Ford Anglia

Just LOL at Sunday driver's post about gravel. How typical is that?  

[quote user="Jonzjob"] Ford A, I am confused about your tax/fine problem. [/quote] IN NO WAY DO THE SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST CONDONE SPEEDING. Me too. I COULD call them fines if I wasn't certain that MOST cameras are there to raise revenue. There are various reasons for my stance on this, but I'm not going to repeat them all again on here, I've done it to death before. I KNOW it's against the law to speed. I also know that in the UK, speeders are pursued to the very ends of the earth for their "fines", whereas other offences....... "well, hey, we can't find out who was driving, so let's drop it".[:(] And FREQUENTLY in our local rag, "Before the courts": Case one: a man found guilty of two counts of burglary, two counts of failing to answer to bail, and not acting in accordance with a previous sentence. Result: Probation. Case two: a man found guilty of speeding who had pleaded NOT guilty. Fined £300, with £150 costs against him AND three points on his license, (so THREE punishemts there, then). And no, he wasn't doing a silly speed. 46 in a 40mph limit. In one of the above, no-one was hurt. In the other, people lost their property, and a convicted criminal put two fingers up at the system. But which one got the harshest sentence? I know the above is the UK, but I've witnessed French police artificially lowering a limit on a motorway, then fining people who didn't obey their lower limit. If that's not theft, I don't know what is. So.....speeding "fines" as a form of revenue (tax)? As far as I'm concerned, yep.

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]I wonder then, if there are 2 cars in the frame when flashed, how is it determined which (or both) of the cars were speeding? or is it assumed it's always the one in the outside lane?[/quote] I'd imagine that the powers that be would rub there hands together in glee, then apply the tax, sorry, fine, to both cars.

I got so much conflicting advice about this very subject, both on here and from actual wax/varnish companies, both those that made, and those that sold, that I eventually went to the guy who sold us our flooring in France. Ours is solid chestnut. We are using the stuff he recommended, he showed us several, but only recommended one, and it wasn't the dearest. It's a clear varnish that sets looking like it's been waxed. Two coats, and it's breathable. Sorry, can't remember the make, but it has a "z" in it.  

Since French wiring is protected by double pole circuit breakers, or a fuse on the live and a barette on the neutral, it doesn't REALLY matter which way round they are wired. "Normal" practice is to wire with live to the right, as you look at it, ie: the socket on the wall, the circuit breaker etc. Do NOT EVER assume that this has been done, though, unless you know for certain. I've not seen ANY French sockets which indicate which pin would be live, but then, I mainly use Legrand stuff. Their doubles aren't hard wired anyway, it's up to you to link them.

Nor my thing, either. One of my favourites at the moment is "Fields of Gold". I've heard it performed by Sting, but the other day there was a superb arrangement by a couple of young ladies, advertised on TVAM, really excellent.

When "someone I know" has been flashed in France, it's VERY close to the camera, certainly NOT 50 to 100 metres, so I'd not worry unduly. Does your car carry French, or English plates? If it's the latter, again, I'd not worry at the moment, as the legislation is not yet fully in place to collect this tax, sorry, fine, unless you are driving a French registered car. It's coming, though, so beware.

Judging by the stuff you see for sale on there, I reckon car-boot sales and ebay have had a lot to do with killing off the rag-and-bone man as a going concern. Stuff he would have taken thrirty years ago is now SOLD to others. Some of it I'd be ashamed to bin........[:$]

Ha..........the local French were saying this when we were over at Whit, farmers, cafe owner, neighbours, shop owners. All were wrong. It's just the same here in the UK, 50 mm of rain in two days, my lad is doing some welding for someone this weekend and having to dodge showers as it's outside with an arc-welder.

As a kid in the early 60's, in Palamos, Costa Brava, my sister and I found HUNDREDS of these BEAUTIFUL little black and yellow beetles. An English bloke on the campsite identified them to us as Colorado beetles. We built little farms for them out of split bamboo, included bottle tops full of water for them to drink, and even slices of potato for them to eat. We dligently collected them daily for our farms. When the time came to go home, my mum gave us an old biscuit tin for our "collection" which we had NOT identified to her. She thought they were bottle tops.[Www] My dad happened to open it before putting it in the boot, and went ballistic. Now I know why.[:D] There were several HUNDRED Colorados in there with potato for the journey![8-|] You can just imagine the scene at UK customs, can't you? "Local deputy head in illegal bug import fiasco".[:D]

Just don't get one with the Citroen quirky suspension, then take it back to the UK for repair. Our Xantia developed a fault last year, the same fault that our previous one had while it was in France. teh previous one was repaired by a local garage at a cost of £120 inc parts, although it DID take three days to do. In the UK the repair cost £250, and that was £50 off after I complained about the price[:@] And NO-ONE else would touch it in the UK, "Sorry, we can't do Citroen suspension, too specialised".[:@][:@]

Have to agree, Mel. I recently drove the M180/A180 both ways from near Doncaster to Grimsby, and return, and was shocked at the "tramlines" in the inside lane surface caused by lorry tyres. Not worn, actually DEPRESSED into the road.[:'(] In some places they are so deep that getting OUT of them is hard work. In the wet, water stands in them and causes aquaplaning. Why on earth do OUR road surfaces suffer from this, when those in France don't seem to do so? Can there REALLY be more HGVs on the M/A180 than on, say, the stretch of road between Calais port and the A16/A26 interchange?

