Eos

[quote user="Bugbear"] [:D][:D][:D] My christmas day parsnips are looking good. I dug one up yesterday to check. Mmmmmmmm............................[:)] [/quote] I always thought parsnips were the most objectionable of vegetables until I ate some slow roasted in olive oil. We had some yesterday with dinner and will again tomorrow at lunch.

I'm afraid I don't know about the gas option but there is certainly an electric version which looks like a woodburner, has the flame effect and provides heat. We bought one in Mr. Bricolage for about E100.

Thanks to you all for your replies. I will respond to the clients and will be using some of the tips you've provided. I know we can't hope to please all of the people all of the time but we do try. I'm off now to reread the letter. And to think that the most onerous task I had been anticipating tonight was writing Christmas cards...Ah well, one less to write I guess.

I don't know about a wife but I certainly know me better!

A letter arrived this afternoon from a client who stayed in our house during the summer. Although many clients have passed through before and since, all without complaint if the guestbook is anything to go by, this family have chosen now to make a complaint about what they felt was inadequate preparation for their arrival and a general down at heel air to house. Some of the points they raised may be valid now after a busy season and will be sorted out before next summer but I know were not issues during this summer. I was at the house on changeover days during July and August and thought our housekeeper did a good job each time. Some items on their list were on the to do list for our maintenance people and were taken care of at various points throughout the summer eg replacing blown lightbulbs although we do provide spares and cannot be onsite 24/7 for those types of occurrences.Other jobs are more long term but would not detract from the ability to enjoy the house and indeed passed the rental company's inspection with flying colours. Fixtures and fittings are four years old with many much newer than that. They also questionned the safety of the electrics although they didn't say why but we had everything checked thoroughly as usual by my FIL, who is a registered electrician, at the start of the season. I don't really know what to do about this letter. They say they don't expect compensation for by now unprovable, on both sides, inadequacies and have told all their friends to avoid us. I feel sad for them that thet didn't fully enjoy their holiday and I feel sad for me as it's a house I love and I have worked very hard to provide a good service. Has anybody any thoughts on this?  

Frenchie & Furryknickers, will see what the husband can do as he's the techie! Not Kildare FK but not too far away and, while I don't know Nelly Hicky, I do know Nicky Kelly, if that answers your question!

[quote user="tigerfeet"]With all that's gone on re health care . Me I'm going to have my own little protest , If  I have to phi , it will be a UK company , next car I get will not be a French one , if I need jobs doing I will seek out British tradesmen. hit them in the pocket , how about you ? [/quote] Without being smart, surely you will pay the relevant taxes to the French authorities regardless of what car you buy or fuel you use in it, as will the tradespeople whose goods and services you employ?

I've just found a new one. People travelling with wheeled suitcases of any kind when clearly under the influence of something other than common sense. Yes I was in an airport, and yes, a suitcase did fall, metal bits first on my ankle bone and yes, it is purple and green at the moment. And yes, the idiot in charge glared at me as if I had invited the thing to amputate my left ankle. Thinking of making it the colour scheme for Christmas this year though...

If I could figure out to do it, I would record and upload my daughter singing Oh Holy Night. Oh Holy God, it would bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened anti-Christmas heart. She is the soloist for two choirs in the build up to Christmas, singing in various churches and old folks homes aswell as her school.

[quote user="sweet 17"] Erns You are a Sadist all right (ref your Marquis de Sade remark).  Would you have the saintly Cliff Richard seen as a namby-pamby by the others and either beheaded (GK), ridden over by an elephant (A the H) or impaled (is that what he does to his victims, old Vlad)? Hordes of elderly ladies would NEVER you! [/quote] Maye he'd NEVER them too!!

Micheal O'Leary, to discuss rejigging a few route options. Roy Keane, well, it is the season of forgiveness and I suppose I could try. Eric Clapton Marie Antoinette

It's on my Kris Kindle list so I hope it's chosen for me!

[quote user="raindog"]Hire a van. Get in it and drive. That's what i've always done..... [/quote] Raindog, haven't done the drive in a van loaded with heavy furniture. But I have spent 28 hours in a fast car including a ferry crossing from Dublin port to Holyhead, crossing Wales and England to Dover, from there to Calais via the Eurotunnel and then south close to Beziers. Romantic? Maybe, even though only one of us was awake at any one time!  

Lynda777, I don't know if you've already done the drive you're considering. We've driven from 34 to Ireland and back again a couple of times and, for me, it would have to be some special furniture!! Good luck!

[quote user="woody2122"]Do I really need a tv licence in france when its a holiday home and its out in the middle of the countryside and I only go there for a week in the summer, ive paid for the last 5 years when I brought a TV from the supermarket they take down your address[/quote] I'll guess you're hoping for a stimulating debate with this post, as am I when I ask how most posters would feel if this question had been asked by an immigrant TO the UK?

I think of any of the low cost airlines as buses - I expect nothing in terms of comfort, ease of use or friendly service. If I get any of those, it's a bonus. If I don't, I've usually managed to get where I've been going on time etc and I feel I've got the basics of  what I've paid for. This is all fine if I'm on my own or with my own family. My father, though,  travels in a wheel chair although he can walk a few steps. We've experienced the highs and lows of travelling with him, the very lowest still being in Stanstead. Regardless of who I'm travelling with though, I feel that if passengers are in any way outside the box, both the airline and airport ground staff and the on board crew are at a loss as to what to do.

