HoneySuckleDreams

hi My Sky Digibox went pop tonight so i'm looking at replacing it fairly sharpish. Rather than go down the Sky route again (as i wasn't paying for it anyway) the Freesat way looks like it will give us everything we need. Does anyone know of a reasonable box to buy here in France (or even if anyone is doing any deals at the moment) to get the freesat service? Or do I have to get one from the UK. I've read about the HUMAX stuff, but it's a bit expensive for me. Also, I have a sky gnome, would I be able to use this as well with a freesat digibox Many thanks

it is certainly thought provoking. But what is art (or is that the point?) I never saw any petitions for Damien Hursts cow cut in half and I was just as unsure about that being art. Dogs, Cows? We've always thought about making mittens out of our (deceased) cats. The thinking is that I would rather still have them around, rather than remembering them in a hole feeding the worms...and keeping my hands warm.

Whats the point of these alarms? to conform with law or to save lives? I would suggest the former. They are only effective in the situation where people are around, the pool is open but everyone is distracted and the 18 month old toddler decides to go for a toddle and falls in...then it is effective. If everyone goes out it won't stop passing trade from falling in and drowning as no neighbour will be bothered. A cover is the only effective method for that. But a cover is a pain for the example above. You can't close the cover everytime someone steps away from the pool and you turn your back on it for a couple of minutes. Arm bands for toddlers for peace of mind is a good move, and they're cheap.

The bloke who buys two seats as you can't reserve seats on Ryanair you can still sit next to him? surely? His other seat could be at the other end of the plane? Or am i missing something? I'll make my mate with her 6 month old sitting on her lap will look out for him

Pickles This Travelx card sounds good. Do you have an idea when they might be offering it to French residents? There doesn't seem to be a France option on the country of residence button. It will be good news if it does get offered to here though.

KathyF 2 yrs grace????? our TF increased 300% immediately :( our joint TH/TF went from 400€ to €1700. It's one of those costs you don't factor in to your renovation budget. 50k to renovate and an extra 1300€ a year in tax until you die. Doesn't seem fair to me

reminds of the story of the radio dj slagging his wife of on air. Got home to find she had sold his prized lotus car on ebay for a buy it now price of 50p as he had foolishly had it left in her name! On a more serious note, the scammers are getting better at it.

Hi Does anyone know what happens if you earn more than the BNC limit? Which i think is 33k this year? I've got the possibilty of another contract for the rest of the year and it would take me over the limit for the BNC. Do things happen automatically? or do i have to register under different regime. This may not happen next year so it might make things more difficult for me if I have to unregister BNC and re-register as something else and then revert back next year

just to add my tuppence happeny I was looking for a 2nd car as we had one family car and with 3 kids getting them to athletics/rugby/swimming in 3 different places at the same time was a pain.... anyway... looking for a cheap 2nd hand 4x4 our bread lady (she what delivers the bread) had a suzuki 4x4 jlx (the little hair dresser type soft tops). She wanted €3600 for it. It was k n ackered, ripped to pieces inside basehed to pieces outside. I got (RHD) one in the uk for €1100, supreme condition. French friends thought i was joking when i told them the price. In fact one friend was selling his big 4x4 for €24000, 80k on the clock. I could buy one new from UK for 16k !!! what planet are these people from? Or is it the old story... oh you must be english so I'll double the price as you're probably a millionaire anyway. It is interesting to hear about the German import side of things..seriously worth investigating. I will not be buying new in France One thing I was pleasantly surprised with though was a spare key for the 4x4. €56 all in and coded.... I was quoted £180 without the coding charge in the UK...so not all bad then. And if something does go wrong, the main garagists charge about €45 an hour labour rather than the £80 in the uk

Residence and domicility are two issues, but there is a 3rd. Liability. You can be non-resident/non-domiciled but still have a liability to pay tax. I was given the following link to read by HMRC as an aid to wether I was liable to pay tax in the UK. (My issue is the other way round. I want to declare all my earnings in France not the UK). (sorry...can't find the "add link" bit when I post so you will have to copy and paste the link) http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/intmanual/INTM261000.htm After talking to HMRC it is up to me to decide if I am not liable, but also have a good argument as to why (if HMRC ever get in touch and argue that I should be paying tax in the UK). They (the overseas residence part of HMRC) admitted that they don't know all the rules themselves and they said that most cases of "Liability" are dealt with on a 1-2-1 basis

i was driving thru passport the control with my worldy goods in/around/on top of the car, including a garden water butt (on the roof rack). I was stopped and politely asked "whats in the barrel?" ... wife and kids I said ....one deep sigh later I was waved on my way. I think they know what they are doing

there was good snow at tourmalet/cauterets/piau engaly etc last year at xmas and you can fly direct into Lourdes

I bought a bag of white sand from a local builders place and did a 3:1 sand:chaux mix and it comes up whilte. It's a very small merchant that does lots of different sorts of sand. Spent ages trying out different sands and stuff for pointing up around the pool. You just need to look harder I guess

I'm going to be doing some outside rendering and was wondering if you can buy something similar to Feb mix here in France, i.e. a plasticiser and waterproofer all in one. Failing that, what do i ask for when wanting plastisicer/waterproofer ta

