Gastines

We have a friend trying to do the same thing. From what he was told by the Notaire the other family member,or members, have to sign a paper in person in front of the Notaire. Basically signing their rights away. My friends children are in UK, Italy and Australia and one other. Fraught with problems. Best deal with a French Notaire who will tell you his version.Sometimes their opinions are not always the same!! Regards. 

While enjoying my Large cod, chips, mushy peas tartar sauce,hot bread roll & butter plus a glass of the house merlot I will not be thinking of the miserable so and so's who berate anyone else's small pleasures. As an add on to NormanH I would like to say that when in any part of Europe ,UK or further afield, we eat what the locals eat. I do however draw the line at sheeps eyes,tripe and andouille sausage,and McD's. We are both fairly fit,not overweight and eat well and enjoy our food and company. Bon Appetit Regards.

Noisy table of 6 next Thursday will be us.I do get a few funny looks when I get a kiss and hug from the waitress. Another attempt at getting them to open up over here. I can see a decent fish and chip restaurant + take-away doing a reasonable trade all year round near us However ,I am aware that fish prices have risen 5 times in the last 3 years. The oil used is getting harder to buy and trade doesn't come out of thin air.Having the deep sea fishery boat,  the Joseph Roti and freezer plant in St.Malo might be a start.Apart from that plenty of local spud supplies and very cheap labour in the prep  department,namely me. By coincidence one of the first pocket money jobs I had was helping my older brother prepare 3 bathloads of chips,6 days a week, for a fish and chip shop in Palmerston Road Boscombe.I think he paid me 6d. By the way ,the bathtubs were ONLY used to keep the chips in. Regards.

Having just read in the Bournemouth Echo,my old local, that the Social Services are recruiting staff in America, the local Hospital sends a management team to the Phillipines to recruit staff, I feel that all is becoming clear as to why the UK is in such dire straits. Add to the the post this morning informing my just retired wife that her little pension fund has been losing £200+ a month,;still charging 1% to mismanage it; Letter sent to HSBC on Jan 22nd was filed and not dealt with but no-one is in that office 2.30pm on a Friday. The stress these inefficient people cause by laziness or on purpose seems to prevail in all aspects of UK business these days. My only remedy is to send them a bill for our wasted time/stress/phone-calls. I nearly mentioned loss of interest but Gordon and Darling seem to have cancelled that point for the next ten years. However , the sun is shining,the birds are nesting  and my broad bean and runner bean seeds have all sprouted. Regards.

Thankyou for your clear instructions which I have followed precisely, however, I can now get channel 5 by following the "other channels" route but it will not come up on the normal control, still get no signal!! Regards.

Dear Jane,    Thankyou for your prompt reply. Can I just make clear that the 7 day cooling off period I mentioned was not, obviously the one appropriate at the time of signing of the Compromis but the little slip at the bottom of the duplicate form of agreement, allowing the client 7 days to cancel the Mandat. We were not given one at either stage of the process, the first one being the agreement for a 6 month exclusivity nor the second one, which we thought was purely a change of asking price, not another 6 month contrat. We have sent a registered letter of cancellation and just wanted to clarify the fact that we can cancel the second contrat as it is just 3 months since we were unwittingly trapped into signing it. Obviously, had we known it was not just the simple change of asking price we asked for, we would not have signed, but not knowing about the avenant at the time, we weren't streetwize enough to turn it down. Yours Faithfully, Mrs Gastines.

Dear Will, Thankyou for your reply concerning Mandats etc. Unfortunately, I think you misconstrued the  point I was making about the 7 day cancellation option. I did not refer to the cooling off period following the signing of the Compromis de Vente, I obviously meant the option to cancel the mandat to actually market the property within the following  7 days. (Usually a little tear off strip at the bottom of the duplicate agreement.) Also, I can assure you that the agent concerned did try to discredit the other agents we mentioned, inferring that they were promising buyers or at least viewers and that they must have approached us. Whereas in fact, we approached both of them, unlike the agent with the Exclusiv Mandat at present, who in fact, approached us. We have also been told, possibly true or untrue, that we should not have been asked to sign the Mandat in our home but in the Immobiliers office? Finally, you still failed to answer my original question as to whether or not the second Mandat extending the time it was effective, was actually legal or not. We did not ask for our Mandat to be extended, purely to change the price, so therefore feel it was most unscrupulous to tie us into a longer period of exclusivity, at least without making it clear to us. I might re-iterate that the employee we dealt with actually admitted she was not happy about it at the time. Yours, Mrs Gastines.  

