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Tony F Dordogne

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Everything posted by Tony F Dordogne

  1. You have to be practical about this and I would suggest, a tad less ambitious.  Getting a fully operating potager up and running doesn't happen that quickly, there's soil conditions to understand and all the techy gardening stuff too and even if it is rotavated, it still may need digging to clear any roots left behind. What I would do is hit places like France Rurale and the other brico places, even if it means paying a few cents over the odds in your first year, buy the small barquette of plants and give yourself a flying start - and it's likely that there will be growers/greengrocer farmers on your local markets selling them also. Do the easy stuff first, give yourself this year just to potter around with the easy stuff - toms, aubergines, courgette - and just a few seeds, get the soil sorted and think about planting up stull properly in the autumn, like onions, leeks and garlic to overwinter and then start properly in 2011. 
  2. [quote user="Joe"]How about Runner Beans.If you sow in pots now you could bring them with you.Leeks would be good.Sow them now as well.Same goes for Broad beans.You cannot buy either bean here,certainly not runners.I bought mine in UK on my last visit.Hope this helps.[/quote] Sorry Joe but you can buy both runner beans and broad beans (feve) here but I agree, bestest time to get some in.  Mangetout are good also but mind the mice, they love to eat the tips.  And all the salad things too, if you're here now, look for the local plant fairs which should be coming thick and fast until mid May. I'd be wary about rotavating the plot tho, one of the reasons that Joe Swift, the guy from UK's Gardener's World is giving up his allotment is that he rotavated the plot (against advice) and he can't get rid of the weeds that he generated by chopping up the weed roots.
  3. Could it be that Sofia or somebody in her family needs medical treatment, hasn't yet got additional cover and now needs it urgently?  If so, she may have a problem! Sofia, you also need to ask whether the levels of cover in the insurance cover the full costs of the medical treatment.  I'd speak to the insurance company - several in fact - and ask them what their policies are on immediate use but for us, there was a 3 month wait, apart from visits to the GP and medication.
  4. Just to bump this and keep people informed.  This letter was sent from the Minister concerned, Jonathan Shaw to Roger Gale MP, who has been the champion of this campaign in the House of Commons: "As you know, I am committed to a speedy solution to the practical issues that have arisen as a result of the European Court Decision C299/05 in October 2007. When we met on Tuesday, I agreed to write to you with details of the process by which we are dealing with requests for reinstatement of Disability Living Allowance (care component), Attendance Allowance or Carer's Allowance from people living within the EEA. As discussed, the Department has established arrangements to ensure that payments can commence as soon as possible to reinstatement cases, whilst of course ensuring that we maintain appropriate checks to protect the public purse. Please feel free to share the contents of this letter with your correspondents living in Europe to help explain the process. • We have a team of experienced staff already in place in the central unit in Warbreck House, Blackpool, to deal with these cases. • Letters have already been sent to the people who have contacted us asking for reinstatement, explaining the change of approach and that to benefit from this change a person must have moved abroad no earlier than March 2001. • A tailored form will be sent to each customer to ask about their current circumstances. This is because we need, for example, to check whether anything has changed since the customer first asked for reinstatement, or because we need further information to decide the correct rate of benefit. The form is in sections so only the sections relevant to the customer's circumstances will be sent for completion. We are finalising the wording on this to ensure it meets legal and customer standards and I will send you a sample form shortly. • Once the customer has: returned the form and we have checked that they are entitled to have their benefit reinstated, payment can be made without further enquiries being necessary. • However, in some cases further enquiries will be necessary. For example, we may need to seek further up-to-date medical information. Customers should note that it will speed up the process if, when returning the form, they enclose any information about their previous award or information from doctors or hospital clinicians about their medical condition and their care needs. • Where no medical information is available we will use the procedures laid down and agreed by member states in the EEA. This will involve sending a detailed medical report (form E213) for completion by the customer's medical attendant in their country of residence. [For customers in Spain we have a special arrangement with certain approved doctors]. • The amount of benefit customers receive and the date from which they will be paid will depend on their individual circumstances. • In cases where the claimant has passed away, it will be possible for their estate to make a claim for the relevant period on their behalf. As discussed, we aim to process cases as quickly as possible where customers have already contacted us and expect to have made decisions in the majority of cases within 6 months. We hold limited information about other customers who moved abroad after March 2001 and who have not yet contacted us. We are currently putting in place arrangements to make an initial contact with these customers. I hope this clarifies the process for you and your correspondents and that customers can now deal with their claims on an individual basis with the team of specialist decision makers that have been put in place to deal with this matter." Several of the issues raised in this have, not unnaturally, been sent to Roger Gale this morning for further clarification by the Minister.  But very slow progress being made. And we still don't have the decision of either of the test cases on which we are waiting!  
