Jackie

Try http://www.nass.co.uk/  Message in your pm inbox Freyjabear ...........Salutations........J

It would be useful if someone could explain the codes on the French licence as different folks seem to have different codes. On mine there is nothing for a car (Cat B)under the column Jusqu'au, which I take it means up to, and under the restrictions column is noted 70 GB. For other vehicles including an eight wheeler lorry (Cat E) it says under the restrictions column 70 GB, 76  or a six wheeler (Cat C) 70 GB, 74  or a car and caravan on tow (Cat D) no restrictions. However all except the car, motorised tricycle and motorbikes have a jusqu'au date of 15/05/2007. Code 70 seems to be the number of the UK licence surrendered. 74 C <ou = 7500KG, 75 D <ou = 17 places, 76 E(C) < ou = A PTRA 12000KG, 77 E(D) < ou = A PTRA 12000KG. From this I deduce that I can drive an eight wheel lorry of up to 12000KG (truck for our American friends) until 15/05/2007, am I right? What happens if I should want to drive an eight wheel lorry after this date, not that I would but some might. I would not want to meet me driving such a vehicle anywhere!.........So anyone understand this?..........John in Dept 79 PS Sadly some of the posts referred to seem to have gone the way of all flesh in the recent change over!

I don't know, "What would a Topographer do prior to a barn conversion and small extension?" Try http://jp.duret.online.fr/Def-Anglais.htm or http://jp.duret.online.fr/toc.htm When you find out do let us know!..........John in Dept 79 Sorry could not resist but do let us know anyway.........Regards......J

Can I support everything that Val2 has said. We also got our Euro licences in GB with a photo but decided to get French ones when we got here. On this site there have been posts in the past describing problems with the police who don't, rightly or wrongly, seem to be too keen on seeing a Brit licence in the hands of a resident. The French test is not something I would care to take and there seems still to be some doubt as to the need to take it if you change your Brit licence after being here a year. The address on the UK licence will be wrong if you sell up in the UK and this raises doubts about its validity in the UK also making it useless as ID in France me thinks. The prefecture here said that we did not have to change them but understood the point about the address and it was not that expensive to do.  Some folk have reported getting away with it when stopped for speeding as they had a Brit licence, others have been forced to change in order to have points put on. With the more rigorous traffic surveillance going on now this event becomes more likely for many of us!  The point about ID is a good one, as many cannot get a CDS anymore. So on balance I would consider changing it...............John in Dept 79 

Welcome back Mazan............J

http://www.quidonc.fr/pi.cgi?portail=quidonc is a service whereby you type in a telephone number and the name and address of the person is given.  This does appear to be a chargeable facility. However,  http://www.ctqui.com/ does the same thing, but is gratuit! Doesn't help the original poster, but may be of help/interest to others. Jackie

I heard that Free to View cards would work in any box and only subscription cards were box specific. Mazan could confirm this..........John in Dept 79

These old houses can get quite damp when it has been raining for a bit. I suffer from AS and find that our Zibro Clima deshumidificateur makes a real difference. When we first moved in, the house had been empty for several months, it sucked many many litres of water out of it. We were emptying the receiver twice a day for a week. We only put it on now when the relative humidity gets above about 58%. Tends to run more in winter as there is not a great deal of point if all the windows are open.......does make a difference......Good luck for the future, we don't regret making the move here......John in Dept 79 PS Can I just say that I agree very much with Di and that you need a formal diagnosis from a rheumatologist. Taking Ibuprofen type or similar anti-inflamatories, even the over the counter ones, is down right dangerous for some folk. Even some GPs seem too keen to try these without the patient seeing a specialist. I nearly lost my mother to these some years ago as they can cause stomach ulcers. Sorry to bang this particular gong but I feel very strongly about this! No point in me talking about the climate in Deux Sevres, other than to say that it too is quite green, as I am on 2 grams of salazopyrene a day and that knocks out the AS pretty well. No one knows for sure why the damp effects some folk other than there being talk at some time about oxygen levels being low on damp days. You may care to look at:  http://www.arc.org.uk/about_arth/infosheets/6258/6258.htm  PPS Still wondering about radon gas levels in the cellar, no connection with the above.

