Frederick

I think sombody is missing the  point here .....I knew what the arrival time was ....I have used these hotels for years I have been given access to rooms for years ...I  committed the "crime " it appears  to some of entering the building  half an hour early ...the room was clean... it was ready for me to go  into ....I  was offered the opportunity to go into it ..half an hour early ...for an extra £10 .....So Boiling a Frog .....if your guests turn up at your gite having driven hundreds of miles half an hour early  and its ready for them.........do you let them in ?...if so then you are missing out here you could get an extra £10 out of them for early arrival ! you can say its  "New  Company Policy "

Now that you have mentioned them Nell  I think thats where I shall be going from now on ....I have found they answer their phones in less than half a minute and you get to TALK  to sombody and they dont ask you to insure your booking  againt cancellation .... Anyway gripe over !...... ..This .."Grumpy Old Man " is on his way to Hong Kong tonight for a few days and then Australia for a while so will get to check out a few of their " Lodges  "  I wish everyone  a warm springtime and enjoyable days to come be it  in France or the UK ...I may  even get the chance to check out what you are all up to on the forum while  " down under "   Byeeeee  

Went into hotel ..handed printout to receptionist who looked at her watch and said "You are early ..if you want to go to your room then its another £10 ...Company Policy "  I left  and went back later.....I dont think the staff have any discretion the computor no doubt times your arrival and flags up the demand for the extra payment ....I did not as it happened have to sit in the car for half an hour  to save £10 as some might have to if they wanted to change before attending a wedding for example ....The staff were fine ..its the "Company Policy "  they have intoduced now and the changes  I am not happy with ....

Ron ... I have tried to take it up with them ...email  customer services ...you get a reply thanking you for the email and you  may hear from them within 10 days .. I am not talking cheap room rate here the rate was £50 per night plus £1  charged for cancellation insurance which is new to me. I  have not had to pay that before... and... have  7 pages of insurance policy sent to me  to read from AIG UK Ltd explaining how to get my money back  should I not want to book in ....  Then being asked for £10 extra  for access to the room if you arrive before the time they  designate in the afternoon .... I have tried to phone them spent over 10 minutes  going through the menu on their phone system and never got to a position where I could talk to anybody .. One night was £59 pounds ... that was what I was expecting to pay and paid ...no problem ...but why the insurance policy when you book now and the need to claim if you want to cancel. ? ...I have never had to do that in the past and dont fancy having to  through the process of  making a claim to get the cost of one night back ! I have  always liked and used the hotels ..things have changed now !  dont like it ..can do without it .. will find a hotel who does not want  me to insure to cancel my booking . 

Well done Nell...you got a good deal ....Not all rooms in all  their hotels are available at that rate ...Try finding  room  near Church Stretton Shropshire for 29 quid on the day you want it !   As for sorting things out with the staff ...book in time was half an hour after  I arrived and it was the staff who asked me for another £10 as I  was early .... I dont blame the staff the system no doubt would  have flagged up I had booked in early and the staff would have had to explain why they have NOT charged me the extra £10  if they had let me into the room ..  Computers  and   " Company Policy " as I was told ... As I said   I have always been a fan but these changes I  can do without ...........

Belle ...Thats how it always was  !....I suspect you will find a  new system  is up and running if you book now !

"Early "  turn up charge applies   seems that people who arrive early now have to pay to use the room even if its available for you  which is irriating

Stayed in a Travel Lodge last week...I now find when you book on line cash goes straight out of your account ...no more accepting the card details just to confirm a booking ...You then get 7 pages of a cancellation  insurance policy from AIG  emailed to you as Travel Lodge have taken a pound from you for this ... You  find that the only reason your room cost will be returned to on cancellation is if you make a claim ..It will be met if you are dead...have the vicar by your bedside and are more likely to perminently check out of this world than into their hotel or a family member is in a similar situation... If you arrive half an hour earlier than the designated check in time they have laid down then a member of staff quoting " Company Policy "  at you  will ask you for another £10 to let you in the room ....I also found 2 remotes failed to work the telly and my grandaughter gives more cerial to her rabbit than I got in  their packaged breakfast  it contained a smoothie which to drink has to be sucked out of a carton .....What are they doing to us ...you cant ask them on  their phone system ....the menu is designed to get rid of you .. had I paid the late turn up charge one night would have cost me  £69 ....  I used to be a fan of theirs !  

Such is the length of time that the child has been away from her mother and in the care of the foster parent she must now feel relaxed and be opening up about her life ...I believe she has stated she does not want to go back home now ...I feel a lot more is yet to come out here .  E mails and mobile phone records over the period of time the girl was missing might just throw up some interestsing  messages texts that could result in others being brought in .

Yesturday I was at a celebration lunch with my sister her husband .. family and friends as it was their Golden Wedding Aniversary...50 years ago almost to the day and this morning its snowing in Bournemouth...Their wedding has always been remembered for the fact that as we came out of the church  in Bournemouth it was snowing ....sookey what ! 

Gluestick ...why indeed ....there should be a block of flats built for them all....when they get voted in they collect a set of keys issued to them like married quarters and thats your state provided  accomodation ...If they want to turn down whats offered and find their own... then fine by me provided they fund the cost of it themselves .... I could go on about the party conference in Bournemouth / Brighton each year  the massive cost of security from hoards of extra police  ...the hotel bills.... the restaurant meals  etc  why do they have to move out of London and disrupt a town and have their costs stuck on the council tax payers ..the vast majority of which are not hotel and restaurant owners so make nothing out of it .....They should hire a hall in London and after the days business go  home .

