Redcap

Yes Lottie, you are correct, I had meant to qualify that but forgot. There are so many of them now. I have just, (for this month anyway) used Worldwide Currencies for £1000, market rate at 1.46271, they gave me 1.4420. Could I do better? Trouble is you have to register with them before they will quote you, which is annoying. Regards, Bob

Hi Monty, I am in the same boat, I have been using Currencies Direct for the last 6 months to transfer my pension. they were charging me £7.50 for the pleasure plus almost insisting I pay another £12 for some document that lets me know where my money is? Anyway, the 6 month forward contract is up and It looks like I am now going to use WorldWide Currencies. They do not make any charge for the transfer, only making their money on the difference in exchange rate between market rate and what we get. Yesterday they quoted me 1.4573, the market rate was at that time about 1.4683, this seemed better than others I have been with, HIFX for example. Money goes into my UK bank on the 1st, S/O set up for it to go out same day, once it's with the currency house, usually takes a day or 2 to get to french bank. You need to register with them before they can do anything for you, usual ID & utiltiy bill etc. Don't be paying any transfer fees now days as there are many, many currency houses all after our trade. Moneycorp said they would waive my fees if I went with them just to get my custom, so if a currency house has a particular service that suits you, tell them that you can get the same service without charges at ....., they will most certainly pull out all the stops to get your trade! Regards, Bob

Hi again, We are intending to use a bonding agent, it is available in france, you can get stuff to add to the mix to improve adhesion, and also for priming/sealing.  The present concrete base is very rough! I don't think we'll have any problems with it sticking, once, as advised we use a good bonding agent. So we are looking at a 'damp' mix as opposed to a nice slurry?  Again, thanks for all the advice. Regards, Bob  

Thanks for the advice! Whether it will get done now before winter, what with all the rain is anybody's guess, so I've been busy sealing the worst of it to protect the concrete re-enforced beams underneath. Regards, Bob

Thanks for the advice dave, I posted this on a number of forums, very little response, must say I'm surprised considering the number of people here with building skills.  Same on the www.pavingexpert.com forum, I did expect some good advice there but not a bean!!  actually that is a fantastic site, don't know if it's been reccommended on LF well worth a look if you are renovating, or not.   Regards, Bob

Bonsoir Tout le monde!   Well, it's been a long time since I've posted on LF! We've been here a year now, I have looked in now and then, but to be honest we have been so busy, I really didn't think it would be such hard work! And we're not renovating!!  By the way, title should read screed not sceed!!  I'm having problems with a terrace above garage, the garage was built by previous owner, attached to rear of house.  The terrace had been concreted over, but sadly the owner died and it's been left to deteriorate for almost 10 years.  I want to tile the terrace, but it needs some sort of screed first to level out all the 'pock-marked holes'.  I know there is a product called Enduit Sol Auto-Lissant (self smoothing), this is very expensive (like self-levelling), and is really only for up to 10mm.  I need to bring the floor up to the level of the front terrace in order to tile all around, this will be a depth of about 25-30mm (1" - 1 1/4"). My question is, can I lay a concrete screed at this thickness?  The floor is solid, unlike one at ground level on a rubble/ballast/sand base, and is only for foot traffic.  All my DIY books mention are concrete bases for path, drives etc with at least 4" thickness. Any advice as usual, greatfully received. Regards, Bob (22)    

[quote]I withdrew some money from a HSBC cash card machine yesterday - excluding the charge (£1.5) charge, the money was converted at a rate of 1.4101! It's certainly better to transfer money to a French ...[/quote] Try foreign currencies direct, I now have my monthly pension transferred at an agreed rate (I've gone for 6 months), for up tp 2 years.  You have to pay 11% deposit which is then used against future payments. The rate is not as good as a spot rate but still OK, it's £7.50 per month, better than I could find so far.  I still think it's wrong that I have to pay to get my pension, but that's another matter!  It is usually here in France the day after they receive my money. Regards, Bob