According to Terry Pratchet only DEATH speaks in block capitals. However why not pop into the Mairie and ask them, if they don't know I am sure they will know a man that does!......................John in Dept 79 

We have the same problem. When we arrived we tried to have a French Sim card inserted into our UK Orange phone but it did not work so we had to buy a more recent type phone here. Like you we only want this for emergency use. We did not use the phone for over 6 months and lost the number. So more expense to get the thing up and working again so it is important to use it before the six months is up, also the PAYG cards we use are only valid for two months once activated. Still hoping that someone will come up with a system of unlimited time to use up the credit on the card as we had in the UK but have not found anything yet........Bon courage.....John in Dept 79 

During a recent fosse inspection I asked the inspector what happened to the contents of the fosse after the vidange. He said that it was taken to an epuration station and then was sometimes sprayed on the fields although fewer farmers were doing this these days. The aerosol from the sprayer might be a bit dodgy if it were not treated but I should not think that there is much danger of plants taking up anything nasty.............John in Dept 79 

Napoleon rappelez-vous le destin du maréchal Ney qui était un franc-maçon aussi! Les meilleurs voeux......John in Deux Sevres   PS In case you don't know the story Ney (Bravest of the brave), Napoleon's right hand man, was supposed to have been shot by firing squad but in fact the soldiers, on the orders of Wellington, a fellow free mason, fired blanks and Ney was spirited safely away. What a film that would make, who would best play the principal roles?  

No sweat Nick. Yes it can be confusing as Jackie is the member, wears skirts and is not Scottish, and I, could wear skirts but don't, only make guest appearances by popular demand! Having said that there are lots of notable Jackies who are male like you and me. Here are a few: Jackie Robinson baseball player, Jackie Chan actor, Jackie Stewart racing driver, Jackie Leven soul singer and guitarist, Jackie Wilson R&B vocalist and of course no list would be complete without the late and great Jackie Gleason! I always append my name to my posts as Jackie is very keen that she is not blamed for any inanities that I might utter, a wise decision you must agree…………best wishes……John in Dept 79

Sometimes the reality is disappointing compared with the fantasy but having said that you look like a younger version of me Dick and I am quite cuddly too! Mind you if they don’t like la barbe then we have a problem, Jackie hates mine!……………………John  in 79 (Also needs a haircut)  

I been thinking (yes I know a rare event and quite painful) about why some posts get up others noses! I have come to the conclusion that it may depend on the image the post gives in the mind of the reader, of the poster. Now I have conducted a little experiment and re-read some of my posts whilst thinking about someone I don't like. Instead of the warm hearted, bearded, friendly looking guy with a twinkle in the eye and an infectious smile I have imagined a tall slimmer chap with thin lips, staring eyes and the corners of the mouth turned down. This then puts an entirley different meaning to the written words. Some sequence of words may push hidden buttons that you did not know you had so I will in future imagine some old cheerful grandpa or grandma who will sometimes give a playful poke in the ribs with a chuckle.....................Just a thought........John in 79

Thanks for the reply. I don't know much about the habits of mice, other than the white ones I used to breed as a kid and sell for 6 pence each to the pet shop who then sold them for 1 shilling and 6 pence each. The loir (Glis glis) go into hibernation about this time of year here in 79 and last year we had trapped 21 of these and had thought that we too had got rid of them but we were proved wrong come the late spring! Unlike mice they seem like fruit best and apples in particular and like you we use a trap with a falling door designed for rats and they work well. Anyway good luck with the mice, were they field mice or the grey "town" mouse? Regards................John in 79

