Alane

A pint of London Pride on a warm evening in a pub garden - just like this tonight. Foie Gras gently cooked and pink with salad.

Not sure if this is any help but the "Au Souper Fin" at Frichemesnil near Cleres some miles north of Rouen on the A28 is a superb restaurant but also has rooms at 54 Euros per night plus 8 Euros for Breakfast. We have stayed there in the past and had a warm reception and if you are also looking for dinner it was superb - and gets good reports in the Gault Millau guide. http://souper.fin.online.fr/somFR.html  The English pages don't seem to be set up yet but the contact details are there.      

We know nothing about the circumstances that have caused this person to have to lay off his builders, a dozen scenarios that might make a previously solvent individual suddenly lacking cash spring to mind,  and yet people are ready to pass judgement on him even though he is trying to do something to help the builders concerned. Plenty of people would just have kept making excuses for non payment to get as much work done as possible before making the builder wait for their money. Active8 - I hope that you find someone to take on the builders.  

I'm reminded of the story that one of Mitterand's cronies - I think it was Jacques Attali, suggested that after knowing each other for so long they should use the tu form to each other. Mitterand's supposed reply was "Comme vous voulez". Our neighbours use the vous form with us but that may be because we always use it with them - I'd never really thought of doing any  differently after learning French at school where it was suggested that tu was for family and animals. I hope they don't think us overly formal - maybe I'll ask next time I see them, let's hope I don't get a Mitterand response.  

Big Mat delivers in bags 0.75 cu m. There is about an 8 euro premium over buying loose but that includes the cost of the bag which is non returnable.  

It all depends on the time of year. On some of the autoroutes around cities, particularly in the South, on which tolls are charged it is possible to save a lot of time with the telepeage if travelling at rush hours. In those circumstances I have considered it paid its way. For us the big benefit is on a summer weekend going south at the tolls at Abbeville where there are often queues even in the credit card lane and returning going North at Boulogne on a Sunday evening - this is very variable, sometimes the CC lane is empty other times the queue is as long as the cash booths. The other time I thought it money well spent was when some jerk in a large UK 4x4 car tailgated me (inches) on the approach to the Herquelinque (sp) tolls outside Boulogne and followed me into the Telepeage lane, himself followed by other vehicles - presumably French (ho ho). We didn't see them again until they whizzed past us just prior to Abbeville where they joined a long queue for the toll booths as we sailed into the Telepeage lane again. We didn't see them again prior to Rouen. Childish I know, but it gave all my passengers a laugh.    

We did our own plans. I used a product called Turbo Cad, cost about £25,  which didn't take too long to learn - I just went through the tutorial provided one wet Saturday. There are several similar, and of course Visio, which will all do the job. Turbo Cad came with ready made drawings of trees, showers, loos etc but I guess the others may as well. Floor plans, elevations (all sides), site plan, together with maps identifying location, together with photos of the site were required, and also a cross sectional drawing of the site drawn through the house. I omitted the last as I couldn't see the point and was asked by the DDE to submit them before approval- no big deal although I did have to make a visit to the office to discuss the exact positioning of one window because the lady didn't want me to cut a minor post to fit it. This required moving it a few inches and cutting another identical post but it kept her happy. Apart from drawing in biro all over my photos she didn't really make any changes at all but smiling and keeping our cool seemed to ease things throught. I made a point of including floor area calculations on the plans to demonstrate that we were below the limit where an architect was required. I did do the house plans at 1:50 but I don't recall that being a requirement although all the info was on the forms. I think the only requirement was that the plans had to be on A4 minimum size paper whereas I did them on A3 as I managed to source a cheap A3 printer at the time. Our situation was slightly different from your situation in that we were doing a conversion rather than new build. The rules on engaging architects still seemed the same though. Ours is a standard shape Normandy Pressoir so we were able to look at others that had been converted to see what did and din't work. We even stayed in a couple of B&B's that were in similar buildings. That was important as we picked up quite a few tips from others that we could incorporate in the design.