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="pale pink specs"][quote user="Di"] We are seriously considering moving to south-west France with a reluctant teen, when she finishes GCSE's at 16. [/quote] Hi Di - your questions seems to have prompted a rather heated exchange of views!  [/quote] Only because Jura stuck her nose in..............................again. [/quote] I know now, after posting in another thread and getting beaten about the head, that some of you seem to have had an unpleasant history with Jura. However, I feel that she is, like all the rest of us on this forum new or old, entitled to an opinion, especially as in this case views were asked for and her comments, extreme or otherwise, have a validity. Right, I'm hitting post now having dithered for a good ten minutes or so!!

[quote user="LEO"] My main point was ; booking two bags on the online booking form is theft on Ryanair's part! I have chosen the word theft ,carefully! [/quote] Theft? Perhaps. But if you want to bring lots of things, most of which are probably available to buy at your destination anyway, that cannot be accommodated in hand luggage then is the charge for doing so inappropriate? Luggage is expensive to handle and to fly and maybe should be seen as a privilege not a right.    

I asked my teenage daughter about this post. She too would be a reluctant teen if we were to move ANYWHERE right now. She's a bright girl who speaks French quite well and, as is common with most of us, understands a little more than she might be able to say. We have many French friends so that wouldn't be an issue and she's also very familiar with our area of the country and would know some of the teachers in the local secondary school. She's about to do her first set of public exams next summer and therein lies the problem as she sees it. If we were to move, she would never know how far she could have gone with this system in which she has invested so heavily. Education is a bit of a game for her and she enjoys the whole process. We have three years til she goes to uni, wherever that journey might take her. We missed the boat perhaps when we decided against a permanent move when we first bought our house in France five years ago. As those five years have passed so quickly though, we have three years til she goes to uni, wherever that journey might take us!!

We have wet u/f heating in the rooms that have concrete floors and tiling. Although slow to heat up, which can be a bit of a disappointment if the weather changes quickly, and to cool down, which can be wasteful as windows may have to be opened particularly with frosty evenings and mornings but sunny days, it is great to have with small children or boys of any age who use the floor for Lego ect. Or even those of any age who love toasty toes! We have a woodburner in one room that has u/f heating but the thermostat never lets it come on in there as the stove keeps everything cosy and also retains heat well even when empty.

Pads, have we the same husband by any chance? Oh wait, our airport was Carcassonne, I had two children of my own plus a friend relying on following me in her hired car, accompanied by her three children! Still, after the initial panic during which my daughter thought I was obsessively checking the air con rather than drying off my sweaty palms so I could grip the steering wheel properly, I've never looked back.

The best piece of advice I got about driving in France is that, as the driver in a left hand drive, I must be towards the middle of the road. Not literally you understand and not the car as a whole! Suggest you operate the same principle in the UK while driving a right hand drive and keep yourself in the middle so in any unmarked road situation, you won't be far wrong.    

We don't use GdeF nor do we have our clients met. However we do have a welcome pack and a housebook with information from where everything is, including spare bulbs, shops, doctors etc to how everything in the house works including the cooker, TV and pool alarm and numbers of whom to contact should something unforseen happen. We don't expect the house to be left in suitable condition for new clients to arrive into but we do expect bins and fridges to be emptied, dishes to be at least washed if not the dishwasher emptied, BBQ cleaned out and, as of this summer, all furniture to be in the same rooms, not necessarily the same place, as when clients arrived. I don't expect beds to be stripped, although that's a bonus, nor any dusting done, nor windows cleaned, nor floors washed, nor bathrooms cleaned etc. During their stay, most clients seem to clean at least once or twice so nowhere is grease encrusted or smothered in toothpaste! Our cleaner has determined the number of hours required for a normal changeover and fits us into her schedule of other properties to be done on any given day. If an exceptional clean is required, this throws not just her but other properties she services into disarray and we have to pay extra. If we have to pay more, the clients must aswell, all of which is explained in our housebook. I think your charge for the tooth mug a little high. It might be worth contacting GdeF, who will most probably pass your comments to the owner. Any claims for extras to be charged to our clients for damage, cleaning etc are passed to us first for clearance. Hope this helps.

I drive an '07  VW diesel and while I don't recognise the symbol I do recognise the symptoms! I don't recall the name of the particular part but if it's like mine, you can drive indefinitely with it although perhaps not very safely if you live in an area with a lot of hills. Initially the garage, over the phone, thought we might have bought dirty diesel and suggested a motorway run but we were already 400 odd kms into our return journey to Calais on that tankful so they suggested we pull into a local VW dealer for a diagnostic. The very nice man there in Clermont Ferrand said it was safe to continue but to bring it to our garage when we got home. Here's the real techie bit (!) We had a problem with split rubber connectors to a long, crooked  metal pipe. End of techie bit! VW replaced the pipe and provided metal cuffs free of charge and provided a courtesy car while we waited for the parts to come from Germany. Apparently it has been a recognised problem with some of the VW commercial vehicles but a first for our garage and indeed for us after 14 years of driving non commercial VWs.    

We closed an account last week and had to present ourselves, our passports, cheque books and cards. It took about 20 mins for all to be processed and we've been told to expect a letter to be signed by both and returned.