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Jaw dropping prices but where else to go?


Chancer
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[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]€3,50 for 100m of ordinary white string! Seems bloody pricey to me. It's been a long time since I bought string, so perhaps I'm just not up to date?
[/quote]

Well, Riff-Raff, what you do is you SAVE all the bits and pieces of string used to tie up whatever that you might come across!

We bought a garden table yesterday afternoon and I saved up all the bit of crinkly plastic (to OH's amusement) to tie round presents at Christmas.

I don't know if it's a good thing or not but I now seem to be this little old lady that NEVER throw anything away "in case it comes in useful"[:'(]

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When I saw elderly relatives doing that sort of thing I used to think "I hope someone will kill me if I ever become like that".

I hadnt reckoned on living in France though, now I am forever on my guard for the arrival of the assassin except for I doubt that I will see him creeping up behind the piles of cardboard and string!

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 My husband is like that, he even has started putting buttons in a box, snips them off things I am throwing away, or cutting up for rags and until yesterday I used to just look upward in despair. However, I went to buy some buttons yesterday and the price was EXPENSIVE and that is in England, still they could be cheaper in France, I don't know.

I always cut old tee shirts up for rags and old sheets too. Great for the garage and for general mucky jobs where you can just throw them away when used.

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I must admit as a kid I thought it strange behaviour but now out on a walk I pick up bailer twine, discarded electric fence wire, apart from mushrooms and fallen branches.

In car parks and at road sides I find cable ties, wire, nuts and bolts, O rings and lots of elasticated hair ties. Found discarded magnets outside a supermarket. Larger objects get discarded around the bottle recycling bins.

As a kid all my bicycles were made up from discarded frames found in ditches and we had great fun scavenging at a local tip. I don't think you'd be allowed to do that today.

With aluminium at £1600 a ton I may start collecting discarded drink cans.
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[quote user="Weedon"]A little while ago whilst travelling in my camper my GPS failed to start

when I wanted to set off to my next destination. No problem I thought,

just take off the head assembly turn it upside down and stick something

sharp in the hole marked [reset]...[/quote]What you need is a paper clip.

The same thing happened to me once when I was in the UK, quite close to a branch of Halfords.  A very nice young lady on their staff not only pointed out the "reset" button, which I hadn't known about, but also demonstrated the use of the paper clip and gave me a small supply of them for future use.

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[quote user="Chancer"]

When I saw elderly relatives doing that sort of thing I used to think "I hope someone will kill me if I ever become like that".

I hadnt reckoned on living in France though, now I am forever on my guard for the arrival of the assassin except for I doubt that I will see him creeping up behind the piles of cardboard and string!

[/quote]

Loved that!   [:D]

 

Dog, what about your beautiful bird table?  What you say about the beer cans is true, though you can put them in the recycling bin.  On Arte not long ago there was a German programme (they're always miles ahead) about waste and recup and that the metal from mines is running out.  They were talking about digging up the old rubbish pits as there are a mine of treasures to be had, especially as you say with the present price of metal.

 

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I'm very relieved and feel less of a freak now that I know other people are also collecting bits of string, cardboard, wrapping paper, et.

The thing is I now have 3 good-sized storage rooms and they are rapidly getting filled up.....! 

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[quote user="crossy67"]Got a price for two 1600x420x4mm pieces of glass today.  £70!  I was gob smacked.  It seems there are very few places that sell glass round our way.  Are these prices the going rate round here or was the man that quoted me trying it on?

[/quote]

I just went to collect a picture which had been taken to have the non reflective glass replaced (teen sons and footballs...[Www])   Glass was 40cm by 45cm, cut to fit and fitted into the frame - cost me £3 (done by a picture framer / photographer at our local market in the UK).  I daren't think how much it would be in France.

Mrs R51

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Can't remember which oldie it was - father in law probably - but one of them always used to say "You can never have too much string".

It was his catchphrase

And, to think we used to laugh at him behind his back!

Come back. All is forgiven. You were right.

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Have you seen the price of boot laces in France? 4 Euros!!!

Same in UK £1.

I now keep all my broken laces and lace my walking boots without using one lace.

I lace the first three holes on their own then the next three. This means it's easier to tighten the lower holes and puts less stress on the laces. Plus you use old shorter broken laces.

I did end up with a previous pair of boots with every two holes with its own laces.

Isn't it fun getting old grumpy and mean.....
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[quote user="Dog"]. As a kid all my bicycles were made up from discarded frames found in ditches and we had great fun scavenging at a local tip. I don't think you'd be allowed to do that today. [/quote]

[:-))]

When I was a kid I had a bike like that...couldn't keep the blooming thing going in a straight line, I used to proceed in a crab-like manner. I am sure that's why now one leg is shorter than the other.

