Gastines

We use the Cherbourg -Poole B.F. quite regularly and it is getting the norm now to take an hour plus to get out of the port. I have been subjected to the body search a few times and was particularly worried when the chap searching me donned a pair of rubber gloves!!! Fortunately i did manage to keep my composure and my trousers on. After watching the Panorama programme this week on the chap dishing out passports/driving licenses and anything else required,for cash of course, I think these measures might be a bit late.It seems most of the crooks are already in the UK. Regards.

Pity they didn't check the Army Convoy a bit better.Now that the UK is in such dire financial straits,I'm surprised that they let anyone back in that might cost them a few bob.

I was surprised to hear that one of the arguements put forward was that it would deprive him of his living. Are all these sports based on income and celebrity status?

I believe the new event is "How quick can a 1000 soldiers clear 100 tons of Algae" Reminds me of one of my 11+ questions. Regards.

It seems to be a purely political eexercise for China.Given their veto on UN's rather weak sanctions of Mugabe and cohorts, their supply of arms and support for Sudan's Despot, the control over their own peoples, I don't think I'll bother. A few months after I wonder who will remenber who won what? Win one race and be Knighted perhaps? Get to oversee the London Olympics with a no-limit budget,an overnight celebrity to appear on .or eventually have,a chat show,Perhaps the original meaning of Sport has lost it's way somewhat? Regards.

I see the subject has come up again about the percentage of people wanting to return to UK after being here 1-3 -5 years.  I expect that they have quite a shock how things have deteriorated in the last few years,and how prices have shot up. I appreciate that prices have risen here as well but think the quality of most of the food you buy is much better whether meat/fish or veggies. We have made several trips back to our original area and have visited several places to see about buying a place in UK. Last trip to Salisbury was a definate eye opener, absolutely filthy,from car parks to streets and many of the cafes and restaurants were not much better. I shudder to think what overseas visitors must think of some of the places they visit.My old home town of Bournemouth is now known as the drug ,club and sex mecca ,specialising in Stag & Hen weekends, with the Town centre area actually shut off to traffic because of all the problems outside the clubs. A recent article in the local paper is an example.----Lady goes into a Cafe on the Pier. Pot of tea,2 slices of cake. Bill £16.90. I kid you not. Hopefully the only move we'll be making is to get the Daughter/granddaughter over here. Regards.

With all the good points that Rose and Sharkhunter have pointed out there is also the obvious fire protection benefit. Double board,[boarding on next stud so joins on first board are covered] gives extra fire break and insulation and a very solid wall. Saves a lot of trouble if you need height, the studs just slot into each other and you can go up and up and up. Easy to tape and joint too. Also as another poster said somewhere,you can feather end board joints.Appently there is a tool available. Regards.

BF only let you book the cheapUK-France trips  on a credit card and we have been told many times that we will be charged the full single fare if the return is not used. I often used to come over from Poole-Cherbourg 3 times aweek,each time loaded up with household goods on the outward journey for our first house over here and loaded up on the return journey with French furniture and garden stuff bought from Depot Vents. Each outward trip it was the same question"You have only booked a24hr return, full single fare if you don't use the return" on the few occasions when things went pear shaped and I didn't get the right boat,I was never charged. I think that times have now changed with all the various checks they do now. With the fares they now charge ,especially ANY holiday time,I would have expected a few more cheap trips from the French side.Living in hope. Regards.

Powersdeal may know? I got the impression that in Qatar things were even stricter.? I was lucky enough to stay in that Pyramid shaped hotel in Doha while doing a carpet job. On the TV it reminded you of all the do's and dont's  of Ramadan and also of all the free services available at the Doctors and Hospitals. I believe there is also no income tax? Regards.

When in  Jeddah Saudi Arabia an American rep failed to turn up at a presentation we were doing .After many enquiries it turned out he was in a police cell.. He had apparently had an accident at a road junction with a Saudi National. The judges ruling was that if he had stayed in America the accident would not have occurred. He was locked up for I believe 6 months. That was about 25 years ago, I hope things have improved since then? On the TV's at the Hotel you were advised of the days when Families went to public buildings,when single men were allowed to shop and of different times to use swimming pools etc. A bit strict but at least you knew the rules and the penalties if you caused problems. Pity a big rule book wasn't dished out to those entering UK. However with all the rights , inability  and unwillingness to prosecute any thieves/druggies etc I think it might be a trifle too late. Regards.

