Ford Anglia

I've been looking at this year's offers with P&O Dover>Calais, Seafrance Dover>Calais, and Eurotunnel. Each seems to have it's benefits, and each it's drawbacks. Leaving price out of the equation for the time being, what are your thoughts on who to avoid and who is worth looking at, of the three listed? I'd REALLY like to be able to afford Hull-Zeebrugge, but with cabins, the prices are still very high, and the one sailing a day puts me off.........if we have problems on the return, what happens? TIA, FA

Can't say what it's like now, or in the PdC, but when we did ours about three years ago in Southern Haute Vienne, it was cheaper than the UK. Also, it ended up costing me under €5 to have each window/door fitted, as I only paid TVA at 5.5% since it was done by a French-registered artisan. That's compared to the price I WOULD have paid for the windows/doors for a self fit, with TVA at 19.6%, of course. I've almost always found that the best way to find a good artisan is to ask the locals. HTH

[quote user="Dick Smith"]I don't think I'd fancy leaning out of a fourth-floor window and trying to wrestle with a heavy and unwieldy shutter! Not to mention what I would do with it when I got it off (ours are larger than the interior window opening. Putting new ones back would be a job as well. I think this is a case where it is best to hire an artisan with a ladder (or tower) and up-to-date insurance. [/quote] Good grief, Dick, are you a man or a mouse?[:P] Seriously, though, I do agree very strongly with Dick on this one: I DID lift one of my shutters off from inside last summer. Getting it off was a PITA, and dangerous due to the low cill. Getting it back on took over a dozen goes. I just COULD NOT hold it still at arm's length long enough to get it over both pins. When it did finally engage, I had torn muscles in one shoulder and was in pain for three weeks[:(] FA

[quote user="TWINKLE"] I went to Spain in September and the cafés and bars were full of families with children eating and drinking in a smoke free atmosphere.  The same was happening when I went to Wales a few weeks ago. [/quote] Same here, UK: we pub quiz weekly and it's so much nicer now. [quote user="TWINKLE"]Somebody mentioned 5 pubs closing a week in Britain I think - surely that's got a lot to do with dirt cheap booze that's being sold in British hypermarkets?[/quote] No pubs closing around here. In fact THREE MORE have opened here in the last three weeks. Pub quiz audiences aren't down, and the local rag reports no unrest by local publicans, restaurant owners etc.  

Didn't I read somewhere that the French government have fudged this anyway, (surely not? Not the French??), by making the fine for non-compliance just €1? Or is that another myth?

Painting uPVC just seems such an ODD thing to do. After all, one of it's selling points is that it takes NO maintenance. (Other than cleaning).

Don't do it. Once painted, the paint WILL weather and have to be redone. If left, all they'll need is an occasional wipe.

If I were starting again, knowing what I know now, this would be my goal: 1. Find something NEW-ish and to my liking, buy it as long as I could afford it. 2. Find something renovated and to my liking. As above. But beware of self-renovations, get someone who KNOWS to look at it for you[;-)] 3, and a long way down, find something and renovate it. Look for : mains water, electricity, mains sewage, town gas etc. DON'T be tempted by humungous acres of land, you have to maintain it and it can be a chore!

[quote user="Bugbear"]Whoever wired our house (it was done professionally (a loose term) ) solved the problem of colours. Every wire that I've so far seen is PURPLE......[:-))] [/quote] Good grief! I thought I had problems with TWO blue wires going to the fusebox.

That's why I always says thanks in advance, or TIA when posing a question, just in case I forget to thank anyone who replies AFTER they've done so.

<<Pedant hat on>> "Heat" actually doesn't rise. Hot air and hot water do though[;-)] <<Pedant hat off>>

On e-bay? Anywhere else? Realised and stopped just in time? Know anyone that's been scammed? If you answered yes, have a look here: http://www.highteebutzlaff.co.uk/ and here: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/12/03/boy-racers-catch-dumb-blonde FA

So.............the pics duly arrived. Three of them: a front view of the car with the speed in the bottom right hand corner, a closer view of the car and a view of the windscreen. Only in the last pic is it possible even to see that there is a PERSON driving, let alone tell who it is. However, the pics were accompanied by yet ANOTHER letter full of threats, and giving me three options: 1. Give the name of the driver. 2. Admit it was me, and pay up (form included for my card details). 3. Admit it was me and elect a court hearing. I have written back explaining yet again that I cannot do any of the three things above, and asking the writer to tell me what SHE WANTS ME TO DO, rather than just threatening me. Meanwhile, "my" magistrate says that if it were to come before him, (obviously it won't as he'd have to withdraw), he'd throw it out. More if/when I hear.

