Coquelicot

Good for you.

Missing the point!

Congratulations on your naturalisation Norman!! Your next step will be the "Cérémonie de naturalisation et d’accueil dans la citoyenneté française” which I am sure you will enjoy. In 2011 we were invited to our préfecture for our ceremony. Together with others from various countries, the Préfet, in full official uniform, welcomed us as new citoyens. We felt very proud and happy to shake his hand and receive our naturalisation documents: decrees signed by the Prime Minister, letter from the President, livret de famille, brand new birth certificates and mariage certificate, “Inscription sur les listes électorales”, "Déclaration des droits de l’homme et de citoyen du 26 août 1789”, and the words of the Marseillaise. Later we applied for passports and cartes d'identité - great things to have. What does all this give us? Security for our future as French nationals and European citizens, welcomed by and settled into our chosen homeland. We now have the same freedoms, equality, rights and responsibilities as our fellow French citizens. And we are effectively immune from the machinations of any present or future UK government. Long may we, and you, exercise those rights and freedoms!

I totally agree. Also : Dye your hair dark.Change your name, because it's bound to be a dead giveaway.

Hope you have a good stay and a good trip. I have just read the replies you got from the South East. Amazing. Whereas here in the South West we are always happy if we can help!

Try the Holiday Inn Express : 39 AVENUE DU GENERAL DE GAULLEBLAGNAC, 31700 FRANCEFront Desk: 33561310600 I booked a room there for one night a few years ago for a flight the next morning, returning in 11 days. I was able to leave the car in the private car park behind the hotel, take the navette to the airport in the morning and, on my return, pick up the car. It must have been a special package - worth looking to see if it still exists.

There is a registered domain name of https.com, the Home Improvement site you are getting. It looks to me like a fraud - many people presumably don't notice the error because it looks very like the usual https://.

A good point. The British press seems to always need to create emotion rather than report facts. In this case, horror at the outrageous cost it could be.

"will definitely be between €200 and €340" Another article in the Local states that the French Ministry of Interior has said "this information is false". They have not yet made an announcement of the cost of the carte de séjour in the case of no deal.  "Wehave to wait for the official government announcement. It should not take long". www.thelocal.fr/20190208/britons-to-face-steep-costs-for-residency-permit-under-no-deal-brexit

A few weeks ago we heard groups of three loud coos/hoots on a single note, repeated many times at dusk.  We thought of toads but it was coming from a tree... It echoed rather like a sonar. We concluded that it was a hoopoe : https://vimeo.com/145409630, especially as we saw him the next day.

It is unwise to take anything for granted. In 2008 we had been living in France for 5 years. When the problems with expat health cover via the CMU arose in 2008, a single fonctionnaire simply cancelled both Carte Vitales, sent a terse letter to say so and the cards just stopped working. A flick of the fonctionnaire's wrist is all it takes.

My experience is that there is only one attestation. The attestation proves you have the right to assurance maladie.  But it can also include details of extra rights, to Assurance maladie obligatoire (ALD) and/or  Regime complementaire (CMU complementaire).   Mine states OUI for an ALD and gives the end-date.

I've noticed that tables for two are getting smaller while the plates are getting bigger. So sometimes the tableware meets in the middle or hangs over the edge of the table. We ate at a place where the bread had to go on a shelf nearby!

As everyone says, the fact that your husband is entitled to 100% treatment based on an ALD should have been registered on your Carte Vitale, together with the expiry date. When the ALD was registered by your doctor your husband should also have received from your health assurer (CPAM, RSI...) an attestation that includes the ALD and its expiry date.  This may be what the hospital is after, especially if your husband's Carte Vitale was not up to date when he had the treatment. If so, and you can't find the attestation (mine is a scrappy folded piece of paper), you can just ask them to send you another. 

A number of banks provide 'assurance multirisque habitation' via their own subsidiary insurance company or an agreement with an insurer, for example Credit Agricole/Pacifica.  But any French insurer would understand your requirements and give you a quote for your intended use, for example:  Generali, Aviva, Groupama, Gan, AIG, AXA...

When I was doing chambres d'hôtes I found that many French visitors wanted to pay by Cheques Vacances - they get them and want to spend them!  It cost nothing to sign up. After that it costs 1% or 2€ if you send less than 200€. Best to save the CVs until  you have 200€. Payment isn't immediate but I never had the slightest problem with it. It's a good system and if you have lots of French clients it's an advantage. They will often pay with part CV part cash or cheque.