[quote user="Effie"] If you live in a town...you inhale petrol and diesel...if you live in the country...the air is not necessarily much cleaner...but at least it's more peaceful. Effie [:)] [/quote] Yes, peaceful,............. except for people, birds and animals coughing from the spraying, cows moo-ing at all hours, the neighbour's dog barking, birds singing at ridiculous hours. etc, etc, etc. Only joking, of course.[Www]

If you drive south from our house in southern Haute Vienne, along the D675, after around 4km you cross into the Dordogne. The road surface gets noticeably smoother going south, the edges better defined and marked and the road is wider. More money has also been spent on taking out bends. I don't think that 87 is a prosperous department, so maybe it's down to how much money each department spends?

For once, I actually agree with Ron[:D] The stuff on roofs, (rooves?) is cement asbestos, which is bonded asbestos, and nowhere near as dangerous as folk think. However, it needs to be treated with respect, ie: any damaged sheets removed, no holes drilled in it, any rough edges sealed, etc etc. If it bothers you, and you can afford to do so, by all means remove it/have it removed. The binmen happily took half a dozen old sheets I found in our barn when we moved in. As for vines, I can't see that they are any better, or worse to live near than any crop. I was once on a campsite near Clermont l'Herault, whcih looked out over vines, the only problem was that the local farmer sprayed them one day and the chemical stink was awful. It only lasted an hour or so, though. Oh, and my two lads used to nick the grapes and make themselves ill eating them[:P]

What about the cricket commentator during a West Indies v England test match, who said: "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey", as Michael Holding ran in to bowl to Bob Willey. Uproar in the commentary box followed. Or is that another urban myth?

Well, we did have a pretty good Easter, maybe that's it, then? I onced camped in the Gorges du Verdon, late July, early August, 1998, iirc, and had 24 violent thunderstorms in 20 days. Eventually, we packed up and left a week early.[:(]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]Oi! You nicked that off my post about Charleroi Airport this morning! - what cheek[:@][/quote] No, no, I swear, I got it from another forum I frequent.[:$]

Terminal 3............... A guy sitting at a bar at Heathrow Terminal 3 noticed a really beautiful woman sitting next to him. He thought to himself: "Wow, she's so gorgeous she must be an off duty Flight Attendant. But which airline does she work for?" Hoping to pick her up, he leaned towards her and uttered the Delta slogan: "Love to fly and it shows?" She gave him a blank, confused stare and he immediately thought to himself: "Damn, she doesn't work for Delta." A moment later, another slogan popped into his head. He leaned towards her again, "Something special in the air?" She gave him the same confused look. He mentally kicked himself, and scratched Singapore Airlines off the list. Next he tried the Thai Airways slogan: "Smooth as Silk." This time the woman turned on him, "What the f*** do you want?" The man smiled, then slumped back in his chair, and said "Ahhh, Ryanair".

You could always move back to Humberside, where a three bed semi can still be had for £100,000, and a FIVE bed semi for £136,000. But then, you'd struggle to find any sort of job, and have to learn Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukranian etc in order to be able to converse with anyone in the street.

We had Whit in southern 87, on the borders of 24. Some neighbours are constructing a pool, and are a month behind due to bad weather. While we were there the temperature was around 13 degrees, and it rained every day. Some days only showers, mind, but some days, all day. Meanwhile, back in the UK: sunshine and warm, at least, once the bank holiday was over. Ceertainly, on the return journey, we lost the cloud and rain north of Chateauroux.

[quote user="mmaddock"]Good advice.  Depending on the tile, I have also taken to dipping them in water before laying so that the ceramic back of the tile soaks in some water and doesn't instantly dry out the adhesive by sucking the moisture out of it before it properly goes off. Matt [/quote] Yes, I'd thought of that too, but I reckon a coat of PVA on both will suffice. The water trick was one a bricky showed me ages ago. Anyone else tried to put a plaster moulded lighting cornice(??) on the ceiling WITHOUT PVA, using plaster adhesive? AND had it come down? I reckon mine soaked up around 63 GALLONS of water, and still asked for more, before I thought of the PVA......mind, this was some years ago, and I was a bit greener then[;-)]

I'd also suggest a stuck air-admittance valve, or a nest in the soil pipe vent, assuming you have one? You might be able to look at both BEFORE calling a plumber, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting........[:D]

When I did our bathroom, about 1 in 5 tiles came up after the adhesive had gone off. Tapping them revealed that they were loose. They were laid direct onto levelling compound, using cement based adhesive, rigorously mixed EXACTLY as per instructions, volume to volume. I still have the photo I took of the floor covered with scraps of masking tape to mark those I'd had to relay, so I could check them before grouting. Heartbraking. I lifted them, removed old adhesive, (which was hard but not completely "off"), and relaid them after painting the tile AND the floor under it with diluted PVA. In future, any floor I do will get PVA before I tile it.

Ours was exported from the UK on a large trailer. Mistake. If I had my time again, I'd buy French, save money and save aggro. I won't name ours, but suffice to say, every time you open the doors to restoke it, embers, large and small, fall out all over. Our floor is pocked with burns. You also need THICK leather gloves to open the doors once it's going. My mate has one that has a top hatch for stoking, FAR better. He also has a tool to lift the hatch, no gloves needed. Last year, a local farmer sold us a mixed load of chestnut and oak, well seasoned, for €52 for 2 cu m. Seemed a good deal. Haute Vienne, 87.