steve

I am afraid with MSA they say its impossible - we changed from a Micro after 2 yrs to a 'real' but they will still take the first 2 years 'declared turnover' + the 3rd years profit (much much smaller) and calculate year 3 contributions as an average over 3yrs - hence our payments are almost the same as our revenue for 2008! sods Steve

Im not condoning this bad treatment of dogs or any animal (I think its disgusting) but.........my brother lives in China and the if your a westerner or well off Chinese, then you are indeed fortunate. Most Chinese are poor - Very poor. They will eat anything. My brothers driver (you can own a car but need to have a Chinese driver) is well paid by Chinese standards, ( a few dollers a month) but he is shocked when my father tells him he throws his carp back in the lake! He and his family eat rats regularly. Its a good source of protein. Anything goes in China - cats, dogs rats cows & pigs - its all the same to them - survival. Thousands of Chinese were evicted from their homes when they were bulldozed to make way for the Olympic games - what compensation did they get? nothing. Not a bean - those who protested got 10 years in clink. We forget how fortunate we are in the west - so called booming countries like China still have an awful long way to go. Animal husbandry or even welfare are years/decades behind. How do we get them up to date? I have no idea - if you boycot Chinese made goods what is there left to buy? Steve

We just bought a new van and they wanted a stamp on the finance document - we had one made for free from Vista Print - all it had on it was The name of our company and our hamlet name, along with a phone number Dead simple! Steve

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]150 euros per tree dirt cheap? We obviously move in different circles. I and two equally inexperienced mates felled 30 of the damned things of similar, if not greater, height in a day, last summer. Cost me a chain saw and a rope (200 euros for the two and I still have them of course) plus a meal for mates and several drinks in bar after. Still have to pay local farmer for carting it all away but will be very surprised if that comes to 100 euros. We did work up a sweat, mind.... [/quote] ah but, you dont have to pay cotisations, taxes or insurance like wot the tree fella does! Steve

we opened our 5th pool this morning! Non of them heated - people like to sit around them looking at nice clear water if the suns out. (or in one case use their new wet suit....) Unless it drops to about minus 10 or so, all should be OK now - just get the balance right. Steve

We are in Northern Dordogne, Perigord Vert, and this year was a low of -12 for 2 nights! A few years ago was -14! I always drain the pumps (and remove if Desj. pool or Magiline pools), pipe work etc. Better safe than sorry! Steve

We have plenty of work  - but are fully registered, insured and are fully kitted out with some good top quality  machinery. Looking after pools isnt as easy as it first appears - do you have any experience? Where abouts in the Dordogne are you planning to move to? its taken us 7 years of hard slog, great expense, stress and heartache to get to the position we are in now, but it was worth it! I dont want to put you off, but there are an awful lot of people doing this - some legally, some illegally. Try and get customers lined up or have a year or two cash behind you so you can survive - dont forget winter income is almost zero. Steve

you have a leak Steve

good news for spot! Well done all Steve

be careful if working on the black (for cash) - even more so now things are tough. It costs us a  fortune for insurance, cotisations etc for us to be properly registered and insured for exactly what you have been asked to do. our charge is 25€ per hour + TVA. Mind you we have some decent kit. Why pay someone at 15€/hr with a small mower that takes 4 hours to do a job I can do in an hour? Perhaps setting up under the new AE system would be easier? are you going to use your own kit or the employers? who pays for what when it breaks? Good Luck Steve

Me dad had a 650 lightning (A10 rings a bell somewhere) mind you it was before I was born! I had the FIL's D10 Bantam but never got it going. Steve

crumbs, this is going back some! on the road bikes: flat bar chrome tank Honda SS50 with a straight through pot full of wire wool (good fun in the dark) Honda 250 Super Dream ? Honda CB 550/4 Suzuki GSX 750 Suzuki GS 1000 S (in blue and white like an ice cream van - the one with the bikini fairing) at the same time another CB550/4 as I liked them so much and a Honda XL 185 Traily bike for when it snowed. Oh and my Harley Sportster that was sold when we came out here. Would LOVE another bike, anything will do but alas, no spare € at the moment! Steve

eh? snow??? steve

well, I have just got back from opening a house for an oil delivery for the heating (which was left on when he left in Jan) and a mains pressure water pipe had broken in his loft bring the ceiling in his hallway down, and he has had gushing water since it thawed out - it was well lagged - we spent most of the afternoon mopping up - believe it or not he had a power cut last year between our visits and his central heating pipes froze - when we eventually managed to get EDF to sort out the electric and got the boiler working his lounge ceiling came down! Steve

hi Lucy have a look at totalfrance.com -( http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/viewtopic.php?t=56845) there are 2 big puppies needing a home Cheers Steve

is the pump running? if so for how long? is the pool clean (should be able to see any holes in the liner). If it is running then could the valve be leaking to waste? Could the pipework for the  returns be leaking?  I presume the skimmer pipes are drained and empty now and the valves for the skimmers is closed? and that you are taking water from the sump to supply the pump (if running) If the pump isnt running it could be a leaking joint or pipe from the sump, or a hole in the liner if the returns and skimmers are above the water line. Steve

it cracks me up - a small car covered with spoilers and stick on go faster stripes (bullet holes etc), a huge bonnet scoop (no hole in the bonnet for any air though) and its a Citroen saxo 1.1 diesel! At least I only painted my calipers red........... Steve

next year no problem - wont have to don the yellow marigold gloves and look a complete burk, laying in the mud around the edge (new pool this year) to close off the 2 skimmers, blow the lines and remove the pump! Steve

Not cruel at all - but there again we only have a maximum of 36 ducks at a time - come and have a look at small production as opposed to mass production - 1 lost duck here and its the end of the world! Steve

do you remove the pump and (if you have one) blow the sump pipework with a compressor? We fitted the plates when it was near impossible to hold a spanner as the water was just toooo cold! Steve

depends what pool it is - is it a Magiline pool? (the one with paper filters) If so I think its reasonable as they are not as easy as others we do. Actually the one we did on 1st December should have been 2 x that price as it was sooooo cooold! We were waiting for the special winter kit to arrive. We normally charge a monthly fee for opening,closing, a weekly visit and chemicals all included - fixed for 1 year - no expensive opening and closing costs. Steve

Well timed thread - spent Thursday afternoon killing & plucking 30 ducks with our neighbours. Out of the 30 we have 2 for the foie and confit etc etc. I am just about to divi up the foie as we like it natural, just warmed through in a pan. This afternoon is stuffing a neck with foie gras and confit production . yum yum Steve

nice one! Steve

hiya - we did the same over 6 years ago now - we clean pools and do gite change overs as well (although we have had enough of cleaning in the summer and only do a couple a week now). If you are registered with MSA, you will be able to do other things as long as it does not become more than your registered business - I think there is a percentage, but I cant remember what it is, sorry. Make sure you get insurance for all the types of work you do. Oh, and be aware that MSA will take a couple of years to gear up before they fleece you and demand back payments! We are in Northern Dordogne/Charente borders - if you let me know where you are I will pass any prospective customers that get in touch with us that are too far out for us to look after. - Cheers And good luck Steve & Dawn

doesnt the deck detach for maintenance and replacing the blades? both my John Deere and large Kubota do, although the latter is a 2 person job as you cant hump it around on youre own! steve