Steve Last

We have also taken up the "Frequent Traveller" 10 x £39 singles scheme, I reckon it comes out at roughly the same amount as the old Property Owners deal, as the round trip £78 is actually £118 if you want to travel out and back at anything like a sensible time for a long journey, and £138 on holiday dates.   It p***es me off to find that people making tax avoidance booze and fags trips do the round trip for £35 or thereabouts AND are doing it at the time of day when I have to pay more than that as a premium for the time of day!! Fitting in 5 trips a year by car is a bit difficult too....!  I would prefer to support Speedferries but unfortunately the drag in and out of Dover plus uncertainties on the surface routes just adds too much to our trip time. 750 miles door to door is routinely do-able in one day but it does need the right conditions.     Steve 

We had to use a GP and specialist during a trip a week or so ago, paid €40 per consultation (cheaper than taking cat to the vet in UK!) and were told by GP that we could reclaim charges via the E111 -"take it to the post office" - in UK.  Is this corrcet, has anyone succeeded? Sorry if this is an old question, search facility doesn't seem to be working. Steve 

Many thanks...  as our UK base is in Marlow in the Chilterns we also have them there! Just wanted to see if they are regarded as more of a pest here in France (84 vaucluse).  Not sure if it is what we have yet, but they are known to be in the village and it is one explanation which fits the noise pattern, As we have no wiring in the roof (heavy beams, plasterboard ceiling and the common Provencal corrugated cement sheet with Roman tiles on top) we will probably let it ride for a while - the noises have gone away for the last few nights but some neighbours have had a couple fall down an air vent and rotted which was not very pleasant!! Cheers Steve 

We have been hearing odd scuttling noises in the night apparently from the roof space between tiles and ceiling, and suspect we have "gliss-gliss" or Roman dormice up there as they are reported to be found in this village. Can anyone point me to information about whether these are a significant problem or merely an irritant? If the former, what can be done about them?!? Thanks Steve  

I just checked with Telekonnect and they confirmed that (by law apparently) all calls to 0800 numbers are handled by France Telecom and can't go through discounters like Telekonnect. Thanks to all for the help. Steve

thanks for the advice everyone..... my calls go through Telekonnect so it will be interesting to see exactly how much it does cost me in the end. ATB Steve

Many thanks... I get their modem to respond but using the downloaded dialer it rejects my username and password.The username the dialer shows is not the one I put for my email but a variation on it, which starts with some quotes and looks like an email address with some elements of the one I asked for. e.g. <[email protected]?>   where xxxx is 4 consecutive letters from my name and nnnn is 4 digits of which I don't know the origin.   I tried variations on that e.g. leaving out the quotes and question marks but no joy. There is no password shown at this point so I enter the one I gave on signing up. Later.... OK it now works OK with  [email protected] bit as the username , don't know why it wouldn't before but now online OK. Many thanks for the help folks. Steve  

Thanks Jon...  I have signde up on the Tiscali site, however now find that while it has changed my home page to Tiscali's, the phone nunber to dial up doesn't work - it's coming up as 00 33 8 <?=substr(0860015555,2)?> Not sure what it should be.... looks like the 0860 015555. I was expecting some kind of confirmation message on my previous email address as it asked for that - did you get one do you recall? Regards Steve

Looking for an occasional use free ISP, someone recommended LaPoste.net however I just logged in to that and after signing up found that they are no longer going to be in the ISP business after the end of this month! Anyone have an alternative recommendation? I have been using Free.fr but it is almost never available. (Tried searching the forum for this info but the search facility is not responding - sorry!) Steve

Assuming that like me you don't want a subscription service, I have been using www.free.fr for the last 3 years but found it increasingly difficult to get a connection over the last 6 months, to the point where it has become unusable. Some other recommendations on this forum have included www.freesurf.fr, and I just signed up with that a few moments ago (from the UK) - very simple process. I will start to find out whether it is any good when I go back to France on Thursday.     Steve L