Why not call a spade a shovel then?..........J

Yes they irritate me too! .............J

"It also irritates me when people move to France without learning the language first." I know what you mean but having said that does it really matter as long as you make an effort? It has taken me 60 years to speak a little English how much more French can I add to my quiver before entropy overtakes me?.........John  in 79  

Yes it is upsetting to see the same questions asked again and again but the archives have gorn in many cases so there is some excuse and I will always offer something if I can help.  There are many posts which show a lack of research into something as drastic as moving to a different country, when I think of the hours we spent reading everything we could lay our hands on! Even worse is spending some time on crafting a post on some matter of great interest to us and getting over 50 views and zippo response. Paranoia sets in, they are ignoring me, they hate me, they think I am a pratt, I did not explain myself properly and I am really boring! Well of course I know this is not so don't I?.......................John (cuddly) in 79   

We were told at least 6 weeks but in fact it was more like two months in the middle of last summer when it was very hot. We have had no problems so far with the tiles I laid then......................John in 79

Yes we too had this inspection earlier this year, cost 53 Euros I think but not on the day of the inspection, got the bill in the post later. The "Nice Young Man" was just that and did want to know where the liquid output from the Fosse Toutes Eaux went. "Not in the ditch" he said. I was able to show him where the outflow went into two filter beds and he was happy with that. No questions were asked about grey water soakaways and I did not raise the subject with him. He was pleased to see the bill from the vindange man which we had done just a few days before and he sniffed about to determine if there were any nasty smells which would upset anyone. Being empty there were none. He seemed quite flexible about things and having peered into all the traps etc gave us a report saying all was well despite the fosse vent being non-standard size. The point is that I am sure that the inspectors must meet the situation that you describe all the time at the moment and as long as the fosse seems to be working ok they must show some sort of flexibility for this first visit. However when the next inspection come along in three years time I imagine that they would expect folks to have sorted out any minor infractions and that must be worrying for old folk with little money to pay to have things updated. Is there a hardship fund available in the local system?....................John in 79

This is about Monsieur Loir and all his cousins, sisters and aunts, ultrasonic scaring boxes and your cat or dog. We have caught 10 loir so far this year compared with 21 last year, so are we winning or are they getting wise to the traps? Been doing some research on ultrasonic/radiation scaring devices. You may remember I don't want to use poison for all sorts of reasons, we have cats and I don't want to poison the owls and other predators that feed on the loir. I have tried one of these ultrasonic boxes for a few days and the wall noises of scrabbling, humping, chasing and God knows what else did reduce while it was operating, it was set to squirt sound into the wall cavity and I moved it around a bit. It was also a bit colder so they may have just been a bit lethargic.  Looking at the net I find that all those who sell these devices say they are wonderful, well they would, and all the no axe to grind reports say they don't really work and are a waste of time. See http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1663/eb1663.html  The argument against ultrasonics and radiation boxes is that any noise may startle but why should Glis Glis (Loir) be more sensitive to ultrasonics than most other mammals as it would not seem to serve any purpose for them unless they are like rats. Baby rats emit distress calls up to 50kHz but studies show that rats soon get used to ultrasonic sounds and ignore them eventually. I have not found anything yet on the auditory range of loir that is helpful. Experiments at some university or other has shown, their words not mine, that feeding and breeding seems not to be affected by these noises. The variation in electromagnetic radiation from the house wiring, a big selling point by the manufacturers, is so small as to compare with normal household variations, or less, which clearly have no effect on their nervous systems of any importance or they would not still be there. Pets are not supposed to be affected yet at least one researcher maintains that some cats and dogs have had their hearing affected by the high pitched noises that these boxes make after some time though not immediately. Have you such a box and how are your pets? One researcher though that in time the rodents would become used to any noise and would associate it with a location that had food available and would therefore eventually attract them. So where do we go from here? The latest sub-sonic boxes I would not have thought produce sufficient acoustic vibration to upset them and if it did it would upset us as well. I should have thought that it needs a few kilowatts of sub-sonics blasting away, just plain silly! This would not happen with these new boxes as they must be very low power and therefore not effective it is said! Any biologist care to comment? Trapping works but I am sure will not get rid of them all, at some stage we must reach a balance point where they breed fast enough to compensate for the really thick ones caught by the traps. Blocking all entry points must help but we have found that they just dig new holes through the walls in the cellar and up under the gravel driveway. Every roof tile is a possible entry point and I cannot stick them all down. So what do you think folks......................John in 79 (Anyone want some furry friends?)

