Pun

I agree, once again R/H. is saying just what is being said, and resulting in winding up the person who's gone to the trouble of informing members of his/her experience, (not needed) maybe to be heard more is better than being seen.

Hi "  Anton, Many thanks for your help ref the grey pipe. I only hope after all the messing about getting the pool in I never need to find any leaking in the shell. I spent most of yesterday cutting wooden pegs and securing the new pool cover into place as a tempory thing until I fit the tiles into place and can then secure the proper cover pins.   In spite of taking great care not to see the cover swimming in the pool it ended up just there at least three times but by the end of the day I managed to do the job. It looks nice and is within the law. And thanks to all the help given on this thread, I can move on to the next part of this pool project. Once again Anton, many thanks.

Hi Susie 24, We just love your name and picture, Again your reply makes a lot of common, and as I said to Zak, sometimes when you get a second thought on the subject it all falls into place. We have'nt layed any slabs as yet, (edging done by the pool people) and so we can now see where we need a grid cover etc, talking about slabs/tiles , they really can work out a hell of a cost, we cant really do any laying just now due to the weather so we've been having a look at verious outlets and prices, One minute we're thinking of keeping it very blank looking and then you see tiles with nice decoration/designs on them. Its going tobe a large area to tile and with large plant pots/statues/ect it makes you wonder if the blank look wouldnt be better? Well thanks for your help. regards Pun.

Hi Zak, (no relation to Ringo are you???) Anyway, thanks for your  reply Zak, it really makes sence now Ive had a different look at the lay of the land and the possion of this large  grey plastic pipe,   It's at the lower part of a little slope (as the land isnt level) and the rainwater would go in this direction, So if I place a grid cover over the pipe it would all work. Ive stood looking at this pipe on and off for hours and just couldnt see the use of it, but thanks to you Im sure you've cracked it. Once again thanks very much.

Hi , As you know Ive just had the pool completed, But the people who did all the work are on holiday for the next 2 weeks and Ive a burning question thats driving me mad, Question, at the deep end of the pool we have 2 filter box's and next to one of theses filters is a pipe, approx 7inch dia, and its below the pool edging tile's we have a seperate pipe fitted to the pump in the pump room for draining the pool, so it's not for draining, I was wondering if this pipe is anything to do with drainage for the outside area of the pool, ie should the underside of the pool area be flooded, this pipe would be for the use of a pump to drain away the outer water? or is it anything to do with presure/tempiture change in the ground? like an expantion pipe. any ideas please.

Hi Bob, If I hear of anyone near you in my efforts to sort out this solar heating I'll pass all info on to you, if not you can come to us and have a warm swim (if we manage to get a heat system sorted that is) many thanks for your reply. regards Pun.

Hi Pogo, We have the same idea in mind ref solar, As you can see Mickey gave some very good tips ref not wasting the heat, and I did write to a place in mid wales (u,k.) alterative technology, ref solar heating so when I find the supply people for this area I'll pass all info on to you, but it might take a while,, so keep on swimming only on hot days, regards Pun.

Hi  Mickey, Many thanks for your help on this one, The points you made ref covering the pool at night are a good idea, This is our first pool and I know nothing ref the running of a pool so as Im sure you'll understand even the basics come  as a new thing for me ,So once again thanks.

 Christ, Teamup where the hell are you living? Such a place should be given a health warning, (serious )   "lets have the name or dept so people will know if visiting wear  proteced clothing. Ive noticed very little in fact I can honestly say no crime in this area in the 5 years we have owned our properties here.(dept 23 Aigurande) Did you upset the local maffia or do something to cause all this violence? Im really shocked to hear your story and I mean that.

Hi sorry to hear your bad time, Why not have a think about Limousin, at the moment prices are good but moving up all the time, the expats here are a good lot, and the french smashing, I understand you've a good chance of getting more for your money here  In Limousin,  than south of Bordeaux, Good luck,

Hi, Nice pics but I was looking on the sky weather, and it showed Bala, "all the car park and part of th cafe are well and truly flooded,

Hi folks, we've just had our pool put in and as a later project are now thinking of heating, Question, has anyone any info on supply people who would also install, and running cost, and will solar heating work all year round , we're in the limousin and do have a winter,ie below freezing for a short while. and any further info ref solar much needed. many thanks.

Its Bugbear who thinks ref slippers and pipe for B.M.W,s not me, Ive the R.T.100  25 years old now had it from new and it still tours well, one of the best bike buys I ever did, many happy times on it and very little payouts along the way.

