chessfou

[quote user="Gluestick"]In which case Britain is toast: as our annual import bill is unsustainable. [/quote] Been there, done that in the occasional Sterling crisis : Harold (1961), 'Arold, not forgetting Baron G-B (1964 - ah the joys of a mere £800M budget deficit - and 1966-7-8 - "what's it got in its pocketses" as Baron Gollum would have said) and I don't think Jim Fixed It (1976), then there was a handbagging (1979 Baroness elected, £ to $2.4, six years later £ to $1.05), then she and the Pound both became shadows of themselves but Sir John and Baron Lamentable rode to the rescue and set it free in 1992 since when yet another GB has been known to point to "the longest period of sustained economic growth Britain had seen for more than 150 years, achieving growth in every quarter between 1992 and 2007" ... to be continued, once more with feeling (this time round the budget deficit is ...?) [quote]And EU manufacturing industry such as Airbus Industrie is toast too.[/quote] Maybe, maybe not. The UK doesn't buy that much from Airbus (will the wings get cheaper, or did Bristol drop out?) and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that the £ will simply detach itself from $ & € simultaneously.

Ooh, levels of public debt are so hard to put a finger on, not least because as soon as something pops up that ought to be tacked on, governments fight tooth, nail and "special accounting" to get them moved sideways. "Current" "public debt" based on May 2008 IMF figures can be found on wiki: UK 52% DE 66% FR 68% IT 106% .. IE 43% ES 40% but what about current changes? The IMF prediction is that UK public debt will grow over the next four years to £1.4Tn. (about 80% of 2008 GDP and I would happily bet my granny that 2012 GDP will be less). What if you include the bank guarantees? UK ca £3Tn (say €3.5Tn) FR ca €0.33Tn And unfunded pensions ...? As ever our politicians (perhaps UK ones even more than average) follow SOP (standard operating procedure) - obfuscate, obfuscate, obfuscate.

Thanks, makes sense. Can you give me a clue as to which other forum (there are rather a lot) so that I can research that lead.

NormanH, a bit over the top, no? I understand the obsession only too well. I live in France which is in the Eurozone (and the UK ought to be too but I'm not expecting to see that anytime soon). My state pension will be funded partly by UK and partly by FR, so will, presumably, be paid partly in £ and partly in € (although since I will be claiming it through the FR system, maybe it will all be paid in € - I don't know). I have health cover based on the fact that I have contributed to the French system over a fairly short time. However, all my wife's pensions and the rest of mine are (or will be) paid in £ (more than 90% of our income is in Sterling). We were (and I suppose are) in the happy and unusual position for immigrants of being "well-off." Nonetheless, we ran the figures through various stress tests (20% variation in exchange rate might mean a few less Michelin meals and adding fewer and/or cheaper bottles to the cellar but 30% was serious and hit us just at the wrong time - more than 50% of our income arrives in January. Of course, -30%, especially because it was only temporary, is survivable, albeit with considerable economies). Others will be in much more precarious positions, with much less margin for error (I doubt there are many others out there who can save over 15% of annual outgoings by placing a temporary halt on stocking their cellar). If there are any who didn't do any stress-testing of their incomes, well that wasn't very bright, but for those who did, but only allowed 10% (1.35) or 15% (1.275), they, like me, will be watching those exchange rates with more than just a passing interest. What I'm really worried about, having seen how many pensioners got well and truly shafted in the 1970s, is the return of inflation. I think it inevitable that we will see that happen, what with QE* and almost all states borrowing at a level to make some individuals with huge debts look positively credit-shy. The big difference between an individual with substantial debts and a state that finds itself in the same position, is that the latter can fairly readily engineer "a bit" of inflation. I suspect that when the time comes, the BCE will look like the little Dutch boy (finger in hole in dyke) while the BoE will, at best, look like Cnut at high tide. *QE "quantitive easing" - the technical term for "speed up the printing presses". *** edit: I note the forum software won't permit the word for "a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels. It is usually earthen and often parallel to the course of a river or the coast."

1.1548 was the high water mark so far today. For those who are trying hard to integrate, you must remember that that is FFR 7.57. Over the past 30 odd years the £ has fluctuated between about FFR 14 at its absolute high point to FFR 6.24 at its absolute low point (31.12.2008). For most of the time it has tended to meander around the FFR 10 level (€ 1.52). 10.69 was the value on the first day of the Euro. No doubt the recession will be considerably worse in the UK than in most of the Eurozone (albeit Spain and Ireland look very dodgy and Austria as well if its banks' East European loans turn bad), so presumably Sterling will bounce around well below that €1.50 level but something in the order of 1.25 (or more) should appear before too long (other things being equal).

Can anyone confirm that my belief (outlined below) is correct? I have contacted the Hôtel des Impôts but their explanation was mud-like. I believe it works like this: 1. 2007 cotisations paid (including some "CSG déductible") 2. 2008 Avis d'imposition (dated 30.09.2008) Contributions Sociales (Revenus de 2007) established a "montant de la CSG déductible pris en compte pour l'imposition des revenus perçus en 2008" which then appeared as a prérempli figure on 3. 2009 Déclaration Revenus 2008. Therefore, I assume that I should 'ignore' the Attestation Part Déductible de CSG 2008 that I received a week or two back from URSSAF until it comes time (Octoberish) to deal with the 2009 Avis d'imposition Contributions Sociales (Revenus de 2008) later this year. Have I got it right, or should I be trying to change, in box DE, the prérempli figure, derived as above steps 1-3, on he basis of the Attestation just received?

