Alan Zoff
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Posts posted by Alan Zoff
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Overall, I prefer the new version as it is faster and the features seem to work.
I agree with the earlier comment, though, that it is a great shame that we have lost "the new posts within the last so many hours" option. I hadn't come across this feature on other forums and thought it was one of the best things about it! This probably means that I now miss a lot of posts as I really can't be bothered to trawl through too much stuff. There is another life....
But I am grateful for the improvements.
You pays yer money (or in this case, you don't!) and takes yer choice.
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Thanks to both for your comments. I will leave "the experts" to continue any further discussion with this.
Some time or other I really must get to grips with understanding this technology though. (Either that, or ask one of my kids to move back in so that they can trouble-shoot for me....)
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The media has done a good job of scaring off computerphobes like me from opening any attachments or clicking on links such as those given in this thread.
I may have no need for concern here (I have some fairly basic anti-virus and spyware protection) but wonder how I can get reliable reassurance that I will not regret clicking on these links.
(Sorry that this has gone off the subject thread itself but it seems relevant.)
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These hunters who eat the fox. Am I to assume they eat what the pack of dogs have kindly left for them? Mmmmmm.
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A TV programme recently featured a self-styled "river-rat", a man who lived on the Mississippi and was self-sufficient. He killed local wildlife for food but showed tremendous respect for it - far more than any factory farm shows its "victims", whatever the regulations supposedly designed to avoid cruelty.
He had no time for people who killed simply for "sport". I suspect he would more willingly have shot a fox-hunter than a fox (in the interests of protecting wildlife, of course, rather than as a sport! But it conjures up a tempting image....)
Pretty well sums up my view of things.
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You will never completely cure problem of incompetent posters (I have "my moments" and do not therefore exclude myself from that description).
I fully agree, though, that provision of a Search facility that worked would help the situation.
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Tony
You might like to take a look at the thread from 18th October "Apportionment of Taxe Fonciere"
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I have a current account with C-A in Allier, central France. Cheque book and debit card. A charge of 5,10 euros is posted at end of each month.
C-A may not have standard charges across France as it seems they consist of a number of regional banks operating under same banner but with different local organisation and profit centres.
The monthly charge came as a surprise (I should have asked more questions when I opened the account) but I have to say they are extremely helpful and pleasant to deal with.
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I am pleased to say that I have barely understood a word of this thread.
Ignorance is bliss.
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An American, a Japanese and an Irishman are having a sauna.
A beeping sound is heard and the American lifts his arm and presses his wrist which turns it off. "It's just my pager, which has been micro-chipped under my skin".
A few minutes later, a tune plays and the Japanese raises his hand and starts talking into it. "I hope I didn't disturb you", he says to the others. "I have a mobile phone programmed into my hand".
The Irishman feels decidedly outdone and low-tech. Suddenly he walks out of the sauna into the toilet. When he returns, he has a piece of toilet paper hanging from his rear end. When the American points this out to him, the Irishman turns round and exclaims:
"B-Jaysus, would you look at that? I'm getting a fax"
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"retrain as notaires"
I thought we were talking about the real world.
There are a lot of people out there working for a pittance. Waitresses, for example, who would take home nothing if not for the tips. But of course they should all be notaires instead. Bet they hadn't thought of that.
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Haven't a clue whether or not appropriate to tip removal men. As I said, I think it depends on what custom is and effect on wages. I am quite sure the notaire can survive without a tip.
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Rule of thumb appears to be for each 25-30 square metres you will need 1 ton of gravel for each inch of depth. (Sorry for mixing metric and imperial but this was how it was given to me.)
So if area is 10 metres by 6 metres (60 square metres) and you want a 3 inch depth of gravel, you would need between 6 and 7 tons of gravel. I think....
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Tipping. Situation remains as confusing as ever - wherever you are.
The question is best directed at the employers, but still not easily done. If they are paying proper wages, then tips for anything should be unnecessary unless some exceptional service has been provided.
But in the real world, without tips a lot of jobs would not be viable. If the employer assumes his staff's income will be supplemented by tips and pays them accordingly, it's pretty tough on the employee if you don't tip them. And before you say it's not up to you to supplement poor wages, consider how the job was priced - employment costs will have been factored in.
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As the difference in fuel prices is becoming quite marginal now, I will be inclined to fill up in UK and get straight onto autoroute without bothering to stop for petrol around Boulogne. For the sake of a pound (or less), I would rather get some miles under my belt.
