josa
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Posts posted by josa
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I was on the Aquitaine a few years ago when it collided with France - heck of a bump and plenty of people flying through the air until they met walls etc - that was quite well reported - I even did a live interview from the deck on Scotch FM!!
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So lets take the easy route and give up on the harder options...................and explain that policy to the parents of the next kid murdered.
Lets think - it would be VERY easy to stop speeding by limiting all cars to a maximum speed of 30mph - that's even easier than cameras.
OR - we could put a great big spike in the middle of the steering wheel and remove seat belts etc - thats an incentive to drive more carefully - or make the drivers seat explode on impact - I'd certainly drive very cautiously then!!! [:)]
Not every case of speeding results in death or injury in fact very few as a percentage - speeding per-se doesn't actually hurt anyone - but every single case of violent crime does.
Address both issues appropriately - they are equally painful for those who are victims.
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[quote user="Puzzled"]
Knife / Violent crime does grab the headlines more than motorists committing crimes - but far more people are killed by bad drivers every year than knife wielding youths.
[/quote]
The difference is the intention - except for very few incidents, the majority of deaths on the roads are by negligent driving, not deliberate - violent crime is a deliberate act, negligence is not - it is a falling below acceptable standards, but has no evil intent.
In any event there is no reason not to address both issues.
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The problem that I see in concentrating on speeding by camera enforcment and not people, is twofold - firstly, given that there is no perceived discretion with the use of cameras then the people being punished, in their view cynically, become antogonistic and less supportive towards the Police generally, and the concept of the civil police in the UK being part of the community they serve, and work with the consent of that community is eroded, to everyones disadvantage. People usually do not hold "grudges" except when a feeling of unfairness exists, and there are too many examples of unfairness in the use of such techniques.
Secondly, where the concentration is on speeding enforcement by way of such cameras, to the detriment of "real" traffic policing, the result is that fewer dangerous but non-speeding drivers are not caught and deterred, and in fact the roads actually get no safer in the long term, again to everyones detriment.
By way of example, my wife was driving us from the Dover Ferry a couple of months ago - we came up the A2 about 8.00pm with a speed limit of 70MPH. We saw advance warnings signs showing "50MPH through Road Works" - no problem. As we continued we did see cones etc, all pulled well over up the embankment at the side of the road as the road works were closed down - no-one working and no limit or hazard on the carriageway - ie no road works!!. Everything removed from the road..............except the cameras - she was going at 62 MPH and so received a fine and points - paid up with no argument as she accepted the punishment.
The next day I was riding my Motorbike to work, when a car (with child going to school) just pulled straight from a side road on the right, and across my path, nearly totalling me!! The car then continued in front of of me, with the driver throwing banana skins out of the window, failing to negotiate a clear road by drifting over the white line several times causing an oncoming bus to swerve and brake, and finally failing to negotiate a left turn without having to stop and reverse back into the busy main road and more oncoming traffic. This lady could easily have caused a number of accidents (not least to me) and clearly could not control safely the vehicle she was in, but no police was there to see it - we did however go past two safety cameras!
I am not excusing my wife and nor is she feeling hard done by, but the two incidents do seem to show there needs to be some balance involved, with common sense applied more and with less reliance on machines - more police doing the job, not camera watching.
Of course, if they were concentrating on stopping kids knifing and shooting each other I could accept their choice of priorities...............................
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Hi - I've done the run a couple of times - the whole thing is amazing to be part of. The runs only take a few minutes each morning, but the festival goes on 24/7 and is tons of drinking - every house in the old city is turned into a bar it seems- I likened it toSoddam and Gommorah!!! - so make sure you have a quite place to go back to so you can take time out. There are a number of web sites that hold tons of info - www.sanfermin.com is good and has an English translation. Get to understand the course and how you enter the run if you are going to go for it - choose what section you want to run - you wil not be able to run the whole length - you must present yourself at the start and just join in at the corral - it is the biggest adrenaline kick I have ever had and I expect to go back in a couple of years time- try to get to the evening before the first run when the runners etc meet in the church square to ask for San Fermins blessing & protection (at least I think thats what it is,) which makes the hair on the back of your head stand on end!! Its complete madness - please know what you are letting yourself in for as it is very dangerous - people are injured on every run and death does occur. But it is something that you will never forget - good luck!!!
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RyanAir fitting coin-operated slots from today to the overhead baggage containers.[:)]
£2.00 for flights less than 1 hour, £2.50 for flights over??
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I would like to build a chicken house for about 6 to 12 chickens - can anyone let me have any plans or pictures to assist?
Thanks
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I come through Stansted every week - most days it's about 10-15 mins, although I have known it to be closer to 25, but that was unusual
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I've eaten horse quite ofter and it seems OK although I prefer a good Limousin steak - my son says he prefers horse to beef - but what do the young know.
A few years ago a restaurant in Boulougne used to have on it's English menu "Steak a la Jockey-club" - No prizes for guessing what that was!!
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Hi Gluestick - well, methinks someone else is letting his prejudices get in the way of the facts - but hey, we are all entitled to our own opinions.
