OldyamYams

[quote user="ErnieY"]It's the 'experts' who got us into this so why on earth would anyone trust any of them to accurately predict a speedy and positive outcome, wishful thinking I fear. [/quote] I'm with you there. I think it's going to be a case of   'Hang on to your hats! The rollercoasters about to start'. [+o(] Dave

Quillan I think you have got it just about spot on. When this lot of idiots and nincompoops came in to office Britain had one of the best balance of payment records in the civilised world, because the Tories under Maggie had made sure that the loans owed to the IMF by the previous Labour Government were paid back before they they could give any  thing  to Joe Public. What did the great and fantastic (sarcasm by the way) Gordon do when he got into number 11? He started to Borrow it all back again plus many more billions on top, so that Britain is now the pauper of the world. It is a sheer impossibility to borrow, borrow  and borrow without one day facing the day of reckoning. It's not us the older generation who will suffer the most for this governments incompetence, but our children and grandchildren. I dread to think what sort of a financial world they will be living in. Dave  From Wolverhampton until 30 Jan next year then  Deux-Sevre  (HE-------LP)

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]Actually Ernie I've discovered that I'm not the only one that now thinks that IMF intervention is to be welcomed, as it will finally bring home to Messrs Brown and Darling the magnitude of the catastrophe they have heaped on our heads. Once the IMF intervened in 1976 the Callaghan government was forced to come to its senses, and forced to implement policies to bring inflation down and get their borrowing back under control. I think the current lot still don't believe that they are in any way to blame for the scale of the problems we now face. I realise that the inflation risk at the moment is low, but in a couple of years time when they've had a chance to print truckloads of money....? That's why I'm in - as I say - total despair.[/quote] Here! Here!  What is it they all shout in the Commons when some one has gaffed? RESIGN, RESIGN Dave

[quote user="Cathy"] Are there any UK LHD websites? [/quote] Cathy There are a number of UK websites advertising LHD cars for sale and delivery to your home address too. But when I looked at buying  a LHD in the UK  I found that nearly all of the the cars on offer were over 4 or 5 years old with very high mileage and, because they have to be sourced from other countries they were all very expensive as well. I've  ended up buying a 1 year old RHD Espace with only 8,000 miles on the clock. I know they have a bad write up for reliability but it was an extremely good deal from our our local car supermarket, an ex demonstrator with only the dealers name on the V5. Sunday Driver It isn't the fact that the car was total  C**P, it is more to do with the fact that the car was less than TWO years old and Vauxhall were the embodiment of complete indifference. There attitude was ' Tough! We've had your money and we couldn't care less about you. Give some more money and we'll fit a reconditioned pump, not a new one". It is all to do with what some one else said in another post about customer service. If they had have just shown a little bit of understanding and offered  a compromise, maybe offering to fit it half price or something along those lines, then that would possibly have made all the difference. We wll never know now, will we? Dave

Had a Vectra  a few a years ago, which is what the Zafira is based (same engines, floor pan etc.) The steering rack went at 10,000 miles. Tried to go round a roundabout  couldn't turn the wheel, luckily it was in the early hours so no traffic and managed to stop. At 36,000 miles, just 1,000 miles out of warranty The diesel fuel pump went. Vauxhall refused to do anything about it said it was out of warranty and wanted £2,000 to replace it. I wouldn't touch Vauxhall with a barge pole. Dave

Dear Odile Thanks for your best wishes. I can't see how you can possibly know what the neighbours are like until you actually live there. I can't believe that the vendor is going to tell you that "The neighbours are terrible they are the neighbours from hell, the worst people you could ever meet". However in our case the farm house next door, which is empty and being renovated is owned by the family who sold the house to our vendors who assure us that they get on very well with them. Malcolm and Carol the vendors have given a tremendous amount of help with things like, their English speaking Doctor, insurance agent,local tradesmen and details of expat groups etc. in the area. So as far as it is possible to know the future we feel that we are making the right choice.As I said in my first post if you feel that this is it and it feels right, go for it! After all   'Faint heart never won fair maiden'. Regards Dave .

Hi We went over for a week with appointments to see 20 houses, the one we are waiting for the C O V to come through was I think no.12. We got out of the car with the agent and knew straight away that this was the one for us. I think it has a lot to do with how you feel when you first see 'the one'. We have only seen this house for about 3 hours, so I say if you thinkit's right for you go for it. Dave

Hi All, We are also newbies to the forum. We are in the position of just completing our house purchase in the Deux- Sevres near to Moncoutant ( can't wait for it all to be finished and moved in). [:D] We spent weeks on the internet looking at properties, in all we must have downloaded something like 80 or 90 property details and ended up with a short list of about 20 that we thought would be just what we were looking for. We then booked the ferry for half term in October found a Gite to stay in and made appointments with the agents of the properties we had decided on. All of the agents we met seemed to be self employed by the agencies and every one of them was very helpful and knowledgeable about the houses and area they were showing us. With the occupied houses we visited they all seemed to know the vendors and all about their reasons for selling. In the end all the criteria we had set ourselves for the perfect house meant absolutely nothing, because when we saw this particular one  every thing else went out of the window. Tony the agent dealing with the purchase is very good and doing all he can to help us with bank accounts house insurance etc.. As far as VEF is concerned we sent an email asking for details of one of their properties,  before they would send the info they  insisted on us agreeing to their terms and conditions and also wanting us to pay their fees of over £4,000, needless to say we refused. From that point on we had a continual stream of emails and phone calls trying to get us to look at this property or that. So I can say with conviction We would definately not recommend them to any oneelse. Hope this is of help to some one and look forward to posting many more times. Dave & Linda