Hopefully, the new road will remove some of the confusion around the port roads. The road signs/layout have never been great around Boulogne and there always seem to be a number of first-timers looking lost. The link road should also help avoid ferries being missed as a result of roadworks in centre backing up the traffic to beyond the port access - something that has twice almost caught me out.
So, looks like good news to me.
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Good advice there. My compromis de vente does make me liable since date of purchase but when I got someone to examine my completion statement for me, it seems I was charged a pro rata sum for taxes foncieres when I bought the house! (I assume the sum charged then was based on the previous year's assessment.) If my calculation is right, the vendor is entitled to a maximum of a further 13 euros from me - rather than the 10 months worth claimed through the Notaire. Looks as if he almost got it back from me twice!
I have faxed the Notaire accordingly and await his confirmation. Bit surprised, if this is correct, that the Notaire hadn't examined records first. Just goes to show, though, that it's worth checking things out, even if the demand comes from a reputable source.
Thanks!
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If you ever stand for office, Andy, you can count on my vote.
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Thanks all for your comments. My paperwork for purchase is 650 miles away at present but it looks as if the demand is above board.
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I completed purchase in Feb this year so wasn't the owner on 1st Jan which date I gather determines who gets the 2005 tax bill.
However, 8 months later I have received a letter from the Notaire requesting my cheque in favour of the vendor for what seems to be an apportionment of the 2005 tax. This suggests he paid for the year in advance so is claiming back about 10 months worth from me. If so, doesn't seem unreasonable but I just wasn't expecting it as I thought all was taken into account in the many adjustments made in the completion payment.
Thought I would just check with you guys that this was normal before I simply sent off my money. The vendor did rather ruthlessly strip the house - right down to the co-ax cable chopped off between the aerial point and where it comes through the ceiling - so I am not overly minded to pay him anything that is not strictly my responsibility.
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Yep, £4 surcharge going out and 6 euros surcharge coming back (last Sunday). So much for the guaranteed price of the "SuperTicket".
And once again the usual 40-minute-late departure from Boulogne, even though there was little other sea traffic. And both crossings took over an hour as usual rather than the claimed 52 minutes - on a dead flat sea.
Now I know all you fans will say it's cheap blah blah blah. But is it too much to expect people to do what they claim? If they called themselves "CheapFerries" and said the crossing takes just over an hour and is frequently a bit late then customers would know what to expect and could have no complaints.
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Thank you, Paul. Very helpful.
Will be making the trip this coming week-end so looks as if road works could still be a problem.
Alan
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I am invariably forced to travel down from Boulogne to the northern Auvergne on Saturdays, hitting Paris at the same time as all of France meets to go shopping in the city. This means I shoot down to the outskirts of Paris in no time and have an equally fast journey south of the capital once I am on the A6, but frustratingly get held up for ages in the middle bit.
Given that my starting point in France is Boulogne and my destination is a point 180 miles exactly due south of Paris, can anyone suggest a reliable route that avoids the peripherique without involving a huge detour, thereby saving both time and sanity?
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The discussion has moved on since my initial query but I am grateful for the information, all very useful.
Good point about not wanting to waste heat through an external flue - better to keep as much of the stuff as possible inside the house. Obviously trickier to put a chimney through floors and roof rather than run up outside wall but will now consider both options.
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Sorry if this has come up before but I'm having trouble using Search.
My French vendor saw fit to remove the woodburner AND the flue when he installed oil-fired heating (using the one existing chimney on other side of house for that) 10 years ago. Looks as if there was simply a hole through the wall for the flue (which has been filled with concrete) and a metal casing that ran up the outside wall which has disappeared (apart from the rust marks and bolt holes left behind, showing where it was and how it was fixed) for the flue.
Although I will keep the oil boiler - a powerful De Dietrich which seems effective - for the central heating, I would like to refit a woodburner to heat the main living room (about 20 feet by 12 feet or say 6 metres by 4 metres).
Haven't had a woodburner before. Anyone like to recommend a make/type and best places to buy? What would be a reasonable outlay to buy the burner and the complete flue?
I'm at top of the Auvergne.
Regulations for re wiring a house in France
in House Renovations
Posted
Whilst I can see Jim's point, I imagine there are rather fewer French people renovating English houses than vice versa. So if demand is high enough, it might be worth someone's effort to publish some comprehensive guidelines in English.
And whilst I agree that it is desirable that we Brits do our best to get to grips with the French language if we intend to live there, it's also pretty desirable that we do not kill ourselves, or others, due to some failure to understand some technical term we might not pick up in the normal course of learning the every-day language.
So a DIY guide in English along the lines of the popular Which? (UK wiring) publication but specifically for French properties would, I think, attract a fair amount of interest.