Frederick

Southampton..........Town busses a year or so ago...big sign on the back.. " Drivers Wanted "   26 grand a year  they will teach you to drive get you a licence etc ...........no takers ......so....they went to Poland over 30 already  fully trained drivers now provide a valuable service to the bus users of the town. vacancies filled ....Now you cant tell me there were no unemployed in Southampton capable of being trained to drive a bus ....If the work is there and the locals dont want to put themselves out to do it ...then they cant complain if they see outsiders coming in and taking the work . ...France is in for a shock !  

Quillon. I agree  The pity is ....there are very few proper pubs left now with open fires and smoking rooms / public bars ..Certainly in my area the old Dorset pubs have become restaurants now that people drive miles  to visit . Our local  a few years ago had such a room where on a Sunday you were likely to find a  smelly wet labrador drying in front of the fire while his equally smelly wax jacketed  and pipe smoking owner  had a couple of pints .... having come in off a farm . ...Its had the middle ripped out now  along with the bowling alley and an island bar put in  with  table cubicals set all round .....I dont go in it now... we have lost a focal point in our community.. but the brewery has gained a popular restaurant to go with all  the others it owns in the County . so I have joined the drink at home brigade I suppose .

Just think of the benefits.....no need to buy an alarm clock....the 7am dynamite 1st of the day detonation will have you up !

Migrants hanging about Calais are being invited to a Chrtistmas party on Sunday where they will be given lunch and a present . Their  new migrant center opens in January...... I read to give advice to African Asian and Middle Eastern migrants on how to apply for asylum in France and how the system in the UK works .....comfortable chairs will be provided in which they can spent the night .......A refugee charity will run the place .......... Sangatte 2

I am not a smoker ...but ..would be happy to see smokers pubs / restaurants  continue ..so I would know which ones to avoid going to....Why cant the authorites come up with  a licence to be issued to a percentage of establishments who wish to continue with smoking ....If there are only 20% of a towns population who smoke then issue that number of licences to smoker establishments .... if the proprieters could not decide between themselves who would and who would not take them up ... then declare them all non smoker if no volunteers .... I bet there would found  be a place for smokers to go and eat and drink then ....a place for smoker staff to work as well......... and this way.......everybody satisfied

Main dealer if you want to give it a go.........Garage  Caron  (Joseph ) 3 Boulevard Egalite .62100 Calais   tel : 03 21 34 54 55 Fax  03 21 96 57 87   Email   [email protected]    he is close to the ferry terminal.....you may need him to be    good luck ....

Clair ...When they get to the UK...they will find their mates have already been and done all the work !

There will be plenty of  "tourist" plumbers and roofers on holiday in France this spring then ?

My experience of Citroen dealers in France has been far from good compared with the UK ones.....You may get a time for them to do it while you are on a ..".day trip "  if you book well in advance  but I would not risk it being ready before the boat sails to bring you back...sombody they know who needs to  call in and chat about  his car problem  will take preference over your job ! .The last time I took my C5 to a main dealer all I needed was an interier door handle ...booked in on a Friday...for the work to be done following Wednesday.....delivered car to them to be told the part had not arrived and as Thursday was Assension Day they had recieved an email to say Citroen were not sending any parts out that week...I was asked to bring the car back the following week .. needless to say I had it done on my return to the UK ..They had my telephone number ..do you think they thought to ring and tell me no parts were being sent out  thus avoiding a 30km  wasted journey..........no!   Their rate was 50 euros ber hour  and they said they needed an hour ...UK dealer changed door handle while I waited  having coffee  25 minutes..and far cheaper .

Why only a month driving ban ?   Not that I would want to do it ...or would in my car be able ...but if we rip down a Paege now at the equivilant of 120 miles per hour ....can we all quote this resulting one month ban for Hamilton as the going rate for this offence ?..........I doubt it ....is this a case of one law for the famous and another for the rest of us.    He deserves a year ban not a month ...and if it were in the UK he would have got it ! 

It might help for you to "appoint " an estate/rental  agency to act on your behalf not only in getting the electrics fixed and made legal thus removing the reason for the excuse to not pay ....but also in setting things set up properly again  to get the collection of the rents back on track. and chase arrears   At the moment you are not in receipt of any monies from the rental ...and  from the agents point of view it  would be  in his interest to get the matter sorted out quickly as his collection  fees will be from the income he gets for you when this is  back on track....It seems as you are so far away from the scene somone with authority "on the doorstep " is what you need....The agent will then when the time comes to sell  help to find another rental property for your tennant  clearing the property for the sale if its going to be on his books ..These guys are on the spot have the experience of dealing with late and none payers  serving notices etc ...Your tennant having to come face to face with a person  acting for you and asking for money from them may be just what is required for you now . I think your tennants have taken advantage of the fact you are so far away and are hoping you have forgotten about them....you need to get this back on line legally as soon as possible. good luck and please let us know how you get on with it ...I think you cant act until after March re evictions.