Hi I'm just about to do a short plastering course in the UK in preparation for plastering my house...lots of skimming to do! As i will probably be working with one-coat type stuff on the course which does go quite far, I was wondering if any anyone knows how far a sac of Delta Court will go? I have 6 sacs waiting for my return. The previous (French) plasterer did a couple of rooms but laid it on quite thick...up to 10mm, and we seemed to get thru it quite quickly (quel surprise!). With the proper technique I think I can make it last, but was wondering if anyone had experience of this? or do i bring back some wickes one-coat with me.   ta  

araucaria I await your input. I want to declare all my earnings to the french tax people. Having 3 kids and a wife means I don't pay any tax at the moment. From the UK perspective, I pay tax on anything over 6.2K (ish). It's convincing the UK tax authorities that I want to declare in France that  is the problem. Tax domiciled by choice, resident by ..obvious reasons. If i have to declare in the UK, and pay tax (about 4k£) as i don't earn enough to pay tax in France, I won't see any of that of as a "credit impot" in France. I can't afford to lose that amount in tax. Does article 15 exempt me from UK tax?

Hi, I've currently got my Sky box working OK via a satellite dish. We currently get the French analogue TV channels via the normal aerial but the signal is a bit messy at times and we only get TF1/2/3/Arte If i want to get the french digital channels do i just need to buy a set top box or do i need to have a box connected to another dish? I have a laptop TV card which seems to pick up more free channels, but this isn't really ideal. Does anyone have an idea as to the best box to buy? I don't want to spend a fortune if i can help it.  

Hi, I use baydonhill (used to be currencies4less). No charge for the transactions. I got 1.102 last monday and the money was in my account by Friday, it's normally (about) 2cents different from the "active" rate being quoted at the time (i think it €->£ was around 1.125 at the time). You have to do some legal stuff to get set up (passport copies etc), but they're tip-top.      

actually it's 20% tax, and yes I do know about the personal allowance, and yes the 100 days were in the French tax year. The problem lies with the fact that I was only supposed to be in the UK for 3wks for the contract I was working on. This turned into a lot longer. I don't know if in future I should think about creating a business in the UK as well as having myself set up in France. I consider myself tax domiciled as well as resident in France, it is afterall where my family and house are. I'm only in the MICRO BNC regime in france so can't earn more than 27K (last year anyway), but i have to pay tax in the uk as well as the cotisations in France, there's not a lot left. Does any have a good accountant? one who knows the UK and French tax system?

I'm living in France and registered myself as an independant worker. I spend some time working over the interweb for companies in the UK, I also have worked in Holland and the UK in the last financial year. I think this year I am liable to pay UK tax on my earnings for there as I've spent ~100 days working over in the UK. So I will have to fill in the appropriate tax forms and declare earnings. However, I won't know how much tax I will pay in time for my France tax form to be completed, so how do you declare this on your French forms? Also, I have heard (and i don't know if this hearsay or not) that I won't get any Tax credit back from the French tax authorities as I haven't earned enough to pay tax here in France (only if I owe tax to the French will I get my tax paid in the UK offset against my French Tax bill). I consider myself domiciled and resident in France and have no problems paying tax/cotisation in France. However, if I have to pay 22% to the UK on earnings that I won't get anything back from as well as paying cotisation in France, it almost seems to be no point in trying to work.

it tells you on the statement Montant a reporter soit sur la ligne "DB" soit sur la ligne "DF" de votre declaration de revenus

hello I have filled my Tax professionelle in using the rate on the day the money was paid. However I asked the tax people what they thought the rate should be (in case they were going to offer me a more preferable one). Unfortunately they quoted the following: Bonjour Madame / Monsieur Le taux de conversion est le suivant 1 euro = 0.73335 livre sterling. Je vous prie de croire, Madame, Monsieur, à l’assurance de ma considération distinguée. quite how they came up with this I can only guess as the exchange rate was that rate or better (if you are a french tax man) in only 3 months of last year. I'm sticking to my method.

I'm going to have real problems getting back home for Christmas day and I thought of a possible alternative to Plane/Rail is to ask if anyone is driving that needs (wants) someone to help with the cost/driving. Anywhere close to London to anywhere close to Toulouse (further south if possible) It's a bit of a long shot I know.   thanks

hi has anyone managed to claim compensation for Collisismo delivery problems. I have a situation where Tickets for a tennis final were mailed (from France) to my old address in the UK (i was going to be there to pick them up and the new people were aware of the delivery). Unfortunately the postie decided not to deliver because "I had gone away". The tickets got returned to sender (took 3 weeks to get back to sender). Consequently the final was missed.  (It was my brother buying them as a present for his wife. He wanted to keep it a secret, so I bought them for him) Of course, UK post service deny any responsibility and the French system blame the british. The UK customer service people can't be ***ed and keep sending my letters back telling me to contact the seller and get him to claim any damages from the French system. I wouldn't normally be this worked up about it, but is was £140.. and As a last resort i'm going to get a Country Court judgement against the local post office. Both the posty and the post office manager he works out of agree it was a mistake on their behalf, so I reckon that means an admission of liability. Still... if anyone knows how the system works over here re: compensation then I would be glad of your opinion.

"experts" ex - a has been spurt - a drip under pressure