Nice one What's the legal process of buying a house over there? Just wondering if it's as protracted and expensive as house buying in England and Wales.

In short, and I hope I dont forget anything:
after the bid the buyers have done is accepted by the sellers, both parties have to sign a contract which states that the house will be sold under with a number of conditoins in it (mainly date of delivery and some other legal stuff that has to be in there).

Then the buyer can go to a mortgage lender with that, and an appraisal of the house..

When all is clear, you all go to the notary to "pay" the house, sign for the lot and get the keys..

all of this has some costs to it..
the buyer always pays for the lot, known as "kosten koper", translated by Google as buyer's costs
this is about 7-10% of the cost of the house.
that 7-10% involves the transfer Tax from the house, and the costs for the notary office (preparation and registration of the deed of transfer).

in short, and I got helped by google, as I dont know the translation for some of the ducth words

Oh, and one of the garages has a grease pit.. The other one, next to the house, has a sloped roof, so a 2 post lift could be placed...

I spent last night fitting a tow bar onto my 106,
My boss said if I bought a towbar he'd pay to have it fitted. Nice offer but I'd got it myself anyway..

So pointed this out, so he said he'd buy be one!!

Ordered a towbar kit for 70 quid, and fitted it until the early hours this morning.
What a breeze. I was quite impressed with how easy (once you work out what is what etc) putting it on was

All the holes where per drilled and everything fitted right away!!

same as the Scottish system - but then our law and language is common to both - get married in the "Kirk" go "ower the brig", buy a "hoose", argue over who's job it is to clean the "stoor"

Colchester RTC

Flashing blue &red lights are a lot safer than orange ones, which is why our recovery vehicles have them fitted, but sometimes it's just not enough...

Blimey there't not a lot left of the 2cv, I wonder how she managed that?

I love the way the press devote more page space to the injured dogs than the injured people

Who do you work for Mark? I'm guessing the services? I must get around to fitting a hazard relay on the van, flashing orange is surely better than nothing?

If the lights were on, you would have seen the Discovery a long time before any impact, so it's a mystery as to how she's managed to hit it - I doubt even being asleep would cover it, as the lights are visible over a large distance

I work for West Mids Police We have a range of driving jobs, covering general logistics (personnel/equipment movements), VIP chauffeuring, prisoner transport, vehicle recovery and crime/accident scene preservation (similar to the above)

I don't have hazard lights on the van at the moment, (nor fog, nor reverse) but it's on the list Also an orange beacon, once I find a suitable lamp...

edit: read this - I put that tent up...

If the lights were on, you would have seen the Discovery a long time before any impact, so it's a mystery as to how she's managed to hit it - I doubt even being asleep would cover it, as the lights are visible over a large distance.

Noticed this happened on a slip road, it could have been a blind spot moment and a knee jerk reaction to steer left, and then maybe a car in the offside lane couldn't/wouldn't pull over to let her in. It's down to human error, sadly we are all fallible
Must learn how to do quote thingies...

2 large dogs in the car - probably took her eye off the road to deal with the dogs as they weren't in the 2cv boot.