Just posted it on a car forum and someone else said exactly that[:D]

Always look at the WATTAGE, (power) of the lights for an idea of how much they cost to run. One Watt is a power use of one Joule per second, no matter whether it's at 230V or 12V, so your electricity meter will spin just as fast with either. For new installations you then need to figure in the cost of fittings and possibly transformers. Then look at the cost of replacing consumables, ie: bulbs, lamps, call 'em what you will. For a large area, fluorescent lights are the way to go. You only have to look at the methods used to light large areas in industry and commerce. They haven't chosen fluorescents for  nowt, you know.

To add to what Ron said, the correct stuff for BETWEEN bricks and/or blocks is actually mortar. Concrete is for the foundations, and needs to be around 6:1 ballast:cement, (ballast is a sand/gravel mix). Mortar is a sand/cement mix around 4:1, and use water to which has been added a mortar plasticiser. The amount of water added decreases when using a product like that, and water should be added until the mortar is soft, but will stand up in peaks, a bit like whipped cream does. If you're doing the job in this sort of weather, it's also a good idea to add some special stuff to stop it freezing as this WILL crack your concrete, cement mortar w.h.y. The last time I bouight any it was a plasticiser too. The reason the cement you made crumbled the next day is that it was "green", ie: not fully hardened. It would NOT have crumbled had you left it a week. HTH

I rarely, if ever clean the ash out, just relight the fire on top of it. It doesn't seem to build up and very little falls through the grate, so it must be consumed, which is what the stove manufacturers told us would happen if burning solely wood.

Looks rubbish, the joints show, you've used two different woods.[;-)]............but seriously, nice job[:P]

[quote user="Bob T"]Have to say that Pads is spot on. 99.9% of larger people are large because the take in too much energy and expend too little. That is the way any machine or animal works. All the metabolism and large bones excuses are rubbish, how do bones get large without a large intake of energy? [/quote] Ha! Would it were so............it's not my BONES I'm worried about, (I'm 5'8"), it's my BELLY............and yes, I do so like my beer, wine cocktails, pastis, Baileys.........

[quote user="Jane and Danny"]Cheminot, if you live in the middle of nowhere like me, then it is difficult. I also need small stocks of various metals and plastics for turning but there is nothing around here. The best bet is to get stuff from a supplier in a more industrial area. Go once and get various sizes. If not, there are some online suppliers eg. www.otelo.fr for all things tools and engineering. Ask them for a paper catalogue - it is huge. They sell silver steel and some flat stock if I remember right. Danny [/quote] I get a lot of stuff from a local welder, and blacksmith, who sells me his offcuts. Also brass, ally, etc. Scrapyards are good, you'd be surprised what you can find. Also, ask a local farmer, they tend to keep bits for mending their vehicles, so they may know where/who to ask[;-)] If you want brass bar-ends, e-bay sell bits, look under "collectables>railway modelling>brass"

Vax, with a turbo-brush. You can now buy a Vax that doesn't wet clean, so is cheaper, mine was £70, and has more suction than the Miele that costs three times as much. You can also get a cloth dust-bag for Vaxes which saves £££££££££££, or €€€€€€€€€€€ on paper ones.

Strangely enough, I've had a snail mail today from them asking for my new credit/debit card details.

So...........is that the same for rigid conduit? I'm sure my book shows lighting and socket wiring in the same conduit[8-)]

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]Just to reinforce the others point; No. Nor TV. In fact, you cannot share gaines between cables/conductors fed from different breakers. [/quote] Really? So what happens at the exit from a distribution boeard with, say 30 breakers? Thirty gaines? Surely not?

My book, "L'Electricite Pas a Pas" shows telephone and mains wiring in seperate gaines, or in seperate compartments of the same, (flat) gaine.