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Sounds like a cat alright. One of ours used to drink out of the toilet bowl. I think I read somewhere that they like more than one source of water around the place.

When our cat was neutered I was told that if I fed him 100% croquettes then I should get the special ones to avoid bladder stones but if he got a mixed diet of tinned food as well as dried food and he had plenty of water to drink then he would be fine - and after 5 years he is.

Hi My huband is almost blind and has a carte d'Invalidité (80%). We are retired and have health cover under the E121. We have been here 5 years and have top-up insurance to pay the extra. Do you know if he/we would be entitled to 100% cover? Many thanks.

I am having problems with my internet connection. I live in Aude and use FREE ADSL. I have had good service for over 2 years but for the past 3 days it has been awful. It connects as normal for a few minutes and then goes down for an hour, then a few more minutes and then off again.   Is anyone else having problems? I was wondering if the atrocious weather had anything to do with it. Or maybe my box has developed a fault.   Last night it was fine for a whole hour and I was able to sort out my emails etc., then this morning it is back to being a real pain.   Can anyone tell me how to check on the status of my connection? Or how to report a fault.   Thanks Edith

Steve When you changed to Virgin did you have to pay to have your phone unlocked? I opted for NRJ because there wasn't a time limit on credit but of course they changed all that. So when my credit runs out I would like to change to Virgin. I am just wondering if I will have to unlock my phone first and if so how do I do it.

Has anyone transfered their telephone provider totally to Free.fr? A friend told me you can do this for a one-off payment of 18€ and save the bimonthly payment to FT. It sounds very tempting but I also heard that you may be without internet connection/telephone for up to a month while they sort it out. I was wondering if any member has actually done it and can give some feedback. You would lose your phone connection if there is a power cut of course but the money you save would pay for a mobile phone.

I understand that you have to declare your actual takings on your tax return. I got the following information from a financial/legal web site.  "If you pay under the BIC 'micro entreprise' regime then there would be an automatic deduction representing costs applied to the income of 72%. This means that the taxable amount will be 28% of the income. Note that under this regime, you do not deduct the actual costs as these are accounted for in the aforementioned 72% figure." I have just started to let our village house again this year after we moved into our permanent house here. We used to let it when we still lived in the UK but lived in it while we looked around for a house with a garden for our retirement. The bookings have been very poor, though my family and friends used it quite a lot, so we have in fact made no profit. The income has just about paid the local taxes, electricity, water etc. with nothing over to pay for other things like new bedding. If I declare my takings and not my profit I will be paying tax on income I have not received. It doesn't seem worth it - maybe I will sell it after all.

We have always rented to UK people and for the past 2 years have banked the security deposit with the balance. This is returned within a couple of days of them leaving after the house has been thoroughly checked. We used to return the deposit as they left if the house looked okay and they said there hadn't been any breakages. It's a bit embarrasing to go round testing everything so we, like most renters, trusted people. We started to bank the deposit after finding severe damage to the "latts" in a settee while cleaning for the next tenants on one occasion and finding a garden chair with leg smashed off and half hidden on another occasion. No-one has ever objected to this - it's explained in the conditions for them to see before they decide to take our gite. Mind you the security deposit is still the £100 we have charged for years. Maybe it's time to raise it to £150. This year we are advertising in the local tourist brochure so may in fact get a few French enquiries. Should I stick to the same conditions and make them pay the security deposit with the balance 8 weeks before the holiday or would this put them off? Also I have always used the "Chez-Nous" booking form and conditions. Should I translate these into French for displaying on my web site? or is there a better wording somewhere?

Can anyone please tell me how to find new posts since my last visit. I can do unread posts, active posts etc. but I do not want to read all of these so next time I visit I get the same ones again all of which I do not want to read and so it goes on. I seem to remember you could "mark all posts as read" but I cannot find how to do this. There was also a "new posts since last visit" on the old layout. Help - I just want to see what's new each time I visit. This long-winded method of trying to find new posts is putting me off visiting the forum.

Can anyone please tell me how to find new posts since my last visit. I can do unread posts, active posts etc. but I do not want to read all of these so next time I visit I get the same ones again all of which I do not want to read and so it goes on. I seem to remember you could "mark all posts as read" but I cannot find how to do this. There was also a "new posts since last visit" on the old layout. Help - I just want to see what's new each time I visit. This long-winded method of trying to find new posts is putting me off visiting the forum.

We phoned Newcastle yesterday to try to find out what was happening about my husband's E121 which he would get with his pension which starts January 12th 2006. They were very helpful and actually phoned back today to tell us they would issue the E121 from January 1st since there is only a matter of days between the 2 E forms. Incidentally she told us something we didn't realise. If a person is under retirement age and has enough National Health contributions in the UK they issue an E106 which means the UK pays for any treatment that person receives in France. When a person is over retirement age and gets an E121 the UK pays a monthly amount to the French authorities whether they need treatment or not. (I suppose this is to make up for the fact that the French are now looking after their pensioners).  

We came to live here permanently last August. I was 63 at the time so got my E121. I expected my husband (also 63) to be classed as my dependant until he reached 65 and got his own E121. This did not happen. He was given an E160 valid until the end of this year as he was under retirement age. Newcastle said they had changed the rules about it. When his E160 runs out he will have to request to become my dependant for a few weeks until he is 65. 

I tried to order the NRJ Mobile on their website with my credit card and after inputting the number and expiry dates etc. I got another screen asking for the bank account details associated with the card. I was unable to do this as my card is a UK one and the bank details bit was of course in the French format. How can I get round this apart from sending a cheque? Many French residents do not have a card of any sort so how can they make an order? The website says you can go along to any of their partners (eg. Darty, Carrefour) so I suppose I could pay cash there. But then how could I do top-ups on line with my credit card?

