edyth
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Posts posted by edyth
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We brought our large screen Thomson TV with us for use with the satellite and when the local electrician installed the dish he split the cable and put one into the TV so we get French TV via the terrestrial aerial and the other to the digibox for the freeview BBC etc. We use a separate hand control for each and can swap between French and English. It works fine - great reception. Maybe our TV is "SECAM/PAL compatible" as Martin mentions in his post.
We had bought a small French TV when we arrived thinking the Thomson set would not be able to receive the French channels and we wanted to have French television as well.
It took the electrician a couple of minutes to retune the set for the 5 French channels we get and the French TV is now in the bedroom. Brilliant!
Good luck with your setup.
Edith
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As usual things seem to differ in different departements.
I was at the doctor's surgery last week asking about filling in a "declaration de choix" for myself and husband and I asked about having a chloresterol test done. The doctor suggested having a full test for everything at the same time and he wrote out 2 prescriptions containing a list of about 10 or so tests on each. He gave me the telephone number of the village nurse and told me she would come and take the blood samples whenever it was convenient for us.
I rang her the next day and she came the following morning, took 4 samples from each of us at our kitchen table and delivered them to the lab. The cost in total for 2 people was 10.70€. The following morning we received the results by post which I assume we must take to the doctor for discussion/advice.
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Thanks a lot Christine. I have sent you a PM.
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We would love to have him but I think we are too far away.
We had a border collie for 15 years in the UK and now that we have moved to a house with a large garden here we are looking to adopt a dog. My husband is partially sighted and is left with peripheral vision only. In less than 18 months he has lost his ability to drive, to read, to watch TV and (what is worse for a professional photographer) to take photographs. We do like walking very much though and a dog would certainly improve his quality of life.
We live in Aude, just north east of Carcassonne which is unfortunately quite a way I think from where Jake is. If anyone knows of a dog needing a home nearer to us I would love to hear from you.
Edith
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We've just moved to a recently built on the edge of the village with an adjacent parcelle of "non -constructible" land on which to have our garden. Lovely view over the vines to the south! We were assured by the vender and the estate agent that "non-constructible" meant you could not build anything with foundations but a shed or a greenhouse would be fine as they are not permanent and have no foundations.
We planned out the garden with a professional landscape gardner, as there is a lot of planting to do, and sited the shed and greenhouse near the end where the vegetable garden will be. He was going to erect the shed at the end of the month and we were getting quite excited about the garden taking shape.
By co-incidence I saw this thread and thought I had better fill in a "declaration de travaux" - I hadn't realised this would be necessary for a shed! Anyway far from being a formality I was informed that I could not construct anything on the "non-constructible" part. An abri de jardin and a greenhouse are constructions they said. Even a little metal shelter for tools is not allowed. I am so thankful that I saw this thread and went to the Mairie for a form. It would have been awful to have been told to take it down.
Now I will have to submit another request and have the shed and greenhouse at the entrance side of the house (the north side) which is the only place left on the constructible parcelle and is a long way from the vegetable plot. It's a bit of a setback as my husband is partially sighted and gardening is one of the few hobbies he can still enjoy but its not a disaster - we will have further to walk with the wheelbarrow that's all.
It just shows you cannot be too careful though!
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Yesterday my ADSL connection broke down - my Freebox showed a row of flashing PPPs where the time usually is.
Reconnecting didn't work so I left it until this morning and when I re-connected the box it went back to normal.
Does the connection often break down? or is it just me?
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Thank you so much Leslauriers that's exactly what I wanted to know.
Very much appreciated.
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I managed to get the ADSL working last weekend with a Freebox from Free.fr. My husband recently became partially sighted with macular degeneration and can no longer do the technical stuff so it was a bit of a struggle with the instructions in French and trying to get everything connected but it seems to be working okay.
I then chose a phone number on line and so am now ready to get all calls in the hexaqon free and cheaper international calls. But how do I do it? In the info I was informed that I have 2 numbers (the new one and my France Telecom one) so when dialling out how does the phone know I am using my new Free.fr number?
There is a phone socket on the back of the freebox. Is this the one for the new number? What about the phone in the other socket downstairs? Is this the France Telecom number? I suppose receiving calls is no different so there's no point giving the new number to people.
Please can anyone tell me what to do?
Also if I buy a new French phone with a couple of hand sets can I just plug it into a separate phone socket (with a filter of course)?
Do you still have to watch how many RENs with ADSL?I know there will be members who will know all about it and a simple explanation would be very much appreciated.
Thanks a lot.
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Thanks for that Stereotype.
What a great site for information on the Aude
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We live in Puichéric, a village east of Trèbes and often walk along the banks of the Canal du Midi. We noticed the level of the canal had dropped considerably 2 or 3 weeks ago and on investigation we found that 3 of the locks west from us were closed, dried out and were having maintenance work done on them. We haven't looked further west than that. We assumed the low level of water near us was a result of the locks being drained and closed for repair. Its interesting to read about John's section of the canal and the lakes.
Edith
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Yes I do agree that if you live in France you should pay tax here on all earnings and that is what we intend to do. I wouldn't dream of not declaring the interest on my savings account in the UK but I know many people pay the tax at source and I just wondered if it was because it was more advantageous or just less hassle to do so.
I suppose as a retired person on a modest pension I will probably be better off paying it here anyway.
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Thanks Leslauriers - that's probably why the receptionist was telling me to come back in January or February. I will go back then.
At what level of income is it more advantageous to pay the tax on the bank interest in France? You say you pay 11% on top of the tax so if you are paying 9% income tax it would work out the same as having it taken at source in the UK.
Another point from your posting - we were told before we left England that you are not allowed to have ISAs etc if you live broad so we cashed them in.
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It sounds like Jan, Chas and Ab had very good experiences at their French Tax offices and that's what I had hoped for at mine in Carcassonne.
I went there last week with my FD5 forms (for opting to pay tax on my state pension in France and avoid double taxation) as the Inland Revenue Centre for Non-Residents in Nottingham had advised. They said the French will stamp them and return one to England but it may take a few months to finalise everything. So I thought I would go in good time before I need to fill in my first tax form as a resident in January.
I explained to the clerk on the desk that I also wanted some advice on filling in my tax forms as my local government pension will continue to be taxed in the UK. I had a list of questions typed out in my best French so I wouldn't forget anything. eg. where do I fill in the interest on my UK bank account which has already been paid at source? I had a tax form I had printed from the internet - is this the form I should fill in ? I asked, or is there a hard copy you can give me?
I thought maybe I would have to make an appointment to see an advisor - I didn't expect the receptionist to do anything at the desk.
She didn't want to know - she told me to go away and come back in January or February. I suppose then I will join the long queue of French people sorting things out at the last minute.
Do you think I should write to them and ask if I can see someone? I am sure once I know what to fill in where it will be the same every year. I just want to make sure its right the first time.
Cost of bread
in French Culture
Posted
I have heard from many sources that the price of bread is set by the French Government and that every village must have daily access to a supply - dates from as far back as the Revolution I suppose.
Can anyone tell me what the set cost is for a 200 gm baguette for example as I have paid all prices between 38 and 75 centimes. I know supermarkets charge very low prices as a come on and artisans will charge a fair price for their expertise but I was just wondering as a matter of interest what the set price really is and who decides when and by how much it goes up with inflation.
It varies in quality as well - in a large village or town where there is a choice you always know the "best" bread by the long queue outside a particular boulangerie