A word of warning concerning Contracts with Immobiliers. We undertook a Contrat D'Exclusivite for 6 months with a local estate agent late last year. They insisted on 6 months as they would be advertising it extensively etc. etc. and as the 6 months encompassed largely winter/springtime we were happy to agree. After 4 months with absolutely no viewings at all, we decided it might be a good idea to reduce the asking price, especially with the economic situation as it is. We notified them accordingly, both in writing and with a personal visit and signed what we assumed was a contract to change the price as that was all we had requested. Now that we are nearing the end of the original contract we notified them  that we wished to terminate the contract on the expiry date, only to be told that we had in fact, another 2 months to run on it, due to the fact that at the time of changing the price, they saw fit to issue a new 6 month contract! We have taken issue with them over this, despite the person we dealt with having left the firm, she actually visited our house and told us she was not happy at the time of extending the contract on change of price but as she was an employee, she was in a difficult position. She has advised us to give notice to finish the original contract by recorded delivery, which we  have done and are awaiting confirmation that this is in order. Her husband is a lawyer and she has consulted with him on this matter and he agrees that it is not correct, also the new Immo. has looked at our contract and has found several discrepancies within it, (yes, I know they all discredit each other the world over) but we are now adamant that we want to finish this contract at the end of the first 6 months so are most interested to see if anyone else has encountered the same problem when reducing a price or any other change of detail within a contract,  finally, we were not given the statutory 7 day get out slip at the time of signing the price change agreement,thankyou. MRs Gastines.

Having lost Channel 5 a couple of weeks ago I have tried various ways of trying to find/re-set the TV via Sky box. Anyone any ideas on the number for the signal? Regards,

Having recently had a buyer fail to complete after signing the CdV recently,he was made to pay the full 10% deposit,he initially only paid 5%,and was given 6 months to complete. The notaire paid us the majority of the deposit,he only charged a very nominal amount and he informed us that we were entitled to take the chap to court for the full amount. We signed a paper saying we wouldn't do so,. I believe there are several conditions that you can include in the CdV that give you a get out without loss of deposit. I believe that not being able to optain a Mortgage is the basic one but one house we bought we included a condition that the house was given permission for a certain change of use. Although this causes extra delay in completing it is worth protecting yourself,as a buyer, and worth being advised if you are the seller. Unfortunately many people just don't seem able to play it straight,clients and Immo's alike. Regards.

Apart from the pleasure of family/grandchildren ,the other pleasure in our trips to Bournemouth is a fish & chip meal at "Chez Fred" in Westbourne,still the best fish and chips we have ever had,add to that the mushy peas and bottle of Merlot and it's a treat. We might be slightly biased as daughter is on service and her partner is the fryer,fish fryer that is. Still trying to get them to open up over here,even offered to peel all the spuds. Regards.

Plenty of places just outside the City walls,Try Campanile/Formula 1 at St Jouan des Gueret about 5 mins away. Regards.

They take more pride in their work and are glad they have a job,a way of thinking that may shortly be in the UK.

While you are discussing Apprenticeships mostly of the manufacturing and engineering type I'd like to add one related to the NHS. When my wife was in nurse training ,a 3 year course mostly starting at the mucky end,there were 14 in her set. After 5 years my wife went into the Private sector because of the short staffing,shortage of equipment,black mark system if you lodge a complaint etc etc. There were then 2 of the original set still in the NHS,one in management and one in accounts,less stress,better pay . At no time did anyone in the Personnel dept ask any of the leavers their reason for quitting. Then you read ,as is occuring again, a £800.000. recruiting drive is being staged,not in UK of course as the teams seem to prefer freebies in the Phillipines and other sunny regions. When visiting my brother in I.T unit a couple of years ago,the nurse dealing with him  couldn't even pronounce his name and neither my wife or I could understand much of the conversation, while glad of any care he did receive he said on several occasions he just wanted to get out or give up.  The training part I think refers to low-cost dogsbodies and don't speak out . Regards.

