JJ

Not sure how to go about this, but have moved back to the UK after seperation, and now need to prove that I have 6 years of no claims in France to get UK car insurance. I have relevant paperwork, but am suspecting I will need an official translation? Any help gratefully recieved.        

Many thanks for that guys. You have made me decide on the UK.

My wife and I are getting divorced, I have returned to the UK, whilst she and the children remain in France. We want to be as amicable as possible and have sort of agreed the finances. I know I can file for divorce in the UK, but would I be better off doing it in France?, how do the different systems compare, has anybody been there and done it. Many thanks Contact details edited by a mod. Please make contact by PM using the bottom at the bottom of this post.

Anton, many thanks, all very useful info.

I know that this subject has come up before, but I cannot seem to find it. Does anyone know if it is possible to obtain a divorce when one party is domiciled in France and the other has moved back to the UK. The last thing I want to do is go back to France. Any advice and help would be gratefully received during this very difficult time.

Clair, Many thanks for that, we are aware of insurance for school children, which is compulsory. We are in the process of contacting our insurance company. Regards.  

Thanks for the info re no claims no win in France, but we do not know if we will be suing or not, the school will have the relevant insurance to protect them against any such claims. I am interested if anyone out there has been in a similar situation.

My 12 yr old daughter had an accident  last October whilst at school, the accident was whilst she was doing escalade (rock climbing), she is very experienced at the sport, having done it for the past 4 years. The other girl holding the end of the safety rope was not experienced, and let go of the rope resulting in my daughter falling approx 2 metres to the floor. She was taken to hospital by ambulance, and x rayed, they said there appeared to be no damage, but a follow up xray would be advisable. We later had the follow up x ray, and there was evidence of damage to the spine, this was later confimred by a scan. The bottom line is that the medical proffession are saying that my daughter should refrain from all activities that may put her lower back at risk, escalade, cross country running, mountain biking, and finally skiing. And that it may take over a year to heal. She was due to go on a school skiing trip to the Pyrenees this week. A friend has advised us that we should put the school on notice that we may be pursuing a claim against them for liability and negligence. The UK is awash with companies who will pursue personal injury claims, but has anyone had any similar experience in France with the system? An help and advice welcomed.      

I raised this several years ago, and got shot down by other forum members, basically I was saying the road engineering in France is very poor compared to the UK. I have found one road with cats eyes in 6 years, the road between St Jean d'Angely and Surgeres in 17 Charente Maritime. They are a brilliant invention, and with the road death rate in France as it is, they should start installing them.

James, Many thanks for your response, the problem seems to be OK at the moment, but I will be in contact if it persists. Regards.    

A friend has a furnished T3 detached house in very good condition with garden, (no central heating), garage in a hamlet 7km fro Gemozac in the Charente Maritime. He is considerig long term lets and was asking if I knew what he could expect to get. Before he approaches any agents can anyone giive any idea of what he could realistically expect to get. Many thanks.

Greetings, the title says it all, I am looking for someone local (Gemozac, Charente Maritime) who can take a look at my system which has a few problems with signal quality. Please pm or email me. Many thanks.    

Martin, Thanks for that, I have another dish set up in my gite, so will try that first. Cheers.    

Greetings, I am after some help from those more knowledgeable than I. I have a Freesat HD Box, previously a Sky box, during the last couple of weeks I keep losing the signal quality, it goes from 100% to zero, then back again. I have checked all the connections, tried turning the power on and off, but the fault keeps on coming back. There is no problem with the radio programmes which I do not understand. One of my previous Sky boxes had similar problems, I changed the box and it solved the problem. So could it be the Freesat Box (Humax) The dish was checked for alignment about 18 months/2 years ago, the dish is not obstructed by anything. So I am totally baffled. Before I call someone out I thought I might ask the forum if I am missing anything. Any help or advice gratefully recieved.

Val 2, I know how you feel, we have two dogs, although not fox or deer colour, the russell terrier gets very frightened by it all. Last week, they were out every day in some shape or form. Whilst I respect their right to hunt, and at least they do eat what they hunt (9 Sanglier in our commune last werk alone) it does make walking the dogs a bit fraught. They were even all out on 11th Nov, armistace day, you think they might have rested their guns on that day.

Christine, Sorry I have not replied earlier, I know very little about this dog, I was doing it for a friend, I will pass you details on to my friend Tanja who is German and not on the forum. Many thanks.

Frenchie, Nope, nothing so far, I would take her myself, but as I already have a cocker spaniel and a Parson Russell, it might be a tad difficult. But thanks for asking. Fingers crossed.

Here is a pic, hope t works [IMG]http://i472.photobucket.com/albums/rr82/jjgtes/P1020038.jpg[/IMG]

I now have some pics if anyone is interested. She is a golden lab.

Fiona, You have done all the research you can, you seem a lot more prepared that quite a few people who have already made the move. And once you have the 'moving to France' bug in your head, there is very little you can do until you actually try it. OK so if it does not work out, then you have an escape strategy, which we did not have. If you decide not to do it, then you may spend the rest of your life regretting it. Life is a gamble, we were lucky it paid off for us, and there is no way we would want to go back. So Bonne Chance.

Can anyone help, I have just got this email from a friend in Echebrune, near Pons, Charente Maritime I am looking for help.....there is a lovely labrador girl ( 8 years old).......the poor dog was left alone in his house ( in Echebrune )....after the removal of owners.... Can somebody give this poor little dog a new home. If you can help, then please e-mail or pm me and I will forward it on.

Fiona, It sounds to me as you have done lots of research, so good on you. I would agree with a lot that has been said earlier, and I applaud you for renting first, a very good idea, we did and it worked for us. But, do not underestimate just how difficult getting employment is, especially without the language, Mrs JJ is a qualified nurse (transferable skill) and she is fluent, but even she found getting work difficult, even more so for part time. As to being a self employed builder, well I know plenty of them, who are in the system, and it is not easy with all the charges and taxes, being self employed does not seem to be held in high esteem in France. Your children are the perfect age, in fact the same age as ours were when we arrived 5 and a half years ago. All the best, and good luck.

 How about this one then, and with a yahoo.co.uk e-mail address.  Good Day Mr and Mrs ,  Well i will like to know if i can rent your property for 1 Month rental    start from 1 nov 2008 till 30 nov 2008 and if you know that your property    is not available for long time rent well i will like to know so that i can   book your Bed and Breakfast for 2 weeks only , before i forget i will like   to know if the property is available,  but if you know that the property    is not available from 1 nov , i will need to know the date that the    property will be available to rent , and we are 2 people only  looking    forward to hear from you sooner.   thanks a lot

life's a bitch, and to think, the children were becoming too French!! quelle horreur!!! I did not warm to the women, so I will not be buying her book. The gulf sounds like the ideal place for her.

Both my friend and I have started googling and have found it impossible to source a new motor. However we both found a US site that was selling the complete pool cleaner new at $899 which at current exchange rates is a lot less that the 1300 to 1500 euros they cost over here. But that is yet another debate which has been gone into at depth on this forum. Interestingly though my friend contacted them, but they said  that currently they could not supply zodiac indigos as they had all been withdrawn by the manufacturers due to an inherent fault in them!!!!!!!