Kong

I would think Mrs Q's pension will go into 1BS, designated as the second party in your joint tax declaration. I can't help on the choice of declared exchange rates but this and other forums are bristling with threads on this subject.

Your pension should go into box 1AS and Mrs Q into 1Bs on page 3 of 2042. You must also submit form 2047 (which is pink!) and put the same amounts on the first page. If you've got an S1 you will pay no social charges on the pensions, but they are taxable just like ordinary income. Have you considered having your pensions paid directly to your french banks? You will never achieve as good a rate as they give you buying euros each month and you declare the amount of euros you actually receive. No need to worry about exchange rate.

As the OP of this thread I'm pleased to report I've now got my bonds. Thanks everyone for your contributions.

I'm afraid the pension pot management scheme passed by me. I retired 5 years ago with annuities and small cash sums obligatory. I wasn't (aren't) bothered with gambling the tiny amounts on the stock exchange and invested in bog standard offshore banking at 4%. That diminished to more or less nothing so I jumped at the opportunity to buy grandpa bonds. With luck the interest might pay for a weekend with the grandchildren in the UK. Next hurdle is recovering the tax deducted from HMRC!

Mint I think you mean 1 and three years!

You can't apply on line from France because of the postcode issue. Pickles is right, do as the website suggests, download the form, print it and fill it in and send with your cheque. They will then send you a request for copies of documents as Mint says above. Be ready to visit your Notaire (who didn't charge me or Mint) for certification (of the docs!).

We use booking.com (amongst others). Very successful for us. Not many Brits - but we prefer it that way. We are a small CdH.

When buying our place here the notaire requested we use DHL He was right....

Glad to hear of your success. My application is in using the newer format mentioned above - ie just 2 certified copies in an envelope covered in their references. Thanks for the good news!

I think they have changed the way they are handling applications. I was told (on the phone) to send my application with a cheque and nothing else. The cheque was banked immediately and later I received the request for certified copies etc with an unstamped envelope with various reference numbers on it. For the last couple of years my avis from the impot have been rather scrappy black and white copies - presumably a cost cutting exercise. I hope my Notaire will just sign all the bits of paper without worrying!

If you can’t get iplayer and missed the broadcast it’s on again tonight BBC2 Wales, and on the 19th BBC2 East, all available on Sky, Freesat and Freeview.

As I said in my last post they cashed my cheque immediately. I have yet to hear anything from them!

Mint, thank you for coming back. It's good to know that the Notaire qualifies! Last time I visited the Notaire he witnessed a sworn oath. No charge. NI&S cashed my cheque straight away - a bit cheeky. I've applied for a 3 year bond, I'll double up on the paperwork and apply for a one year bond as well.

Has anyone French resident successfully applied for the 65+ bonds currently on offer in the UK? I have read elsewhere of the difficulty proving your existence and eligibility as an emigrant. The Maire is, I understand, not regarded by NS&I as being of any significance and cannot endorse my copies of passport, tax document, death certificate etc. I have followed their instructions sending a cheque and application form. At this point they told me over the phone I only need to do that. They banked the cheque.... I'm now waiting for requests to prove who I am. If you've applied successfully I would be grateful if you would let me know.

Loir

Last time I hired a car there was damage noted on the form on the lower lip of the boot. I couldn't see any damage and remarked on it to the guy handing over the car. He replied that people often slightly scuff the lip lifting baggage out of the boot so they mark it damaged anyway to avoid any dispute!

Try Santander offshore.

Try offshore?

Agreed. Bye

It's not cheap. If you lose vital data in a commercial situation a couple of grand is worth it as I have suffered. I agree in this situation that is unlikely. In the OP's situation if his aged hdd is thousands of terrabytes then recovery might be worthwhile, but I doubt that too....

Re read my last

You're right. However buying a new disc is almost certainly easier than trying to recover an aged hdd and at little cost. Somewhere through this post the discussion drifted to data destruction and that is what I was alluding to.

That's not clear to me. WB didn't mention data recovery only wipe the disk. If you want to recover data from a physically intact disc which has has been formatted it can sometimes be done as any forensic IT guy will confirm.

Physically destroy it. I had access to a 60 tonne press on the shop floor and could dispose of terabytes of data in milliseconds. The screwdriver and hammer solution suggested above comes as a good second! :o)

What happened in my case is EDF made an estimate based on the previous year's consumption. I was taking weekly readings so had a very accurate estimate of the few days I had 'lost'. My estimate was greater than theirs so I accepted their estimate with good grace. :o)