We have not yet received any documentation from the Notaires regarding a chalet purchased in September 2000....    we also were using a UK legal adviser (high profile advertsiser and article writer) with an associated French notaire in Paris. Between the 3 of them (UK, Paris, Abbondance) they just washed their hands of everything. Went back to the local guy last summer, no response so far.... Have been happily in possession with no problems to date though (fingers crossed!) Another purchase at the same time in Vaucluse produced proper accounts etc a few weeks aftre completion, which was itself about 6 weeks from signing the compromis, so obviously anything can happen!!     Steve L

According to current summer booking info, Ryanair plan to be operating to Nimes from Stansted with an evening departure, from Luton late morning and from Liverpool (not daily) late afternoon. Of course no guarantees that this will actually occur. The basis of "low cost" airlines is that their sole purpose of being in business is to generate profits. Costs are incurred to provide the "end to end" service the customer (passenger) needs, which is transportation from outside one airport perimeter to outside another.  SOMEone has to supply and  pay for everything involved in the chain, the O'Leary trick is to pretend to the passenger that it's only him when it comes to taking the money in, and washing their hands of any responsibility or payment for anything other than the most basic operation of the aircraft, as far as the suppliers of everything else are concerned. Without knowing anything about the actual situation at Nimes I imagine the problem is whether the "total benefit less costs" of having a passenger facility there is turning out to be negative. The local community knows what the costs are because they are paying them e.g. reduced wages for staff? but the benefits are spread around a whole lot more people who haven't contributed enough - or even at all - up to now. (Including maybe a lot of Ryanair passengers on 99p tickets!) Hope they can come to a decent agreement which will keep the service going ....    Steve L retired BA, pilot, union rep and occasional management.    

Seems to be an improvement as far as I am concerned. I get really ****ed off at schemes which are based on charging by the time between out and back legs - there is no impact whatever on costs to them whether I stay away for 5 nights or 7 or 15 so it is purely a scam. So I prefer something which is a bit more related to the market for the actual service.  I wish they had publicised it a bit earlier though as I had to buy a £250 return on Dec 15th for use December 21st/Jan 11th! Comparing charges, I paid £710 total for 5 round trips plus "membership fee" under the old POC scheme for March 03 to March 04 which was £142 per round trip, so this is better at £390 minimum plus up to £300 supplements for peak dates and hours.   My main complaint is that the requirement for 10 crossings a year is too high, we can justify 4 road trips a year but 5 is a bit much as we find the cost-effectiveness break point between driving and flying/renting a car is about 2 weeks.   However even if we have to throw away one round trip because we can't fit it in, the cost per round trip will be between £97.50 and £172.50 so it is better than any of the regular fares. What it does do is force me not to buy until the last moment before the first journey. I suspect it will work out at £147.50 per trip for 4 journeys, as we can avoid the peak DAYS but travelling outside the peak HOURS (departure at 0400 is a bit of a stretch!) it is better than the old rate.    I would still support Speedferries if possible (did 2 round trips summer 04 with them) but unfortunately the extra time in and out of Dover plus fewer and slightly longer and less reliable crossings than the tunnel, means that our journey time to Vaucluse (84) is stretched just that bit too much 12 to 14 hours door to door is just about tolerable, 14 - 16+ starts to be excessive.  Steve  also posted under travel deals

Seems to be an improvement as far as I am concerned. I get really ****ed off at schemes which are based on charging by the time between out and back legs - there is no impact whatever on costs to them whether I stay away for 5 nights or 7 or 15 so it is purely a scam. So I prefer something which is a bit more related to the market for the actual service.  I wish they had publicised it a bit earlier though as I had to buy a £250 return on Dec 15th for use December 21st/Jan 11th! Comparing charges, I paid £710 total for 5 round trips plus "membership fee" under the old POC scheme for March 03 to March 04 which was £142 per round trip, so this is better at £390 minimum plus up to £300 supplements for peak dates and hours.   My main complaint is that the requirement for 10 crossings a year is too high, we can justify 4 road trips a year but 5 is a bit much as we find the cost-effectiveness break point between driving and flying/renting a car is about 2 weeks.   However even if we have to throw away one round trip because we can't fit it in, the cost per round trip will be between £97.50 and £172.50 so it is better than any of the regular fares. What it does do is force me not to buy until the last moment before the first journey. I suspect it will work out at £147.50 per trip for 4 journeys, as we can avoid the peak DAYS but travelling outside the peak HOURS (departure at 0400 is a bit of a stretch!) it is better than the old rate.    I would still support Speedferries if possible (did 2 round trips summer 04 with them) but unfortunately the extra time in and out of Dover plus fewer and slightly longer and less reliable crossings than the tunnel, means that our journey time to Vaucluse (84) is stretched just that bit too much 12 to 14 hours door to door is just about tolerable, 14 - 16+ starts to be excessive.  Steve    also posted with your message on the general travel topic