Not sure if it was just made for TV but"As far as my feet will carry me" was riveting. I may add that the last visit to a cinema was to see" Jaws" And it was in colour!! Regards.

Not quite sure if I should post this in" Shopping"or under "Worst Trips". In the news today .Waitrose in Poole Dorset are offering a delivery service by bike. A brilliant idea in the town's congested roads. Wish I'd thought of it first.Sir Alan might say "You're Hired". Unfortunately it reminded me of when I used to do trades bike deliveries for a Grocer and Greengrocers in Boscombe when in my very early teens. I had to deliver a box of cooked beetroot to the Green Park Hotel. Arriving after a strenous pedal up the hill of Manor road I was informed the order had been cancelled. About turn down the hill. Traffic lights on the main road crossing turn red.Brakes too hard to pull on quickly and travelling quite fast I managed to hit a Trolley bus smack bang in the middle,nearly changed.or ruined, my sex life and the cooked beetroot went straight up the side of the bus. Several screams from passengers who thought it was me spread everywhere and a nice square dent in the side of the bus where the carrier frame hit. Waitrose have had the sense to put the goods carrier at the back on a tow frame. Regards.

With four heavily armed White Guards being driven to I know not where in Iraq at the end of a Villa furnishing contract.Eventually being left outside another villa miles from anywhere and told,by sign language, to knock on security gates.Then being taken in another car to Baghdad airport and told my visa had expired. Quite exciting but not at the time. Regards.

Accommodation now sorted,thankfully. Regards.

In the Ouest France about 2 months ago there was an article saying Presidents Obama and Sarkozy were making an early morning visit to Omaha Beach on route from London to Strasbourg on the G,20, tour. We booked into a very nice ans spotlessly clean hotel in Bayeux the night before,sussed the route out etc and asked the Security bods at the American Cemetery what time they were expected. As they didn't want to answer us and the receptionist said it was just the press exagerating, we thought the visit was still on but very low profile. The gates open at 9.00am., but we followed a delivery lorry in at 7.45am and sat in the car listening for helicopters. At just before 9.00. we realised that they were not coming,we did know the visit for June 6th was anounced so presumed that they had decided that would suffice. However,we went through the gardens with no-one else about and watched the raising of the Stars and Stripes on the 2 flagpoles. Very moving and impossible not to feel emotional. We also went to Arromanche to the Mulberry Harbour and the 360 degree film show.The Bayeux Cemetery for the UK and Canadian soldiers/sailors was made even more moving by the personal messages carved into the headstones. The German Cemetery with it's tree lined entrance was a little more sombre. I may add that there were several hundred French school/college children/teens in each Cemetery and they were all well- behaved with no litter to be seen. It was a very interesting area and worth another visit. Regards.

Wanted Double room en-suite in or very close to Bayeux for 4th5th6th or 5th6th7th June. Anything available? Please P.M. direct. Regards.

You've convinced me. Add to your list of ersatz Degrees the new one to be offered at Bournemouth University,"Surfing", I kid you not. It goes along with the Surf Reef being built,or partially built, by Boscombe Pier,Bournemouth. At present running about double original quote plus plenty of excuses. Regards.

Big Mac, you have used the expresion which should be tatoo'd on every Labour M.P.'s forehead and a few Tories."Lessons will be learnt" How many times has that been wheeled out by the present bunch in the last ten years? The sad bit is that not one lesson has been learnt by any Government Department. Regards.

It is very easy for the Seller or Agent to say there is scope for Gites etc. but it does pay to find out first or put this in as a condition on buying, The Maxim" Buyer Beware" comes to mind especially before you part with any dosh. Regards.

Just how difficult is it to get rid of this lot? Can't the Queen dissolve the Government,possibly in Acid?It seems that the same applies to local Councils, the amount some of them seem to be throwing at any crazy scheme you would think the coffers were loaded. Well put together Gluestick but where is the safest place  as I note you enjoy a foot in both camps.If you had to choose which one for the next 5 years would it be UK or France? Regards.

Same problem but as of yet no answer. Regards.