alan h's activity

Questions Asked

Tesco and Eurotunnel[Copied from another Forum]If you shop at Tesco you'll probably be rewarded with Cash Vouchers.  What you may not know is that you can exchange these for 3x their value with Eurotunnel.

Sun, 03/18/2018 - 16:50

ITALIAN GENEALOGYI am researching my family tree [all UK based], and belong to a Genealogy Group here in the UK - its part of the U3A [an organisation for 'retired persons who want to do things rather than sit at home all d

Wed, 01/04/2017 - 05:24

Cancelling a Eurotunnel Booking I have had to cancel a return trip on Eurotunnel [Car + 2 + Dog], as I have to go into hospital for an op.The booking was 'non-refundable'.I rang them to cancel and they confirmed it was non-

Thu, 05/26/2016 - 08:00

IMU - Its still around I thought this had disappeared in the new tax system, but my Comune website says the first payment for 2014 is due by 16th June Paid it via my bank today - emailed them the F24

Fri, 06/13/2014 - 08:56

Looks like the days of the easy/cheap trip to italy through Switzerland are numbered. Apparently, the Swiss government has decided to raise the cost of the vignette to 100 Swiss Francs for 2015. They are introducing a two month vignette for 40SF,

Sun, 09/01/2013 - 15:58

Petrol prices in France are now comparable with the UK, except on the French Autoroutes.One option is to fill up at the L'Eclerc superstores with their SP95 E10 petrol [its a petrol with some ethylene in - generally used in France - which is OK fo

Thu, 07/11/2013 - 04:25

For a change this year we drove down to Italy via Besancon  [avoiding most tolls by taking some good french non-motorways.]However - Besancon roads are in total chaos as they are digging them up to lay tram routes - this will take about 2 more yea

Wed, 07/10/2013 - 16:44

Can you help?I've just completed making a 'variation' of Limoncello. The only change is that I dispensed with the lemons, I and substituted Sloes that I picked here in the UK at the end of last year.

Sun, 01/20/2013 - 09:10

In today's GuardianRyanair have announced their credit card will now be liable to the same charges as other credit cards - so the end of no charge bookings

Sat, 11/10/2012 - 09:07

Comments posted

Wed, 11/14/2012 - 05:51

"..................... we bought near Rome never imagining in a life of Sundays that it was such an important route worth it would never be dropped...alas!!" Anyone thinking about getting a holiday home in Italy should consider how you are going to access the place - relying on one transport provider is always risky, and should be avoided if possible.  This is one of the advantages of a place 'up north', near the lakes - my place [near Lake Maggiore] is drivable in a day in an emergency, [and with a couple of overnight stops makes a very pleasant start to the holiday], has 3 airports within 90 minutes [Turin, Milan Malpensa and Bergamo, plus Geneva as a back up], and can be reached in a day by train - so access isn't a major concern. [There are also no Brits in the area, which is a major plus].  It gets harder the farther south you go, and this should be factored into any consideration of "where to buy?", rather than just going where the sun is.

Answer to: House Electrics
Tue, 11/06/2012 - 11:07

"earthing for house with 2 core electrics ............, cooker & water heater. " Is your power supply up to dealing with the power requirements of these appliances? - You probably only have a 3kW  supply, and if you brought the cooker and water heater from UK [for example] they would probably exceed the system's power availability

Sun, 11/04/2012 - 12:18

Several years ago we stayed at the 'Best Western Hotel Rothaus' - not too bad  Nowadays about £100 a room plus 22SF for private parking [book when you book the room]

Tue, 10/30/2012 - 18:21

I've got one on my UK wood burning stove - seems to be effective. [Apparently they were originally developed for narrow boats where the stove would be at one end of the boat and there was no electricity for 'normal' fans to shift the warm air about] Still prefer the open log fire in my ½ûÂþÌìÌà 'holiday home' - not so efficient as a log burner stove, but visually more pleasing, and nice to snuggle up to in Winter - but would go for a stove if the ½ûÂþÌìÌà place was my permanent residence

Sun, 10/28/2012 - 11:27

"Even if you are getting the UK state pension, the winter fuel allowance is not an automatic payment. You have to fill in the form, and my husband is not in receipt of the state pension is also entitled to the allowance."   The married couple allowance is the same as a single persons - they get half each - so its hardly worth the second person applying   [until after the other one dies!]

Wed, 10/10/2012 - 08:14

"............ Maybe pushing on to Switzerland - Luzerne maybe for the first night if this isn't overly ambitious. .............." Switzerland is expensive to stop in - we've stayed at a few places in and around Lucerne, and I do recommend the Hotel Engel in Stans [a few miles beyond Lucerne, but as quick as driving into Lucerne centre.]        Cologne to Stans is about five to five and a half hour driving - I would avoid the risk of getting caught up in trafffic in Basel by bypassing it using the motorway turn off to Lorrach just before Basel.  The dual carriage way goes straight into Switzerland and doesn't add any distance to the journey.  

Tue, 10/09/2012 - 18:09

"Any advice about great places to stop for the first evening .......... " It might help if you could give the approx area you would be looking to stay in that night

Thu, 09/06/2012 - 19:12

".............  It's not my doorway I'm constantly finding Cat Sh1t in, it's my Garden and potted plants. And before you say it, the Water thingy doesn't work  ........... " Just been having some work done on my garden in the UK.  The gardener says that one way of keeping cats away is to put some plastic/rubber snakes in the garden - he swears that cats are petrified of snakes and won't go near them. Anyone know if that works?

Tue, 09/04/2012 - 04:01

Sounds dodgy to me. Ask him to put this 'method' of progressing the scheme in writing to you - that should sort out how legal he feels it is

Mon, 09/03/2012 - 06:30

Just checked on the DirectGov.uk website  "Moving to another country If you move to another country, you should check with the driving licence authorities there for information about driving and exchange of licences. You don't need to notify DVLA of a change of address when moving to live abroad."