You could consider external insulation for certain walls. Just Google 'isolation exterieure'.

Be careful not to end up without health cover in between closing down the business and being eligible for cover via your pension - either from the UK via S1 or from France given you have enough trimestres.

I rang to ask Newcastle whether they had the form in French and they said yes!  They were happy to email the form to me and did it immediately, and that's the one I took to the Mairie. The Maire's secretary was very pleased to see the form in her native tongue and all was signed, stamped and returned.  So I now have definitive French proof that I still do exist.  It might come in handy again...

Yes, I saw an optometrist at Specsavers.  But in France only an ophtalmologist can do a full test and give you a prescription, valid only for three years.  If you want to buy glasses and claim anything back from the Secu you need a prescription. In fact the Specsavers optometrist found raised pressure in both eyes and because I was returning to France she wrote a letter for me, giving the details of the examination. Slightly worried, on returning to France I translated the letter and took it to my ophtalmology practice. They were highly responsive and did a quick on-the-spot test followed by fixing an appointment to see an ophthalmologist only a week later.  The ophtalmologist did a corneal thickness measurement and will see me again in six months to check again on potential glaucoma.  I can't complain at all about the reaction of the French ophtalmology practice, once presented with the problem. But if I had booked an eye test there in the first place I'm sure I would still be waiting and not yet the wiser. As an aside, I read this week that for an initial two years from 20th Jan 2015 orthoptists who work for an ophtalmologist in secteur 2 will be able to do the eye test and give a prescription. This should hopefully reduce the waiting time for an appointment.  In addition, apparently Optical Center has appealed to be able to take on optometrists in their stores to do the same thing, but the Ministère de Santé is opposed to recognising the profession.

Idun is completely right. Living in France and several months before having reached French and UK pension age, you should apply through your caisse (RSI in my case) for your French and UK pensions.  Note that the French caisse will need your UK record of employment contributions to do their calculation and the DWP will need the French record of trimestres - all this is done via standard EU forms passed between them.   You can also apply for retirement in France before reaching UK retirement age. Strictly speaking the RSI should ask the DWP for your UK employment record but in our case the RSI asked my OH to get it for them (which he was able to do). Just a warning...  Timing is important. The potential pitfall, having worked in France,  is the health care situation. If your French pension figure, once calculated, turns out to be small (currently, less than 156,09 € per year) you will be eligible only for a Versement Forfaitaire Unique (a lump sum of 15 times your annual pension), and no health care, except for one year extra.  After that, I'm not sure of eligibility to CMU in this case and if it is too early you may not yet be entitled to a UK S1. However, if you would have sufficient trimestres at age 65 to give you more than 156,09€ and avoid the VFU, the caisse will send you an offer : the VFU now (no health care) or the pension at age 65 (with health care).

Hmmm... Apple might be losing some of its shine.  Not good to mess up pro photographers.  I'm new to tablets so not totally aware of how it should work.  We'll see!  You're wise to revert back - better to be safe than sorry.  Hope it goes OK and that the donkey gets its act together soon. 

Well, I just upgraded to Yosemite (overnight download via satellite internet) about 10 days ago and everything is OK.  Like you I did a Carbon Copy Clone of my Mavericks system first, to be sure. Everything is now working including my new Wacom Manga tablet (USB). I had trouble at first with the new iPhoto not recognising my old iPhoto library, but I sorted that after a lot of Googling and cursing. Apart from that I haven't found anything that doesn't work, touch wood. I'm really glad I recently upgraded by elderly iMac from 2Gb to 6Gb memory so I could move to Snow Leopard.  From there it was a straight upgrade to Mavericks and now to Yosemite and my machine feels almost brand new.  You could try VueScan 2 for your scanner.  I think you can try before you buy. It works for me on my HP Photosmart which never worked before. Voilà !!

I finally had the opportunity last week to take everyone's advice and, without an appointment, I went to Specsavers in Nottingham where after a whole 2 minutes wait I had the thorough eye examination I was looking for, and ordered two pairs of glasses at a reasonable price.  I was very pleasantly surprised. Makes the eye testing/prescription system in France look very antiquated.

Many thanks for your thoughtful answer Judith.