"Sadly, solicitors are not generally, my favourite people, from far too much involvement in the law and bad experience"
My point entirely is that to casitgate a whole profession on the basis of one or two personal experiences is wrong. I had a teacher who was a sadist and another who was a drunkard and another who simply was poor, but I don't "hate all teachers" on those experiences - I hugely admire the profession as a whole despite my personal experiences - when I needed a teacher, some were there for me - likewise, I have had some very poor experiences of nurses and doctors, but to attack their entire professions on that basis would be small minded in the extreme - I don't like the bad ones (so I move on), I admire and respect the others - they are all individuals.........AND don't get me started on restaurant staff ( I used to own a few restaurants myself, in my younger days and, boy, how standards have declined - am I showing my age!!)
Now, sitting in Glasgow today as a dual-qualified solicitors I can say that the Scottish system for property purchase is actually a little more complex than the English/Welsh system, in respect of the legal work to be carried out and as far as working in either French or Scottish (I have experience of both), those two systems are antiquated in comparison to England/Wales. Many English/Welsh firms have online case management access for their clients to access in all areas of work(including my firm) and have had for some years.
Still, what do I know - I don't do conveyancing now as indeed it was poorly paid and onerous.
And as far as side-stepping money laundering and procceds of crime are concerned, funnily enough by e-mail today I have just received further notification of some fairly time consuming training that we have to do to comply with both issues - so not sure where your coming from there.
Now - having confronted too much, I shall take my leave - in the further words of the bard - Exeunt stage left!!
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Hi Josa,
I don't think that if the solicitor involved ,was to read all of this thread he would be as motivated or irate as you are!
Kind regards,
Leo
Hi Leo - I guess you're right - I just feel it's wrong to hate a whole profession!!
Best wishes - Good night all!!
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Quote - "Do you seriously expect me to believe that Solicitors are NOT highly paid. It matters not one iota who did the actual work or what wages they are on, I engaged a specific solicitor to do the work and he alone is responsible."
Answer - "most high street or conveyancing solicitors are NOT highly paid - whether you believe the truth or chose to believe the hype is a matter for you - but it was you who started out by referring to their fees"
Quote - "You can have absolutely no idea of the circumstances nor what they did or didn't do for me, nor do I care to explain, but you obviously have a low opinion of Estate Agents (as do I in general) so could I possibly be correct in guessing that you might begrudge ever so slightly paying a fee to them for selling a house for you "
Answer - "my best friend is an Estate Agent so I neither have a low opinion of them nor am I unaware of what work they do - again you show your prejudices - I have no low opinion of anyone who does a job of work - I begrudge no man his payments"
Quote - "At no time did either party agree to complete on Monday the 5th. It was a notional target which the buyer said she would like to aim for and no further discussion about it took place."
Answer -"without asking you to read slowly, I would suggest that YOU read what I said"
Quote - "Ergo the solicitors screwed up, not me."
Answer - "no they didn't"
Quote - "I'm afraid I have to say that I find your flip remarks about perhaps needing a solicitor for a divorce somewhat offensive and therefore that I will not be entering into any further discussion with you on this subject except to say that I consider that your entire tone in this has, from the outset, been unnecessarily aggressive and confrontational."
Answer - "Aggressive and confrontationl!!! - I hate no-one - but to allow bad men to succeed only takes good men to remain silent - you should read the title of your thread and then consider who was aggresive and confrontational - hate is a bad emotion"
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Lets look at what happened .............
- I quote - "it seems he did ask if it would be OK to complete today" - so if it wasn't then say so - he asked, the answer was yes, and he did it - if the answer had been "no" and he went against clients instruction I could see room for complaint about the solicitor, but what he did was perfectly correct - in fact under his professional rules he had no other option!!
Given that the solicitor did ask (and did not present it as a fait acompli) would indicate to me that the date was in fact Wednesday and that the buyer just got it wrong, not the solicitors - if either solicitor thought it was today, then there would be no need to ask but just to point to the written agreed dates - but of course it is easier to blame the "Hated Solicitors" - who appear to me to be trying to get things moved through for their respective clients who in turn can't give clear instructions as to what that actually want, so when they don't get what they want (but failed to tell the solicitor) they whinge.
If you do not want to complete today - SAY SO!!
The solicitor can't win - he takes instructions, acts on them and is criticised - what bunk!!
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So what are the "highly paid" solicitors actually paid? - do you know? I suspect the person doing the conveyancing is on probably slightly above the average wage, but certainly not huge sums and agan I suspect not as much as the Estate Agent
- and what actually was the "hard work" the agent did? - I can't think of anything so hard that an agent does - a couple of chase up phone calls each week perhaps?
AND - why begrudge paying either of them - no doubt you asked them to do the work, they did it, and now you begrudge paying them - and all because you actually moved two days before you expected to (although actually on the day you agreed to!!) - lets look at it - They did agree a date, and confirmed with your wife it was OK and then acted upon it - what else were they supposed to do? - your issue should be with your wife who told your solicitor it was OK - perhaps next you will be needing a solicitor to do your divorce seeing as your communication with each other appears to be breaking down!!
