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Hi My husband works in the Uk so has to pay Uk tax and NI. We were covered by E106, until he started work again. At the moment we're in the process of sorting out with Newcastle what our new cover will be, but apparently, we will be covered by an E form. The person I was speaking to wasn't exactly sure which one, but is referring the matter higher up!

Hi In reply to the last post, I can only repeat that we gave Inland Revenue all of our living and working arangements, and they even use our French address as the contact. I think that the quote from Hansard was more related to people who move abroad and fail to notify the authorities that they are no longer in the UK, rather than to those who live in the EC but continue to work in the Uk and pay UK dues. We actually notified that we had moved and benefit ceased until we made the new claim. If you look at Booklet SA29 (social security benefits in the EU) para 21 clearly states that if you are employed in a job where you must pay UK contributions (which is the case for us) you can usually get UK child benefit even if the child is living in another EC country. All I can say is, if you think you could be entitled, advise the authorities of the situation and see what they say Karen

Hi We received a notification at the end of last year that CA would start making charges with efeect from Jan 2004 for non CA cash withdrawals. I think it came with the bank statement so you might have missed it! Karen

In our experience, UK issued cards with PIN numbers do not work here in French machines. I asked our UK bank why and was told it was because French machines need 5 numbers!!!!! I had quite an argument with the clerk over this who refused to belieeve that this wasn't the case. There seems to be an awful lot of confusion over this and bank staff are not particularly well informed Karen

Hi All We live permanently in France, but Graham works in the Uk, paying UK tax and NI. When we first moved our child benefit was cancelled because he was intending to work here, but when he started working in the UK again, we made a new claim and are now once again receiving UK child benefit. Children's tax credit is another matter even though it is administered by the same department! We made a new application for this too and initially were awarded same. However, some bright spark has cancelled the claim because we "don't meet residency requirements". At the moment we are in dispute with the Inland Revenue over this, as it seems to depend on who you speak to as to the interpretation of the rules! As far as child benefit goes, though, you are probably still entitled to it only if you or partner are still paying UK tax and NI. Karen

Hi Yes, try the casse. We know several people who have managed to obtain headlights that way and, as you have a Citroen, you have a good chance of finding what you need. We tried that option first for our SAAB but, unfortunately, there aren't that many around and we had no luck. Happy hunting Karen

Hi All Yes,I know I'm replying to my own posting! Having just posted that, the post has arrived with a new BF ferries guide for Sept to March. According to that, the starting price fares DO still exist, in spite of what I was told. As a matter of interest, I tried getting a quote for the 0900 from Caen to Portsmouth on Tues 21 Sept which, according to the brochure should be a starting price of £119.00. It gave me a price of £144.00! All I can say is double check with someone by phone before you accept the quoted price on line! Karen

Hi Everyone We finally took the plunge and got our 14 year old SAAB reregistered a couple of weeks ago. We did not need to contact the vehicle manufacturer for a Certificat of Conformity. Instead the local DRIRE supplied us with a form to complete with all the relevant details (together with a sheet giving the translations of items needed!). It cost us 67 euros and they actually issued a Certificate of Conformity to us themselves which was fine for the prefecture (St Brieuc 22). Hope this is helpful. Incidentally, on the thorny subject of headlights, if any one needs to change SAAB headlights, I can let you have the name of a supplier in the UK who got us complete headlights (admittedly not SAAB originals)for just over £200.00 rather than the 650 euros we were quoted over here. This was all we needed to get the car through the CT. regards Karen

BF have done it again! Graham works in the UK and travels back and forward every three or four weeks. Up till August he was travelling on a Tuesday to take advantage of the "starting fare" prices which made quite a difference to the cost, particularly in high season. When he booked on the web for last week the fare came up higher than in the peak months! Phoned BF to query and were advised that all starting fare prices have been withdrawn. No prior notice, no apology and no revised brochure. They say that other fares have been reduced and this may well be the case as he ended up travelling to the UK on the Friday instead and it cost him £5.00 less than the usual Tuesday crossing would have been! Regular users beware! If you haven't booked for two or three weeks you may find a considerable difference in you estimated costs Karen

Have only just seen this posting so the reply might be a bit late! Do try the SNCF site. We took our ten year old to Paris for his birthday last week. Booked seats on the TGV via the website with no problem; tickets arrived within three days by post and we now have the added bonus of being notified of various special offers by email. Also check out the various discount cards; if you intend to use rail fairly regularly it may pay you to buy one of the various discount cards available; what you buy depends on your circumstances but it is explained on the website. As far as the seat reservation numbers are concerned, we also thought these were a bit odd till we got on the train and realised that apart from the middle of the carriage, the pairs of seats face the same way and not facing each other as in the UK.

