Gastines

They get you everyway,the downside of their £35k rule is that most of them pay a better rate of interest only if you have over £50k with them. Such is life. I am seriously thinking of buying a small house to rent out.Thinking that if ones buys at the low end of the market,cash no mortgage,I will have an increasing asset and rent. Having just read of the Damian Hurst auction and the prices realised,I suspect that there is still a lot of lolly about somewhere and also some people with very odd taste. I might just pickle a few old rats and perhaps a giraffe and see if I can find any mugs about. Regards.

If he thinks he is the only person capable of doing the job I can't understand why he doesn'y welcome a party election even if he is too scared to call a General Election. Might just get the point home to him. Regards.

Makes wonderful soup. Onions/ginger/pumpkin/add lentils and small pasta. For the best winter warmer. Regards.

I think we could all make a very long list of who we don't want or who we don't think is capable. How about a list of some intelligent people who we think could get the place back on it's feet?After discussing this for some minutes with my wife Nobody came quickly to mind. If someone suggested having a clear out from the top echelons of the civil service/diplomatic corps etc ,an end to inheritance tax,finish all the hundreds of quangoes, and make  all the Lottery money go to some public fund ,make a maximum salary payable to charity directors. I could go on. I'm amazed at what is dished out by the Government and Local Councils and the fact that the UK public seem to take it all lying down.The dustbin fiasco being a good example,if the councils provided a decent 2 bin service would they need to spend thousands on premises,vehicles and inspectors to police householders? What the devil are all the Council Tax increase going to? Ron?

Regular question on B.F. "Any paint or white spirits"?  Better not mention every vehicle has a tank full of petrol/deisel +a battery.If anyone was carrying a gun or Samurai sword are they going to tell them? Regards.

Must be an area thing.We find exactly the opposite from staff at all the local supermarkets/stores and small shops.Even the staff in France Telecom spent half an hour sorting out a problem we were having with Wanadoo which we were getting no joy with.No complaints at this end. Regards

Thanks for your reply.or perhaps I should say"Oh dear". Regards.

Perhaps a Forum member can clarify a couple of points for us? We are in the process of selling a building plot ,the plot was a part of our garden when we purchased. The house,owned 6 years is our main residence and we have been in the tax system here for 5 years[returns]. Apart from being  surprised at the time quoted for completion.6-9 months there is a query regarding tax. One Notaire who approached us about selling over a year ago advised that no tax would be payable as the plot was part of our principle residence. However the Notaire dealing with the sale says that he has to look into the tax situation with reference to the original value? Iknow the obvious answer is to deal with the first Notaire but we are dealing with the present Notaire on other issues and don'y want to rock the boat unless we have to. Has anyone a definative answer on this? P.M. direct if poss. Regards.

I think the words Racial Discrimination has caused more people to become Racist. There was a time when people of different colour were accepted for their worth and colour wasn't the major issue. Now that this idea of Compensation for any wrongly used word or deed has arisen,helped by the H. R. Lawyers etc, it seems that it does nothing but cause racial problems. Having had a few friends of different colours,it seems they have many more problems integrating than the paler species. You only have to look at the Indian Caste system ,the African Tribes still trying to wipe each other out etc etc. Regards.

When I e-mailed I got a very quick automated reply,then another saing 4 weeks to deal with your query, to add insult to injury ,"If you don't hear after 4 weeks contact us again". In the end on phoning a lady gave us the same response but as I then said "Sorry not good enough" she said she would look into it and phone back. Amazingly enough she did and I had my money approx 12 weeks later.No interest added by HMRC. Regards.

With the amount of money many people seem to be losing on CGT etc.Surely it would pay to register for the tax year and stay put for a while? A recent case of Tax payable of 49000 euros comes to mind. Surely it is a bit more than most people can save in a tax year on their UK income?Plus if you were here not earning or perhaps declaring the rent from your UK house as income,your tax payable would be very little if any? Regards.

Logan, whilst I agree with most of your posting ,many billionaires and equity funds obviously look upon UK as a good bet. With their spare cash from oil/electricity/gas/metals etc they seem to be buying up any UK company/football club and expensive property that is buyable. I think there are so many really big money players in the world that they are in a position to manipulate currencies and tax laws to suit themselves. I'm amazed that UK still thinks of itself as a world player. The country can't even feed,fuel  or power itself anymore and seems to be at the dictates of the new super-powers.China,India Russia and of course USA. A bit different from my school days when one looked at a world map and what was considered Empire/Commonwealth. Now there's a phrase Commonwealth,who thought that one up? Part of the problem seems to be that G.Brown and his motley crew seem unaware of what is going on. Major problem,lets not talk about that. Continuous co-k -ups.Lost this that and the other, Outsource everything then we can pass the blame. Get another sticking plaster to hold the place together etc etc. Daily Mail reader +The Times++++ Regards.

