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Le Scouse

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  1. [quote user="DerekJ"][quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]I like French address system, normally only requires two lines and little writing. Very efficient.[/quote] Yes but.... I'm always amazed that we ever receive anything in the countryside given that there is so little information within the address. It seems to rely on local knowledge. [/quote] Unless you happen to live in the "town Centre", the low density of houses in each cluster of communes that might share a postcode means that its easy to identify people, Our postcode in France is 50860, so anything sent from the UK to our address gets sorted by the 50 to identify the Dept, then sorted by the postal district 860 and then the local post sorting office will look for the village, then the commune name to plot it into the delivery route.. so there is a lot of filtering and sorting done.. Back in the uk, i'm continually amazed by the Royal Mail's systems which electronically read and sort addresses even when the postcode is hand-written !! Not sure if that is done in france though.
  2. Thanks.. I'll drop into the Maire when i'm over next week
  3. QUOTE are you really saying that you have never ever put a single item in a poubelle or used any other municipal facilities to dispose of Anything? There will be a reasonable and automatic and assumption that everybody disposes of waste and therefore be liable to the charge which unfortunately it is not based on quantity nor pay per throw.
  4. No, Not saying that at all, although we tend to eat out while we are at the house and yes, where possible we burn everything except glass. We don't use supermarket plastic bags, and to the dismay of many a cashier, I will regularly remove excess packaging from items and leave it at the till. The only glass we get is Coffee jars and these are used for my rusty nail collection. There is no bin collec tion from our commune. I would have to drive nearly half a mile to the "assembly point" on the main road and havent had to do so EVER in 4yrs.. I'm not trying to wriggle out of paying something i'm liable for.. It was a simple question.. I Just wondered whether it was applicable for a property for which we are NOT currently liable for Tax d'Habitation.. given that it is currently documented as UNINHABITABLE.. In essence it is a shell of a building.. not a household.. Cheers Lee
  5. Hi Folks, We have a place we are renovating in Moyon (50) just south of St Lo. We are over from August 12th for a fortnight on our annual pilgrimage, where we sit in our site caravans looking at our house that looks like it will never be habitable.. Anyway, we are Lee, Sarah and Lewis, and my primary reason for posting is to find any families that maybe also have a football mad son to hook up with our lad who is getting fed up kicking a ball against a wall and waiting for dad to finish hammering bits of wood together in between swearing at them (the pieces of wood that is.. not his lovely family) He's 11 (going on 20), very friendly and eats and sleeps football It would be good for him not to have to spend the whole fortnight on his own for a change. we do have days out but it would be great for him to have a pal in his own age range any offers/ideas/thoughts let me know by PM or mail to [email protected] or call on uk mobile no 07971 672308 ps he only knows 4 french words at the moment.. "Thierry Henry Franc Ribberry" Thanks for reading Lee
  6. Hi Guys, Quick question. We are "mid-way" through turning an old pile of stone into a liveable residence. It has no windows, no floors, no plumbing, no electrics etc etc. We have gone through planning etc and have clearly not confirmed that the work has been completed.. we visit the property perhaps 3weeks a year to work on it (we reside in a caravan when we do) We do not generate household waste at the site and have never left a binbag out. We incinerate everything in an open fire. Question is.. We have just received a bill for ordures menageres campagne.. as a non resident in the middle of renovations should we be paying this or should I argue it? Anyone with first hand knowledge would be appreciated We are in Moyon, just south of St Lo in Dept50 Cheers lee
  7. I've put one first floor in, complete new roof including rebuild part of a gable wall, got a mains water supply up to the house and knocked through two walls (solid 3ft stone ones!!) .. feels like I must be half way through by now ???
  8. Hi Guys, Quick question. We are "mid-way" through turning an old pile of stone into a livable residence. It has no windows, no floors, no plumbing, no electrics etc etc. We have gone through planning etc and have clearly not confirmed that the work has been completed.. we visit the property perhaps 3weeks a year to work on it (we reside in a caravan when we do) We do not generate household waste at the site and have never left a binbag out. We incinerate everything in an open fire. Question is.. We have just received a bill for ordures menageres campagne.. as a non resident in the middle of renovations should we be paying this or should I argue it? Anyone with first hand knowledge would be appreciated Cherers lee
  9. Norfolkline Dover into Dunkerque is the cheapest, followeed by a 425 mile drive :-( Alternatively, Britanny ferries goes into Santander in Spain which is a few miles less to Limoges. More expensive on the ferry itself I would have thought (norfolkline with a 4.5metre trailer cost me £120 return off peak recently, whereas you need to apply to your building society for a second mortgage if you want to go with Britanny ferries..) but you'll pay less Tolls, drive 50 miles less each way in England and have a more interesting ferry crossing if you go via Santander. I'm not aware of a cheaper way into France than Norfolkline with a big trailer... If there is i'm sure somebody else will mention it
  10. I have several friends who have gone down the route of Underfloor heating, both Electric and the wet systems. I thought it would be prohibitively expensive and a luxury, but having walked on their floors in December and january, and noticed the thermometer on the wall showing quite low "Air"temperature I was amazed. If you think about it.. most of the time the only part of your body touching any part of your room is your feet!! Heat rises and unlike a radiator which requires pipes that leak heat out through the walls and inside walls and floor spaces (however well they are lagged), a subfloor heating system is quite efficient. It needs low maintenance and frees up wall space for furniture. I think it's more about how efficiently the heat is distributed that counts. 1kw through the floor would give a better warmth than 1kw blown out of a fan heater..