Hi  Bugbear, Ive just come in from the garden, went out at 8am to do 5mins thing and got carried away, The weather here is a bit cool but the sun is trying, Anyway biking, you know you said about mid wales and Bala, well the cottage I still have is 7 miles from Bala heading towards dolgellau, its a small area called Llanuwchllyn, so the chances are you've rode past the cottage without knowing one day we'd be talking about wales from our now homes in france. Did you ever go to the horse-shoe pass in mid-wales? The views are really nice at the top and you can have a meal in the cafe (spring and summer only ,closed during winter) Ive had many a good chat with bikers from all area's out side the cafe, ref the changes in the roads around powy's "machynlleth, Dolgellau etc, We got a new chief constable and his daughter died whilst riding a motor bike, one of  her panniers came off and she ended up badly hurt and died. ever since this accident the northwales roads have had so many check points for biker's every weekend during the summer   its  just not true,  it  ended up with a mass demo at the main police station in (Ive forgotten the name of the area) anyway the chief constable attended and said it was to stop the mad riders and to ensure all had the correct road tax /Insurance /m.o.t. etc, but it was pointed out that many car drivers drove over the speed limits and they could just as well have no insurance etc, but it did no good and even the local pubs and b/b's. hotel etc later complained that trade was well down inspite of a good summer, Bikers didnt bother coming to the area and with me living in the cottage at the time it really was a head ache if I went out on the bike, I was pulled over twice inside 3 hours and kept in a layby for 30 mins while my (B.M.W.) was checked by the ministory of transport, I pointed out the same team had done a check on my way to chester on the opposit side of the road, I was told I was lucky having 2  free checks in one day. The only other thing I think might be of interest to you bug, it depends how long ago you rode the bala road, but it had the longest time a set of temporary      traffic lights had ever been it use on a welsh road, (I think it was 13 years but could be wrong) Bala to dolgellau road, well  the road was made wider and is finished, but the road from dolgellau to machynlleth was closed for a month last winter  after major road works to better the road"  due to land slide."all over the new bit. So as you can see nothing much has changed in mid wales, Im going back sometime this summer to Bala and so I'll let you know the score on the roads. talk to you later, Pun.

Hi BoB, Nice ,very nice, very very nice.

Hi Bugbear, Ive found that a lot of the newer big bikes belong to the older person, (men)  more than ladies, and most who have come back to the bikes after years behind the wheel if honest will tell you its a different ball game now, the bikes are faster ref the take off and the speed and road holding can cause problems, I did live in mid wales very near a place called BALA, its a bikers meeting place due to the bendy country roads and the lake, now every few weeks you'd see a new sign from the police "accident can you help," and  flowers laying on the ground, a lot of the accidents resulted in death .   I was coming back to france in the car last june on the M1 motorway and couldnt help but feel the ruts in the lanes from the h.g.v.'s it must be murder for bikes in the wet, The french roads are much better, and the service area's again much better, I was going to ask if you've ever been asked to remove your headgear in france? I was in chester (u.k.) going into a tesco store and the welcome girl on the doors told me I must remove my headgear or I couldnt come in, yet ive been in all kinds of stores in the past and never had this problem, except in the barbers, (joke) Well  talk to you soon, regards Pun. p.s. they've finished the pool today, Im over the moon,        

Hi LDG2, I see what you mean, that list really would give you a head ache, I had a really good chat with the boss of the company thats just finished the pool here, He was full of sorry and then told me his men have 2 more weeks holiday to take this month, Im wondering if this is a french holiday or just his workerforce, Like you I'd hate to have a company in france. Well am I pleased this pool is in and I can now get on with the rest of this gite stuff,  Ive work to do outside that can be done inspite of the weather, ie tree's to  prune, and a pile of left over rubble left from the last owner  and things like this to keep me going until the weather gets better, if the ground would dryout would help but when I look at the british weather I think to myself how lucky we are. Well co.co time talk to you soon , regards Pun.

A lot of people give bikers a bad name, they think we all run around in a gang causing all kinds of trouble, My self, Well let me tell you about a friend I made and all through biking, I was in H.M.army and Aldershot was at the time my base, but I was sent to instruct at sandhurst, one friday afternoon I was on my way back to aldershot going through a place called camberly, and as I needed some smellies, (soap, toothpaste etc) I thought I.d go to this shopping mal  place, I was very proud of my bike triumph 650 bonni, I parked it at the side of these shops and went into boots, got my stuff and was walking towards my bike, now I was wearing light wieghts (thin cotton army trousers, army jumper, stable belt and my berret folded in my shoulder hold, the skid lid was fixed to the side lock of the bike, As I got nearer to the bike I could see this old lady with a pram and about 10 dogs , some in the pram some smelling my wheels and some had watered the wheels good and proper, If it hadnt been for the fact that this old dear was doing a good thing by having all these dogs and the fact that they thought the world of her I would have lost it big time and would have said so, But she looked at me and said did I want to buy a stick-on badge all the money went to caring for the dogs, She herself looked like she needed caring for, very thin and her rain coat had seen better days, I       purchased a badge and she thanked me and introduced me to every dog, told me all the history and said I was doing a good job being a soldier, then she looked at the bike and said, you must not judge people by how they look and then she said you thank god your not daft enough to own one of those things, death traps, I had to walk away and wait until she and the dogs had gone befor I could get on my pride and joy and return to barracks, I saw camberly kate (the girls in boots told me her name) every week for about 12 month, she never new I was the owner of that bike (still am) and we became friends, I'd buy her a meat pie from a bikers cafe (virginian) and she'd eat it telling me stories always about animals never herself. Ive sometimes thought how she ended up, a true honest person and a pleasure to know, if it hadnt been for the bike and parking it close to the shop I may have never met kate and I feel Im a better person for meeting her.

