Paulhogan

We came back to UK late on Saturday, arrived at the check in at about 23.15, no hold up through "manned" check in (used this as thought we had arrived too late for booked crossing), told to go straight to passport control and customs and could board 23.45 shuttle. As we passed terminal building car park was almost empty. Boarded straight away and shuttle left on time. No problems at all. Going out the week before, arrived Folkstone at 04:30 on Sat 21st for 04:55 shuttle, again straight through check in to boarding, loaded straight away and shuttle lefty on time. Strangely we reversed our way into France as one engine had technical problem so shuttle went "backwards" so to speak. Both the above in sharp contrast to our last experience 2 years ago (used the ferries since, but forecast for Sat 21st was a bit rough in the Channel and OH is not a good sailor) when we sat on a shuttle train for 90 mins after boarding over 60 mins late with no explanation or staff available to talk to. It looks like a bit of a lottery, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bl**dy awful. Paul

Thanks very much for all the help and advice. Just need to find the local quarry and get shovelling. Paul 

Thanks for the reply, I will try that. Paul

Hello Can anybody help with the french term equivalent to Type 1, MOT, or scalpings to be used as a base for a gravel drive. Decorative gravel will be laid over the base, but before I go to the quarry it would be useful to have some idea of what to ask for. Many thanks Paul

Is this what your looking for? http://www.francemag.com/frmag/content/filoFrance/default.asp?id=15 hope it helps Paul

Hi Lurcher I believe what you need to download is Adobe Acrobat Reader v7 which last time I downloaded was free. Good luck Paul

Have used www.mappy.com for routes and also gives toll charges. Usually up to date with toll costs. Paul

Hello Alan Zoff We make a similar journey from Calais down to Nevers. Generally we use the A26/A1 towards Paris then join the A104 Francillene near CDG airport north of Paris then rejoin the A6 just south of Evry. There are road works around the southern end of the A104 at the moment which can slow things down. It looks quite a long diversion but as this route is usually freeflowing can save quite a time. If there are major delays on the A104 route, keep an eye on the overhead gantry signs for info before joining at CDG if heading south or before Orly if heading north. If heading south from A1 take the A3 then A86 around Paris to join the A6 just north of Orly airport. For info on roads around Paris look at www.sytadin.tm.fr Good luck on your next trip. Paul 

It really does annoy me when people trot out the cliche " speed kills", it may well have done in the 60's and 70's but that was a different kind of speed. Speed does not kill, bad driving does, inappropriate speed for the conditions or location does. Driving at 30mph or 50kph outside a school, at start or end of school day, no matter what the local speed limit, is far more dangerous than driving at 140kph on a quiet autoroute. One is breaking the law but is unlikely to hurt anyone, the other is far more likely to hurt a child who excitedly runs into the road. Who is the safer driver? We should concentrate on training better drivers, drivers who are trained to recognise hazards and drive appropriately. Too much emphasis in driver training is placed on just how to pass the necessary test. Rant over, thanks for your time. Paul

Sorry to hijack thread, but does anyone know the french name for Type 1 MOT scalpings. I need to put a gravel drive in and need a good foundation. Thanks Paul

Hi Gail and Paul Not sure if you are in France or UK but we paid our first utility bills in La Poste. I seem to remember on the back of the bill are listed the methods of payment and one was over the counter at La Poste. Hope this helps Paul

Hi Midori Sorry for delay in replying, been to busy to log on recently. The info was on a couple of sites - www.burgundyfriends.com in the notice board forum "life in Burgundy" topic "Waste in the Morvan" and also the Dutch Morvan forum at   http://www.12forum.nl/forum/bericht.php?ID=791&tID=88&fID=1 The more people that know about this I hope the greater chance of getting it stopped. Paul

A lot of occupants of the Morvan are very worried about the plans for a Centre d'enfouissement de déchets ultimes in the Southern part of the Morvan (Nièvre), in La Boue near Rémilly and Fours. Just a few miles from the National Parc a huge (47 acres) centre is planned for the storage of non decomposable waste (including toxic and low radio active). Local French people are asking non French residents to help protesting. On Saterday, May 28 (14:00) a meeting is organised to found l'Association Vital Sud-Morvan (Salle de fêtes, Rémilly). Non French residents are also very welcome. You can sign a petition! Please contact one of the following people: Bonnet, Nicolas - Le Mont, Rémilly tel (03) 86309258 Margerin, Jean-Paul - La Boue, Rémilly tel (03) 86502145 end of extract ------------------------------- I Found the above on another forum. Has anyone else seen any news about this? Bit worrying as our house is only about 10 kilometres away not only because of the waste but the increase in lorry traffic to and from the site. I'd be interested in any other views. Paul

Hello If you are still looking for space give me an idea where your parents want to store their furniture and I will see if I can help. Paul

