Gastines

A very long shot but did any members on this site serve on the New Zealand Shipping Company? In particular Rangitiki or Rangitata.!955 -1962. Any Info gratefully received. Regards.

Dear Ron,Having a bad day?As usual you would rather be aggressive than try to understand the logic. For your notebook;policeman's or civil servants;we get by,mostly due to our own hard work. I think you are totally missing the point of my point about the handouts but then again so do many in Government circles. Regards.

To Wendy G, if you tell them in advance that you have a problem they will possibly let you on with disabled passenger cars.,The one's that go on first with thier flashers on. Regards.

Just watched it. The main complaint seems to be that if you've paid your dues in the UK surely you should be entitled to the benefits. The labour Government seems to be hell bent on handing out cash to all and sundry who haven't contributed and probably never will. They also said that the Pound is expected to dip below one euro next year.Happy days. Regards.

Unfortunately when I see the posturing of G.Brown and the give-aways coming from the Government,the red carpet treatment still rolled out for all and sundry,I think they must believe that the UK still has an Empire to pay for it all. The cost cutting in Government Departments always seems to start at the bottom instead of at the gold-plated top.Never mind,I expect lessons will be learnt. Regards.

Having had Tinnitus quite severely,24hrs a day  for 25 years, I'll try anything. Both UK and French Doc's/Specialists have said there is NO way of reducing noise levels. Did read about Russia/Austria using Decompression Chambers but not sure if it was tried on patients or inmates. My wife has suggested Hypnotism but I'm afraid what secrets I might give away while under the influence. Has anyone tried it? Regards.

 Note on the Bournemouth Echo site regarding Barfleur re-fit. No service for most of Jan/Feb/March. Back for school half term only. Major refit.No Poole service only Portsmouth from Caen & St.Malo. Regards.

As a friend had a catalogue from the then only Immo in Combourg,we looked at the properties and couldn't believe the low prices. The advantage of having B.F. just 10 mins away at Poole and then doing 24hr trips for 2+car for about £25;it was 19 years ago: we soon short listed about 10 to view. The Immo.Michel.P. was brilliant and of our 10 discarded 6  and explained why. Viewed the remaining 3 and put an offer in for a 3 story granit built house+field +courtyard for the grand sum of £14k. Enjoyed working holidays:we were younger then;and follwing a heart attack my wife decided no more France and renovations. Sold it for a very good profit,no tax to pay but the Notaire kept the cash for 5 months while the Franc was in freefall. Next trip saw a Longere on the Bay d M.St.M. did loads of work,busy B&B in the 6 weeks summer[still working in UK but off contract for about 3 months each year] Couldn't stand the wind and the winter,sold it at a good profit,no tax. Bought a very small house nearer St.Malo to renovate and immediately found the benefits of being near to all services/restaurants/doc's etc.etc. and decided to buy a decent sized house and move ,selling up completely in UK. We have countryside outside the gate,beaches all around,lovely walks,choice of 4 bun shops and all other shops, markets,services.near to Dinan,Dinard and Dol,easy access to B.F. at St.Malo;5 mins;Airport at Rennes 45mins Dinard 15mins.and easy 2 1/2 hrs to Cherbourg.On a busy tourist route to St.Suliac and had a busy 5 years B&B in the season. May I add,not wanting to miss a chance,that after 6 happy years here and now retired, we are looking for a smaller property nearby and this house is  now FOR SALE. Regards.

The new IKEA at Pace/Rennes is now open,best to visit during weekdays,Saturdays it is very very busy. Huge store,usual loads of useful goodies + Cafe etc. Lots of other stores nearby. Also remember that at Cap Malo,off the N137 Rennes to St,Malo route,there is a huge Castorama/Jardiland and Alinea,similar to IKEA. Regards.

No,Russethouse, we are not complaining about that gift horse's mouth,we have several friends making use of the offer and very reasonable it is but what about us making a reasonably priced 24 hrs the other way? Now that the exchange rate is so good for French earners ,even they might like to do some UK shopping and fill the boats up. Regards.