Who said bikers are mad, While you and your brother enjoyed what you thought was just a day out, a fond memoury was being made. great to read and thanks for sharing it.

Hi Iceni, Those moles can be a bloody  headache, we had them all last summer, I tried a few different ways of killing them and found the beeping solar one the best, Ive not any hills in the garden just now but to be fair the pool people have dug a huge pit and hit the mains water pipe, so that was 7 weeks ago and this may have drowned the moles or all the noise of the machines etc may have scared them away for now. But when the seed   potatoes come in the shops they need chitting for a while anyway, and nows a good time for burning all that garden dry waste, lots still to do. Anyway good luck with the moles,

Hi  Iondoneye, Im just indoors after looking at the pointing of the new edging on the pool, the workmen, "I  call them rapid " (speed) they dont have any, speed I mean. one of them walked away as he saw me get out of the car and headed for the hedge, (yes your right, mist every place and that head jerked back look) anyway after he'd finished and felt much lighter im sure , he said he was going to connect the pump, (thats good I thought) then he finshed and said to the electric's in the house, so by this evening we should have the pool lit up, great. Every time I see that light coming up from the pools water I'll think of manuel peeing in the hedge and saying about things about his pump. You've got all this exciting things to come, I bet you can't wait? When all this is complete (summer) I'll be only to pleased to send  you a load of piccies, Would you like one of the pump? its inside the pump house so I'll use a flash for that one. Anyway Ive one more idea, a very good friend of mine gave me a christmas gift, a book about knot gardens and how to do them, it's a really good read and im going to give this idea a go, Again these knot gardens are a labour saving sort of garden when planted and look good in the winter, its a thought for you to think about and take your mind off pumps and poolmen and robbie williams, speake to you later .

Your 100% correct, As you know Im saying what I know and how I feel is a fair way to sort this out on all sides, the future bookings think all's well but is it?? ref the renter's well Im sure they're reading every word on this subject and if so any help needed with a reply ask for Russethouse she put you in the right direction.

Why dont you re-read what I said, I said it was not the future holiday booking fault, Catalpa, read befor you reply would be a good idea, dont you think???

Here in dept 23 yesterday was like a spring day, very mild and the sun was trying to get out, Winter is still a lot to do time in the gardening world, I spent most of the day giving the small rotovator and ride on lawn mower a service, done  the works on both ie oil and filter change new spark plugs cleaned all metal and plastic body work and run the engine's to empty the carbs and then drained the fuel tanks, I keep the battery charged up, about everty 4 weeks give it a little chage to keep the charge up, check the water is covering the lead. Im going to spend some time cleaning and treating the hand tools ie spades forks etc,and if time I,ll prune the fruit trees and then winter spray, its the time to start planning the veg area, not long now and the garden brico section will be getting stocked up ready for the early spuds etc. Good gardening.

Hi londoneye, thanks for you reply, Rob williams noway "Icant stand him, his heads so big ", But I was thinking about this idea, (1) topiary, we got a large horse in a jumping a fence shape, (his front feet are high up as if jumping over a fence) and what Im going to do with this (when these pool people have gone) is to put  2  box  one at about  6feet from the other and shaped like a square box and then put 2 white painted poles between the 2 box shrubs so the complete thing looks like the horse is jumping over the poles, except for clipping the hedge and topiary once or twice, you dont have a lot to do, and it's the kind of thing you can use throughout the year ie christmas dec/ the horse with lights, The second idea was the area around the pool, we are having a tall light fitted and a swing seat at this end of the pool and at the end you enter the pool via the stepe we 're thinking of 2 very large (winter proof)  and glazed vases, these again can be filled with hanging plants ie ivy geraniums last throughout the summer with little care and look good, The 2 sides of the pool we're having paving wide enough to have a sun shade and sun lounges (6) each side. behide each side of the sun lounges we're having  (1 side of just lavender border surrounded by small white coloured  chip stones, all this will be cut into the lawn and edged) the second side of the pool (2 again a long border cut out and filled with miniture coni firs and pines and small whit stone chips around the complete area) The idea of the 2 borders are to have a nice lavender smell on one side of the pool and a nice border of low growing plants to the other side, by using small stones and having planted all plants on bothsides through a weed free protection plastic cover the need for any weeding is very low if any. and these two borders stop people and children from wearing out the grass edges around the pool, if solar lighting is put into these 2 borders it looks really relaxing of an evening, (that late summer nights swim and that whiff of lavender, "you just cant beat it". The total length of the borders are approx 16 feet and about 3 feet wide, the lavender will be planted in pairs side by side allowing 6in space around each plant, (this gives that full look and the stones around the edges give that clean look between the end of the lawn and start of the border.