I knew that some of my ancesters went to America many many years ago........but thanks to Google I learn that some Crow Indians now have my unusual  surname !  naughty ...naughty .....

Bugbear.........just 15 minutes away from Wimborne ... I am on the ourskirts of Verwood ...our local PC has 49 square miles to cover  round the villages he tells me.........and on his own some nights .

Now that diesel is £1.09 a ltr and petrol near that.... in my usually almost crime free  village in Dorset  we now suddenly find we have lots of cars targeted by night while on house drives for their fuel ..The lockable flaps forced open petrol caps drilled out and the fuel pumped from the cars ...Another 2 p a ltr tax due in the new year.  Is this a sign of  desperate people now priced out of being able to get to work  having to resort to this ? ....if so...watch the crime figures for this kind of theft go through the roof everywhere in the new year ....I have to put £50 worth of diesel in my tank now to fill up...some commutors must be paying out a fortune each month  to get to work from rural villages ...It wont be worth going to work soon for many of them if most of their earnings has go on filling up the tank .

Turkish lawyer saw his team Fenerbahce thrashed 3-0 by  Inter Milan .....He is now asking Uefa to annul the match and seeks damages .........His grounds for the action ...Inter Milan's strip has what he terms a "Crusader Cross " on it and the sight of it out on the pitch  "Caused grief to his soul ".........tough mate ......you lost !

Anybody travelling between now and the 14th of January 08 .....check out the BB Hotels web site if you need a  cheap stop over in France . They have knocked 10 euros off the price of a room in certain hotels ...you could be lucky  there is a voucher to print off ... They emailed me as I am registered with them ...you may have to register to get the offer ?

I never understood the need for them to put the kids down to sleep so early when on holiday anyway.....We always took ours out to the restaurants with us ....they often  had a sleep under a shade on the beach in the afternoon and seemed to have energy enough in them to be wide awake late into the evening  .. In Spain and  Italy the restaurants... and the streets were full of kids very late into the evening .....I think it was a case of  " I have had them all day .now its my time to enjoy myself ".....sad outcome......... but after so long and with so much in a reward offered .you would expect some information to have come to light if she were still alive....money talks ! 

As you have to send in your licence for the points to be put on it.......will they not just hang onto your licence while the financial  transaction is cleared  .... in this case forever ? 

Ladies ...Do us a favour when you go shopping all you need to take with you is a purse big enough to hold your plastic and your mobile  phone .....You do not need somthing the size of a joiners tool bag sticking out behind you while you stand gazing at the stuff on store shelves .. We guys who are in a hurry have to push these bags out of the way as we go through the crowd in stores ...So when we do...dont spin round ...  grab the bag ....and  then glare at us ...we are not trying to nick your wallet...you are just taking up space for two !

 This brings back memories ....I remember one "Dear Marge " ...... ".I am going out with this nice boy ...he is a private in the Army...he says he loves me  and if I love him then it is alright for us to sleep together.....I am worried  and not sure if I should let him.....what do you suggest  I  do  ".........Answer   " Kick him in the nuts and marry a Corperal " 

Colonal........What you say was my advice to him last night ...go to the court pay the £120 or so  get the accelerated order of posession  and serve the papers on her yourself......I have also been there and got the T shirt !

This is got to be the best excuse for none payment of rent I have ever heard... A friend rents out  UK house to family from East European Country.....Dad has good job ...agents references etc ...moves in  sends  for wife and children...  He works pays his taxes payes his rent.....after a few months he decides to go home and leaves wife and kids in the house ...Wife claims  benefits for herself and kids as has no support now ...this  including benefit to cover rent ....rent does not get paid  when asked why she states "I have to send money home to my mother " Council has told her to ignor the eviction notice friend gave her and to sit tight until a court orders her to quit the property....This will not be done friend advised before February .it is expected she will then get on a plane home .....as for the arrears ....forget them...and the taxes dads paid ...she has had them all back and some ......good  move is it not  !

I was expecting this wind up was about  to end with the papers being put on the Marie notice board with a view to getting further information on them .... and......... after the resulting gun battle when it was discovered it was a list of who dobbed in who  for collaberating with the Gestapo.... there was now whole village up for sale .....anyway nice to know the painting of the madonna is safe !

This morning got an email from ..."Kofi Annan " Former Secretary of the United Nations .....decent of him  to write and let me know that we who have been subjected to scams are going to be compensated by the UNITED  NATIONS....He is going to give us all $100,000 US....... you may not know this but the UNITED NATIONS keep their funds in the ZENITH BANK .....In order to give us this Christmas pressy he only need to know where we live ..our full names and our telephone numbers .Seems poor Kofi has spent the past 7 months in a meeting which only in the  past 2 days has agreed to pay us all out .....never knew the bloke was working so hard on our behalf  ...  especially in the sticky heat of   NIGERIA ..... Wonder which famous person will want to give me money next  ....email from Buck House perhaps ?

Yes Ernie.....Lot of people embarrassed to be British in the USA this morning after such unaccepable behaviour ....read the Google comments ......loads of it..... upset a lot of people