where it can get pretty wet! Not to say of course that someone elses experience won't be entirely different.

I've been covered by the AA (via the Eurotunnel scheme) in previous years and was NEVER asked for proof of servicing history. I was "lucky" in that my alternator failed, starter motor failed and an electrical fault manifested in France and the labour costs for replacement were covered by the insurance and that I suffered no more than relatively minor inconvenience for all of them. Incidentally I have a full service history on my car but the insurer never asked.

Jon I paid £58 each for 195/65 15 Reinforced Firestone's at a local dealer- most of the newer Galaxy/Sharans use larger tyres - mine is getting on a bit now so may not be the same size tyre as yours of course. That was the cheapest I could find locally in the UK.

And I'd never thought about my big end being feminine before. You learn something new every day.

Sorry to put a spoke in your wheel but we have a similar car and the last time I looked at tyre prices in France they were pretty much the same price as I could achieve by ringing round the local Kwik Fit, ATS etc. I wonder if he was comparing like with like? The UK guys are always trying to convince me that a standard tyre is OK and I don't need the re-inforced spec that Volkswagen/Ford specify. I even had one who fitted ordinary tyres despite my specifying reinforced and then moaned like stink when I made him take them off again. I have heard that servicing is cheaper in France but never thought it worth the effort of losing a day out of a trip and the thought of discussing over the phone the necessary extra work that the garage had found has never seemed attractive. While my French is reasonable I'm not sure if it's up to querying whether my big end has gone or not. At my last service in the  UK the garage called to say that my anti-roll bar down-links needed replacing - how would I cope with that in French (or Polish) I ask myself. Now if your warehouse is staffed with English speakers you may well be on to a winner.....

Coming back this evening I was faced, at Abbeville with three lanes open to all, and all having a Telepeage sensor. In the lane I first thought to choose a British Hire Van driver was allowing his child to hang out of the passenger window and try to operate the ticket dispenser so I chose the adjacent lane - bad choice - another Brit car with a lone driver who had to get out to walk around the car to get his ticket.  Aaaaagggghhhhh. At least I missed the queues at Boulogne toll booths where there is of course a dedicated lane. Regarding the post regarding names - I'm surprised the "official" term for a Doofer is a Badge. This sounds very anglicised or is Badge really a French word?

I've noticed that Sanef have started to remove some of the exclusivity from the Doofer cohort. At some ticket issuing stations they are removing the Telepeage only lane and are putting Telepeage sensors in all the lanes. This means that WE HAVE TO QUEUE  with hoi poloi. Admittedly the queues to pick up tickets usually aren't very long but is this the thin end of the wedge?  

I'd agree with the comments about buying. We have a 160l cheapo from Brico Marche bought a few years ago. It's been no problem. This year I've mixed concrete for two room floors one of them was almost 4cu metres - no problems at all for the mixer. Me and my other half, now that was another story. I've since done another at around 3 cu M and that was a doddle. If you see an English couple in Normandy with Popeye biceps then you'll know it's us.  Unfortunately I couldn't get access for a truck but at least no problem with the mixer. I plan to sell it on eventually.

A number of people over the years have made the comment that items from the Brico sheds are inferior to those from professional suppliers. Are there any recommendations for make of Chauffe Eau? I'm about to install one as well and was going to go for the Brico Depot top range but wonder if I'd do better elsewhere as I'm not keen to repeat the job. The top of the range comes with a 5 year guarantee on the "cuve" which is presumably covers deterioriation of the water container itself. The electrical parts have a 2 year guarantee but other parts only 1 year. The make appears to be Vivrelec and the range is Acapulco. Any suggestions welcome.

If you buy from a builders merchants they can probably give you a spec sheet for maximum loading on the props. I got one when I bought mine (cheaply) some years ago and recall that the specified load capacity was well in excess of what I would need for a two storey timber frame building. Unfortunately I can't find the sheet now although I did post some of the specs on here some time ago but it was before the system was changed so I suspect the info is lost now. I think the spec sheet is probably in France so I'll look it out when I'm next over.  

"if you are blocking a checkin lane" I've now taken to waiting at the entrance to the coned off run in to the check in lanes until I'm sure that the car in front can negotiate the auto check in machine. At least I then have the chance to change lanes. Today on our return we were behind a Swiss driver and the machine obviously would not take his credit card and I was able to divert into another lane. In another lane I saw a driver verbally abusing someone who was causing a hold up because they couldn't operate the system. There just aren't enough attendants to provide help to people who are having problems with the machines. On a broader point - today must have been one of the busiest "return to the UK" days of the year. On the motorway to the ports almost every other car was a GB - but at the Eurotunnel terminal there seemed to be very little business. Is this a reflection that people don't want to book with a company in bankruptcy protection I wonder?    

Our local Leclerc had this - it was with a display of camping gas stoves etc and marketed by Camping Gaz. Smallish bottles only but they had Blue, Green and Pink fluids in the small bottles.  

So far I've not been charged for travelling on earlier trains even if it takes me into a different charge period. Maybe I've just been lucky! Outside of busy times it is usually possible to go straight through to the loading area without waiting to be called and if there is space get on the next available train regardless of the booking letter issued at check in. At busier times attendants (quite reasonably) stop cars leaving the terminal area before their crossing is called so this trick won't work.

I am just about to buy a water heater so your comments are helpful - what is the description for an element which can be replaced without draining down and can anyone advise on the "good makes" to go for please. Thanks in advance.