I used to pay online when we were still in the UK and I seem to recall reading information saying that no matter when you actually do the payment the money will not be taken from your bank account until the due date on your facture. I used to pay mine as soon as I got the bill, in case I forgot, but the money was never taken until the due date which could be 6 weeks away (or a few days if that's when you do it). I now pay by Prélèvement annuel and again it is taken on the due date.

I know of two others (from other forums so I do not know them personally) so “many of us” was an exaggeration I should have said "some of us". One of them said she has been waiting over 2 years to sort it out. I took my forms to the tax office in Carcassonne and actually handed them to the fonctionnaire who was explaining how to fill in my French tax form . After 3 months I had to ring Nottingham about reclaiming tax paid in the UK and I asked them if the exemption forms had turned up. They said there was no trace and that they may be still in Paris. Apparently they would be sent to Paris from Carcassonne and then on to Nottingham. I rang them again last week and still no trace so they suggested I chase up the French end. I have some new forms which I will fill in adding my husband's State pension which begins next January. (Last year there were only my pensions to put on the forms). A French acquaintance said it would probably have been wiser to wait until I had a fiscal number before filling in the first ones so these new ones should have a better chance of succeeding. I am just hoping that the duplication will not cause a problem as we changed our address this year. I will of course explain all this at the Carcassonne office when I go in. Incidentally I tried to have our savings account paid gross but the Nationwide will not do this – I will have to reclaim the tax at the end of the tax year and am informed I can only do this after the double taxation forms are sorted out. Also my local government pension must be taxed in the UK so things are not as straight forward as I thought. As has been stated on this forum many times things vary from one département to the next and from one person to the next. But hopefully it will turn out OK in the end and I will be able to reclaim anything due.  

It does sound easy and many of us have done just as you say and have filled in the double taxation forms, have taken them to the French tax office to be stamped and are still waiting a year later for the French to pass them on to the UK. I have been advised by a French person to fill another lot in and take them along with next year's income tax forms to the tax office for as I now have a tax number in France (from filling in last year's return)  they may be less likely to loose them. How long did other people wait I wonder?

I am not sure what is legal when agencies vary so much but this is our story. We viewed our house with an agency and decided to make an offer but just before we did so I noticed that the house was in the latest immobilier "free give away leaflet" with 4 other agencies and all 4 were asking 8000€ less than our agency. I rang our chap and made an offer at the lower aking price and pointed out the adverts of the others. He was surprised to see the lower prices as he said the agencies (in this area) usually agree to a price before advertising goes out. Anyway he went ahead and the offer was accepted and here we are. Good luck with your offer!  

I store them in the freezer - sorry forgot to say that. I suppose the variety of apples would determine the sugar content  and whether or not they pulp well. Anyway I am a firm believer in freezing or preserving when things are in season and hate to see things left to rot if they can be used.

I have always cooked mine in the microwave. In the UK I had a Laxton Pipin tree in the garden and the apples were ideal. I just peeled and cored the apples, sliced them and put them in a bowl in the microwave - no sugar, no water. I cooked them on "high" until pulped and bagged them in portions ready for when we were having roast pork, or in larger portions suitable for an apple pie. Done in the autumn I had enough until the next year's glut. Since coming to France I have used the Golden Delicious which are left to rot on the ground in a nearby commercial orchard. I might try adding cloves or ginger next time - sounds good to me.

Thanks for the quick reply. She hasn't planned anything really. She was wondering if it was expensive and how long it would take. I will keep the kitten as long as it takes if they decide to go ahead. I have only found a home for one out of five so far so it looks like I will be a 6 cat household soon as I have their aunt as well as their mother.

My daughter-in-law would like to take one of our kittens home. My son says she's mad - kittens are 10 a penny in Merseyside but she has fallen in love with them all while staying with us this week. I realise she could not take it now in any case but said I would find out about it for her. How long does it take for the formalities and how much would everything cost please? Many thanks.

I have 4 kittens who need homes. 3 males (2 tabby and white and one ginger and white) and a tortoiseshell female. Absolutely gorgeous! I was given 2 cats by someone recently, 2 sisters one year old, and before I could have them spayed one of them gave birth to 5 kittens. They are 6 weeks old, so almost ready to leave their mother. They are very active, eating solid food and using the litter tray. We are on the northern border of Aude - almost in Herault. I can send photos if anyone would like to see them. Thanks

Why do all my clafoutis turn out different? We have started to call all such efforts "clafouti surprise" as I never know what they will be like. Most are edible - but some are horrible and the some are quite nice. I have even had one delicious. Is it the flour, the oven temperature or what? An idiot-proof recipe would be much appreciated. I tried a search but kept getting "timed out" messages and a page of code. Many thanks to any advice. I expect TU will be an expert so am awaiting replies with ingredients at the ready. Edith

Thanks for the advice. I will do what you suggest this week.

I am in a similar position to you. I set up a Tiscali account when we moved to France permanently last September. We lived in our holiday house (no ADSL) while we looked around for a permanent residence with a garden. We recently moved to a village which does have ADSL connection and decided to go with Free.fr as it is a much better deal. I emailed the client account at Tiscali about ending my abonnement and they said I would have to stay with them for the year I signed up for and give 2 months notice (i.e. tell them in July) of my wish to cancel. I emailed them 2 weeks ago to give notice but so far have recived no acknowledgement. Should I write as well? I also intend to inform the bank not to pay any more DDs after September.