In case I didn't make myself clear.. To fit the flat one you have to remove the glass,undo the four clips that hold the glass in place fit the flat one then screw back the clips to hold the glass. Measure the curve for the right thickness of round rope to glue in. Too thick and the door won't shut, too thin and it will still draw up. I know having done it wrong!! Regards.

There's two. the flat one goes inside the metal door frame under the glass lip. The rope one,[make sure you get the right size by measuring the width of the groove]  is stuck in the curved groove on the door frame. Most Brico's sell the rope with the glue as a kit. When our glass broke and I replaced it, I had a shock at the cost of the glass, about 240 euros. The Glass firm advised me to take the receipt to our house insurers,which I hadn't thought about and it was paid in full in 3 days. Regards.

Put these in our last house but now that everything here is 230 I'm amazed that they still allow sockets in bathrooms/cloakrooms and right by sinks. Hopefully the circuit breakers all work!! Regards.

I see that in the local St.Malo paper and even The Times [Haven't read The Mail yet!!!!]   that property prices are holding up and at prices E 400K upwards are selling quite well. At this rate I might even be able to return to the UK,in a worse scenario and unthinkable moment. Swings and roundabouts. I wonder if the UK house price fall is mainly due to the Governments  handling of Northern Rock and the Stamp Duty fiasco's. Comments please without blaming it on Lady Thatcher,God bless her. Regards.

There goes my mornings entertainment. Regards.

I see in the paper today that TVA on eco products,windows /doors/insulation,solar panels is to be zero rated from January 1st. Might be a good idea for the Labour Government to copy? Regards. If you have a dig,have a real dig.

I thought you'd  had enough advice about nuts today. Regards.

I wonder how many extra staff have been taken on since Mr.G. Brown. M.P. said he would rid departments of 120000 surplus ? Any time I have wanted money back there is a delay or items lost,used to be quite efficient when they wanted payment. I hoped last year that I'd never have to deal with them again.After 6 years registered as a tax payer in France but due to the equally hopeless people working in the banks in the UK, they have decided this year to start deducting 40% tax on a joint account even though they have paid previous years gross. Still, it seems Mr Darling might need to borrow my cash for 12 months to help pay a few bills. I just hope they haven't gone bust before I get it back,no interest of course. Regards.

You might need to read the estimate sitting down. Most re-upholstery here is done the "Proper" way ,with sprung seat.carded horse-hair stuffing carefully stiched through hessian to get the required shape and proper edge. I used to do this to earn a few extra bob during my early carper fitting days. I could buy a nice cabriol legged victorian button back chair for under a tenner,strip it out,re-glue the frame joints and then do a proper job. As I used to SEW carpet seams,I used to be quite nimble with the chairs that had iron frames to the backs,as all the materials had to be stitched in place.Used to take 5 late evenings,I then took the finished chair to Lymington market on a Saturday morning and the chair,or settee, would usually be sold by 8.ooam. earning me about £15 profit.More than I earnt in wages at that time.  Unfortunately I can no longer stand the dust involved,neither can my wife!!!  I used to enjoy doing a good job reviving a comfortable and stylish chair.I learnt by watching the tradesmen upholsters who's workshop was underneath our carpet planning floor.They even used to re-stuff and cover mattresses.Don't mention foam! Bonne Chance.

Part of the Notaire's job is to find out if you have any debts before you get your house sale lolly I believe? How far they dig I don't know, perhaps only Tax and Utilities? Be funny if you got £30k short and a note saying "I've paid off your debt ,with interest, to Bradford and Bingley". Regards.

New Years resolution,abit early. I.m going to write to the Tourist Office and Maire in our locale and suggest it might be beneficial to the tourist trade if they get the problem dealt with. Do they still have the Guillotine? Regards.

St.Malo. did have the idea of putting painted dog sign on the pavements plus an arrow pointing into the kerbs but the dogs can't read and the owners always look skywards. As the finances of Dinan/Dinard/St.Malo area depend so much on tourism, I'm amazed that they haven't got their combined act together on this offensive problem. a few bottles of dettol in some of the public loos certainly wouldn't go amiss,plus a few words to the dog owners. Regards.

Often Poole -Cherbourg .leaving at 12.30. can be an option. If you are club members you get a free cabin and drive down is very straight forward. Although living 10mins from St.Malo Port,we find it just as easy and economical and much prefer the 4 1/4 hrs on the Barfleur to 9-10 hrs on the St.Malo overnight. Condor is an option,Poole -St.Malo or in winter,Weymouth-St.Malo but not very reliable on time or tide. Regards.