chessie
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Posts posted by chessie
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Hello Orion 2I'm also having problems 'logging-on' - cannot access your site at all;even by exiting Living France web-site and tryingwww.aquitaine-people-and-property.com - I'm not having any success. Getmessage along the lines 'URL couldn't be found...etc..'Where are you ??Chessie
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Well done - excellent. I have felt for some time that the geographical area covered under'south west France' by Living France is quite large - but then so isFrance !!However, the information on 'south west France' is really excellentover a very wide range of subjects and I have found the site to beimmensely helpful; particularly so when the birds are migratingnorth/south - early warning signs from other 'birders' is muchappreciated and shows how useful a site covering such a large area canbe.But - having recently moved from the UK I am missing -Car Boot SalesAuctions - of any typeFlea MarketsYes - I'll admit it - I'm a magpie !!! Having 'down-sized' and 'clearedeverything out' - I'm starting again - much to poor other half's greatdismay....I have found that, unless one is close to a fairly large town it isvery, very easy to miss any 'special' event that might be taking place.I'm sorry 'Living France' - this isn't a criticism - but this othersite has put up a list of markets, not all of which we knew about, anddetails of flower festivals and flea markets - yippee, yippee,yippee......!!!!!!!!
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I'm probably wrong on this - but are you really sure you would want tobe handing over your bank a/c details to a stranger? Or am I just a bittoo cautious ? If it's a french buyer then surely asking for a frenchcheque is going to be OK - and then wait for the money to appear inyour a/c. I've bought e-bay items on UK site - and although I'm livingin France I pay with a UK £sterling cheque, and am always happy to waitfor the seller to know they they're money before posting the item on...
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Hello Andy - I don't understand this busines about the logs and woodfor the fire. When we first arrived we were advised to order our woodduring the early part of the summer from the commune's own woodsupplier. We were told that most definitely it would be ready forburning during the coming winter. Now here's where I'm going to scratch my head (better not have anotherglass of wine or I might not be able to type clearly enough to makesense - even though I'm already giving myself a headache). Nowlook - how does this go? We arrive in France - we don't have any woodpacked in the removal lorry. We have to order wood (because you can beabsolutely certain the previous owners haven't left any!!). So - ourfirst winter - do we have to order 2 lots of wood - 1 for the comingwinter and 1 to be stored? Then in the second year do we have to orderanother double lot - 1 lot to be used and 1 lot to be stored; then inthe third winter do we have to order another double lot - 1 lot to beburned and 1 to be stored; then bingo - 4th year - we have wood fromthe first lot that is now four years old that we can use. But we wouldstill have to buy another lot of wood so that it could be stored foranother four years; and then the year after that we would still have toorder another lot of wood to be stored for another four years. (It'sbeginning to sound like laying down a wine cellar - except that it'sbecome a wood cellar) - and where are you going to store all this wood? And what happens if you decide to move in the meantime !!!!Andy - I'm baffled - where do you get wood that's at least 2 years old. I thought the local commune bod was the best person ???Andy - I hope I've now baffled you !!! but I do welcome yourcomments and advice - tell me where we've gone wrong ? Anyway, cheers -I think I'm now going to finish this wine - my head's aching...!!!!!Enjoy your Christmas !! (Still can't get the smileys to 'clingon' to my postings - hey ho....
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Hello Teamed-up - thanks for taking time to reply to my very firstpost. I've been unhappy about this 'box' for a little while; I justthought that ALL new builds were like this one - it would seem not. Andit's nice to know that someone else doesn't like her modern 'granitelooking' sink - I find it a damn nuisance because with all the specksit just doesn't ever look nice and clean and fresh and it beats me whyanyone would choose such an item as a first choice - but on purelypractical grounds I find it horrible. Now look - you've set me offagain - I think I'll go and find another bottle of wine ...!!!We do have a little lever on the side of our stove and there are 3raised dots - differing sides marked on the side of the stove. Ithought these different marks - where the lever can be stopped - werefor no draught, gentle draugght, or 'roar away up the chimney and burnthe wood in 10 minutes' draught. Is it a sneaky thing to do the stove,when it's not looking, just open the lever to the highest setting(assuming it's not already at that setting) - and at that point put inthe extra log or two ? Hadn't thought of 'outwitting' it likethat - good thinking !!! As for buying from a rubbishy builder - yes I do think we've been a bitunlucky. The previous owners were only here for a short time and theyhad to return to UK suddenly on health grounds. It seems they did havea bit of a dispute with the builder while the place was being built.And yes - they were cheapskates - we've been told by their 'friends' ofcertain incidents that occured while the 'box' was being built - thingswe wished we had known before we bought - but the sort of things youonly find out afterwards - when it's too late. We know the guttering isstraight - yes - straight - meaning that parts of it don't drain awayproperly, and heavy rain means the gutters fill up and then we getlarge amounts of water just cascading anywhere along the gutter line.There's no gentle fall on half the guttering - it's just completelystraight. And hearing about the previous owners' falling-out with thebuilder I'm slightly uneasy now about what other secret, littletime-bombs might be waiting down the line for us !!! Of course if you have dogs you won't really want carpets. I likecarpets because I find them comfortable to lie on, the cats like to lieon them too, and they do act as a bit of sound-proofing (which is why Iwas thinking an English version of the Bayeaux Tapestry might work as asound-deadening wall hanging !!) But I'm not even talking fittedcarpets - just very large squares that can be dragged outside and bewashed when the sun is shining, and it's nice and warm - and yes it'spleasant to have cool tiles underfoot. Oh for the days of summer....Never mind - I think I'll have another glass of wine, try to forget it for now, and look forward to Christmas.Thank you for your help Teamed-up - and I hoe you have a lovely Christmas PS - I want to put 'smileys' on my posts - but haven't worked out how just yet...
