Cerise

Does anyone want a great heap of calendars.  Don't mind giving the tip but haven't worked out what the heck to do with all those calendars.

My cleaning lady does folding stuff like that.  I HATE it.  I like towels just folded in 4, no fany stuff - same with pillowcases etc.  I tell her I don't want all that fancy stuff - obviously she watches too much American tele!

No, me I suspect.   I mentioned his green dress.  But, in my defense m'lud, it was only because he promised to lend me the said dress and then reneged upon his promise. 

If you want to look after her at home then it may be useful to know that there is a palliative care organisation in each department.  Palliative care is not that well developed in France (mainly due to doctors who are anxious that care will be taken away from them) but it now exists and is an excellent service.  Your medecin traitant can give you details for your department and if you contact them they will help organise everything for you - special bed, portable morphine pumps, nurses/carers and even a cleaning lady if necessary.  It is state funded and most the services are covered by ALD.  One or two such as cleaning lady are means tested.  I have just had a friend who was looked after by the local association for the last 3 months of her life and the care was absolutely brilliant, nothing too much trouble, drugs and medical equipment delivered to the house and all medical and nursing care first class. If you need any further information please ask and I'll help if I can.        

Well I do pay my cleaning/ironing lady that way and asked the question.  I live in the house and want it clean, the fact that there are B & B guests there too is a bit irrelevant when you think about it (but I probably couldn't afford the cleaning lady (only 2 hours a week) if they weren't there.  She comes all year round and actually does MY housework so I can keep up with the guests.

If it is for a B & B it IS your home and you can use the CESU for someone to help in the grden or do the ironing or cleaning.  If you pay (say) 10€ per hour you will have approximately half as much again i.e another 5€ an hour deducted in charges.  You get the cheque book from your banck and send the second docket in the book to URSAAF who calculate the charges.  Your employees has the cheque which he pays in in the normal way and the charges are deducted from your account several weeks later (you get a notice of advce).  The following year you will get part of the money refunded as a tax credit if you are resident in France.

Mine are nice too.  BUT they are HERE.  I start the season off as quite a nice person myself but by this time of year I become a maoning old cow who just wants them to be gone.  I long to lounge around in my pyjamas eating things out of a tin or packet.  I'm so tired of being NICE.  Answering the same questions week after week, admirng the same souvenirs, eating more and more meals and just wanting my life back.  After a couple of months off I forget how it is and begin to look forward to the new ones in the Spring. I need all these people here so that I can eat and go on holiday myself, but I've got to say I don't understand people who have got plenty of money and still want to do holiday accommodation for fun.  They must be mad!

Yup - I had people here and they went away last Monday to explore some other parts of France and I thought good and then .... they came back on Thursday and are still here and October has been busier than June and I want them to go away and let me lie down quietly somewhere for a month or two.  There are some others who want to come in November as well, I know I SAY I open all year but that doesn't really mean I want them to come here.  Anyone would think it was a B & B or something.  Oh, it is!

Sniff, sniff - the first concert I ever went to - 1969 I think - the Four Tops.  The were such great performers.  Even more scary is the fact that I am that old[:(]

The Gaillac nouveau is nouveau at all but Primeur.  The Gaillac Primeur is always the 3rd Thursday in November and the events at local vineyards carry on into the weekend.  I don't think the Gaillac vignerons even recognise the existence of Beaujolais Nouveau.

I'm amazed you think that jon.  ALL and I mean ALL of the French people I know are very anxious about the economy.  Most of them have already stopped little treats like Sunday lunch at restaurants.  Went with friends to a local restaurant (not very dear 23€ menu) which is normally packed and has been every week of the 6 years I've been here.  Yesterday lunch - a lovely warm sunny day - only 5 tables taken.  Talking to the patronne she said it has been like that for a few weeks now. We have a B & B in a much less luxurious category than yours and I'm anxious.  There used to be 2 'top-end' places round here.  One has closed and the other is for sale.  I really hope that your optimism is founded but sadly fear it may not be.  Of course life has to go on, but the French people I know are certainly very interested in money and very concerned about not having any!

There are several Government departments formed for the sole purpose of preventing you earning any money.  Should you be wily enough to get round this, the same departments will find another way of taking the money away.

You can get the coach all the way to Brive from Victoria - I've done it some years ago and got off at Cahors but have to say it took a very long time and I didn't enjoy it, but then I don't like coach travel full stop (reason for doing it was I had been ill and advised not to fly).    You may also want to enquire about the train as we have quite a few clients who come to Toulouse by train and they can sometimes get deals although it does mean changing trains at Lille or Paris. 

Blasted dragons stopped laying again Soz?  My lot are sick of the sight of figs, but we have figs aplenty so that's what they are getting. What is a dragon fruit anyway?

Not normally BUT if a wedding party book the whole house (4 rooms) and request it then I will.  Saves me getting up att he crack of dawn. Wouldn't do it for just one couple if the rest were having breakfast at 9.00.  Also if they are leaving on that day they need to be out at 10.00 so no exceptions.

I suspect that some council official has told them that the Mairie has the 'right to buy' and offered a lower price than that at which the house is for sale.  If someone is unaware of the law they may feel or indeed have been told, as it is not unheard of for functionaires to be a little economical with the truth[:)], that they have no right to sell at the higher price.

Is your wife the sort of lady to whom friendships are important.  If so, I wouldn't recommend rural France.  There is difference between 'friendly' and 'friends'.   The local people here are perfectly friendly but realistically I have nothing in common with most of them.  Friendships seem to take years to develop and socialising is mostly in couples in the forms of aperos etc.  Talking about the weather and local gossip can lose its charm after a while. I have noticed that very, very few English people have any real French friends.  Let's be honest an evening where you can hardly speak to other people may be entertaining at first but soon becomes hard work.  In rural areas ladies are generally expected to be housewives, mothers and grandmothers first and their own social life comes a long way down the scale of importance.  Family life is sacred.  Most retired ex-pats do seem to move only in a circle of ex-pats. If you have a hobby which you love and you move somewhere where there is an association for that hobby it may be easier.  Thoses who settle best are those who like each others company best and don't seek too much outside life to keep them cheery.   PS just noticed that this post is quite old and you are now thinking of renting.  Very sensible.    

We're on the GR here too and I do this.  My car is already insured for occasional professional use (I sometimes pick folk up from the airport if they don't want to hire a car) and I make it clear to walkers that baggage transfer is at their risk.  The other chambres d 'hôtes along the route do the same and I always drop off at the same places, where I know the other owners.  If you are using your car make sure it is insured as I thought I was (I had asked) and when I checked the conditions discovered I wasn't.  When I went to see the insurers they said 'Oh well you could always say they were your friends'  !!!!  Too laid back for me - I like it done properly - now properly covered but just a warning to check.

Richard T - my mum says I'm too messy and they'd probably get a complaint, so she won't pay![:D]

Well said Katie.   When I'm on holiday I'm on holiday.  I would leave the place cleanish and tidy but wouldn't expect to do spring cleaning.  Probably that's why I never rent gites - I'm too lazy and I don't want to get the hoover out.  Strangely gites always seem to work out expensive, especially if you are only two so think I'd rather have the housework done for me.

So sorry to hear this - would like to add my wishes for speedy recovery.

I work for someone in their maison secondaire CESU and it is fine - it is only short term holiday lets which are excluded.  This from the CESU site. Garde d’enfants, d’un malade ou d’une personne dépendante, ménage, petits travaux de jardinage, soutien scolaire… pour la réalisation de ces travaux, toute personne peut embaucher un salarié à son domicile (ou dans sa résidence secondaire), sous réserve de respecter un certain nombre de formalités : se déclarer comme employeur, vérifier la situation du salarié, notamment au regard de la sécurité sociale, de ses autorisations de séjour et de travail s’il est étranger, rédiger un contrat de travail… Les règles applicables figurent dans le code du travail et dans la « convention collective nationale des salariés du particulier employeur 

Today was the Saturday from hell.  I'd overbooked (never done that before) so had to lodge some odd New Zealanders with my friends.  The 3 noisy kids in the attic were replaced by ..... 3 more noisy kids.  The French lovers spent all day bonking even louder than I could hoover.  I turned away 3 sets of passers by and several phone calls.  The dogs have been whinging all day and now the neighbours are having a VERY noisy party which looks set to go on until the early hours. BUT one more week and I'm going on holiday.  I don't care if I shoud be here for the beginning of September, I won't and I can't wait.  I think I want to go and BE an irritating guest for a while instead of looking after them.  .

It depends what tax regime you are on.  If micro then you don't need to bother, your expenses are fixed percentage of your turnover.  If réel then your accountant should advise you.  Most chambre d'hotes are on micro regime.

Some friends of ours with a nice small gite (sleeps 4) rented it to a Dutch family.  When they returned from shopping one day they found 2 camping cars parked in their garden.  When they asked what was going on they were informed that these 9 people were friends of their Dutch clients but "Don't worry, we won't bother you, we will just use the showers and the swimming pool". Some people got more front than Blackpool; don't you think????