Things for children ....At Talmont  St Hilaire  there is a big old castle that once was used by Richard the Lionheart .... as he was also the  Duke of Talmont  once I believe ...There are things they do for children like dress them, up in medieval costume and give them wooden swords and shields and get them to parade about ..and whack each other all supervised ..Also there are medieval games and archery  to have a go at ...The staff are dressed up for the part... and tell you the history of the place .My son takes the grandchildren ...they like it ..and they are two girls ..boys would really love it  ...the weather this weekend is forcast sunshine but its going to be cold

At least the link provided a laugh......The post that refers to Ryan Air charging £5 a head to use the escape slide and the first passengers having to come up with £80...£5 plus £75 for taxes and charges   and the last ones charged £600 to escape  Then the  additional charges for the walk to the terminal building as the aircraft had ended up closer than normal was funny ....

Gary.......I guy I know who suffers with painful joints has for lunch every day a tin of mackeral  fillets between two slices of bread ...has done this for years and says its been a great help to him...I have taken to doing it as well (though not every day ) ...Lidl do quite a selection of fillets in those little flat  tins in various sauces .... The red wine and brandy being a possible cause makes sense...red  also wine makes me wheeze in the morning if I have perhaps enjoyed more than I should have ....  

I hope it worls for you....dont know about growing flowers up them .... you will need to pull the bolt out and slide the post out  to drive in when you arrive !

The comment has been made here that most second home buyers are foreigners ..........I suppose its a question of where you are ...in the South Vendee most holiday homes seem to be owned by the French .. Mostly  from Paris and from my observations used a lot less than the Brits holiday homes ....which has got me thinking ...."Is buying a second home on the coast to just leave empty.... in some cases for years un visited ...or at best  used once or twice a year somthing thats done to salt some cash away ? " The new road links that have made Paris an easy drive these days seems to have boosted the Vendee as far as house sales are concerned  in the village my place is in they seem to be selling quite fast even the very old  ones ..

Good luck Steve ......I somtimes wish I had somone like you on my door step in the Vendee ...I  have recently forked out on a self drive mower to tackle my grass as when left a few months like over winter its heading up round my knees ...I dont have a field ...but I have got enough ...  

They moved the ship to La Rochelle......I was keen to see how they did it after watching the diggers move tons of sand from round it at low tide and create a channel out to sea ......When the time came for the move .....the beach view web cam was mysteriously turned off ......now why do you think someone would want to turn it off.?.....If it all went wrong and and thousands of people saw it me thinks ! 

£17.43 plus tax per hour to have your grass cut .......hmmmm     ..... Is that the normal rate for a bit of gardening in France today....... its more than my neighbours pay for gardening in the  UK   .....are you busy Steve ?

Mille Stocks were selling  buggies ..car seats ...and  other baby equipment  a couple of weeks ago very cheap ....worth looking in there if there is a branch near you ......as for now arrivals of grandchildren .....if our new grandchild does show its tonight ....then tomorrow its going to be helped on its way ! should have been here over a week ago ...

I think a row of bollards .....you can do it yourself ... I would be looking for a few lengthts of  4 inch box section steel . Dig post holes and concrete them in flush with the ground   ( Cap off the end in the ground ) and put a small  frame round the top  that you can fill with small gravel...Then get box section that will slide down inside  the one set in the ground that would stick up and act as a bollard ....Drill through both inner and outer  posts when you have chosen the desired height .... put a  bolt through with the nuts on that you need a socket to get off like the car  locking wheel nut ones  down in the frame  recess just below ground  level  ...Gravel over the bolts which have been well greased ... put them out of sight .. Unless the parkers  arrive with a petrol driven disc cutter in the boot of their cars....snookered ! They will have a hell of a job to pull them  out  ...you can even get plastic caps for box section steel to make it look smart and keep the water out.. painted black  ...job done !..... cost you about 50 quid to do the job..... cheaper if you go to your local scrap merchants for the steel  !  I would not put up with that nonsense ....  

Thats just what I thought   Renaud ....but its the new house builds estimates that he is not getting accepted now for fitting the central heating systems ....the firms planning and building the houses are using Baltic plumbers now ...

I was talking to a guy today with a son who is a London based plumber / heating engineer  ...he is worried about his sons future with family mortgage etc as when once he could expect 6 months work on his book he now only has 6 weeks work  booked ahead ...He is angry as his estimates are being ignored and people are turning more and more to having cheaper jobs done by our  visitors from the Baltic.... I didnt ask if the holiday to Bermuda this year would have to be cancelled !

A few years ago I stayed overnight in the caravan park by the port at Cherbourg ...we found travellers in the park and they were using the washing machines and drying their cloths  over the pitch hedges...fine by me ....live and let live .. We noticed one of their kids face kept appearing at the fan light windows about 8 feet up on the toilet block  during the evening ...strange ?  The folowing morning ....a crowd of ladies very animated  gathered outside the toilet block ...being a municipal site . no staff living on camp to deal with problems at that time of the day .... We gents were suddenly invaded in our toilet block by the ladies who were crossing their legs ....... The little  ....  had gone into every cubicle in the ladies and then put the bolts  in the doors and climbed out over the top  ! 

I bet they gave themselves more that the 2 inches of tarmac they put down on customers driveways !