Chris_Haze

We have around 100 nearly new paperbacks which we'd be happy to swop or sell for 1€ each. (any proceeds go into buying more books for our group of readers) We're 10 minutes away from Parthenay in the Deux Sevres so let us know if you're interested. Hazel  

Depends on the size of your room, but we easily got enough tiles in our car for our main bedroom which is 15sq metres. We didn't glue them down they are just loose laid so that if we wanted to replace one we could.  

Thanks for the advice I will check out Gamm Vert as they have a branch near us to see if they have 'Cloque du Pecher' as this seems the best bet as I've left it a bit late for the other product.  

Hi John I looked on the website too and I couldn't find carpet tiles there, but I noticed that they only have pictures of  a small range of carpets under that section but say on their website that they have over 200 to choose from.  I can only assume that if they still do them they are one of the ranges that are not specifically mentioned on their website. I looked out our old invoices from them and they were called 'dalle de moquette' which means carpet tiles, perhaps you could give your nearest one a call, or email them to find out if they still stock them.  

 We have this disease on our peach and nectarine trees, they bore lots of fruit last year but there was a serious amount of leaf drop. In the UK I would have been spraying with Dithane now, but have not found anything similar in the shops here. Can any of you experts recommend a product I could use to control this disease please? Many thanks Hazel

[quote user="johnv"]I had come to the conclusion that carpet tiles would have to be the way to go .. what are they like? i was worried that they might look too 'industrial' ...[/quote] We've been so pleased with them that we've laid them in all three of our bedrooms.  They are easy to lay and if you follow the instructions laying in the directions of the arrows on the back of each tile you really don't see any joins. Also they're very practical as you can swop them around if they start to wear, or replace them individually if you need to. Hazel    

Hi John There is a big chain of stores called Saint Maclou which sell carpets (also wallpaper, paint, soft furnishings etc), the one we have used is in Niort on the commercial estate there. They had a good range of 'fitted' carpets and one of our friends used their fitting service which they said was excellent. We bought carpet tiles from them so that we could fit them ourselves and we were very happy with them.   Perhaps there's one near to you, or then again Niort isn't that far! Good luck Hazel  

Thanks Clair, I guess I didn't read this properly the first time ! Hazel

I am just about to renew my passport and have printed out the forms from the internet but I wasn't sure what to do about the return postage to cover my new passport being sent back. Did you add an amount to your payment to cover this? Or did you send them a self addressed envelope with the postage already on it? Hazel    

Hi Tegwini Poitiers itself will be nice to visit,  very festive with many small wooden chalets in the main square (in front of the Hotel de Ville) and surrounding streets selling different gifts, jewellery, pictures, lamps and toys plus numerous other things, they  usually also have a small open air ice rink in the square and stalls selling waffles and chocolates and the like! We have gone to Poitiers the last three Christmases to have a wander round and soak up the atmosphere, usually puts us in the Christmas mood! If you're going in it would be nice to go late afternoon or early evening when everythings lit up. Hope you enjoy whatever you do. Hazel

Unexpectedly today, the CPAM officer arrived this morning instead of tomorrow as we had arranged, apparently he was in the neighbourhood and thought it would be worth seeing if we were in. We had not planned to have anybody with us during the interview, nor had we any intention of taping what was said, so we were happy to go with the flow and find out what it was all about. Although some of you thought he would be accompanied, he was on his own, and we have to say that he was very pleasant and helpful. He re-iterated what we were told at CPAM Niort about our health cover finishing at the end of March 2008 and explained that we must have 100% health cover from 1st April until I receive my pension next October, at which point my husband and I will both be covered under CPAM again. He suggested that we contact our french bank as he thought this would be a good place to start enquiring about 100% health cover. He came with a copy of our last tax return for 2006 and asked  1) if we had a house in the UK still, 2)  if we transferred money from England on a regular basis to live on, and 3) if not, how much money we had in our French bank account to live on until next October. We answered all his questions truthfully, showing him bank accounts and discussing all the above points. We asked him about the potential 5 year rule and he said CPAM can only proceed on the law as it is at the moment, but if and when there are new changes on this we will be contacted by him and notified officially of the change.  He was sympathetic to our plight and explained that he has a very large dossier of people to visit in the same situation, not only English, but Dutch, German, Spanish and other nationalities. Hope this helps Hazel and Chris  

Thanks for all the comments, we have had a return phone call from the CPAM officer who says he has some questions on our tax returns for 2003 and 2004 so it may well be that they are checking our life style and expenditure. Luckily we live a pretty simple life (one of the reasons for coming to France) and have always filled in tax returns and kept all relevant documentation for the last 5 years. Our visit is going to be Thursday morning apparently, so I'll post an update following that as it looks like it may be of interest to you. Thanks again - Watch this space! Hazel and Chris

Has anybody else had this experience recently? In the last few weeks we have had the same things as a lot of people on this forum:- - A letter from CPAM Niort saying we had not sent all the neccessary documentation they requested for CV renewal (we had sent it)- - A letter following that, saying to present ourselves urgently at CPAM Niort to explain our finances, we went and were told the letter  was  sent out in error but they explained that after March 2008 we would not be covered any longer.  Yesterday while we were out, a CPAM representative left a card to say they had visited us in order to 'regularise' our dossier. We had to telephone a number to make another appointment which we did and are waiting for a return call. We have been permanently resident in France for nearly 5 years and wonder if it could be for that reason we've had a visit, although during those 5 years we have never had anyone from CPAM come to our home, quite the opposite - its usually been a demand to go and see them in their offices. If anyone has any experience of this we'd be interested to hear what's happened to you. Thanks and Regards Hazel 

We've just moved to the Deux Sevres and are currently trying to find a good kennel to leave our elderly dog in at Easter. I'd love to hear how you get on and if you can pass on a recommendation to us. Thanks Hazel

We have just had an inspection done on our property, it covered - termites, asbestos and lead - and cost €450.00 including tax. We are also in the Charente so if you'd like the contact details for the company let us know, they are based in Niort. Hazel