Have only just seen this posting so the reply might be a bit late! Do try the SNCF site. We took our ten year old to Paris for his birthday last week. Booked seats on the TGV via the website with no problem; tickets arrived within three days by post and we now have the added bonus of being notified of various special offers by email. Also check out the various discount cards; if you intend to use rail fairly regularly it may pay you to buy one of the various discount cards available; what you buy depends on your circumstances but it is explained on the website. As far as the seat reservation numbers are concerned, we also thought these were a bit odd till we got on the train and realised that apart from the middle of the carriage, the pairs of seats face the same way and not facing each other as in the UK.

Hi You may be shocked by some of the premiums insurance companies want to charge for senior citizens especially with any existing health problems! My parents came to visit for the first time last Christmas, both nearly 80. Unfortunately, in spite of being extremely fit, my Mum had had cancer during the summer and an op in October. Although pronounced clear before travelling, some companies wanted over £1000 to cover her. Admittedly this was because the treatment was within the previous 6 months . We did extensive shopping around and managed to get good cover through Saga who charged around £100.00 in spite of the health record. They visited again in June and this time my Mum had been diagnosed with angina in the spring. Because of this, they took a chance and did not get any insurance cover other than E111. My Mum was taken ill here and ended up having to have a heart bypass, in fact they've only just returned home. Before you consider this option, be aware that only certain illness will be covered 100% by the E111 e.g heart, cancer and diabetes. In this case this is the same treatment that French citizens are entitled to. On a plus, the health care Mum got here in the hospital was superb and she certainly got the op much quicker than she would have done in the UK. Her own GP has told her she would have been treated as urgent, but would still have had to wait several months! Obviously you have to weigh up very seriously the risks of doing this. In their case they only had to pay the daily hospital forfait (currently 13 euros per day)plus the cost of medication on release from hospital (but refunded 65% via E111) It still worked out much less than they would have had to pay for travel insurance. Make sure that any insurance you do take out will cover existing conditions. We came across several that wanted a premium of over £1000, and still would not cover the cancer because it was pre-existing! Hope this helps Karen

Hi Thanks for the reply. Karen

Hi All It's been some time since I visited the forum and it's the first time I've used the new format, consequently I apologise for the fact that I've asked this question before. Someone kindly answered about a year ago, but I can't find any archives.(and I've lost the print of the original answer) Am I missing something or do they no longer exist? Anyway - question.Can someone please tell me what DTP stands for in terms of vaccinations; I think the first two are diptheria and tetanus but not sure about the third. The school want to know the date of the last DTP vacc, and I don't want to put the wrong one down! Thanks Karen

Hi Louise Sorry to hear about your problems. We had something similar with our son eight when we moved, now 9, which lasted about 9 months and then just seemed to disappear overnight. The main issue seemed to be confidence. We moved here at Easter last year and he was thrown in the deep end being the only British child in the school. He didn't get any extra French lessons but all the staff were very sympathetic and helped as much as they could. Similarly, the children all seemed to be desperate to make friends, but he just wouldn't talk to them. He was getting on quite well with his theoretical French, and by the second term was regularly coming top in French grammar tests but I still had many a conversation with him and his teacher about the fact that he wouldn't talk in class or ,as far as we could tell, in the playground. He got very homesick at Christmas when he heard from all his UK friends about what they were doing in school and we went through what you are going through now: had we made a mistake, were we expecting too much of him etc. He had a really good school report at the end of term with the proviso that he needed to talk, so at least we could encourage him and build up his self esteem, but we were feeling so guilty about making him suffer. BUT he went back to school after Christmas a totally different child. He made a conscious effort to talk and of course, the more he talked the more confident he became and he has not looked back since. He has since invited kids from school to come and play and the kids from next door are always in here. He came home from school the other day with a script for the end of term "spectacle" and told us what part he wanted. He got the part and has been religiously learning his lines every night. I don't mind admitting that I will need a box of tissues when we see him on stage in his first French play and it is a joy to hear him laughing and joking with his friends. I was even quite chuffed a couple of weeks ago when he got punished for misbehaving. He's now the same as he was when we were in the UK, but with a lot more self confidence and maturity because has so much more freedom. I've gone on a bit, but hope this provides a bit of encouragement. Stick with it and keep encouraging him All the best Karen

Hi Manxie I too am a mad fanatic card maker; rubber stamping is my poison! Have found the odd craft shop here, but nothing fantastic in the way of supplies. Basically, I'm relying on the internet and QVC (via Sky or the internet). QVC actually have a whole craft day coming up on 29th August and even if you don't have access to Sky, you can buy through their website (www.qvcuk.com). I've already bought quite a lot of stuff from them since we've been here and the service is very good. There are also several rubber stamp suppliers who will mail to Europe (many of these sell paper and card), and I've also just discovered some of the "shops" on e-bay who will also mail to Europe. Steer clear of the private auctioners though as most will only mail to the UK. Ideal World on Sky do good value craft supplies but they won't post to France. Incidentally, can anyone tell me the channel number for the craft spin-off with Alan and Barry as I haven't been able to find it. E-mail me if you can't find any good suppliers and I'll try and pass some addresses on Happy card-making Karen