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Tony F Dordogne

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Posts posted by Tony F Dordogne

  1. I've been in this Forum whilst it's gone through (I seem to recall) 3 systems changes and my current membership has been valid since 10 April 2005, which is when we got back online after moving to France in January 05.  Seen a lot of people come and go in the 8 years or so I've been on here, seen postings that are good, informative, tragic, abusive, funny, silly, bordering on the downright stupid and helpful.  Shared some of our great and not so great experiences of living in France and have found one or two people who we've met who have become good, firm and kind friends and have met some people in cyber space that I wouldn't want to know at any level.

    But, all things must come to an end and I've decided it's time to fold my tent and steal off into the night, I'm sort of doing life laundry with other things and France Forum is one of the things to go.

    We both still love France, with all its quirks, its bizarre administration, its problems, its politics and we both think that moving here for our early retirement was the very best thing we could do, we're both really happy and so pleased we found our small house out in the woods with our wonderful garden and woods which I'm now (health permitting) going to concentrate on more than I have been.

    So, farewell, have great lives, for those living in France bon courage and for those who aspire and have dreams of living in France full-time, they can be a great as you imagine them to be with a little application, some patience, a smile and some good nights sleep.  And please, if anybody tells you that they're/you're being ripped off by the French because you're a Brit, just ask yourself whether you would want to be speaking to this wazzok in the UK!

  2. [quote user="Chancer"] Blimey if he has me down 6 times no wonder he is happy! [:D][:D][:D]

    Seriously though what UK benefits should not be claimed by someone that owns property in France or Pakistan? [/quote]

    If you've been in France for 6 years he's been paid 6 annual stipends for you, hence Chancer x 6.

    As for the benefits, some are restricted to Uk domiciled people but one of the major qualifications is that you have to be alive which, apparently, some of the claimants no longer are!  People who claim a benefit in France and the same in the UK after France becomes their competant state but much easier to do in Spain apparently.

  3. [quote user="Chancer"]  I am still on my doctors list in my village in Sussex and he is (was) happy to treat me not that I have seen him for a good few years, I cant see this being the fraud that they are talking about.  [/quote]

    Whilst you should have come off your doctor's list (why on earth would you want/need to stay on it?), IF your UK doctor knows that you're left the Uk, it's him that commits the fraud.  UK GPs get an annual payment for every person they have on their list, sort of a stipend, whether they see them or not.  Your old GP has had 6 x stipend for Chancer, therefore it's HIM that has committed the fraud IF he knows you're no longer a UK resident.

  4. Rather than put the onus on the Mairies, why not ask the fiscal and the various CPAMs to send in details.  If the CPAM details are used and the person's national insurance number is used to cross reference against NHS records, that may throw up some of the Brit health tourists - like people who 'forget' to tell their hospital/doctor in the Uk that they now live abroad and then continue to get treatment there whilst living in France.

    The fiscal may be more of an issue because if you're fiddling your health care, you may well be fiddling the tax authorities also, can think of a few examples of that happening here locally.

    And how does a Mairie differentiate between a maison secondaire owner and a permenant resident?  If people are on the fiddle, they could play off the Marie against HMG - this could be an administrative nightmare and cost an awful lot more that the £66 million the Government is trying to save.  And as for implimenting this anywhere in the Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi sub-continent, chances are pretty much nil I would think.

  5. [quote user="Chancer"]  Anyway here I am now living permanently in France and still claiming disabiity benefit at my UK address, what can they possibly get from the land registry other than if  I had sold the house to move abroad in which case I could not be recieving benefits there.

    What have I missed that those wiser and less honest havn't? [/quote]

    It's not a case of what the land registry will tell them and if they're using that as a criteria, I can't see how it can work effectively.  There are many hurdles to jump over to maintain benefits in Europe having started to claim them in the UK but they're a right by both UK and European law for people that should be claiming them, not as an income supplement.  I think what may be being targetted are people who have a foot in both camps, they move to a European country, Pakistan whereever (the USA was also mentioned as a target area) and stay in the UK system as a resident of the UK.  But if their names remain on the land registry because they own what is effectively a maison secondaire in the UK, how will that help.

    It's like the 'live in France and don't tell the Uk tax authorities dodge', people live outside the Uk and still maintain their links with the UK health service and benefits system when they should, correctly, transfer their 'domicile' to their new country, join CPAM etc.  It's like health tourism in reverse.  And there's quite a few people in France doing something similar, that came out very clearly during the continuing DLA/AA/CA campaign.

    The good thing is the new invalidty/back to work benefit in the UK is really flushing the system through, those people who haven't been re-assessed yet will be and already a good number of people who are deemed fit for a return to work - people off work long-term with stress caused by their previous employment, simply as an example - are being invited to do a different form of work where the stress may not be present.

    I think this is, actually, an old policy being revamped or relaunched as a new Year headline. 

  6. [quote user="pachapapa"]French Assize Court...jury + Presiding Judge.[/quote]

    I've long dispared at the Uk legal system but having sat through a long and well publicised French Court process last year where a severely drunk driver who killed 4 people including two 10 year old children (who were in the boot of his Jeep Cherokee) in an over loaded car when some of them weren't wearing seat belts was given a 2 year suspended sentence, a €200 fine and a 7 year ban that applied only in France AND then avoid paying any of the 7 individual and corporate litigants in the civil case ANYTHING because he'd moved all his assets back to the UK the day before the trial, there is nothing too great in the French system either.  Tho the stupidity in this case wasn't anything to do with the Human Right Act, the judges and adjudicators agreed with the Procureur, he'd suffered enough.

    As for the UK case, if it were my child he'd killed I'm afraid I don't think he'd have made any sort of trial.

  7. [quote user="cooperlola"]   My o/h does all the food shopping as a rule.  Are there any chaps on here who do the Christmas cards or share the job, or is it one of those Mars and Venus things - ie a good excuse to avoid doing something?  There's a good controversial subject for us to try and discuss without being snide![:)][/quote]

    Ummmm, that would be me I'm afraid.  I do the majority of the shopping, it's me that nips off to the shops, now even started doing the long-distance trips to Perigueux, J doesn't like it at all.  I also do 95% of the cooking, look after the kitchen, happy to do the washing (in the machine), the whole domestic bit.  This year J's done the cards (she has a new knee so isn't too mobile and volunteered) but that's the way it's been for me since I was small with my parents, did work where I was on shifts so was at home during the day etc etc.

    My shrink told me that it was because I didn't differentiate between Mars and Venus, to me it's a partnership and that's what makes sure we get along so well.

  8. [quote user="crossy67"] I don't see how it's a wild generalisation.  I know men that wanted their children to stay with them but had no say, they were awarded the mother.  How many men do you know that get custody?  Ok, a lot might not want it but there are many that do but don't get a look in.  [/quote]

    It is a wild generalisation, men do go to Court, they can do things through the legal process and once having made their case in  front of the Judge, are awarded custody of their children.  I know this happens because I did it, it was painful but not impossible, it depends on many variables and whether the couple involved have lawyers involved, want to knock lumps out of each other at the expense of the children etc etc.

    As somebody who lived in one of the rougher areas of metropolitan Essex for many years I saw hundreds of young women (because of my job) who got pregnant because it was a status symbol and now, on the rare occassions I go back there, the numbers seem to have increased, so many children with children and grandmothers in their early 30s, difficult to work out who's who in the family.

    But that doesn't detract from the offensiveness of the title of this thread and still for me, the MAN has the responsibility for stopping children coming into this world, not the woman, if some callow stupid youth wants to have sex, fine, he should take the responsibility for it and be MADE to take the responsibility, it's his d**k that started the process after all.  And if not, he should take Woody Allen's advice and make love to his best friend!

  9. [quote user="woolybanana"]To be honest, I did assume both sexes were concerned, Hoody.[/quote]

    Slag is a particulary nasty term applied only to women in the UK, the male version is 'bloke' or 'guy', the usual sexist double standards. 

  10. [quote user="Hoddy"]It's clearly worse to be a fat woman than it is to be a fat man, otherwise why is the heading of this thread 'fat slags'. Bikes earlier in the week and now fat slags, what is this forum coming to ? Hoddy[/quote]

    Goes with the personal comments about politicians, the attacks on Frenchie, a racist comment that had to be edited and all the thread hijacking and other nonsense.  Perhaps some of the reasons why a number of the longer-term regulars aren't posting on here too often.