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Hello Lizzie - thanks so much for your reply - and it's nice to knowthat there could be a solution to the problem of swinging windows. I'ma bit upset by these windows because last summer one of them blew backquite violently during a 'heavy breeze' - and the window edge hit theglass light fitting at the side of the mirror in the bathroom andsmashed it to pieces.. The windows have also been known to 'blow back'when the cats are sitting on a dressing table next to the bedroomwindow and has hit one of the cats before now. So it is a nuisance -and I am very, very grateful for your practical advice. We had lookedin our nearest little DIY place - and had asked - but we hadn't foundanything that would seem to work. To know that there is definitelysomething that we could track down in Mr Bricolage is useful - the onlyproblem is that our nearest large Mr Brico is an hour's drive away -but we'll get there...one day...!!! Thanks for taking the trouble toreply - that was kind of you - and I do hope you have a lovelyChristmas.
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Thanks Val - my point is that the new build was already built. We hadNO say in it's construction, decor etc, etc, - and no it darned wellwasn't cheap !!! I'm just trying to warn others who might be thinkingof new build to be aware of the problems - of course if you're incharge right from the word go - and you're aware of the potentialproblems - fine - it can be sorted. But if you buy an existing newbuild - these are problems we've encountered.
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Thanks for comments - Lizzie - I've looked for catches to hold windows - I'd be veryinterested for more details because I haven't yet found anything thatwill work - we've got the white-pvc-doubled glazed units. I didn'tthink you were supposed to drill holes in these units to fix anythingto 'em - am I wrong. If there is anything that will hold the windows onsome kind of fastening I'd love to have more details.As for 'specifying to builder' - yes this is exactly what I am warningpeople about. This 'box' had already been built and was just over 2years old. We had no idea that - because the partition walls are sothin there's no privacy and that it would act like an echo chamber. I'mjust trying to warn anyone lucky enough to be in the position to 'talkto their architect/builder' what to look out for. And to those whomight be contemplating buying an already existing new build that thisis a problem they are likely to encounter. And yeah - after X number ofyears married to OH - that probably might be part of the problem!!!!!!!!!!Ron - thanks - but our wood IS dry. Obtained from local communewoodcutter - left to dry through the summer - I must admit I hadn'tthought of just 'sneaking up' on the woodstove and taking it bysurprise - I'll try that.Concrete floors - oh come on - most houses - houses mind you - in theUK - the majority do have wooden floors on the ground floor and woodenfloors on the second floor. The newer houses will have concrete groundfloors but upstairs they are wood. I find all one-level concrete withtiles over to be hard, noisy, cold in winter and very tiring on thefeet and ankles if you do a lot of walking around,. There's no give inthe concrete at all.As for drinking out of the bottle - well yes, it would help stop mefrom breaking the odd glass - but the problem is a full botle is alwaysheavy and I'd be more likely to drop a full bottle than a glass - andthen by the time I've drunk half the botle there's no way I'd be ableto hold the botle properly. So besides breaking the bottle on the floorI'd have to cope with half the wine being spilt on the sofa, me, thecats, the carpet....what a waste of good 'falling downwater'..........I think plastic cups might be the answer.Cheers...hic. hic, hic, hic,
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Words of advice for anyone thinking of building/buying new build - DONT.We live in a new 'villa' (glorified bog-standard b---y bungalow). Ididn't want a new build - other half said he wasn't doing any more DIY,wouldn't think of buying anything older than 3 years - and I wanted alovely old restored stone. We live in a modern box - it's big - but abox. Lots of windows - but a box.Sound insulation - in French new build - Doesn't Exist. The walls arethin plaster; the floors are concrete - with tiles. The floors are hardand unforgiving if you fall down (I know - too much 'falling downwater' does have that effect !). Drop something and it breaks - andit's always the nicest glass (yeah the 'falling down water holder' ) -or the special bit of china. Everything echoes - drop something - a knife or a fork - on the floorin the kitchen and it reverberates right round the box. Stand in thekitchen and listen to every 'splish splash' at toilet time in thebathroom at the other end of the box - might just as well be in thenext room. Any guests staying over - you can hear every, every single word or whisper - there ain't nothing that's private.The guest toilet is just right off the hall - again every single soundechoes around the fully tiled spare bathroom - and then right round thebox. Privacy - forget it. Even with carpets (not fitted just large room size squares) andcurtains - it's still an echo box. If I was clever I'd sew my ownversion of the Bayeaux Tapestry - showing the mass invasion of theBrits !!The windows all open inwards - why? You can't have a nice windowshelfto hold pictures, or vases, or anything. You need to leave at least 2feet (sorry don't do metric - give me good old British Imperial -understandable human sized measurements) either side of the windowopening otherwise when the windows are open and you get a nice breeze -which then blows the windows back so they will hit the inside of thewalls. Why can't we have windows that open outwards.Do not have a modern granite-type sink. For some reason the Frenchwater system turns everything brown and stains the sink. It never, everlooks clean - ugggh. I think this is why French loos are so horrible aswell. They seem to get stained very quickly so I'm using those bleachblocks every few days just so we can keep the toilets looking clean.Get gas central heating if possible. Wood burning stoves - yeah sure -all very romantic; except that every time you open the door to put morewood on the fire - there'll be large puffs of smoke out of the stovewhich marks the ceiling - and needs to be painted everycouple of years.
Scam - Brits claiming benefits = tax black hole ???
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