Weedon

The main problem that some people have when dealing with "hands-on" trades-people is that everyone knows what an average weekly wage is and breaking that down to an hourly rate end they resent paying more than that for any work done by a person who doesn't wear a suit.  So called professional people IMHO are amongst the worst examples of that because the class system still exists.  That is a generalisation but is based on my own experiences. Please don't get me started on leeches who deal in money markets. Have now raised the drawbridge. Weedon(53)  

Can anybody suggest an effective remedy for my mice please. In the early hours of the morning it sounds like a whole family of mice have taken to doing the Riverdance on the other side of my very expensive double sided foil type insulation material next on my plasterboarded ceiling. At 4 o'clock in the morning I have to confess to having a sense of humour failure so any good ideas for the effective removal of the blighters would be usefull. I have been onto the roof and removed some slates to have a look at their racetrack and the best I could come up with for the moment was to place some containers with poison corn for them but I don't really like using that stuff. I did think of playing some Des O'Connor music for them but they might be the sort of mice that like him. Weedon(53)

Someone famous, I can't remember who, said ****** Bognor.  For me, you could substitute Bulgaria for Bognor in that phrase. I fancy the idea of a glowing moat though it would be more of a feature than my solar garden lights. Weedon(53)

[quote]Hi,We want to clean our wooden beams by sandblasting them before treating them with anti woodworm. We are not quite sure if sand blasting a good option, we are afraid that it is too strong and will de...[/quote] I'd be surprised if it is pine but the process for cleaning them is the same whatever it is. Sandblasting wouldn't destroy them because you would adjust your technique to suit. In my opinion sandblasting is not the best way to do it but I know others have reccomended that it is.  You use a hell of a lot of grit or whatever else you use and is quite expensive if you hire the equipment because of the amount of time you want  to use it.  If you buy the equipment you need to buy a big enough compressor to keep up with the demand of air. I used a small angle grinder with a paper grit disc on it, the sort that you use on car filler.  You need to get a really good breathing mask because the dust is (as the yanks say) awesome. If you find it the same as me, once you have finished, it might almost be worth paying somebody to do it for you. Best of luck Weedon(53)

[quote]Weedon, Thanks for the info - one last question how do you mix this product? I was about to go out and buy a cement mixer for pointing (acres of it to do) but if this stuff doesn't need a mixer yo...[/quote] As BAF says, you mix up as much or as little as you want in a bucket with a plasterers whisk.  I mix up about half a builders bucket at a time which enables me to work for about one and a bit hours and I work it in the gaps using a rounded ended trowel and a hawk and then I brush it smooth with a soft hand brush as I go. If the stuff dries out a bit at the bottom of the bucket just splash a bit of water in and mix it again, you don't need much water.  I found you strike a balance between not too wet and not too dry and it really is great. I did one wall using lime and sand and made a real pigs ear of it, so much so that I was reluctant to start again with the other walls but after finding this stuff I am so happy that I might give up bashing my mole hills with a spade. If you find this stuff is as good as I say it is I'll give you my address so that you can send me a bit of the money you save on the cement mixer. Weedon(53)

[quote]For those of us that have settled in France on a permanent basis or plan to do so in the not too distant future, I'd be interested to know your reasons for leaving the UK. We often hear of what attrac...[/quote] There will be many reasons put forward as to why they have made the move here but I suspect the main reason if people were honest is that you simply cannot buy a house with a bit of land at a reasonable price in the UK unless you have pots of money. We could not have retired in the UK and lived contentedly on our modest pot which is what we have done here.  Plus I have all the work I need to do to last me and to stop me going senile! Weedon(53)

[quote]Just read on the BBC web site that life expectancy in France is, 75 for the men and 83 for women. Whereas you blokes get another 'average' year in the UK and us ladies lose 2.......76 and 81. I had ...[/quote] So, do I take it that in a few years from now I will have to move back to the "yuke" for my final year leaving my other half here.  God only knows what the price of a terrace house will be then though? Weedon(53)

[quote]Now I have seen it Mick, the two words that spring to mind are the ones that rung in my ears for the first 12 years in France, whilst renovating properties. Come to think of it, they are still saying ...[/quote] Nice piccy of the of the person digging the allotment but the phrase that sprung to mind was "nice legs shame about the face".  Perhaps that's old Mick. Weedon(53)