  5. 14 May 2010 is the 400th anniversary of the murder of Henri IV, arguably the most important and influential of all the French Kings.  He was stabbed to death on 14 May 1610 by a Catholic zealot and to commemorate the event there are a large number of events happening across France. French television has just shown a superb series about him and in Pau, where he was born, there is a major exhibition between 1 April and 30 June at Musee National du Chateau de Pau.  Our local ACIP Association is showing 'La Reine Margot' and I'm going to be giving some information about Huguenot history and may even do a few searches for names on my Huguenot database. For those interested in French history, well worth looking out for things in your area because Henri IV was and remains so important from an hisorical point of view.   
  6. Does your neighbour own the road, if not I'd have thought he can't restrict access anyway? But being pragmatic, two Gendarmes, in their blues and carrying guns, would I argue with them about walking/driving along the road - bit of a no brainer that one - or a no brainser if you try to stop them!
  7. [quote user="Judith"] Church in Soho Sq (NW corner) is definitely French protestant (but whether Hugenot I don't know).  [/quote] Huguenot is a generic name applied to those French Calvinists/Protestantes that left France for various points of the compass between 1544 and the French Revolution - there never were Huguenot Churches per se, they were Protestante Churches used by those French Protestantes who followed Calvin and who, in England, remained Calvinist or slowly made their way into the Conformist and Non-Conformist congregations.  Realistically, the word Huguenot is used as a generic description, in the USA as a social cache but for the rest of us, it's much more a sense of worth and recognirion of 'other'. And regardless of what some people have said, unlike Protestant/Protestante, the origins of the word Huguenot still isn't known and there are many conflicting theories as to its origin.
  8. Snd me the names privately Will and I'll have a look on my database.
  9. Will, they have a very interesting - if not badly skewed - version of religious history.  Nice to see that Catholic (historical it has to be said) bigotry against the Protestantes has been turned round, some of their material sounds like a 'No Popery' speech from the Blessed Dr Paisley, ah the understanding between the various branches of Christianity warms the heart. Where the Orange Street Congregation meet was the old French Church - to be accurate there was never a Huguenot Church in London, they were all French Protestante in various guises (conformist, non-conformist) - of Leicester Fields, for which the French refugees records and their descendants have been transcribed and published by the Hug Soc of GB & I, previously of London. For those with a particular interest in this Church's history whilst it was still a French/Huguenot Church you may want to look out for "Lux Benigna, a History of thé Orange Street Chapel " (R. W. Free, London, 1888) and " History of thé Orange Street Chapel " (Isaac Hartill, n.d. cir. 1917) both give considérable information and were both written by the Congragational Ministers in charge of the Chapel at the time. A lot of information also in the records of the Chapel.
  10. I can only speak from experience.  I've been to services at the French Church in Soho Square where they also have a very private Library and Archive and which is the direct descendant church of the mother Church in Threadneedle Street, like Canterbury French Pasteur, and in all the Hug Soc of GB material that we get circulated, it's the Soho Square Church and Canterbury Chapels that are mentioned, never seen the other Church mentioned at all.