  11. I use both.. The Norfolkline Maersk is a cracking ship, like a mini cruise ship. Due to its size (It is a big boat), it's usually  a smooth crossing but it takes two hours and don't forget it does sail into Dunkerque which is a dreadful place and for many will not justify the savings.  Now I generally don't mind extra miles if i'm making big savings but if the timings of the crossings aren't available to your liking you can end up wasting your last day, or missing half of your first.. much more important on mini-trips or even on 5day trips They charge far too much for the on board cinema, but they do have two reasonable kids areas, both playing a disney or similar DVD. The food is more than adequate.. I'd say on a par with average pub grub.. certainly better than Speedferries but as others have mentioned, its 50mins on Speedferries crossings, so a coffe normally suffices. Norfolkline also recently had a kids eat free offer on which saved £3 on each kids meal.. nice touch, and they have a fast food cafe, and a well stocked cafe and bar. They are usually punctual.. all in all a professional operation. Every bit as good as anything i've experienced with P&O or BFs... I would note you usually have to queue for ages at Dunkerque as they invariably give much higher prioity to Freight users checking on.. Obviously this doesn't slow down the crossing but with a back seat full of tetchy kids, getting them out of the car and into the lounge an hour earlier might be a consideration. Now, speedferries... I love em. I would use them all the time were it not for my occasional need for  access with a decent sized trailer or caravan (their limit is 7meters which means a five foot trailer MAXIMUM! on a family saloon) They are consistently cheap, unlike BF who's pricing structure seems to be random. I've never failed to beat a quote from them even when I had their membership card.. waste of money Anyway, back to speedferries...The layout of the boat is basic, the food limited, the coffee hot and wet. The shop is basic and they only sail into Boulogne.. but hey for the majority of people thats better than dunkerque. Its also a one hour crossing and because of their need to turn around quickly to maximise the route, the delays are minimal. It would be pointless for the boat to be any better equipped, or to have any more ameneties.. You are on board for 60mins Overall I prefer Speedferries. I'll like them even more if they get another boat or another route... Wouldn't it be great if they got a route to Cherbourg, Le Havre, Caen or St Malo !! It must have been looked into i'm sure.. and it may have already been mentioned somewhere on the board why this isn't going to happen, but it would be such a popular decision and would give the likes of BF a bit of badly needed competition It's nice to have choices at the no-frills end of the crossings market. I've mentioned before there are some MAJOR savings to be made with both of these companies.. I want them both to carry on Lee
  12. ? Not sure of the relevance of quoting the speedferries T&C's. This is a voucher for a silver ticket, obtained during an on-board promotion. It is not tied to me or my car at the moment, so if anybody wants to use it they can. I got it by spending a certain amount in the onboard shop. I use SF all the time but usually at B Holidays and in the summer hols, hence why it's not much use to me and will just go to waste unless somebody fancies taking it off me  
  13. If Anyone is interested I  got one last year but haven't used it. Runs out  Mid August. Can be used Tue/wed/thur  open ended return. Car and up to 5 Passengers  Dover-Boulogne Downside is it can't be used during school hols, but if anyone wants to make me an offer send me a PM. Seems a shame for it to go to waste Lee
  14. Hi,   My quote from SAUR was for 4000 euros to get the water supply 150 meters further up the hillside than the nearerst neighbour. There was a gentle slope about 10 degrees. Apparently the largest part of the quote was for digging the trench for the pipe which has to be 1metre below ground level. I got a revised devis from them for 2000 euros after i'd obtained a quote for 1000 euros from a firm who do trenching  so I would advise asking for a breakdown of the charges and see if you can save some money. The benefit of giving the utility company the whole job is of course peace of mind.. The trench will be dug properly, and refilled properly and on time and at the fixed price. You lose accountability and control over timescales if you split the job up.. the saving has to be worth it !!!
  15. can anyone offer a little guidance please. just received the first of two Devis for a proposed new roof. This is a replacement tile/slate roof for a currugated tin one which whilst being sound and dry is certainly due for replacing. The new roof will allow me access to the roof space which i wish to open up for additional living space.. a bedroom/study or for storage. I have two questions.. Do I need permission to convert the attic space, perhaps for insurance purposes or is it a "blind eye" sort of thing? If I  definitely,  abolutely do need permission, is there a standard form or format and is it a Maire thing in the first instance? Secondly if I wish to fit vellux windows to give light into the space, do I need permission and if so what is the process The house is in dept 50 and is an old stone house. The vellux' would not infringe on privacy as the house behind has no windows on it's rear wall and the nearest house ahead of me is some 300yds away and would not be overlooked due to its location. The house is a holiday home at present but will in time be my main residence. My french is not good enough for technical conversation yet, so if there is an expert out there who could assist then please mail me if you feel it requires a reply in greater detail than a two line response. I'd be pleased to talk to anybody who could offer expertise and assistance .. for a price of course Lee
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