Chris I think you might be a little unfair as I've seen quite a few posts on this forum from people who have purchased green oak from their local sawmills. I agree with you about the pleasure of working with this material. I'm just in the process of replacing the floor joists from half of my barn conversion with new green oak sourced locally. I paid around €500 including taxes per cubic metre for some beautiful timber much of it quarter sawn with great ray patterns on the surface. In reality it was actually much cheaper as most of the timbers were much longer than I actually paid for - nominal 2.5 metres, much of it over 3 metre and some up to 3.5. Given the quantity I put it through a planer and it has come up wonderfully. No problem dealing with the sawmill, two lovely ladies in the office who think its a great hoot to deal with an English customer and try out their English via e-mail and a the guy who actually cuts the wood is really helpful after he got over the intial suspicion that I might want everything at once. I'm agonising over the finish to give to the joists. Where I put a new external door frame using 8 and 6 inch square timbers into the ground floor I didn't put any finish on the green oak at all other than around the base, and it has darkened up and blends in perfectly with the old frame after just a couple of years. Luckily I don't live in a termite area so am not too worried that I haven't applied preservative, it will certainly outlast me. Internally I'm looking for a bit more of a "furniture" finish and am not sure whether to use lasure, oil or wax on the joists. It isn't as easy as softwood to work and is a lot heavier, I've got biceps in my right arm like Popeye after cutting all the joists by hand but consider it was worth it. I'd be interested in any tips on using an adze. I cut down a pear tree a while ago and trimmed up some of the trunk to a rough finish with the chainsaw and it has been drying out since. I thought of shaping it up with an adze before using for internal door frames really just as an interesting exercise but also to have something a bit different in the house. In the UK our local museum currently has an exhibition about wood working in the early part of the last century with some pictures of furniture makers using an adze - it looks lethal the way they swing the blade near their feet.  

Has he perhaps put both appliances on the same 16A circuit? This would prevent you from using both at once.

We returned on a "free" Frequent Traveller crossing today - Credit Card required. An interesting experience as thousands of England football supporters returned to the UK - the queue was across the bridge over the motorway to get to the check-in booths and car loads of tattooed gents with shaven heads in brand new Range Rover's and BMW X5s trying to barge into the queue. Police with large dogs were patrolling the queue for the check-in. We arrived on time and were over an hour late in crossing back - despite the fact that Eurotunnel were only accepting passengers with reservations so must have known how many to expect.

I watched the second Swedish goal last night and was reminded of the old Swedes 2 Turnips 1 (if I recall correctly although I'm sure someone will correct me if it's wrong)  headline in the Sun. At least it was a draw, the first half was good and we won the group. Awful news regarding Owen but remember Greaves, the star striker in 66 and Hurst; look what happened, although I really can't imagine Crouch scoring 3 in the final. Call me an optimist if you like but optimists live longer.  

There was a reminder, from our local gendarme brigade,  in the local paper, that the rules in this part of the world for use of noisy machinery are 8:30am to 19:30 in the week, similar on Saturday but with a break from 12:00 to 15:00!!! and 10:00 to 12:00 only on a Sunday. Nobody seems to take that much notice of the exact times but the convention seems to be to broadly respect the limits. Assuming you have the same runles maybe a word with your local gendarmes might work if nothing else does?

I'm not sure that the term "customer service" has been comprehended by Eurotunnel. After a sequence of poor service episodes I wrote to them towards the end of the summer season last year cataloguing all the problems I'd encountered and was reprimanded for the length of my complaint which, I was told, would stop them giving full attention to other customers! The point I made was that I was paying a premium price for Eurotunnel in order to cross the Channel quickly and they seemed to be doing all they could to delay me. They did make the excuse that staff were stressed due to the financial situation and I could give some sympathy to that and earlier this year they did seem  to be improving but my view now is that they've reverted to type. They still don't get it. I have concluded that the best scenario is that they are forced into bankruptcy and a totally new management team come in.

Thanks for the replies - sounds like it's worth a try at least. An aerial museum - verrry interesting[+o(]. My neighbour is a bit of a TV freak as well and has a satellite dish and what appears to be different flavours of digital TV in every room, complete with large flat screen TVs. It's a bit like a TV showroom.. I shouldn't be too critical though as we watched the England-Paraguay match from a German channel he found was showing it. I don't really like to impose too much on him so would rather have an alternative and he's bound to be out or have other visitors when there is a game I want to see. He moved in at the same time as us and never even tried terrestrial TV so I don't think he'd be much help with info on signal. I don't recall seeing dishes on many other houses locally so guess there must either be a signal or nobody watches TV. But then what would they do on all those dark winter evenings? Maybe I'll just go for the cheapest set I can find or take a look in Curry's for a Phillips set that I could use here, as I gather that most Phillips sets will work in France. If anyone knows of any good cheap sets in the supermarkets in France I would be interested.

Dick Neither really, we are on the top of a hill on the Eure/Calvados border. If a satellite dish is required then I won't bother as we usually don't watch TV in France. I had some rather fanciful idea of walking into Leclerc, coming out with a 100 Euro TV, and after 5 minutes of setting up, sitting in the garden with a beer watching England squash the oposition. Probably optimistic,  to say the least, on all counts.

