MrCanary

Thanks Norman... That looks very interesting and reasonably accessible from most parts of Paris... I Google street-walked it and saw that it is just a tiny place - hope the prices are similar! (LOL)

Yes, I know there are hundreds of restaurants in Paris... But I want a tried and tested one for next Saturday lunchtime (16/10). Not too expensive and somewhere central near the Seine would be good...

Thanks Peter... I have to say that looks very different. Hopefully there is a reasonable choice of dishes?

Does anybody know of a reasonably priced restaurant that is open Sunday evenings in Boulogne- sur-Mer? (for 24 October) Thanks...

I receive and pay four French tax demands every year for my maison secondaire. I always pay them as I know I should, but I have to confess I am not too sure about which one pays for what! In August I get one for less than 100 euros, in September another for about 295 euros, November about 460 euros and a few weeks later another for about 80 euros. OK, I know I will get some flak for not finding this out before now, but can anyone tell me what each of those payments is going to please? Thanks!

I have some sympathy with Colin because I also get quite fed up with the jobs-worths at Newhaven. It is not LD's fault, it is the totally over-the-top and super slow attitude of the staff who work in the port at Newhaven. They are pathetic going out and they are pathetic coming back again. It is the worst port on either side of the Channel.

Probably, if the truth was known, the only local Tours people to benefit from Ryanair flying there are those who work at the airport. I imagine those who fly in to Tours usually disappear into the area as opposed to the city!

MiMo - I have a booking on that route for October. I managed to get through to LD on their normal number. An unusually grumpy member of staff said they would have got round to contacting me eventually, then offered a couple of options - a free transfer and no additional charges on any of their other routes or they would transfer my booking to a similar timed P&O ferry. They did not mention a refund, but agreed to one when I asked for it saying it will take up to 25 days to appear in my bank account! I had already checked the P&O website and learned that the relevant crossing for me was £20 less than I had paid LD, which is why I asked for the refund to make the P&O booking myself (rather than them keeping the twenty quid if they made the transfer for me)!

Well, I have to confess this has gone way above my head... But I think people are saying the information that I got in an email and then copied and pasted here, is rubbish? Well, that is good news - I can now go back to my cholestrol-busting yellow fatty stuff - whatever it is!

Pass The Butter .. Please. This is interesting . .. ... Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavourings.. DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter? Read on to the end...gets very interesting! Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added! Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years . And now, for Margarine.. Very High in Trans fatty acids. Triples risk of coronary heart disease .. Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) Increases the risk of cancers up to five times.. Lowers quality of breast milk. Decreases immune response. Decreases insulin response. And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING! Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC... and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).. You can try this yourself: Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things: * no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something) * it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny micro-organisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast? Share This With Your Friends.....(If you want to butter them up')! Chinese Proverb: When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.. Pass the butter, please.

Will - perhaps I am losing the plot, but I am sure I read that the Dieppe route was temporarily down to one crossing per day... But I agree, I can't see that anywhere now.

And another thing... When I made the booking that has just been cancelled, I was unable to use my 'frequent travellers' number - it just doesn't work any more... And I notice 'Pierre's Blog' (contact their chief exec) has disappeared from their website. Now, forgive me for being suspicious, but...

I just 'phoned LD and an unusually not-very-friendly member of staff gave me the options. I choose a refund and was quoted the amount of money I had paid would be refunded. I hardly see how they can take a £10 fee for something that is down to them. Because of how she sounded, I asked if LD were in trouble and she said 'no, it is only the Boulogne route' - but she would say that wouldn't she? And why has the Newhaven/Dieppe route been reduced to just one sailing per day? (Or have I got that wrong?)

Bonjour Théière, It is the Newhaven/Dieppe sailing times that are putting me off as we plan to have acouple of nights in Paris before heading onwards to 37... But the advantage of Dieppe is the reduced driving time. (Like you, flying is out as we like to take lots of bits and bobs with us and bring chinky things back!)

I have tried so hard to support LD Lines on all their crossings, but we are forever getting messed about... We are booked with them on a return trip Dover/Boulogne in October, but have heard nothing. What is the general concensus of opinion - if I wait to book Dover/Calais when I eventually hear from LD, will P&O have put their prices up? Or do I book P&O now and hope that I get a full refund from LD?

I have to say that it is really good to see Chris back on here and, hopefully Chris, you're here to stay for a while... I used to post under a different name until one of the grumpy gits told me not to hide behind that name. So I started using my real one only to find that more and more folk went the other way... Out of interest, does anybody remember the name I used to use?

I have to say that Les Tourelles looks very nice...

At £399.99 I think I might risk the one-year guarantee!

Later this year we will be travelling from Loches to Boulogne and fancy staying overnight somewhere before we get to Boulogne... A coastal B&B would perhaps be nice (but not definite)... Anyone got any suggestions please?

This is an example of the prices I have found in the UK... Hitachi 42 Inch Full HD 1080p Digital LCD TV - 4 Series £399.99

Where was that please - pachapapa?

Thanks for the answers... My question is based on the fact I want to buy a brand new Flat screen TV for our French home and I plan to have a satellite dish fitted as well... It does seem that TVs are a lot cheaper in England, so that is what I plan to do... Based on the answers above, if I buy a new TV ready for digital and avoid Panasonic, I should be OK - I think?

Is it possible to buy new television sets in the UK that work OK in France? Thanks...

LOL... And so appropriate!

It is well documented that I am not a Ryanair fan, but they have provided me with a service that helped me buy my house in France and is still there should I need quick and urgent travel. Perhaps they would help themselves if they put somebody else in front of the cameras when they do media interviews. Their chief exec was once funny, then he became boring, now he is annoying. He is playing a big part in damaging their reputation.