alan h's activity

"St Gottherd tunnel in our experience only has long queues in the summer and at Easter. It is very likely when you travel that the pass will be closed because of snow. " The pass may well be closed when you travel in March.  Its status [Open/Closed] will be well sign posted before you get to the 'turn-off'. About the long queues - these happen, but this can be when its quicker to take the pass, as the inside lane of the motorway is, for the last couple of miles or more, set aside for people going over the pass - so you can fly past the queues.  [I suppose you could use the inside lane to cut back into the tunnel traffic near the tunnel [lights stop cars queueing in the short tunnels on the approach], but that's probably illegal and I'd bet they have cameras checking on that]   "I have only once been over the top and found it terrifying." I can't believe that - its fantastic, and not a difficult drive, as long as you take it easy on the downhill bit

I 'set up the "Items For Sale or Free " Group , so I have an editing facility on postings in that Group, but [to date] have never used it. I can only assume that 'someone up there' doesn't like postings about houses for sale, as they might hit income from Agency adverts [but that is only supposition].  If that is the case, I can understand why postings are removed, but can't explain why it may not be universally applied [unless other adverts just 'slipped through'] Also, I would have hoped that Posters falling foul of any rule would get a message from 'them what removed the posting'

Can you tell us what it says on the 'demand' - then perhaps someone can translate it and advise you   Alan

"Seems strange that you cannot 'delete' a post !"  You can't - but you can edit it - say by deleting everything and just putting 'Duplicate post removed' in its place

"It is said that those wonderful rescue dogs, the Saint Bernards, used to carry either grappa or genepy in their barrels to help people in trouble in the snow." They never carried brandy.  According to Wikipedia "The monks of the St. Bernard Hospice deny that any St. Bernard has ever carried casks or small barrels around their necks; they believe that the origin of the image is an 1820 painting by Edwin Landseer, perhaps Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler (which became a popular engraving in 1931 by Charles Landseer).  The monks did keep casks around for photographs by tourists" Nice story though

"......... then it cut out and now won't start, battery is fine,..............I assume the diesel is 'frozen' ? No idea what to do when I do try again !!!" You could try warming the fuel tank - not by the 'traditional' method of lighting a [small] fire underneath it, but a fan heater might work

Ferry companies will sell them on board - but you can get cheap ones in French pharmacies [but you'd have to drive there to get one, and S*d's Law says you'd get stopped on the way] I assume that they'll soon be available on the web

"......  but you can prepare a great bread-and-butter pudding with panettone leftovers!!! ..........." It makes the best bread-and-butter pudding  ever - we sometimes buy pannettone just to make bread-and-butter pudding

How easy was it to get the necessary approvals from the Comune?

  It may vary by area, but for Lombardia/Milan;-   School year 2011-2012 School year begins 5 September 2011(infant/nursery schools) 12 September 2011(primary/secondary schools) All Saints' Day (festa di tutti i Santi) 1 November 2011 Immaculate Conception (Immacolata Concezione) 8 December 2011 Christmas Break (vacanze Natalizie) 22 December 2011- 8 January 2012 Easter Break (vacanze Pasquali) 4 April - 11 April 2012 Liberation Day (Anniversario Liberazione) 25 April 2012 Labor Day (Festa del Lavoro) 1 May 2012 Republic Day (Festa della Repubblica) 2 June 2012 School year ends 9 June 2012(primary/ secondary schools) 29 June 2012