Tony F Dordogne

Dawn, do you have any idea roughly where in the Dordogne he may be, I think I may know the guy you mean and if I do, he's also committed perjury. Can you please send me a private message/email.

A chum locally baulked at paying €300 for delivery of a van load of IKEA stuff from Bordeaux so, he flew back to the Uk, where he insisted the IKEA prices were much cheaper, hired a van, drove back to the Dordogne, unloaded it all (with help, in the middle of the recent tempete, drove back to the UK and then flew back here.  In all two people spent a week on the travelling and buying, with a third person coming back and going back to the UK. And he insists it's the cheapest way of doing things, tho I can't see that myself. We have a builder locally who is willing to do the white van man thing and spend a day going to IKEA to pick up kitchens etc, even if he's not fitting them - which is what we're going to do, employ him for one day, to Bordeaux or Toulouse, depending on which store has what we want.

[quote user="mooky"]Tony, what a sad and horrid thing to state in public, whatever the reasons.[/quote] But as far as I know Mooky you didn't know her - and as for horrid, I've literally got the scars from what she did to me from when she hit me with a red hot poker, broke various bones in my body, kicked me to unconcious etc., so please be sad if you want to be but as you don't know the circumstances of my life, please don't judge me and tell me I'm being horrid - you want horrid, I'll tell you chapter and verse of years of abuse. But as I said, for those close to their mothers and children, good on you, long may it last.

My annual call for anybody in East London to nip along to the Upminster Cremacemetery, find my mum's final resting place and give the stake through her heart a couple of whacks to make sure that she NEVER comes back to haunt this world. People with caring and kind Mums are very fortunate, not all of us had that benefit.

Hi Becky Thre are a lot of people, both French and Brits, looking for work in the Dordogne right now.  I was talking to our builder yesterday, a Brit, who has been fully registered for over 20 years, has a very good name and is well established and he's struggling. And many of the people that are doing what you're looking to do, general handywork, are finding themselves without work, especially if they're not registered - and there's a lot of anecdotal evidence from builders, plumbers etc from both French and Brits that unregistered workers are being dobbed in by the registered workers because they're having their legit work taken off them. Life in the Dordogne is good but atm, if you're young and looking for work, it's not easy even for the French and if you're not near retirement age, remember the health care trap if you're not in one of the workers gateway schemes.

Sorry Belle, perhaps we've explained ourselves badly.  It's not that we don't help people, it's that we're fed up with helping people who seem unable to help themselves because they live in a country where they haven't/can't learn the language enough to do even basic things themselves, sometimes after a number of years here - more than I've lived here for sure. And is it a Fremnch/Brit thing?  No it isn't, perhaps it's just that those of us who do help people are in need of taking John's advice because it's time for some other helper to take over.

In your position, I would contact an advocate, it's a technical area of law and I think you need professional advice.

[quote user="Cerise"] [quote user="Dinks"]If we are honest, the ability to speak French if you are living in France is not a major problem these days as there are just so many English living in France these days (more's the pity). If the OP moves to France without the ability to communicate, I can bet that there will be an English-speaker in his immediate vicinity on whom he will be able to call in times of need. Even here, in one of the supposedly more 'remote' areas of the Ariege, there are countless English. Dutch, Belgians, Australians within a 10km radius of our cottage. And then of course there are always internet forums on which people can call in times of need ....?! [/quote] I for one am not thrilled to read the above.  I am that poor sap of an English speaker who also speaks French and to be honest I am sick and tired of helping out people who have moved here with no language skills.   I am a councillor in our commune, so everybody locally knows me and tends to point lost English souls in my direction, but I did not actually move to France to be an unpaid translator.  I have spent the whole of this afternoon with the Assistante Sociale and some sorry English folk who are almost destitute and need help, but have no French and have been thus far unable to get assistance.  Of course I am sorry for their plight, but I do have a life of my own.  When people phone, if it is not an emergency, I now give them the name and number of an official PAID translator.  It is not fair to expect the rest of the world to dig you out because you decided you'd like to move abroad without considering how you were going to communicate. [/quote] I completely agree with Cerise, she's got it on the button.  I'm in exactly the same position tho it's not people in my commune that necessarily need help, it's being known as one of the English councillors and having all and sundry pointed towards me - and what's with people who have lived here for years not understanding how to buy and sell houses, not enough French to get by with even the easiest things at the Mairie, interventions with the G men after they've been done for speeding the third time in 6 months? And as for the 'well, that's not right, it's not like that in the UK', folks, we've got news for you, it isn't the way the French do things - patience Grasshopper! And the unpaid advocate (general meaning not legal), translator, hand holder etc - we have lives too and even after just a year on the Council, it's getting very tedious. Dinks, you're just asking people who the incomers may not know to hold their hands, see them through the start up process etc etc - why should they, it's not being un-neighbourly not to do so, the other people in their area have lives also and unless there is a dedicated organisation to help incomers, Fora like this one frequently carry 'what to do' check lists, if people come here without enough French, it's totally and wholly down to them, don't expect other people to make up for their deficiencies! Stands back and waits for the onslaught ..............

One of the oldest forms of manure in Europe is 'night soil', the waste that was collected every night by traders and then recycked.  In the Uk you can buy refined human waste - looks like a grey powder - from many sweage works. I'd also check out what the effect of the chemicals that you put into your fosse may have - Eparcyl and the like. We've a couple of fruit trees that grow on our wet area from the fosse and they're fine and dandy tho when we had our recent inspection the nice lady inspector suggested that they were growing in the wrong place!

Well, they could always dig up their garden, put it over to veggies, go to Lidi and Aldi where they sell veggie seeds very cheap and grow their own - tho that's probably too much like hard work. And they're getting benefit for being overweight - should make their back to work interviews interesting!

OK, this is how I understand it, tho the 2005 date info may be incorrect. The 2005 date is the date at which the Spanish group made the application to the ECJ. I THINK - not sure - that the 13 month rule is the time that previous claimants have to submit a new claim, may be a way of stopping people claiming, I'm sure that Tina will clarify this. There is no mechanism for the DWP to inform people that the ECJ decision had been made, nor do they have an obligation to do so.  This would be impossible anyway for anybody who surrendered or lost their benefit 14 months or more before the ECJ decision was made as records are deleted after 14 months - therefore we ceased to exist until we submitted our new claims.  If people didn't have access to the internet or online information, basically it's their hard luck.  If you claimed at the beginning of 2008, the DLA ExpoTeam are saying that your DLA will be backdated to that date. As you have previously made a claim and received DLA, Q16 in theory should not apply to you tho this has yet to be confirmed. Martin, the issue about 2005 isn't - as far as I know - a way of stopping back claims.  If it were, my claim would have to be reinstated as I moved here in 2005 and I'm being told that my payment, if and when it comes, can only be backdated to my date of 'new' claim, not July 2005. BBR , not sure how your finances 'continue to suffer', we all knew when we came here that DLA was not payable so the ECJ decision was, in many ways a bonus - to me, any back payment is like a non-interest bearing savings scheme which to me seems to be the best way of looking at it. 

We put everything on hold at the end of last year, trying to prioritise what we were doing etc.  We recently had a bit of a windfall financially so we've decided to get on with a few things, mainly in the garden as all the indoor things we want to do we have the kit for.  And we're getting much more 'French' about things, can I repair/replace things rather than chucking stuff away and buying another item, much more maintain and keep rather than disposable lifestyle. So we're spending a bit but keeping more rainy day money that we might normally keep.

There is a new clear Bordeaux mix, not sure where you can buy it tho.

wb Paysage, still the same campaign?

Come on Odile, somebody here is playing silly games and I don't think it's the Mods do you?

