karenr's activity

Questions Asked

I vaguely remember reading somewhere about a gizmo that could be plugged in to boost wifi signal within our thick walled Italian homes - I can't remember where and failed to locate under search option as not sure what "title" to search under. Can

Tue, 07/30/2013 - 03:23

4 years into being self-employed and my husband's Accountant announced he should be paying INAIL. Claimed it wouldn't be very much. Just received a demand for €4,903.00 of which €1,700.00 is interest and charges going back to 2008.

Wed, 07/18/2012 - 08:13

It has come to my attention that I may have inadvertently misled in an earlier post. In response to a member asking for recommendations I posted not to bother contacting Michael as I had misunderstood a mail from his office.

Thu, 02/02/2012 - 10:54

Looking for advice/guidance on the above subject. I am planning on purchasing satellite broadband and had hoped that it was possible to use satellite dish also for TV.

Thu, 11/24/2011 - 09:21

Having washed guests' white bedlinen and towels I have found yellow stains (again). Unfortunatley not visible until washed then left with a creamy yellow stain. I think it is caused by the high factor creams.

Wed, 08/10/2011 - 03:21

I have to return a parcel to M & S (their sizing and descriptions are not so accurate recently) and having had to do this once before found it very expensive via the Post Office.  Even splitting parcel into smaller Jiffy bags (our post office

Sat, 05/14/2011 - 08:39

has anyone, full time in Italy, purchased a kindle?  I understand that location affects what you can download and I have been trying to establish if living in Italy would prevent my downloading amazon.co.uk books.  I do not want to be limited to I

Mon, 05/09/2011 - 17:04

hi i have a motorbike here in italy and was wondering if there is a man with a van that travels from italy to the uk !!!! need to get it back 54 a MOT and i dont fancy the drive !! please help!!!

Mon, 11/08/2010 - 10:07

Does anyone know where I can buy Malt Vinegar?  Wanting to pickle some of the excess crop and recipes are generally needing Malt Vinegar.  Alternatively if no one else found Malt Vinegar around here what are you using instead and how successful is

Sun, 09/26/2010 - 11:24

We have a very large, old, protected oak tree in our garden.  This year for the first time (or at least first time noticed) it is dropping what appears to be tiny black seeds - the size of a lettuce seed.  If you are close to the tree it sounds li

Sun, 05/09/2010 - 04:55

Comments posted

Fri, 07/18/2014 - 12:00

We have just used www.anyvan.com to bring over some stuff for my son.  You basically input what you want and get quotes.  We brought over a double sofa bed, large flat screen tv and 5 large boxes (each H54,W44,D44.6cm - Argos) and we paid €420.  The best quote came from Tomas who was doing other deliveries and collections and regularly comes back and forth across Europe.  Certainly was very impressed with Tomas.

Answer to: Garden Work
Fri, 05/16/2014 - 05:03

If the worker is legitimate and not working "in nero" and he is supplying the strimmer, cord and fuel then it is certainly the going rate around here.

Tue, 07/30/2013 - 10:03

bunterboy, thank you for the link and suggested stores where I can buy the Italian version.

Answer to: Bank Charges
Fri, 07/05/2013 - 07:59

We're very happy with ING Direct, Conto Corrente Arancio - no charges!  www.ingdirect.it

Answer to: Linda Vernon
Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:29

Kath of "Kath & Fred" also sadly passed this year.

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 16:42

Rachel this time of year you can plant bare root hedging and trees and from personal experience I would strongly recommend that if you haven't got any trees or natural shade to focus on this first.  We started with a new build (knock down, reclaim and rebuilt) 5 years ago and we had nothing apart from a very old protected oak and a couple of self seeded oaks on our land.  The site otherwise was bare apart from the odd broom and lots of weeds.  Like you we wanted to make a pretty garden the minute we moved in and spent an awful lot of money doing just that.  However the lack of shade and really bad soil resulted in us losing most of what we planted.  Over the years we have planted dozens of trees and fed the soil continuously allowing other shrubs, climbers, perennials etc to thrive.  We now have a really lovely and interesting garden over 2500m2 hillside, 300m above sea level.  Be patient and enjoy.  

Answer to: Electricity
Sun, 10/14/2012 - 14:26

Joy I am sure someone else will reply with regard to large goods like washing machine, oven, dishwasher etc as I purchased all these here, but all my small goods I have purchased from UK (usually amazon.co.uk) i.e. kettle, halogen oven, magimix, rice cooker, bread maker, iron etc etc.  We also have a couple of English TV's, DVD player, surround sound system, that we brought over with us and all are fine here.  I would definitely support Allan's suggestion of trying to manage on 3kw for a while as easier to upgrade than down.  We managed for 18 months in our first property on 3kw and the only time it tripped was if I was running washing machine, iron and oven and then put on the electric kettle. I worked around that for 18 months.  When we moved into our current home I had two ovens built in the kitchen and needed 6kw.  On 6kw I have never had it trip but you do pay more for 6kw.

Mon, 10/08/2012 - 10:54

Years ago when I was young and living at home we had a spate of "heavy breather" calls and the police recommended a very shrill whistle blown down the receiver.  Did the trick!

Mon, 09/17/2012 - 05:11

My best friend died very suddenly (massive heart attack) and her husband has needed company and conversation and cuddles.  Three months on he is now feeling able to meet up with other friends and starting to build his new life but when Kath died he really needed us to be around.  The Italian way of leaving the body on the bed and having funeral within 24 hours meant we were with him constantly for those first 2 days and then every Wednesday we would take him out (it was a Wednesday night she died), every Sunday he would come to us for the day (couldn't stand Sundays).  He came shopping with us etc etc and we just contstantly talked and kept him company as he needed it.  The cuddles were something he was uncomfortable with for a start but after a week or so he actually would say I need a hug and knew it was ok to cry with us.  It has helped him and me.  You may remember my friend as she was a member of this community and donated their apartment to the raffle after the L'Aquila earthquake.  She wrote as "Fred and Kath".  Not convinced books and solitary reading is the way to go.

Answer to: INAIL
Wed, 08/08/2012 - 10:24

Husband has gone to INAIL office in Ascoli with his Accountant (been better without him I think) and has been told he has got to pay this.  He is classed as Artigiani and apparently this is the going rate!!  Doesn't matter what he did or did not earn or the massive amount of INPS paid.  We now have to ask permission to spread payments over a maximum of 24 months and pay retrospectively for insurance (isn't that an oxymoron) we can't claim restrospectively though!!  Husband had an operation in 2009 and wasn't able to work for more than 3 months; we have all the documentation to prove it but still he is being told he can't make a claim though we have to pay for the insurance.   This is all totally beyond belief.  Penny couldn't get a message to you - tried a number of times;my e-mail address is karen.richardson@sjpp.co.uk. Changing subject slightly - does anyone know what the criteria and implications of being a "farmer" is?  This is the latest suggestion from the Accountant from hell!