  11. [quote user="Swissie"]BTW the most famous Huguenot Church is underneath Canterbury Cathedral- and is still active today. [/quote] Sorry Swissie that's only half right - the Church in Canterbury was originally a Walloon Church which moved over to Protestante/Huguenot but it's not the most famous tho it is still used today.  The mother Church in the UK was in Threadneedle Street, where the Bank of England is located (founded originally by Huguenots and their families) and was always the major French Church in England until the centre moved to Soho, where the main French Church is today in Soho Square.
  12. I'm descended from a Huguenot family from Nismes and still seem to spend all my spare time researching and writing about Huguenot families, have three research papers on the go atm and have just been asked to write more articles for UK genealogical mags on Huguenots and French research.  Just joined a local Protestante research group - like I really need to belong to another one - and I'm organising a visit for my WDYTYA group to their library later this year. And that's the Huguenot Cross on my id on the left btw :)
  13. From before I moved to France in 2005 I was concerned me that people move here who are dependant on benefits to fund their lives here and I've said so many times in here over the years.  The way that HMG have been heading lately - and this change to long-term IB has been flagged for a long time - has made it clearer that benefit dependancy is a false, if not a rather reckless, way of funding living in the Euro zone.  As with the advice on investments - they can go down as well as up - people should have that in mind when they factor benefits into their budget for moving to EuroLand because, like other incomes (except perhaps for retirement benefits) they are always an 'extra' not a basis for living, especially in France. Daffie, it seems that you would have nothing to loose by applying for benefits in France.  Obviously the Dorctor you saw in Lyons thought that your condition was no worse but also no better.  If you haven't had your incontinence taken into account in your assessment - and you didn't explain that fully to the medic you saw - you should use that as part of your appeal. But you should also ask - immediately - for the appeal forms and to be able to use the form I mentioned previously to have your case reassessed.  At least with that form you will be able to have your GP complete the last part - without having to read what you have written in the form - so that would be your best way forward and may mean you don 't have to leave France. 
  14. Sorry eleve, just wondered why you don't pay tax in France because you should be, income tax is payable here on world-wide income including what is earned in the rest of the world like Canada, is that how you can still access the Canadian health system?
  15. Claim tax back for having a hedge cut?  I wish, I have two hedges that are both over 80metres long and I'd be more than willing to pay somebody to cut them if it reduced my income tax bill!
  16. For what it's worth, I know of a couple of gites businesses that recently were sold in the area you mention plus several mid/high end properties have also been sold, one very quickly - within weeks. Where exactly are you?
  17. And of course, you may not qualify for JSA by reason of your non-residence in the Uk for the 26 weeks prior to your claim date so they may even get you there.  Tho you would need to check that out too of course!
  18. What Mr Cat says is, of course, correct and if you've been in France for 4 years you may well be covered by the CMU but what still hasn't been tested is whether receiving CMU as a way of getting French benefits then makes France your competant state, because if it does, then you cannot claim any UK benefits and your IB is no longer payable for that reason.. But that doens't detract from the fact that your benefit has been stopped and whilst that may not mean you have to leave France, you may want to challenge the withdrawal, especially if the condition worstens and you wish to claim DLA in the future.