From what I understand, it depends on whether as an alternative to the 26/52 week rule, you qualify under the Benefit and NI rule - more information as soon as I receive it, I've asked for clarification from the ExpoTeam.

OK folks, the next stage of the battle is forming.  The Expo Team have replied to my email and this needs to be spread far anbd wide - talk about having it both ways. "You have asked about the meaning of the phrase "the date your entitlement to benefit can be established" that has been used in forms and statements about claiming Disability Living Allowance from an EEA State other than the UK, or Switzerland. For people who are asking for reinstatement of entitlement that was lost following a move abroad, we will first need to consider whether we are able to look again at the decision we made when they moved abroad.  The law says that we can do this when: * The decision can be shown to be wrong and the request for us to change the decision has been made within certain time limits laid down in the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999 or, * There was an "official error" when the decision maker made their decision Decisions made before the ECJ ruling on 18th October 2007 saying that customers could not be entitled to DLA following a move to another EEA state were correct under the law as it was at that time.  There was no "official error" in making decisions that said this. This means, for customers who did not ask us to look at the decision to stop their DLA within the correct time limits, we will only be able to consider their entitlement to DLA from the date that they now write to us and ask us. The meaning of the phrase "the date your entitlement to benefit can be established" is the date on which the person contacts the Department asking for a reconsideration or making a new claim, or such later date as they meet all the conditions of entitlement, like the qualifying period for the benefit. In your case, we made our decision to say that you were not entitled to DLA on 18/10/2005.   You contacted us on 25/10/2007 asking us to reinstate your DLA.  This is outside the time limits for appealing the decision made in October 2005.  Accordingly 25/10/2007 is the earliest date that your entitlement to DLA could now be established. Thank you DLA/AA Exportability Team Warbreck House Warbreck Hill Rd Blackpool FY2 0ZE" So, what they seem to be saying is that the law when I moved to France was right and that an appeal against that law would have been turned down.  But, because I didn't appeal against a decision that they were not going to allow to change, I'm now only getting the DLA - I hope - from the date I resubmitted my claim. This is getting to be a bureaucratic nightmare and nothing more than governmental waltzing in an attempt to avoid paying benefit for the 'down time' between 2005 when my benefit was stopped - I actually surrendered it - until October 2007, when I resubmitted my claim after the European decision.

Don't put them in a bed unless you want the whole bed growing them, the roots ned to be seriously restricted, I grow mine in a 3 x 1 metre box and I never ever manage to get all of them out.

J has just got over shingles, looks and sounds exactly the same.

Dog, I'm sure that the relatives of those killed from the 2nd Battalion Anglicans would be pleased to discuss your obnoxious views with you. Haven't you got something to do better than keep coming on here and being an arse?

But be prepared to prove that you actually did indeed go back for 26 weeks - remember, big brother IS watching :)

And you could of course ask some of the gardeners here whether they have any organic tomato seeds to swap!

OK, so the form  DBD990 arrived today, which I've looked through and then gone out into the garden to calm down after reading it. Tina, do you know what Q.16 is about - is the 52 week rule going to be applied to people who the DLA know left the UK, in my case in 2005, at which time I surrendered my DLA payments? That sort of seems like a double jeopardy thing - which would mean that people who move to the EU in the last year and have spent 26 weeks in the last 52 in the UK can get it but people like me will be excluded. I'm emailing the ExpoTeam about it straight away. Sounds bizarre but who knows with this Government!   Edit:  Right, sorted it out now and it's back to this date of entitlement thing.  So, I've sent an email to the ExpoTeam asking them to confirm that my date of entitlement was 1999 when they first awarded me the benefit, now it's wait and see.   If they say it's not, see above :)

Been through them all today and some of the links from the web sites don't work - not from this site, from some of those which gateway to other sites. And for some of the swap sites, there's no indication whether the seeds are bio or not.

Hi Tina Is that ON TOP of the forms we've already completed?  For those on IB, that will already be included in the form I think but then again, maybe not.