alan h's activity

 When I opened my Italian bank account, I put enough money in to pay about a years bills [I pay gas and electric by Direct Debits] and just top it up [with money from an ATM] whenever I'm over there   This may not be the cheapest way - but its easy and I know the cash is in the account.

 Annec - thanks for the posting - brought back a few memories My Dad was a D Day Dodger.  He never ever really spoke about his war - and I only ever remember hearing him sing the song once, when he was well lubricated after winning a hard fought criket match [a local Cup Final, I think] - the whole pub was silent as people joined in or just hummed along He was 'lucky' as he fought his way right up the spine of Italy to the North, where [I believe] he worked with the Partisans, and he was never a POW   I keep meaning to get his war record, and perhaps visit some of the places he fought.

 I think you need a cooker thats set up for that type of LPG gas.  You can't just take over a 'mains' gas cooker and connect it to LPG supply   see http://www.calorcookerandfireshop.co.uk/acatalog/lpg-cookers.html   for examples

Shame they decided to charge for them - they should be free

 Have you considered just sealing the existing 'plaster' and plastering over it to give a clean surface for decoration.   I appreciate you don't get exposed brick walls - but it could be cheaper, cleaner and quicker than sandblasting

You could try setting up a new Group [called 'For Sale' perhaps] to see if there is any interest

We stayed [a few years ago now] at the Il Nido Hotel when I travelled by train to Sorrento http://www.ilnido.it/ It is outside of Sorrento, but does a free minibus shuttle to and from Sorrento [the timetable is on the website]   Views from the rooms are to die for, and the evening meals were great [quality and quantity - in fact a couple of times we went into town in the evening for a smaller meal!] Very friendly place - and it was where we were first introduced to homemade Limoncello!!!!

 Would you be allowed to do the following   1.  Apply a thinnish [say 50mm thick] screed to the roof, laid  to a fall of about 1 in 100 [draining to the edges] 2.  Apply waterproof finish [say 2 or 3 layers of bitumen] to seal the roof 3.  Lay 100mm thick [or thicker] industrial polystyrene type insulation boarding, for the insulation required 4.  Cover with tiles, slabs or gravel to hold down the imnsulation.  If you want to use the roof, I'd use slabs or tiles - laid directly on the insulation withh no cement or fixative, butt jointed.   This would work well, but relies on the concrete roof being strong enough  [it should be - ask the geometra/builder]

This sounds like a job for a  geometra - use a local one - he'll get all the required permessos [there are bound to be some needed], and he might just get the council to look at their drain!

 Knowing the love that Italians have for bureaucracy - the cons will be enormous