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Lovely thread, most enjoyable. Instructional, educational, humourous. 4 pages of posts from a very slow start. I do though wonder, how France has survived so long without the indispensible British building products. I hope I am not being controversial, I am only little.

Thanks albf, I live in hope you might be right. Actually before even the borders came down we lived in France, even had a son who has a French birth certificate but never claimed nationality. Been there, done that, bought the teeshirt but want to end my days back there. Oh and by the way our perception is that apart from trams in the bigger cities and more grafitti everywhere than we remember not much has changed since the mid 90’s when we left. But that is probably for another thread.

I was hoping that the statement saying : "UK nationals who in accordance with Union law legally reside in an EU27 Member State by the specified date, as well as their family members as defined by Directive 2004/38/EC who are legally resident in the host State by the specified date, fall within the scope of the Withdrawal Agreement ..." May let the likes of me squeeze in without a cds if I was then resident. We'll see.

[quote user="BritinBretagne"]Owning a holiday home in France would not have qualified you for a CdS Permanent (EU) as they are based on residency of at least five years. Second home ownership and residency ar3 two completely different things.[/quote] I thought that was what I said, but maybe not. Thanks anyway.

[quote user="andyh4"] End of a dream? Not necessarily. Lots of non-EU citizens live in France. The requirements on you may however be more stringent. You may have to prove minimum income and access to healthcare rather than today where it is just taken as a given (even when it is not). I suggest a search (probably not on this site due to the rubbish search donkey - modern systems have upgraded to engines) for 4requirements of an American to live in France.[/quote] Thanks Andy, that is pretty much what I assumed, but if we are retired the healthcare is a worry. It's still a case of wait and see.

Oh dear. Does that mean the end of my retirement hopes? We bought a property 2 years age using it as a holiday home and are hoping to retire in 2 years time from now. We haven't owned there long enough to apply for a carte de sejour and brexit took us by surprise. Other than to sell up do we have any other options as we cant afford to maintain two homes when we retire?

Paris sounds the same as when I was there in the 1990's except no mention of the "lookey, lookey" men. Times are always testing especially when they're changing.

Thanks all. I will attempt to get this sorted with what you have given me.

Thanks Chancer. Lapeyre don't seem to install them though and I'm too old and too scared to do it myself. (First floor apartment).

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Where in 71 are you ? Maybe we can google search for you.[/quote] In Autun, lovely place. I am limited to these shutters because of the age of the building. Plastic ones seem easy to get a quote but wooden louvres are another story.

Hi Sorry, my french just isnt up to it and yellow pages is unhelpful. My ancient appartment has wooden louvre shutters 220 x 120 cms . They Are crumbly like biscuit so need replacing. Search though I might I cannot find a supply and fit business. Google is definitely not my friend either. Im in 71 what should I be looking for or does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks