Northender

LD lines Just had an e-mail to say due to industrial action the Wed. sailing (23-00) the Portsmouth - Le Harve sailing is being diverted to Cherbourg. Offering other routes (subject to availability).

[quote user="Judith"]You can buy Easter eggs here - so why bother travelling with such a "delicate" product? [/quote] Eggsactly!

[quote user="Dog"] I think seagrass looks beautiful - though latex backing sort of ruins the natural aspect. From what I have seen it doesn't last long and is apparently difficult to join - my carpet fitter in UK refused to fit it.   [/quote] When I joined this forum I just knew I was dealing with "Class" (My chauffeur wouldn't be seen dead driving a Ford)

About 20 years ago when we bought our ruin , an old French neighbour (R.I.P.) used to go on about St Glace and never to plant geraniums or open swimming pools until the 15th of May.

  Dave I couldn't agree more! Many years ago after spending 30 years with BT I decided to try my hand at fitting alarm systems. Wanting to impress my new and hopefully increasing clientele I was lifting floorboards , moving furniture etc to conceal the cables. Needless to say the jobs were taking longer than expected but what the *** , satisfied customers. It was after a visit to my wife's niece and saw what an abortion another well known security company had made of her new system ( wires stapled along the dado rail , mains connected with a flexible cord and plug , etc ) However she was delighted with it and marvelled at the fact they had only taken 3 hours to complete the job. I gave up.  

I agree with you Ernie. It seems "too high" for the existing building.It may have looked better a metre lower with steps down internally.

[quote user="Scooby"]Totally off topic but...I was talking with a colleague today about shutting up second homes and the problems therein if you forget something and he told me about a friend of his.  The friend left a tap running when he shut up his second home...for four months.   His bill?  £50,000.  House is now on the market to pay the water bill. [/quote] Whilst feeling a little sorry for your colleagues friend , I find the amount quoted a little hard too believe. It takes me 48 hours to fill my swimming pool (75 cubic metres) and costs me roughly 84 euros.( ie 42 euros / day) With it so far? Multiply that by 120 days , you get 5040 euros. Sorry couldn't resist it. PS  I accept that some people will pay more for their water , but not 10x.

Thanks for that Jim.Just done a quick "fag packet calc." and got 56 or 5.6m sq. Thanks also to J.R. If I understand you correctly are you saying that multi bags are not as good value as "loose" sand?

[quote user="La Guerriere"]You will find some on the Leroy Merlin and the Castorama websites. However, the small ballons to tend to have smaller elements so take a bit longer to heat up than the conventional 3kW UK jobby[/quote] Yes , the 100L is typically 1.2kW . Ours takes about 2 hours from cold to be able to have a decent shower , compared to around 5 hours for the 200L one (2.2kW).Of course these times vary slightly on the time of year etc. We were advised to go for the more expensive steatite model because of being in a "hard" water region (46)  The prices quoted on the link seem a little on the high side , I seem to remember seeing them around 150euros at Bricomarche (Montayral 47) . Still as with all things you pays your money ...............  

I'm hoping to make a start on rebuilding a couple of stables this Easter and would like to know the quantity of 15 cm x 20cm x 50cm concrete blocks there are to a pallet.Also I assume the "Multi Bags" of sand are a metre cubed. If the multi bags are say a metric tonne and a pallet of blocks the same , would I be thereabouts in thinking 3 bags and 3 pallets  a maximum load for the Bricolage camion.

Wait until you see 2 Remember 1 swallow does'nt make a summer

Hi They are called Margelles and sold at many builders supplies throughout France , try Point P. (link below) http://www.pointp.fr/amenagement-exterieur/margelles-de-piscine-bNJBA122S229R229c1320

[quote user="Stan Sreason"][quote user="Ron Avery"] Yeah right!! Not gone up because the amount of space left has gone down???? [/quote] Their computer systems are sophisticated enough to increase prices if certain flights get lots of enquiry activity not just booking activity. My son is getting married near Carcassonne in the summer and about 100 people are flying over mainly via Ryanair. Within days of the invites going out, prices on all possible routes had increased as people checked flights and times.  A week later prices had come back down again.  The guests told me what they wanted and I then made over 80 various bookings (over 160 flights).  We agreed with everyone who booked through me that we would average the prices out between everyone so no one suffered being last to book etc. [/quote] Be careful what you say Stan those Ryanair people don't like "3rd party agents"!!!

Vida wrote: " Even though France's  Electrical installations are not up to the standard of those in the UK," Maybe some of the older wiring in older properties leave a little to be desired but that is true in any country , France's new regulations are in my opinion superior to those in the UK. We (in the UK) still allow the inherently dangerous ring main system!

I'm still waiting to hear from my credit card company re- Speedferries claim. Original purchase was £220 for 10 crossings. 4 used , 6 remaining ie £132 worth not used , but 6 "components" of £22 each. Still do not no the answer. Wait and hope.

Looking at Big Macs devis , if you take away the material cost of the 2 oak windows ( 3500E) it works out around 120E per sqm with 66% lab. /33% materials split.

He did start to stutter a bit when his BAT directorship was mentioned.Still we all need to earn a crust. Met him once in my local when he was on his way to open a school in Lancashire when he was Min. for Ed. Splendid chap and did he love his Cumberland sausage and pint of Mild!

LesFlamands wrote the following post at 23/01/2009 18:52: Depends on the size and overlay of the slates, copper or stainless crochets and many other factors and doesn't include removing the existing but the price books indicate between 130 euros and 200 euros per sq.m.. (about 30% labour/70% materials). Seems pricey for materials , I've just paid £30/sq.m for Brazilian (22 @ 250 x 500).

Do you mean tiles ? Quite a difference in cost.

Its not all doom and gloom then?[:D]

Thanks for that Pickles

Thankyou for your informed replies. I have asked them for a Euro cheque deposit which I will hold until the time for full payment ( thanks Gardian ) and then ask them to do an electronic transfer for the full amount 8 weeks before the start of their holiday ( thanks Pierre ZFP ). Just one query though ( Pickles? ) will this electronic transfer be free of charges for both sender and receiver? Regards

I have just received a booking for this June  from a family in Eire.They obviously do not have a sterling account and have offered to send  a bankers draft or postal order in sterling to cover the deposit. Am I right in assuming that if they sent me a cheque in Euros I would be able to pay that into my French Euro account(CA). Ps. I'm pretty certain this isn't a scam! Thanks in anticipation.

Just booked return crossing (on-line) with LD from Dover to Boulogne for Spring Bank week for £48 return.The service starts 12th February 2 crossings per day. Hoping to get 75% discount on that (ex-speedferries customer). Still waiting for my Credit Card company to come up trumps. Things are starting to look up!!  

Thanks Teapot and Poolguy. The stain is dark greyish in colour , and always seems worse after a period of rain , so judging by your comments it is probably fungus based. I'm interest in your comments about a ceramic frieze , would the additional weight not try and pull the liner away from the pool wall? I'm not actually resident in France but will be back at Easter. I'm sorry to report that it's a boring colour I'm getting ready for a wee dram!