Dear Boiling a Frog, I have just read your posting and think you must be a saint, hopefully your patience and good humour will pay off in the end. We had a very similar enquiry last year and I got so exasperated I just replied to the final enquiry, one of many, that we were booked for the weeks they wanted, it then transpired that they only wanted a couple of days anyway, GRRRRR! Also, it reminded me of something which happended some years ago when we were renting out our gite. We received a phone call from someone who was a friend of a casual acquaintance of ours asking if we could take a late booking for our gite and as we had just had a cancellation due to a bereavement we said yes, we did not ask for a deposit as it was such short notice and expected their arrival a few days hence. The night before their proposed arrival we received a phone call from the wife saying that she had a flare up of her Multiple Sclerosis and was unable to come. Immediately I said 'Please don't worry about a thing, just get yourself well and perhaps we shall see you another time.' End of conversation and subject as far as we were concerned. Some weeks later we had another phone call from the lady concerned asking for a receipt for the cost of the holiday so she could claim on her insurance policy. After chatting to my husband we decided that we could not agree to this as we had not charged her a penny and when she phoned back, I explained this to her. She was very unhappy about this and explained she  would make it worth our while. We stuck to our principles as we felt this was less than honest, it had not cost her a penny, we were the losers, our only gain was realising that anyone and everyone is capable of being dishonest. Yes, I agree I too would like to make the most out of a bad situation but I draw the line at this behaviour. Mrs Gastines.

Should get interesting by the end of the season but are we all talking UK visitors? Regards.

A fiver they were English. Having now finished with B&B and de-registered ,we used to have about 50% French 40% Italians 6%Europe elsewhere and the remainder UK. The 96% from Europe were less trouble. Regards.

Among the "Useful" things my wife buys during the year to add to the daughters Christmas box are Truffaut shopping bags. They are always colourful and a nice design. With the Sales on now in most shops the hide-away Christmas cupboard is already bulging.I might add the presents aren't only off the bargain shelf!! Regards

If Gluestick had read my WIFES posting he wouldn't have replied to MR Gastines. However,she does express her opinions,occasionally wrong,usually right.It leads to an interesting married life. I'm very fortunate to be married to her.As someone famous must have said"If you can't take it don't dish it out". On a financial point, I would have thought the outlay of £200,for a replacement toilet,plus seat of course, was a small percentage loss against a years rental income.However,surely the House Insurance policy would cover this if advised that the house was tenanted and the premium increased accordingly? Having just watched "Allo Allo"  between sets at Wimbledon,{it rained just in time ] I did think this theme could be included in the next series.I love a good comedy. Regards.  

Definitely asking for trouble. Ask for cheque for furnishing for 12K euros and get it cleared before signing perhaps but I don't think your buyer would fall for that side of the arguement. Once you sign for 58,you've signed."What 12?" Regards.

I don't want to go 'Off Topic' but must answers the ladies .After our first meeting,a blind date I might add,I knew I'd met the right partner.21 years later I can honestly say I have never had any doubts. Many friends find it odd that we can and have, survived being together virtually 24hours a day,work and play, for the last 10 years. By the way she doesn't wear big steel capped boots but a size 38. I will say that for both of us it is a case of third time lucky.! Regards.

We opened our HSBC account in a UK branch while tax resident in France,you can open the account and fill in form R43 when opening the account to have interest paid Gross.[ providing you declare the interest on your French tax form and the Impots stamp you form.] Regards.

Booked  in end of Feb for our daughter/granddaughter to come over in August as Footies on Condor,Poole -St.Malo and return same route.  Price  total then £131.00 inc £17 fuel surcharge. Checked today for other visitors.same details,same trip,£214.???Doesn't seem fair does it? Regards.

HSBC offer 5.5% fixed for 6months on accounts of £50K,but you can have more than one account. You can have 2 French Epargne accounts ,one in yours and one in wifes name. Regards.