This is probably a "how long is a piece of string" question but I'll try anyway. I tried a search but couldn't come up with anything on the topic. We're over in France during the World Cup period and don't currently have a TV at our house. I was thinking of dropping into the local Leclerc and buying a cheap portable TV. How likely am I to get watchable reception in rural Normandy using the built in aerial? Does anyone have any recommendations for a cheap TV which I'll only use in France? I don't really want to get into installing satellite dishes etc as I'm not that football mad but would quite like to watch the England matches.    

Oil based eggshell finish paint does the same job and is easy to cover with emulsion. As the previous post says, the oil based paints stop the stain seeping through as the cover coat dries. If you don't have some old paint hanging around then the "Stain stop" products are effective.

We've done Costa Brava to Buckinghamshire in one day before now and been home by 10pm after breakfast in the Spanish Hotel. No feeling of being tired at all. It's not something I'd do regularly now but it can be done by two drivers without being anywhere near falling asleep at the wheel. Maybe just a question of age (car and drivers) as I don't think I'd feel up to it now? In answer to the original post - there was a book available some years ago called "French Autoroutes" by Richard Binns with info on the autoroutes and stopping places and Michelin had a similar guide. A bit out of date now but it is still available on request at some libraries - I know this as I requested it a year or so ago.

You are correct - a French bank account is not necessary. I've used a UK credit card to pay for my account since I opened it 4 years ago. The official who opened my account was a bit dubious at the time and every once in a while I have to e-mail or fax confirmation of the new expiry date of my card but it still works after all this time.  

At least you can make an appointment at the office. [:'(] Our local EDF don't make appointments at the office, they have to take a French telephone number and the engineer then calls us to make the appointment. Fortunately I have a French mobile but invariably he doesn't ring until we're back in the UK and then says he can't make appointments too far ahead and never calls back. In the end I gave up. Our French neighbours all say that the local EDF are c**p.  

Also bear in mind that at busy times the "next available shuttle" might be a lengthy wait if you miss your booked shuttle. We were booked on the 20:31 last Sunday evening and for various reasons were 30 minutes late for check-in. We were offered the 22:36 crossing, ie a 2 hour wait. It has to be said that the service wasn't particularly busy so likely to be far worse in high season. Fortunately the 22:09 wasn't completely full and we were loaded on at the tail end of that train so at least had 20 minutes less of a wait. It was quite sobering as many of the cars and drivers that we had seen in the car park in Calais were strewn about the carriageway and verges on the M20 just north of the terminal back in the UK in a pretty nasty pile up that we could easily have been in had we been a little earlier.

I think you'll find that the fosse septique is the actual tank whereas the "systeme...."  is a term describing the whole system including septic tank, ventilation, grease trap and drainage field.  

I've found they are a lot les generous with the free crossings than they used to be - or maybe they've just got me marked as a serial complainer. The automated check in system is going to be a nightmare at peak periods in the summer. Many people don't seem to be able to get the hang of it first time so end up calling the attendants. We got held up for 10 minutes last Sunday due to the person in front not liking the alternative crossing they had been offered, presumably after turning up late, and waiting for an attendant to come over to complain to - they ended up having to settle for the crossing offered but were obviously fed up. The queues don't seem any longer at the check-in booths so probably best to head for a manned booth in future.  

Angela   Rasputin did say he wanted to stop off on his outward journey - hence the trek across the toll booths to the office. In the past the office at Abbeville dealt in the badges, it's where I got mine,  but they don't seem to advertise the service any more. I have to agree that the badge is a real boon, particularly in the summer when the autoroute out of Calais is chock full of GB cars creating long queues at the toll booths or at rush hour on roads around cities.

If you complain using the Customer Service link on their web site they will usually tell you what the problem was, and may, just may, offer you a voucher against future crossings to compensate for the inconvenience. We usually travel on a Thursday evening at around 8:30 to 9 (take Friday off and whizz down to Folkestone after work). It is usually very quiet and I'm always suspicious when there is very little traffic and the train is cancelled. The cynic in me wonders if they aren't just saving costs by taking out a train. However your experience is very different and is worth a query to them. In general I've found them to be offering a better service this year with no problems getting on to an earlier crossing at quiet times if we arrive early whereas in the past they would employ some charmless jobsworth to prevent one boarding an earlier than booked crossing despite the fact that the earlier crossing, at the same tariff, was obviously nearly empty.