I think that you would have to take action to get your building society to pay interest free of tax if they will do this, ours don’t and we have to claim it back at the end of the year from the Inland Revenue. We found that for other sources of UK income, like my wife’s pension which is not a govt pension, the inland revenue, having accepted that we live abroad, instructed those sources not to deduct tax and to pay it gross. I imagine that you have to be living abroad before they will do this but a word with them might clarify the situation. The centre for non-residents, Fitzroy House, PO Box 46, Nottingham tel 0044 115 974 2102 or on-line by email at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk were very helpful to us although it was about two and a half years before we got this all sorted out with them. You should not be taxed on the same income in both countries, but as I say, the French may assume that all your interest in the UK is free of tax so if you don’t claim it back or arrange to have it paid gross you could well be taxed in both countries on this! As far as fixing the Fiscal figure (Revenu fiscal de reference) and whether or not you come above the French taxation threshold I am sure that they take your global income into account and that would mean your govt pension, building society interest and any income your spouse receives, as it all goes on the same declaration form. Husbands and wives cannot be taxed separately we are told. One thing that I found useful when making the conversion from pounds to euros, the declaration is all in euros, was to quote the rate I actually got on my pension transfer. You can have your govt pension in euros and transferred every month to a French bank by the group (Capita?) that deal with all govt pensions. The problem is that the teacher’s pensions are handled by Nat West, I don’t know about the others, so the rate you get is determined by them and is often less than others quoted on the net, but they only charge me a pound a month to do this. Having said that it is not fair to compare with people like HIFX and their rates, which are good for large amounts, when you have a relatively small amount coming over each month. The French tax man has accepted my conversions so far. The post office livret A and savings accounts are free of tax and need not be declared we are told.  But as I said before I am no expert and professional advice should be sought!  We find that we pay less tax in France than we would have done in the UK though this may not be true for the better off. In our first year which ran from May and not January the French income tax people actually gave us money back even though we had not paid any tax in France. Le Bon Dieu knows how they worked this out but there you go, shows how small a teachers pension is! They must have thought that we had paid too much tax in the UK! I have used an accountant in France but feel that this is rather expensive, he saved us less than he charged, for the benefits obtained so next year I will have a go and do the return by myself. You could always use an English speaking one for the first year (See posts about this on LF if they are still there!) and then use the return as a model for future years. It will be interesting to see if the tax man accepts this without seeing all the evidence as he has done so far but then knowing an accountant, who must be honest ha ha, is involved may make a difference, we shall see!………John in 79 

I would support the view that good financial advice from someone who knows about France and the French system is almost essential. My feeling is that any income that can be taxed in France will be and that the authorities would expect you to take steps to ensure that you are not taxed in the UK as well by claiming it back or arranging to have interest paid gross etc. The figures that you put on the income declaration form are gross and not net although there is provision to indicate how much tax you have paid in the UK. Not all building societies will do this, i.e. pay interest gross, C&G wont, and we have to claim back our tax from the Inland Revenue each year. There is a standard form for this which you may be able to download off the net. You need the Fiscal number off the form sent to you by the French Income tax people to declare to the health people so they can work out your contribution once the E106 or whatever runs out. There are very few "Experts" on this on this site and not me for sure as I and others can only report on our experiences which for a multitude of reasons may be different. This link may throw a bit more light on these matters. http://www.livingfrance.com/instantforum/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=11&messageid=35482#bm35557 One of the posts in the above gives figures for Post Office accounts which were correct at the time it was written.......Bon courage......John in 79