The wrapping paper posting reminded me,a couple of weeks ago when visiting friends in UK,along with the bottle of wine my wife bought a small box of Chocolates in a well known choc shop,as in Thorn---s. Happened to be Fathers Day so the assistant asked if it was a gift,"Would you like it wrapped? £2.00 please." Regards.

Now you know why I married her!! Mr Gastines. Regards.

Two quick points: 1. I too failed to understand the relevance of not wishing to hire a car to me or Tressy??? Just for the record, I actually hold a Heavy Goods Driving License plus a Certificate of Professsional Competance, National and International  enabling me to achieve a lot more than the trivia of renting out properties and whingeing about it after taking the dosh, plus an RGN to boot and don't doubt that both Tressy and myself (being women) could easily multitask and make short work of getting any property in a rentable condition in double quick time. 2. I am actually totally amazed that five pages of comments have ammassed and the time wasted in achieving them has accrued when it could have been used to fix the loo seat, paint the chips and clean up etc., whoops! Regards, MRS Gastines.

Dear Mr Gluestick,    Further to your reply, I apologise if I somehow missed the thread before ' bursting into print ' but I must firmly stand by my points appertaining to the photographs, upon which I notice you fail to comment. Secondly, regarding reading the thread, you may like to note that the reply was signed Mrs Gastines, thankyou. On another note, I find it most unfortunate that some of your other replies were unsavoury enough to describe the tenants as b------s, without knowing either the persons concerned or the full facts from both sides, so perhaps they too were over zealous when bursting into print. Did you point this out to them also? Perhaps not, as they agreed with your sentiments. Finally, regarding the comments by others about what constitutes a good tenant, I can only relate to an incident which occurred many years ago when my late mother was servicing a property for an airline pilot and ex. wing-commander, a charming gent who she worked for over a period of time. He then decided to let the property to a local GP and his family and asked my mother would she continue with the job,she agreed, just to oblige him but immediately the family moved in, they treated the property appallingly. Within 2 weeks it was grubby, items were damaged and it appeared as if they had been in it for years, they left half-full cups of tea and coffee under the beds, used personal sanitary items on the floors of the bedrooms and endless other abominations, the wife of the GP asked to borrow money from my mother and within a short time, she was forced to tender her notice due to unacceptable behaviour. The owner of the property asked them to vacate shortly afterwards and I can only suggest that you never judge by appearances and perhaps check your property at least once a month and leave the beds to cool off before installing the next lot of tenants. Yours, Mrs Gastines.

Just happened to have my attention drawn to the item regarding the state in which some tenants leave properties. I have to say that from what I  have noted from the photographs and written account, then I can only say that people who expect a place to remain in exactly the same condition after a year's occupancy really should not be in that business. The bathroom suite looked quite nice but from many refurbishments under my belt, I know it is just an ordinary, inexpensive, dare I say bog standard suite and it should be a quick, cheap job to replace the seat with the slight marks on it. As for the mould coming through the caulking in the shower, this usually occurs when the caulking has been applied either over existing dirt, damp or incorrectly, or perhaps is just a result of a years use in a bathroom inadequately ventilated. Whatever the cause, it can be remedied with a couple of hours effort removing the old stuff and the cost of a new tube of caulk or silicone, job done! The chips on the painwork are a result of layer upon layer of gloss paint being applied to extremely ancient wood and existing paintwork without either proper preparation and shoddy workmanship. It is easy to see in the photograph how thick and lumpy the old paint is and this type of finish invariably leads to chipping as it is only possible to apply so many layers of paint before they no longer adhere to the previous layers! I can only suggest you might be in the wrong game and also, if you are unable/unwilling to accept the genuine wear and tear which occurs when letting out properties perhaps you should try living in someone else's home for a year and you will find that these things happen. Also, I would have thought that out of a year's rent, a few minor repairs would be expected and if anything major occurred, then surely your insurance policy would cover it, that is if you can bear to part with the cost of having one. Having  done B and B for many years and incurred a few damages along the way, we find it a much better policy to be pleasant when they occur and if people offer to pay for damage we graciously decline and put it down to LIFE, which I respectfully suggest you might like to try, much better for your blood pressure and your relationship with your fellow man. Enough said, happy letting, Mrs Gastines.