[quote]What Miki implies is a golden rule, it is up to the purchaser to make sure that they are getting what they want before they pay.[/quote] True, but a it's bit difficult to make the guy hang around for 2 hours while we wheelbarrow it 200m to the house and stack it!!   I guess we are stuck with Kellogg's Law : like it says on the cornflakes packet "contents may settle in transit"....... Steve

Thanks everyone - at least it seems that we aren't being taken for a ride by ourselves!!! Steve 

Thanks for that Miki, very helpful comment....   it just happens that we have a wood "cave" where one of the walls is 3m long and 2m high, so I expected it to be filled with wood 1 log deep if I ordered 3 steres. I guess from what you say that a corde is 3 steres (you said 2 cordes at one point and 6 cu. m. later?)  By the way I paid €180 for my "3" steres, so it was a tiny bit cheaper than yours, but not all good oak. On a different note, I see that in my original message I made a reference to a "(something I apparently can't say) and bull" story - the site management has converted that to "a******and" bull story.....   I guess it's a good job we are not discussing the ability to keep chickens as clearly it would become necessary to keep referring to a "male of the common domestic fowl gallus domesticus" every time.  Are they just trying to "cock a snook" at me or are they are so ignorant and obsessed with sex that they don't know that some words have more than one meaning?     Steve

In our region (84 Vaucluse) firewood seems to be bought by the "stere" which I was given to understand is a cubic metre.  It is cut to the length you request, that generally being 30 cm or 50 cm. However having ordered and paid for 3 steres of 50cm logs, when actually stacked up it came to only about 2.5 cu metres, i.e. about 16% less.  When I called back for an explanation I was told, in essence, "It's always less when stacked and you get less if it's 50cm logs anyway". This sounds like a******and bull story to me, unless what they are saying is that they measure it somehow by the volume piled in the truck which would result in more air space I guess. However I feel that he is trying to pull the wool over my eyes here. In any event, I know I burn a certain amount each day so the amount I order is what I want delivered. I will probably use a different supplier next year I think. Anyone got any comment or advice on this ? Steve PS also found I needed a chainsaw as well, as a significant percentage were actually OVER 50cm and thus won't go in the stove anyway!!!  

[quote]I wonder if anyone has had the same problem as me with their POC letter? It quite clearly states that I have a poits balance as at 14/09/2004 of 7092 points. Great I thought, I hadn't realised tha...[/quote] It seems a bit bizarre but when I called with a query about this and quoted the number on the letter I was told that wasn't my membership number it was an administrative number of some sort. On checking on my card I found it had mostly the same digits in the same place and order but some differences. Beats me why anyone should have a system which did that, but no matter, it'll all be water over the tunnel soon anyway. Steve.