[quote]Hi - I'm up in 50 so can't help with a supplier, but have just ordered 4m3 (about 6.5 tonnes, apparently) of 'gravier bleu' at a cost of 33€ + TVA/M3 with a delivery charge of 10€ Regards Chris[/quote] hello there chris! just about to begin looking for gravel, have about 100m plus of path way around house and pond that I have almost finished digging out! Can you tell me, what is gravier bleu? Do you know how to measure up for cubic mtres or tons?  I have only ever had either pea gravel, or 'half and half' as they called it in the uk which is slightly bigger but still has some 'pea gravel' mixed in, not what we want for the paths here. Any advice greatly accepted.   Regards, Bob

[quote]AndY P said - "I suppose there are 2 reasons for using these banks Inertia (which is what they depend on) or Masochism". I am no fan of British Clearing banks having had many problems with them ov...[/quote] Hello All! For small amounts why not just draw it out from the hole in the wall, up to £300 per day?  Not bad exchange rate too.  we have been here over 5 months now, we do have a CA Britline acc, which needs topping up, but HIFX are a waste of time (now that I have finished transferring large amounts), my UK bank charges too much, so we now pay for everything using UK switch(Maestro) and draw out money to top up CA acc for standing orders etc. I agree it's not ideal, I will really have to look into this.  I like the idead of the HSBC - CCu transfer, as I do all my banking via internet, have done since it all started. Regards, Bob

Not posted here for some time, too busy!  But what these people should have done instead of carrying on their conspiracy over the forum was to use the private message facility, perhaps. Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player!  I'm not that bothered about copyright either, but I agree with the others re discussing any methods re infringement of them here.  You may want Mazan's help someday on here, doubt you'll get it now though! Regards All, Bob (aching, after rotovating 600m2 this afternoon!!)

Thanks for that Londoner, I will give him a call.  I agree with you about HIFX, they were effecient in dealing with my large transactions, how they think anyone is going to take up their offer of regular payments beats me!  Anyone reading who is due to send large amounts over, I suggest register with as many of the currency houses as you can (you have to before they will give you a quote), and play them off each other, be firm and talk straight, it's your money! Regards, Bob

[quote]My husband's RAF pension is paid into our French account via Worldwide Currencies. They have recently dropped all their admn fees, so their service is completely free! There is an offer currently fo...[/quote] Hi, re your husband's pension payments via WWC, I have looked at their website but it gives very little info.  I have carried out all my trading with HIFX, they also have a 'regular payments' scheme for such things as pension payments to France.  However, when I contacted them for a quote earlier this week (when euro was 1.45 +), they quoted me a rate of 1.36! I expected the rate to be lower than that for transfers of larger amounts, but 1.36! On top of that, you must pay the 12th months payment up front.  Needless to say, I did not use them. Do you have any details of how WWC's scheme works, is it similar and do you have to pay money up front? Regards, Bob

Thanks for the info everyone, we went yesterday. The B&Q store was in a mess as they were refitting, and as usual we had a hard time getting anyone to assist us, they always seem to be rushing around and when you ask for help it's always,' oh sorry I'm just doing this or that'. as for St Helier, well what a madhouse! The place is totally congested, mind you so was the other parts of the island we drove around, I dread to think what it's like in summer.  as we were so long in B&Q, we never got to the shops and that scratch card system for parking, crazy! All in all,we were not that impressed, think we'll stay in France for our shopping. Regards, Bob

We'll take the car this time, where can you park the car at St Malo, if you go as foot passenger? As for driving like loonies, I can handle that as I'm a bit loonie too!! Regards, Bob

[quote]There is a M & S which sells without VAT I believe, W H Smith and Woolworths. They are all near the ferry terminal. Don't know about B & Q. Carrying your purchases is the problem. ian[/quote] Thanks Ian, B&Q is the main reason for the trip, after an electric fire complete with surround and hearth, they are on sale at present.  Can't get much like that in France, not that we have seen anyway.  Got a good set of roof bars too if it does not fit inside the break! Regards, Bob