They must have a huge storage space somewhere. Our file alone must be too heavy to lift. My wife has just returned the sixth form ,posted to our French home asking when she is leaving UK and funnily enough one of the questions is "Why". Having been tax resident here for 6 years and sent all the required forms back including the H.d.I. stamped form umpteen times AND receiving interest gross. Left hand and right hand comes to mind. Having a B.I.L. who once worked for the In.Rev, I wonder what the staff turnover rate is and if it is connected to the inefficiency of the departments. Recently in the Bournemouth paper it had an article on the amount of sickies the staff at the Town Hall had in one year.The total amounted to the hours of employing 400 more staff.  If I come back for another life I don't think I'll go down the self-employed road next time. Regards.

Hopefully things will improve as according to the News and Telegraph,haven't read the Mail yet, there are tens of thousands more pen pushers being employed by the Government. I seem to remember HIM saying he intended to get rid of 120000. Bit like the 10% tax fiasco,stop an operation in use and then employ thousands more to sort the mess out. Regards.  

Nearly got excited,Will, For a moment I thought B.F. were offering us a deal from France to UK for a change.It must be more expensive going  from right to left instead of left to right or something. Regards.

The one with the lowest inflation level? Regards.

If the Maire gives you a verbal OK, it may pay you to employ a Geometre to measure the plots,register them and get all the permissions required. The usual bugbear is access and the DDE normally has to give the OK on this. Having been down this road ,don't expect anything to happen very quickly. Regards.

Having watched Paul Merton's trip around India I think that recycling may need re-inventing. I was amazed that thousands of people could stand around and live in such filth.  The Countries that do collect materials for recycling seem to have lost the market at the moment. The Clean Air brigade seem to have put the block on any means of burning it and getting a source of energy from it ,so it seems that for any biodegradeable material the answer may well return to Landfill. Surely there are plenty of big holes in the UK? To reduce the amount the Government need to look at the source not fine everyone for putting the wrong bit in the wrong bin. Do you really need to have your cabbage/lettuce etc shrinkwrapped? The size of the box seems of as much importance  as the contents. Whatever happened to paper bags? Put a few pence on a glass pop/beer/wine bottle and they might not be strewn all over the town centres. Regards.

In Ouest France yesterday  was  an article about the "ENGLISH GANG" doing the rounds ripping people off  with poor tarmac jobs. They use public works vans,DDE,etc. A regular scam but if they turn up just say "No Thanks". Regards.

Sorry Frederick,just noticed your posting. Regards.

As I am slightly hard of hearing I read the news on teletext first thing,half of the screen is sometimes, unfortunately, taken up with "Jeremy Kyle". Look at the audience and "Contestants" on there and that should put you off a return to UK. Regards.

Had a nice brochure this morning from B.F. giving details of the new service Portsmouth -Santander. Just looked up the fares .purely as a matter of interest.Ferry sailings seemed to be based for freight times unless all holiday lets are Monday-Thursday. Costs for 2 + car return in the summer £856. Seems it might be a quiet holiday season down there. Regards.

Not allowed to smack children for fear of prosecution.No Mum's at home on return from school. The inability of the Government to control the influx of Drugs and people actually being known as a Drug Baron. I did say smack ,not beat/lock-up or abuse. Regards.

Would it be correct to say that the buyer could have /should have a clause suspensive in his/her contract so that if permission is not granted for habitation, the sale doesn't complete and the deposit is returned? Regards.

Had 2 ceramic crowns and a bridge about 2 months ago,cost 940 euros, reimbursed ,from memory,about 560 euros. Some fom CPAM 2 payments from Mutuelle on 100% cover. Brilliant service. Regards.

Sweet 17. Not too sure about the naughty bit,didn't know you in a former life did I? Anyway,Ryanair could give B.F. a bit of a wake-up call if it started a route from Bournemouth. As the main airport taxes/landing fees are getting higher by the day.I'm waiting for the announcement that they are locating more services to Bournemouth. They do a Nantes run but not very convenient times,however it is difficult to please all the people all the time. Perhaps With all the members on this forum "Living France" might be able to get us some deals with B.F. Regards.

Wish they'd do a Bournemouth to Dinard. Regards.