Somehow I think there is no pleasing some people - do you have the same problem paying all your bills - do you begrudge the supermarket taking money from you? Do you refuse to pay your train fares?
- or is it only fashionable to "Hate solicitors"? - wait until the next time you need one and then tell him at the outset that you hate him and will begrudge paying him his agreed fees - and do you know - the solicitor will still act in your best interests and ignore your prejudices - then try the same with some other tradesman and see what happens!!
The job is done - pay with good heart what you agreed - OR alternatively don't agree in the first place - as I said - you can always do it yourself.
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His "FAT FEE"!!!!.....................I'd be interested to know what the fee charged by the solicitor for the work carried out in transferring your old property was - (NOT including fees for any new purchase, nor any payments made for Local Authority searches etc, or VAT) -
- for doing the fairly technical legal work in transferring your property correctly, who can and would be be sued for negligence if he gets it wrong, who studied for at least 6 years to become qualified, who is tightly regulated, is subject to a complaints process by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and has substantial professional overheads such as a practicing certificate, keeping up to date with Continuing Professional Development training, compulsory PI insurance and so on and so on
- compared with that of the Estate Agent for printing a couple of sheets of paper and putting a few adverts in the papers and his windows - oh and don't forget the board outside your house - advertising his business!!.
I would suspect the actual "FAT FEE" for the sale charged by the solicitor is no more than £500 (and probably less) and the fee to the Estate Agent is more in the region of £2500 to £3000?
Of course, you could save the fees of both the agent and the solicitor and do it all yourself - if it's that easy?
Still, it's good that you try to "be fair to the solicitor" - especially when it appears that the mistake wasn't his but yours!!!
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Thanks all for your advice. I have to say I really am amazed at the lack of flights between France and Scotland - given that 10% of the UK population is in Scotland and there is (albeit somewhat historical) a link between the two countries I would have thought there is definitely a market for more regional flights to France from Scotland.
JD
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Thanks - unfortunately the train timetables don't tie in with the flight timetables even closely - I'd have to leave and have an overnight stay in Liverpool - I was thinking of possibly Glasgow or Edinburgh to Paris and train from there, but that seems quite a pain as the airport in Paris is not in Paris!!
Seems Glasgow to Stansted and then Stansted to Limoges is the best opriton from what I can see - unless others know better - here's hoping.
Scotland appears to be poorly served for flights to anywhere in France - very surprising!!
JD
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Hi - Whilst I live in Essex, I have the pleasure of working in Glasgow for 3 days a week and from home the rest. I also have a holiday home between Limoges and Brive.
In the summer it would be good if my family stay in France rather than Essex and instead of going back to Stansted from Glasgow, I could go directly into France on my days away from Scotland.
Can anyone give me an idea of the best way to get between Glasgow and Limoges/Brive area? - Any pointers much appreciated. JD
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A couple of weeks ago I received a speeding fine just outside Rouen -motorcycle Gendarmes -very polite and a really nice bike!! - I was apparently doing 145km in a 110km zone (I say apparently because I actually don't agree with that, but I wasn't going to argue at the roadside - be relaxed and pay the fine I say!!!) - an on-the-spot fine of 90 euros - as I am resident in UK, should I be expecting anything further such as a points penalty, and if so, how does that work with a UK resident on a UK licence?
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Rouen is better - BUT - watch out for speed traps - only time I have ever been caught speeding was just outside Rouen - (and I know for all you "holier thn thou" folks out there I shouldn't have been going 1 KM over the limit - nothing to do with how safe you are!! - but I hold my hands up and accept I am a menace and danger to society) - and I have seen a lot of gendermes on motorcycles (nice ones - Yammies - altough I prefer a big Honda) - chasing down speeders in that area - as has my friend who travels from Limoges to Calais regularly - Rouen is best, but not "friendly" -- and don't worry naggers - I am in sackcloth and ashes and certainly don't accept speeding as a good thing so don't have a go at me on that basis.
Defensive posting or what!!!! - this forum is becoming too PC!!!
JD
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SPG -thanks - that's the term I was trying to remember!!
josa
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A purely academic question I assure dear readers!!
I am led to believe there is a "tradition" of a man of a certain age and style taking a sophisiticated mistress in the city to complement their wife in the country (or whereever else they may live). I accept this may be more myth than fact (or may not be - I know not), but bear with me!1
My query - Is there a particular name or phrase for such a person (the mistress I mean) or such an arrangment?
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Oradour-sur-Glane
Troyes
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Hi Samanta
Welcome and nice to see your bike - I ride a CB 1300S - brilliant machine - I have it in Essex and as I spend most of my week in Scotland I'm thinking of riding it up there - although the plan is for me to bring it over to Limousin for the summer - it's just that I am in so many places and I love it so much I don't want it to be where I'm not!!!
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NEW HENS
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You may find this useful - I certainly do for any poultry questions
http://www.kelseyinfo.co.uk/yabb/YaBB.pl