I live in ethics and have a second home, do I qualify? It's a fact of life more people than ever own second homes all over the world. Our's was habitable, had been empty for over 2 years, not expensive after negotiating via the immobilier and securing a deal at 60% of the asking price. The immobilier was extremely realistic as to property values, helped I'm sure by being a local who had lived in the area all his life. In the two years we were looking our experience of immobiliers suggested an attitude akin to let's fleece the foreigner, suggesting vastly inflated prices to owners who were only too glad to see the potential gold mine in the semi derelict property.  I do not see the difference between an english owner who tries to "integrate", and I'm not sure what that really means, and say a french owner . We have a house in a small hamlet of 12 houses, at least 5 are second homes, 4 are owned by french families and are visited for only 3 or 4 weeks in the summer. We at least visit every 4 to 6 weeks throughout the year. You will always find somebody willing to make negative comments about any group of people, you should hear the comments in essex about house prices and how the young will ever afford a house, guess who gets the blame, Londoners of course pushing up prices. I stand by the philosophy of live and let live, life is too short.  

Good evening I have carried a florescent jacket and florescent waistcoats in the car for years in the UK not because I have to but because I can see the value where mine or a member of my families life could be saved. Take this scenario for example - Its a moonless night, you' re on an unlit road, you get a puncture in an offside wheel, you need to change a wheel and the verge is not wide enough for you to pull the car right off the road AND leave you enough room to change the wheel without your back overhanging the road. I know a triangle gives an approaching driver some warning but surely being visible might just save your life. On a motorway, it is safer to have everyone out of the car on the verge than remain seated in the car. Again everyone staying visible has to be safer. Hi Vis waistcoats can be bought for £6 or £7 pounds, surely a small price to pay for something which could help you  or a member of your family stay alive. Paul       

Good afternoon all We bought last year in 58 and found the whole process really relaxed. We agreed a sum for the deposit, a nice round figure somewhere below 5% to be paid 10 days after we had received the compromis. After the compromis arrived we checked with the immo details of the account to pay the deposit in to, we asked when the money had to be in the account and he said sometime over the next few weeks, he didn't seem worried at all. In the meantime the euro rate dropped considerably so we were reluctant to exchange money at that time. We rang the immo, talked it through, and he said there was no rush. In the end we didn't pay a deposit, just paid the whole amount when we signed the acte, luckily the pound had strengthened by then. Maybe we were just lucky, or looked really honest as Will suggested, but it really was stress free. just goes to show every deal is different, after all this is France. Paul   

Thank you both for the info Regards Paul

Hello Can anyone remind me how to get accented letters on a UK keyboard. I know this has been covered before but tried search facility and cannot find any relevant answers. Thanks in advance Paul

When we signed early in 2004 the vendors did not attend, they gave power of attorney to one of the notaire's colleagues, so there was only my wife and I, the immobilier who also translated, and the notaire. The vendor's appointed representative popped into the office to sign at the appropriate time and then disappeared without a word. After quick handshakes all round we all went our separate ways, notaire and immo had other appointments, we went straight to the house, had a cup of tea in celebration as we had a 5 hour drive back to Calais for the ferry. We did celebrate our new house properly on our next visit with a bottle or three of local wine. Hope all goes well Dave and Olive Paul

Hi Bedders We were recently in the same position as you needing plans for work over 170 square metres and it is possible to find an architect who will sign off your drawings, and make your application for a p de c. Not all architects will, but our immobilier asked around for us and found an obliging guy. His fees are still not cheap, but compared to him doing all the work we have saved a considerable amount of money, over 3000 euros. If you have been a draughtsman you should have no problems producing drawings to the required standard. The drawings I produced were fairly basic, only showing proposed room layouts, etc. but have been accepted by the DDE.

Good morning all What has the weather been like in the Morvan over the last week? Did the bad storm reach Nievre or were we lucky enough to avoid it? Paul

Hi Tim Thanks for the suggestion of using wildcards in the URL referred to in the Firewall Ad blocking tab. It seems to have done the trick, all is well again. Once again many thanks Paul

Hello Forum Admin Great to see increase in speed but since the server move the problem relating to unable to see posters name and control panel not being visible has returned i have reconfigured Norton Firewall to reflect the new site addresses but this has not cured the problem. Why has a simple server move resulted in the recurrence of earlier problems?  life is too short to spend time resolving this recurring problem every time you make a change, yours in frustration Paul   

I wonder if anyone can clarify the correct procedure to drain down our water heater. I have turned off the water at the mains and drained the water from the pipes but the volume drained would suggest that the chaufe eau is still full of water. The Group de securitie has a black knob which can be turned approximastely 3 times from its current position of "open" should this be closed? Also the Group de securitie has a knurled ring with an arrow and the word Vidange - should I just turn this ring in the direction of the arrow? Do I need to open the hot water taps to break the vacumn. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Paul