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Mark

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Everything posted by Mark

  1. As I have to work in the USA a fair bit (and they only let you have one if you do), I have got a PortPASS card available from the US Department of Justice - Immigration and Naturalisation Service. The card is used by putting it into a machine on the way through the airport.  You don't need the two cards that you would normally fill in to get through the passport control either. Anyone seen the queues for both nationals and non-nationals entering at Newark? You bypass all of those and save several hours! In effect, all you do is call into the offices at the airport (Newark in my case) on the way out and ask for one. They take your photograph, scan your palm print, finger and thumb prints and then put all of the data onto a credit-card size plastic card with a copy of the photo. The only thing not there in relation to the proposed UK card is a retina scan. The point I am reaching with this is, that it is free.
  2. I am sure they (BF) will. As long as your name is Tarquin and you drive a 1973 VW Campervan and your budgies name is Rover....
  3. P&O pulled out of the Portsmouth/Caen route and as a consequence BF fares have gone up by 30%. Nothing to do with size, all to do with being a monopoly and greedy.
  4. I sent an e-mail to Mr Stavis about the western Channel routes and got the following reply: Dear Mr Hickson Thank you for your mail. I find it very likely that SpeedFerries will expand the business to many other routes in the future. The western Channel is one of the very likely early expansions.  However, not this year, I am afraid. But I hope to be able to bring good news to you a later point in time. Best regards Curt Stavis  Good news huh? 
  5. Laugh, I almost tripped over my credit-card bill. Anyone else sorry that their house is in Normandy?
  6. Has anyone come across this one... I went through all of the BF pages to get a price for a trip over in August. The price came up with the details of what and when. This was ok so I progressed to the next page to put in the names of who, I then progressed to the next page and completed the credit card stuff. Then, on completion of that lot the final page came up saying that the transaction had been completed, the amount being debited from my card was over £70 different than a couple of screens ago! The difference was an extra £25 each way for accommodation and extra for the return journey. The discount was also incorrect on the first (cheaper) screen in that it was only 19% and should have been 33%. Of course I queried this with BF and they just said that it was correct and that they could not replicate the original screen. They said that I must have changed something between the quote and payment screens. I pointed out that this cannot be done and the guy just said that that was the correct price. I tried the 'back' button on my browser, but that takes it back to the screen asking if I wanted insurance. Take a tip: Print off any quotes before payment. Check the discount. Don't always assume that the 'Special Offers' are cheaper than standard. The discount rates may be in your favour! Mark61120
  7. If you re-read Charlies question again, (s)he is not advocating the use of black labour, merely the use of non-tradespeople to do what would be considered a 'trade' job (which may/may not be on the black). Mark
  8. Coco, They are property owners prices, therefore no secret. Both were Tuesdays at the cheapest travel times which obviously helps and I would assume that the prices quoted by your customers would be for Saturdays? Makes visiting the house very expensive.
  9. Lest anyone be in any doubt about how much BF have put fairs up on the Portsmouth/Caen route now that they have the monopoly; I have just had a look at last years booking for August and I input the same criteria (same days, cabins, car, etc). Last year it was £246.20, this year it would be £340.36...
  10. Back to the plot.... Try this link: http://www.albion-online.co.uk/INSTALLATION%20INTRO.html Mark61120
  11. You may also (legally) be required to cut it at lease once a year. Mark61120
  12. I thought submarines went glub, glub!
  13. We booked our next trip with Brittany Ferries on the 24th January to go over at Easter and the cost was £298.68. Apart from the fact that they took the full cost of the trip that day (naughty), the point of this posting is this; I have just had another look at the BF site and recalculated the trip. Everything the same other than having 2 outside cabins rather than inside on trip over to France and outside on the return. In theory, this would be slightly more expensive, but no, it was £283.93. £14.75 cheaper! I tried to amend the booking to take advantage of this (bearing in mind the £5 amendment fee, I would still save money), but the website wouldn't allow me to amend the booking. So, I rang BF. The lady there said that the price she had on her system was the same as my original price and that her screen and the website should be the same. Great, BUT THE'RE NOT!!!! Why? Could we not have a whip 'round of all property owners and buy our own boat?????? It would pay for itself on the first crossing. Moan, moan, Mark.