  19. Reply posted in the Incapacity Benefit thread in the Health section.
  20. [quote user="daffie"]  Ive had long term incapcity benefit for along time and been in France for over 4 years with 100 percent health costs paid by Uk , not France ! My husband then piggy backed me and was able to have 75 percent free health care  costs ;;; this week , I received a letter saiyng I now suddenly only have 3 points and need 15 points to have incapacity benefit . they say its from a form I filled in, which havnt done for years ! But did have an examination from a French Dr in Tours as ordered by Newcastle,,, but a year ago;; so without no warning , I have a letter to say that incapacity is cancelled and I no loonger have health care paid by Uk ;; so looks as if I will have to sell up , return to Uk and go on Job seekers allowance !! so attention mes amis ![:(]  [/quote] Daffy, something doesn't add up here.  The new system for long-term IB wasn't introduced until April last year and it was well trailed for at least a year before the changes were implemented so this is nothing new, it's been discussed here several times.  The IB people started to send out new assessment letters to claimants, in the case of France an IB-N-50-France, last year and those letters are still in fact, being sent out.  The letter and form has to be filled in by the claimant and then has a section at the back to be filled in by your French GP, then the IB people in the UK will assess whether you should have a medical examination in France, after which they will make an assessment about continued payment of benefits.  You're saying that you haven't received this form, let alone had your GP fill in his/her section for you. You also say HMG required you to have a medical examination prior to the new system coming into place and it appears that as they have not sent you the new France specific form, they were reviewing your case anyway and what they've then done is apply the new criteria to you, which they can do under the new rules. What you need to do is to ring them immediately and tell them about the delays in receiving your letter, you must ask for more time to respond, hundreds/thousands of claimants are already doing this because of the delays in DWP letters arriving so it's not a problem for them.  You should also ask for a form IG-N-50-France so you can be assessed by your GP, not somebody you've never met and who has no ideas about your ongoing condition.  If they refuse that, you should lodge an appeal against the decision and ask for reinstatement of your benefit or for your benefit to be held in abayence until the appeals process is completed. On a more general point, this shows how dangerous it is with HMG shifting the goalposts for people who move to an EU country to base their health care arrangements on a benefit/E121 issued to inactifs, one change in HMG's criteria and it all goes pop. And as I've flagged up several times here and elsewhere, long-term IB is one of the very few gateway benefits for people wishing to claim DLA from the UK whilst living in the EU, so loss of IB could also mean the loss of the ability to claim IB for new claimants. Edit:  From your other posting on this, you say that the examination in Tours was with a French doctor and in French as tho that was odd.  Sorry, what else do you expect, the letter currently being sent out is in French and English and the GPs across the board are replying in French.  Again, one of the problems with living in France is this happening - perhaps a translator would have been a good idea and checking in advance whether you would be able to have a meaningful conversation would have been a really good idea as loss of the benefit would have such a huge impact on your life here. 
  21. They kidnap, assault, falsely imprison and generally terrorise somebody and they deserve sympathy?  Yeah, right, no difference between kidnapping a younger person and holding them for ransom, because that's what they did with this guy.  If the money was truly undeclared for tax purposes and they were trying to 'grow' their hidden gains, why should anybody have any sympathy for them? So what's next, an upper age of criminal responsibility, because they're old don't prosecute them or don't send them to prison because of the offences they committed?  Yeah, right, recipe for chaos, if they can't do the time, they shouldn't have committed the crime!.
  22. Looks like the bridge over the Dordogne taken from the battlements at Domme? I'm also curious about the second bad news story from here.  Surely not the contradictory froth from whatnot Booth? 
  23. [quote user="Chancer"]  I have the same problem on at  least 3 or 4 occasions every time I return to the UK, usually in the pay and display car parks of my local town, I have quite a nice collection of yellow stripy self adhesive ticket envelopes, you would think by now that I would remember to pay wouldnt you? [6] [/quote] Can see why you call yourself Chancer then :)
  24. Hi Rockstitch Confusion here I think. The test cases (which are at the lower level and have not been heard by Judge Mesher) aren't about mobility at all, they're about the care component which were the subject of the ECJ decison in October 2007.  In that decision, the mobility element was excluded. However, in a decision on another of the care component cases (not the current test cases) Judge Mesher felt that the decision on mobility should be referred back to the ECJ for reconsideration  as he evidently felt that mobility should have been included. Basically, the test cases are about the 'easy bit', the ECJ decision having been made in October 2007, the mobility argument could be a similar battle if HMG - whichever party is in power after the general election - decide to argue, make life difficult and generally try to obfurscate or block the next ECJ decision on mobility, whenever that is made.
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