If you don't already know about it there is a brilliant product for pointing stone walls which I have just discovered. Its called Procalit F made by Weber. It comes in 25kg bags and costs about 11€ a bag.  It is lime based and is just so easy to use as it stays together on the trowel without falling off (which for a novice like me is essential) and doesn't go off too quickly so you can brush it smooth.  It comes in various colours so that you can always be sure of an even colour. If you know about it already forgive me but I had to tell you as it has turned a rotten job into one that has been bearable. Weedon(53)

[quote]So how can John & Angie see what the rest of us can't ? Are they looking through their window ? Or are us 3 viewing it on dodgy equipment[/quote] So, who is this builder chappie that built those barns in the same design, perhaps it was St. George or one of his mates who nicked his logo. After struggling to get up onto the roof of my barn guess what, no red cross. Weedon(53)

[quote]I think wax is best, put it on with very fine grade steel wool, something like OOOO and gradually build up the layers - finish off with a soft shoe brush.If you varnish be aware that it will go yellow...[/quote] When I made a table (with much help from an ex woodwork teacher friend) I stained the wood first, then clear varnish, then wax worked in with wire wool, all the time working with the grain. After four years the table has not altered colour in any way and still looks the same as it first did without an artificial look about it. Weedon(53)

[quote]I have found BMW owners to be of the same mould! Arrogant and full of themselves, but that's my personal opinion. Others may disagree!! And yes, if I wanted one, I could go out and buy one, if I don...[/quote] I can only speak from my experience of one BMW dealer and that was not as a buyer of a vehicle but as a buyer of parts in my former life. On the whole I found the car sales staff to be a toffe-nosed lot and thought they were gods gift to the motor trade. Weedon(53)

[quote]Lavender Lady I have long believed that if you are borrowing money to buy a house in France you should borrow the money in the country of your income. You can then be certain of the future impact of ...[/quote] In my humble opinion a far better piece of advice is not to borrow any  money on buying a second home anywhere.  The amount of borrowed money is the main reason why so many people in the UK are suffering so much stress in trying to service all of their loans. I know its such a boring stance to take but try to cut down on your outgoings until you can afford it, its better for you and your family. Weedon(53)

[quote]... or maybe you could bowl me over with your support for the place so that I would have to rethink ...[/quote] With so many replies its almost not worth bothering to bung in my six penn'orth but I couldn't resist it. If you need other people to persuade you to move or stay in any particular place you are not going to be happy anywhere.  So I'd buy a tent if I were you  and then you can upsticks as the fancy takes you or the next whim for that matter.  If you moved here and regret it what actually are you searching for because as sure as night follows day eventually you are going to end up in a permanent resting place and your life has been spent worrying that other people are having a better time than you. Me, I will second what the first replier said, I love it here.  Weedon(53)

[quote]swiftly followed by a box of choclate coated raisons[/quote] The other day I got a peanut stuck in my ear so I tipped in some melted chocolate and it came out a Treat.  Silly I know but there are precious few places left to get any amusement. Weedon(53)

[quote]me thinks hallmark and clinton card companies invent these days just to flog more cards, oh and i'm sure the post office is envolved, what with more people sending e-mails, they need some way to shift...[/quote] I got the info from the newspaper French News and it appears as if I was the only one who read it!! Weedon(53)

[quote]My family and I already have a home in France and are planning to move out permanently next year. I understand that when my husband takes early retirement with a teachers pension in October next year ...[/quote] Do you know for certain that you will be covered for 2 years on the E106.  My wife and I were only covered for 15 months for some reason when we moved here.  Its my understanding that the E106 covers you for up to 2 years. As I understand it (although there are more informed than me) you need to obtain a top-up insurance straight away to back up your E106 and then register with the state system and then once the E106 expires you pay in to the French system until one of you reaches the UK retirement age at which time you get an E121 and then the rest of the family become dependants of the retired one after getting E107s. Weedon(53)