  14. You won't be cut off. If the can access the main fuse, they will downgrade you rating so you can only use minimal power. I'm not sure but I think the reason they cannot cut you off is in case there is an old person in the house. Mark61120
  15. As soon as I saw this thread, I knew which direction the comments would take, and it has been nice to see that rather than the naive English property owner employing only English builders on the black (because they can't speak a word of french) that the truth seems to be how things should be done correctly, but still get your fingers burnt. We too tried to do things correctly. On seeing our property, we decided that we needed to have a survey (of the french sort),and being in touch with the 'Successful' (hint, hint) estate agent that was selling the property, he (in a dutch accent)(further hint) recommended us to use a Maitre d'Oeuvre and then gave us the name of one that he had experience of in the past. There was a charge for the survey, but as we know is normal, we were told (by the estate agent) that if we employed his services to carry out any remedial work if we bought the house, then his survey fee would be knocked off the total cost of his fee. The survey was done, and some work (fosse, new doors and windows, repairs to torchis, etc) was recommended. We went to the Marie for the form for work to the outside of the property (velux windows) including the new fosse. And, as we would not be in France to obtain devis or monitor the work, we did decide to go with the MoD as his estimates for the work and his fee seemed reasonable. Following discussion, he said he would, as part of his work, handle all paperwork and so we gave him the bundle from the Marie and asked him to progress the work. Back came a devis for the work from him and the enterprise he recommended, we changed a few things (took out new doors and windows) and obtained a new devis which was acceptable and we signed. The work finally went ahead after many dissapointing visits where nothing had happened as were told by the MoD it would (I did try chasing him by phone, his mobile, e-mail and post), I recon I had a reply rate to about 1 in 5 messages. Each tranche of work was to a reasonable standard and we paid up (promptly) as each invoice arrived. The work on the house was completed and we were given the final invoice. It did not have his initial fee removed from the total. The MoD got angry when we queried this and said he was in business and had mouths to feed and had not agreed to waive his initial fee. We got in touch with the estate agent who spoke to him. We agreed that as there was some work to be done on our barn, he would arrange this and waive his fee for that part of the work. The work involved taking down part of a modern extension to the barn and stripping off one side of the roof slates (too poorly laid to patch and laying bitumen felt as an interim measure. I asked that all parts of the barn that were removed be left for us to reuse. The work went ahead and we paid after some friends who managed to get over and look at the work for us and take some photos said that it had been done to a good standard. Ok, so here we go. Firstly, we spent a large part of last (very hot summer) digging away 200 years of soil built up around the cellars, to stop water seepage. the builders filled the ditches in with broken slates and covered it over with a thin layer of soil. They took all of the good slates and unbroken pieces of wood from the extension away with them. The MoDs answer to this was that we did not have an agreement in writing (what were WE paying him for, he seemed to be working for the enterprise!) At Easter this year we had a visit from a very nice, but upset, man, who had a devis with our name on it for fitting of the fosse. He was not from the enterprise whos devis we had signed. He had not been paid! We tried ringing the MoD, but the recorded message said that the number was no longer in use, so went to Les Moutiers-Hubert (hint for suspect number two) to see the MoD, who looked surprised as he was just coming out of his house at the time. The guy asked for his money and the MoD then queried me as to if I had paid him (the MoD). He then said to the guy that could he come back the next day as he didn't have the paperwork with him. Fortunately, the guy stuck to his guns and ended up with a cheque about 20 mins later. I managed to get a copy of the devis from Mr nice man, and low and behold, it was abut 1500€ less than we had signed the devis with the first enterprise for. He had been subcontracted by the MoD and we had paid the original devis price! 4 months ago I got in touch with the estate agent, who you will remember recommended the MoD, and sent him copies of the paperwork trail which shows the fraud. He said that he sent the MoD a registered letter pointing things out, but since then we have heard nothing (after ringing the estate agent and sending e-mails). The Mayor called round to see us in August to see about our sanitary arrangements. He was surprised that we had a fosse, as no paperwork had been submitted... He was very nice about it and we went to see him at the Marie a few days later where he filled in some paperwork and all was fine. He said that the MoD was not an honourable man and he would ask/warn his acquaintances about him. Now, to sum up, we tried to do the right things, we do speak enough French to understand and make ourselves understood (all of the conversations involved in this saga, with the exception of the estate agent, have been in French), we don't think we are particularly stupid, but with hindsight.... Please take ths very long post as a warning. There are always people out to screw you, you do what you can, but sometimes it is not enough, especially when you think that there may be two people who you trust who may be in cahoots with each other (no proof though)! You may ask yourselves why we don't follow this up, maybe in court? I may be paranoid, but we only spend 5 or 6 weeks at the house in a year, colombage houses burn well, and the house is isolated, so a van could quite easily pull up and have plenty of time to empty the place. If anyone wants actual names please e-mail me and I would be more than happy to oblige. Mark
  16. Here in Camembert, the big apple thing is in Vimoutiers in October... http://camembert-country.com/vimoutiers/infeng01.htm Mark61120 (whos neighbours include a gold medal winning cidre, pommeau and calva maker)
  17. Mix up some lime plaster, put some marigolds on, spray the wall with water and throw the lime at the wall. When you have a reasonable area covered (1/2 sq metre), spray with some more water (but not too much) and smooth the plaster with you hands. Messy but it works! Mark61120
  18. I have just noticed some spelling errors in my previous post. No real excuses, it's just that I am on a French keyboard qnd the letters qre mixed up! Mark61120
  19. Some ISPs require an upgrade in order to function with XP. This should have been applied before installing sp2 (what, they didn't tell you?). The update for the ISP can be applied retrospectively (if you can access the internet via a back-door). Otherwise, you will have to uninstall sp2, get the new drivers, etc and reinstall sp2. You cqn get the required ISP/XP software upgrade from your ISP. Gosh, don't I sound technical (well, I was impressed!) Have fun!!! Mark61120
  20. I think, from what I have heard, that it must have been a new one and was definately in Camembert and Vimoutiers. Anyone see the hour long version?   Thanks, Mark61120
  21. Hi, Did anyone see A Place in the Sun on Thursday 11th November (Nottingham couple looking in Normandy). I believe the had a look at Camembert and would love to know the details of where and when, etc (don't suppose anyone video taped it either!!!) Currently, Channel 4 have no plans to repeat the programme, so we may never know if our place was on the telly...   Many thanks, Mark61120
  22. Going back to the original posting, if it is the section of road that I am thinking of, then the limit drops to 90 and then to 70 within a short space (I am not certain that it may well then drop to 50). Mark61120
  23. [quote]Just received an email from Brittany Ferries re their 2005 schedule. No mention of Le Havre so be interested where those Ferries go. Highlights for 2005 include: Two new high-speed services - Port...[/quote] Sorry, but I cannot find anywhere that states that there will be a high speed service Portsmouth to Caen. Could you post a link please. Many thanks, Mark
  24. Robert, Unfortunately, the white camma shaped thingies are mozzie larva (or midges). It possibly could then rule out then that the larger wildlife are some form of fish, because they would have tended to eat the larvae. Also, they must be some sort of amphibian because they are coming up for air (assuming that the water isn't polluted and lacking oxygen). The suspense is killing me (or is it the suspenders?) Mark61120
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