Now that I am close to moving house and all of my furniture was loaded onto the removal lorry on Wednesday, I have a barn with lots of very useful bits of plastic sheeting of various sizes saved over the last 10 years. Yesterday the new purchasers came round to have anothe look prior to completion on Friday (I am then homeless). I think I got away with explaining to him that plastic sheeting is useful for covering up stuff in the barn. I couldn't quite bring myself to sell him the idea that the solid bag of cement would make a great garden feature.

Having had to do a de-clutter prior to moving I had to get rid of anything that had not been used, sat on or otherwise made use of in the last 6 years, some of which went to the local dechetterie. The helpful chap there used to help me unload my trailer and I came to notice that his wooden hut started to take on a similar look to the inside of my own house.

Lovely to read about the bits and pieces that you folks can't bear to part with.

 

 

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While surfing around to find prices for caustic soda for a project, I found this site and was amazed to see two levels of pricing, one for the UK and one for Europe. So much for uniformity and equality  in Europe. It goes without saying that the product I need will be purchased in the UK. I offer this web site address as evidence of price structure and not as a promotion issue.

http://homecaretechnology.co.uk/index.php

Edit: In hindsight, Please can someone explain to me why the UK is not in Europe, as silly old fool that I am I thought we were? Must stop thinking! [:D]

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[quote user="Dog"]Have you seen the price of boot laces in France? 4 Euros!!! Same in UK £1. I now keep all my broken laces and lace my walking boots without using one lace. I lace the first three holes on their own then the next three. This means it's easier to tighten the lower holes and puts less stress on the laces. Plus you use old shorter broken laces. I did end up with a previous pair of boots with every two holes with its own laces. Isn't it fun getting old grumpy and mean.....[/quote]

Sounds good, Dog, except that it's sometimes near impossible to thread the laces through when those rigid plastic bits at the end of laces get broken off!

In the "good old days", the ends of laces used to be metal and now they are nearly always an inferior type of plastic, absolutely useless!

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"]€3,50 for 100m of ordinary white string! Seems bloody pricey to me. It's been a long time since I bought string, so perhaps I'm just not up to date?

[/quote]

Well, Riff-Raff, what you do is you SAVE all the bits and pieces of string used to tie up whatever that you might come across!

We bought a garden table yesterday afternoon and I saved up all the bit of crinkly plastic (to OH's amusement) to tie round presents at Christmas.

I don't know if it's a good thing or not but I now seem to be this little old lady that NEVER throw anything away "in case it comes in useful"[:'(]

[/quote]

We hardly ever throw anything away. We have a lot of out buildings: because the gites are on different sites away from our house, they have out buildings too. Every kind of unmentionable old rubbish is kept. I have resolved that in October - amongst other things that I've been putting off while the children were very young and the business in its early days - I shall gird up my loins and start tacking the four garages full of assorted junk we have assembled.

I reckon about a month should do it. [8-|]

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We did get rid of almost all our old possessions when we downsized in England and bought in France. I haven't really regretted it although I do sometimes think 'whatever happened to' .......... ?

Our main problem was that his junk was of a much better quality than mine and therefore had more reason to be kept !

We did, of course, start hoarding again immediately.

Hoddy
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[quote user="sweet 17"]

[quote user="Dog"]Have you seen the price of boot laces in France? 4 Euros!!! Same in UK £1. I now keep all my broken laces and lace my walking boots without using one lace. I lace the first three holes on their own then the next three. This means it's easier to tighten the lower holes and puts less stress on the laces. Plus you use old shorter broken laces. I did end up with a previous pair of boots with every two holes with its own laces. Isn't it fun getting old grumpy and mean.....[/quote]

Sounds good, Dog, except that it's sometimes near impossible to thread the laces through when those rigid plastic bits at the end of laces get broken off!

In the "good old days", the ends of laces used to be metal and now they are nearly always an inferior type of plastic, absolutely useless!

[/quote]

Don't worry I solved that problem - first cut the broken lace so it's a clean cut and not ragged.

Then take approximately 15mm of sellotape and affix to the lace at an angle and carefully roll around the lace - et voila a tapered end to feed through your eyelets.

To make sure the laces doesn't slip back through put a knot in it.

I have also solved raised eyelets that pop out of your boots leaving no hole, either relace leaving out the non-existant eyelet.

Alternatively take a strip of tough nylon attach laces to it and attach under and around the boot to keep it on your foot. Sounds mad but works well and over long periods.
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
I ordered a small double glazed unit,(310mm x 240mm) from a company in the nearest town to me. That was 5 weeks ago, the price was 30euros but because it was August they couldnt give me an exact date that the unit would be ready save for, `perhaps next week`.

Well 5 weeks have come and gone and another `perhaps next week` later I`ve had enough. This afternoon I phoned a glass company in the UK near to where my brother lives, he`s coming over next weekend and is bringing a suitcase that will be going in the hold on the plane.

The UK company will have the unit made by Tuesday next week at a cost of £16.14p including VAT. The unit can be eaasily fitted into my brothers suitcase and I will no longer have a piece of hardboard in my window.

I sometimes think that in terms of customer sevice, the French just dont get it.

Dexter
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