  11. WoolyB, join the Saga Forum site, there are many women of a certain age on there with a wide variety of lifestyles, interests and backgrounds looking for somebody special.

    I used to belong and even tho I'm quite clearly marked on my profile as married, I've been hit on several times by women making interesting offers. If I get that and I'm not looking, a man like you should have no problems in finding somebody interesting at least to talk to.

    I'm told also that the Friends Reunited is a good place to sort out the old school chums thing and they also have a dating part too.

  12. [quote user="Dennisj"]Advice please,

    I have received an estimate from an English French registered builder, he has sent it by e-mail in english and asks that I translate it into French, sign it and return it by e-mail.

    I believe I read somewhere that a: only original signed documents are the legal format and that b: the devis should be written in French and signed by both parties. In this instance the French version would be signed by only me!

    Is what the builder suggesting the legaly accepted format? Should add that I am still living in the UK and have had previous experience of an english builder verbally quoting for works, then mailing to say it was complete and would i send payment. on that occassion I sent the money and the work had not been done, and never was.

    Gratefull for all advice, many thanks. 
    [/quote]

    Dennis, it would be useful if you put your French location on your name as people with experience of your area may be able to give you some detailed information about your potential builder in private messages.

    Personally, if he's sent you an email/fax and asked you to have it translated into French I wouldn't touch him with a bargepole.  The fact that he's registered in France means nothing, nor does it necessarily give you any protection if things go wrong, I've seen too many people caught like this in the past 6 years to have any faith in registration being a mark of a good worked or company be they French or Brit owned.

    And if you do want to go with this guy, speak to at least 3 of his previous clients, if he's good he shouldn't have any problem in providing you with their details nor would they have a problem in speaking to you.  One couple I know spoke to a very satisfied English woman locally who gave the registered builder a glowing reference and it turned out that not only was his business bankrupt, the reference was his partner.

    Belt and braces throughout I'm afraid.

  13. And to support the bid, England sent out what has been described as 'The Three Lions' - Daves Beckham and Cameron and Prince William.  Wow, that must have had the FIFA guys impressed and hanging on their every word.

    Three Lions?  The jokes about pussies are too obvious.

  14. The real problem is that these people in FIFA and the IOC are treated like heads of states, they swan round the world on private jets, get the very best of the very best treatment because if people don't give them that sort of treatment, they don't get the games.  It's the worse sort of corruption and all the people in charge seem to be sort of a type, sleazy older men who are like pigs in the trough.  They make the British MPs look like rank amateurs.

    And the guys from the BBC and the Times this morning had it right, if the BBC hadn't shown it, they would have been giving in to blackmail.  Good on them - and football is, after all, only a game!

  15. But even pretending to listen to Lady Gaga should have run alarm bells surely, 24 years old, Lady Gaga fan with access to all that classified information - along with almost 2.5 million others too, there's nothing like limited access to classified documents ..........

    And that's nothing like limited access to classified documents.

    Interesting that Clinton et al haven't denied the truth of the content, just attacking all those who think this sort of thing should be in the public domain because people should know what's being done and said in their name.  But then democracy would be transparent, open and available to scrutinise and politicians who prevaracate, lie and dissemble 'in our names' would be seen to be what they are, self serving and self inventing things for their lackeys and acolites to do.

    The American press even went as far as sending their articles about this 'leak' to the US government for their comment and didn't publish anything that would identify activists in some of the less 'democratic' countries around the world, the Wikileaks people and lawyers spent months making sure that the context and names of people at risk were edited out (why is editing or censoring now being called redacting?) so the US government are being more hypocritical than they usually are.

    As Red Ken once so memorably said "If democracy worked, they'd abolish it". 

  16. There's a high profile British media lawyer who is the legal advisor for WikiLeaks doing the rounds of the UK's media outlets right now.  How long before his office is broken into, which of course would be a huge coincidence but nobody in their right mind would do such a thing would they .................

    As for Sarkosy being authoritarian and thin-skinned, there a few million French people could have sent the same cable I think.  We were chatting about this with some French people at the kine yesterday and they think the whole thing is a great laugh and down here in the predominantly socialist bit of the south-west, lots of Gallic shrugs and 'well, that's not news/new is it'.

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