Today being the International Day for the Elderly I woke up feeling sort of..well..the same really, sort of bewildered.  The day progressed, the postie came..no cards, I went to Point P to get some pointing stuff, nobody wished me anything as I entered the shop and even if they did I wouldn't have understood and the rest of the day didn't get anymore exciting than that.  The day hasn't quite finished so I am sitting here hoping that something may happen. Maybe tomorrow I will wake up feeling....something. Weedon (53)

Please excuse me for not posting this on the other channel but I find that in my retirement I can't be bothered to do a lot of things anymore. Yesterday, or it might have been last week I heard a spokesman for P&O being interviewed on the radio and he explained that they were reviewing their cross channel operation and in the future would be offering "Premium Travelling Experiences". WHAT.  Mate, what you want to be offering is Low priced, Comfortable and Safe, cross channel crossings.  I reckon most people would prefer to travel by boat across the water to France because its a pleasant way to travel and if you give them what they want more of them would use your boats.  Personally I don't want a "Travelling Experience" and you can forget the "Premium" bit, that to me means loads of dosh and I think you speak loads of tosh. Weedon(53) PS. In spell check it lists dos,bosh,cosh,dash and dish for dosh but no alternatives for tosh?

[quote]It's not a stupid question. Sometime back, some kind soul posted a link to a bank web site that had a picture showing what to do. I keep a copy of that picture in my cheque book![/quote] I,m glad somebody else asked this as I thought that I was a bit of a dummy not really knowing how to fill it out properly.  I did the same as you and filled in a blank piece of paper showing me where to put the bits and pieces in and I always keep it tucked in the cheque book even after 3 years.  I still feel like a gibbering idiot whenever I fill out a cheque and the trouble is its usually the same few people I pay cheques too and they know I am slow at filling them out and I know they know. Doh. Weedon(53)

I appear to have a new species of mole on my land.  I have just about lost my paranoia with the old species which used to leave heaps of sifted soil on the surface but these new ones tunnel just below the surface leaving varicose vein lookalike ridges on the surface of my grass and I have to go stomping around my 2 acres every morning trying to flatten it again. Mad, me, not arf, innit. Weedon(53)

I am sorry but I can't help with your query I just looked here hoping to learn some new expletives. I expect you have heard of the little boy who insisted on helping when builders spent some time building an extension to the family home. At the end of the week the men had a whip round for him because he was disappointed not to get a  pay packet. When he showed his mother his "wages" after the men had left she asked him if he was helping them again on monday to which he replied "no there is no work on monday cos the we've run out of effing bricks". Best of luck with the devis because in my experience thats the easy bit, getting them to come to do the work takes a bit longer. Weedon(53)  

Hadn't heard about the big ask, are you sure they weren't saying "it's a big ass"?   Nice one, I hadn't considered that. The bit about the bio break reminded me of the day a man came into my place of work and asked if he "could turn his bike round" when I looked at him in astonishment he said "you know, the little boys room"

Its probably always been the case but as I have long been a "grumpy old man" is it only me that thinks that there are more dopey figures of speech now.  Sentences that start "It is so not me" for example, and I saw a young lad on the tv the other day who ended every sentence with "innit", and is it only in football where you get "beat".  I also noticed that during the Athens games commentators started using the expression "its a big ask" I ask you, is it only me thats getting really WOUND UP. Weedon(53)

(your quote)  As for the sum involved: many people in France and the UK work an entire week or more to earn £150 net so whilst some may consider it not worth bothering about others certainly would be bothered. Those who can't be bothered to make a phone call to save £150 are welcome to do as they wish.   Without wishing to sound a complete failure in my former life, many are the weeks when it cost me £150 a week to keep my business afloat over the 30 years I ran it so I do appreciate the value of money.  What I am driving at is that there are more pleasant ways of achieving a result so that both parties can carry on without thinking that life needs to be total s**t.  Very often a simple phone call can end up with both parties closing on friendly terms and if your case is presented succinctly the other person will see the unfairness of it and for the sake of public relations make good their mistake. LOL as you have been on the receiving end of so many possible scams could I interest you in my latest get rich quick scheme? Life should not have to be a war, we are all on the same side are we not? As the original poster said, c'est la vie. Weedon(53)