A weekend in Paris!

[Ian]

The ferry is always cheaper and this is the first time I've used the tunnel in about 15 years, but we couldn't leave earlier than lunch time so to get to the hotel at a reasonable hour we needed the time saving of the tunnel. The chargers are just in front of the Folkestone terminal building as well.

Long exposures hand held on the E-M1ii are a cinch😅👍

Ian

interesting set. thanks for sharing.

re the discussions on batteries. They should not be giving out anything, but they do get hotter when charging and there is of course an increased risk of any battery failing and the lithium burning when it's in that state. it's going to be a risk reduction exercise not to offer charging whilst under the sea (one I fully concur with!)

We've yet to use the tunnel. every time I've looked at it I can get a ferry cheaper

I like the long exposure in the gallery I'm often wondering what to do in those places when the wife drags me around them

Regards
Andy

[DerekW]

I am an ex shareholder in Townsend Thorensen Ferries and so have a better ticket option on PO Ferries, at one time it gave me cheaper fares but now (from what I remember) it gives me flexibility - turn up early or late and still get on the ferry. (Which you will say you can do for most sailings apart from peak season) However getting the early sailings gives you the oppportunity to have breakfast on the ferry without having to stop at roadise place in France.

[Guest]

An utterly stunning collection, Ian, especially "the big one". I like the way you included the visitors. You British are so fortunate to be in such close proximity to Europe.

[Ian]

I've added some more shots from Versailles on DPNow if you are interested:

https://www.dpnow.com/forum2/forum/photo-story/eye-of-the-camera/153120-palace-of-versailles

Ian

[Ian]

Definitely worth the effort though. Great photo.
Did you visit the exhibition in L'Arc de Triomphe? I've always wished that they'd chosen to build the 'Giant Elephant' design

I missed your reply, sorry!

I must admit I spent most of the time outside on the roof - I will have to look that up!

Ian

[Ian]

interesting set. thanks for sharing.

re the discussions on batteries. They should not be giving out anything, but they do get hotter when charging and there is of course an increased risk of any battery failing and the lithium burning when it's in that state. it's going to be a risk reduction exercise not to offer charging whilst under the sea (one I fully concur with!)

We've yet to use the tunnel. every time I've looked at it I can get a ferry cheaper

I like the long exposure in the gallery I'm often wondering what to do in those places when the wife drags me around them

Regards
Andy

I've just rediscovered this old thread of mine I posted this thread just a few days after migrating the forum from the old system to the new one and we had loads of technical issues, not ideal during a break in Paris!

EV batteries - yes, this is very true, they can catch fire and once alight they are quite difficult to put out. But EV battery fires are extremely rare and usually because of damage in crashes. Proportionally, far more petrol cars spontaneously burst into flames than EVs. When a petrol car catches fire and petrol leaks - it's highly explosive. EV batteries tend to burn away, without exploding. Our car has liquid thermal management of the battery temperature (cools the battery when it's getting hot and warms it up when it's too cold).

Cars with LPG (propane gas) as fuel are banned from the Eurotunnel, interestingly. Even if the LPG tanks are empty in dual-fuel vehicles.

The long exposure shot was partly by necessity as I hate moving upwards from ISO 200 and have a lot of trust in the image stabilisation - it was hand-held at 1/6th second exposure.

Ian

[Ian]

I am an ex shareholder in Townsend Thorensen Ferries and so have a better ticket option on PO Ferries, at one time it gave me cheaper fares but now (from what I remember) it gives me flexibility - turn up early or late and still get on the ferry. (Which you will say you can do for most sailings apart from peak season) However getting the early sailings gives you the oppportunity to have breakfast on the ferry without having to stop at roadise place in France.

The pandemic made Eurotunnel suspend their highly discounted bulk ticket sales. Occasionally, their current prices are reasonably competitive but most of the time they are, sadly, a lot more expensive than our chosen ferry crossing, now we're in SW France; Dieppe-Newhaven (Sussex). It's a 4 hour crossing and a bit slower, overall, than going via the tunnel, and there are only a couple of sailings a day, but it's great value and we like the 4 hour rest onboard (sometimes 5 hours on night time crossings).

Ian

[shenstone]

Hi Ian I was musing with the announcement on E-cars attracting car tax here from 2025 and you now being a french resident do you have to / is it going to be better to re-register your car as french soon? I know that if you came from France to the UK you would need to get a UK driving licence after 12 months of residency I don't know if that is the same for the actual car

[Ian]

Hi Ian I was musing with the announcement on E-cars attracting car tax here from 2025 and you now being a french resident do you have to / is it going to be better to re-register your car as french soon? I know that if you came from France to the UK you would need to get a UK driving licence after 12 months of residency I don't know if that is the same for the actual car

We finally completed the re-registration of our car back in the summer after months of bureaucratic games. We were charged the princely sum of 13 Euros, thanks to the car being electric Technically, you are supposed to get your car re-registered promptly when you become resident in France and we did start the process late, but it was OK in the end. There was some uncertainty over the driving licence regulations because of Brexit, but an agreement was struck between the UK and France and I am not required to switch to a French one unless I get a traffic/speeding fine/points - I did fear I'd been flashed when driving a French rental van back from the UK a couple of months ago, but nothing has become of it. I was a bit confused as I didn't think I was speeding, though you have to be careful because single carriage main roads can be 80 or 90kmh, with no apparent reason for the difference.

I think it's only fair that EVs are taxed to use the roads,.but considering the damage that fossil fuels are doing to the environment, either EVs should be taxed less or other cars more, especially as the cost bonus of running on electricity has been severely eroded. How much the annual road tax is on a car shouldn't really be a major factor in determining one's choice of car, but there is already moaning from the car industry that EV sales will be slowed by the road tax introduction.

From what I understand, the UK government is going to restart ramping up the tax on petrol and diesel, and of course new petrol and diesel car sales will end in just over 7 years time - it's closer than you think! France's plan is for 10 year later in 2040, but I suspect that may change. France has a big car industry and they are already introducing a lot of new EV models. Charging infrastructure here is, I feel, ahead of the UK as well.

Ian