We went to a Peugeot dealer in Maidenhead to enquire about a new 206 (I think it was) for my wife. Wanted a wagon but with automatic trans, which the SW doesn't have. A particular requirement was for occasional transport of some craft equipment (she teaches textile arts and quilting).  We had seen a review which said the 206 had excellent fold forward seat. Saw one on their ramp......  no-one paid any attention to us. Went inside and found a brochure..... which said it could accomodate a surf board in that config - ideal. Salesmen chatting to themselves and ignored us. Eventually I went over and asked if anyone was selling cars here, and said I was interested in the 206.  One reluctantly went and got some keys and said we could look at the one outside, and went back to his chat. Getting a bit p....d off by now, but went and looked. Couldn't see how seat unlatched so went back to get them to show us. When I said I wanted to see the seat forward salesman asked why so I explained and said it was in their brochure. "Salesman" flatly denied any such statement existed, so I got a copy and showed him. At this stage he reluctantly came outside to discuss it. He then asked whether my wife actually wanted to carry a surfboard - she said no, but occasionally she took some poles which were about the same size.   "Salesman's" response - "well you ought to buy a van then!" We would probably have signed on the spot for the right car as we were in the mood, but as a direct result we vowed never to to have anything to do with that agency again, and I'm very pleased with the Skoda Fabia Estate automatic we bought that afternoon. Might get talked into a P407SW next year though - but not from Maidehead! Steve 

I'm just in the middle of this and think it is excellent - should be compulsory reading for anyone considering spending any significant time in France. Steve

I've used this service twice this summer, in July and Aug/Sept.  ! was booked back on the 1730 from Boulogne yesterday afternoon (14th) and arrived to find it cancelled due to weather - as we could see the height of the spray from waves crashing over the harbour entrance from the motorway at the top of the hill on the other side of town we were not altogether surprised!!  Wind was gale 7 - 8.   Speedferries staff were very efficient and rebooked us immediately onto SeaFrance 1930 from Calais. This all went well and the crossing was actually quite comfortable - we could see Speed One tied up in Calais as it had diverted in there and was unable to leave. Although the wind was I was very satisfied with this under the circumstances as I had understood that they did not have any reciprocal arrangements and we would get stuck with a refund and big one-way alternative fare. (I would not have been very pleased to have simply been told that it was out of service for a refit and here's your money back, however!) Overall I will continue to recommend SpeedFerries but will somewhat reluctantly revert to the Tunnel in future myself. All the surface routes add just a bit too much time to our journey from the Vaucluse (84110 Vaison La Romaine). I have made it a couple of times in 12 hours from there to Marlow near High Wycombe, although I typically allow 14 including rest stops. However getting from motorway to ferry and back to motorway through Dover or Calais/Boulogne, plus the longer loading and unloading and the slower transit for any of the ferries, just adds a bit too much unfortunately.        Steve

Thanks for all the comments, I see I'm not alone anyway. By the way does anyone else have difficulty with the new appearance of the forum?  I am finding it far harder to use with the fancy graphics and have posted some messages on the LF Magazine and Website area. Basic problem is that many things are almost illegible due to tiny text size, lack of contrast and generally unnecessary formatting for such ephemeral stuff as  forum messages.  Do we really need all this MS Word formatting??? Also I wanted to post this as reply to an individual message as was done before - but it appears taht I can only respond to my own original message - unless there's another illegible button for that too!!   Steve  

In fact about the only thing in adequate type size on this page is the warning about unsoloicited advertising!! Everything else seems to be minute. Also I dislike all the fancy graphics add-ons which have actually made it a bit harder to do simple things like communicate, e.g. the little private message button at the bottom which is almost invisible.  Sorry mr. system admin, but the key to improving a site is usability, that means adequate contrast between text and background and so forth. I do not want a miniature version of MS Word cluttering up the screen with all the fancy text formatting stuff. By definition forum messages are ephemeral, they will be read once by most people who see them and their appearance has NO lasting value whatever.  The HTML formatting needs additional code which simply adds to the time needed to get a messages in and out. Since many LF forum users may be in France with either no Broadband access in their area or spending insufficient time there to justify a subscription, please don't assume we are all going to spend ages formatting messages to look pretty.  As a matter of interest, have you analysed what proportion of messages make ANY use of the formatting tools now on show? Thye only thing I DO want is a quick spell checker and I can't find that!!!!  Thanks Steve 

Yes, france.fr is the one I mean.  This time it took 9 log-ons to get any reaction, sitting with 1800 bytres sent and 200 received for 30 - 40 seconds, then suddenly I get one which is normal speed. All the time it is reading "logged on at 45.6 kbps" or whatever......... Steve