Parsnips, I'll do a lttle bit of the work for you but then it's up to you (having given you the links!) Public education: "Au 31 décembre 2006, les ministères civils comptaient en métropole, dans les DOM-TOM et à l'étranger 1,84 million d'agents titulaires et non titulaires." ... "Le ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de la Jeunesse et des sports et de la Recherche, qui représente les deux tiers du total des effectifs des ministères civils avec 1,17 million d'agents" [my emphasis in each case] It's actually 63.58% if you want to quibble about the "two thirds". Both quotes from the page of my first link. Any more, down to you to do some proper research. Why don't you put together a table, for the two countries, with numbers per category? That would actually be useful.

Parsnips, I occasionally put up numbers for PS workers in the two countries (most recently on another thread here three days ago): UK: public sector employment rose every year to 5,846,000 in June 2005  http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1292 has Gordon since reversed the trend? FR: l'État emploie 3,08 millions d'agents au 31 décembre 2006.  http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=agents06  but you do have to add about 1M health workers.  http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=0&ref_id=NATTEF06103 

Gives a real insight into what was probably going on in the House fees office ... Well, if I can't claim for a brand new swimming pool, nor for my moat, how about a "duck island"? If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Is that a purely Anglo saying?

[quote]The law doesn't mention the Banque de France[/quote] What it actually says is "le cours du change à Paris au jour de l'encaissement". [my emphasis] From that I think it rather clear that we should be using the figures from the Banque de France (as indicated to me in the email I received from the DGI and quoted on p5 of this thread). Are xe.com based in Paris? OK, it's arguably a detail but why get something 95% right when 100% is easily attainable? [It is actually quicker to use the downloaded table from the BdF rather than inputting the details for each day on the xe.com site and ending up with a rate for, e.g. 26 May 2008 "at Noon Eastern Time"]

I have been dithering over this one but I don't quite understand why; it would have taken my mum less than a second to come to the right answer. What is the law? It is crystal clear. You, like I, will have your red form 2047 and (probably) the notes (2047 NOT-K) that go with it. On page two of the notes, near the top, is a section "II" headed " Revenus encaissées en monnaie étrangère" which says exactly what to do. Incidentally; you'd better not use a site like xe.com because it should be the banque de france rate (they have a downloadable day-rate file which makes the process easy). I will pay about 85% more in tax than if I used the 0.9525/1.05 rate but it is the correct amount (and almost exactly the same as we paid last year). So, yes the "House fees office" (my local tax office sent me an email of the 0.9525 variety) is prepared to sanction my "duck island" and my mock tudor beams for the front of the house ... but just because someone at some level of authority has told me that I can do something, that doesn't make it right, or even legal. As for stuff about paying for bloated government ... hah! Just how long will it take (forever is a long time) to sink in (a) that the level of public sector employment in France is LESS than that in the UK and (b) taxes, at least on individuals, in France are generally quite a lot lower than in the UK. [Just as an example of that last, we pay almost 2/3 less in tax here than in the UK (that's with 2x the average RFR of our commune, 2.5x the median). Of course, cotisations, mutuelle, taxe hab, TP etc. all add up as well but the sum total of all those is still marginally less than we paid in Council Tax in the UK] For those who are taking a "payment holiday" that's your choice but I suggest that you don't start dreaming about a tax investigation, otherwise you'll have nightmares. Everything was so simple for my mum - just do what's right. PS. The "average" rate of 1.20 or 1.21 seems reasonable enough but just how many payments do you receive a year? Probably we have comparatively few at the moment (only about 30) but even next year (closer to 60), it will be easily manageable to calculate the day rates.

Ici, il faisait chaud (27-29) et un peu lourd mais la nuit (à 600m) était assez fraîche pour que nous pussions bien dormir.

We retirees (or near retirees) are not a separate category. We are either immigrants (as we are) or visitors (for those who split their time between UK and France). On the language front, there is no doubt in my mind that basic French is essential on arrival (unless you can find an immigrant ghetto as used to be the case with Bradford for those with only Urdu) and I strongly advocate improving it as far and as fast as possible. What happens when you have to go the doctor and then to the pharmacie or the hospital? How would someone without adequate French get on if, as I have just done, they had to spend two weeks+ in hospital? Non-verbal communication isn't half good enough in such circumstances. During my hospital stay, while I was in itensive care, I heard of an Englishman in there whose command of French ran to "oui" and singing Frère Jacques. One rarely has a great time in hospital but how do you think it was for him?

Do I detect, from what Robert & Collins say (see below), a subtle difference that "à la limite" is a bit more extreme than "à la rigueur"? Roughly the difference between "if necessary" and "if absolutely necessary"? à la rigueur  : at a pinch | if need be  on peut à l'extrême rigueur remplacer le curry par du poivre  : at a pinch ou if you really have to you can use pepper instead of curry powder  un délit, à la rigueur, mais un crime non: le mot est trop fort  : a minor offence possibly ou perhaps, but not a crime - that's too strong a word  il pourrait à la rigueur avoir gagné la côte, mais j'en doute  : there is a faint possibility that he made it ou he may just possibly have made it back to the shore but I doubt it  à la + limite  à la limite on croirait qu'il le fait exprès  : you'd almost think he's doing it on purpose  à la limite, j'accepterais ces conditions, mais pas plus  : if pushed ou if absolutely necessary, I'd accept those conditions, but no more  à la limite tout roman est réaliste  : ultimately ou at a pinch you could say any novel is realistic  c'est à la limite de l'insolence  : it borders ou verges on insolence  jusqu'à la dernière limite : rester, résister to the bitter end | till the end  jusqu'à la limite de ses forces  : to the point of exhaustion  aller ou tenir jusqu'à la limite  ( Boxe )  : to go the distance

Ah yes, now I have scoured the Service-Public site, all becomes clear. There is no problem about a campervan or caravan (unless I wanted to drag an HGV around) after age 60 (despite the "self-evident" pictogram on the licence and attached date limit) and no medical is required. The beginning of the page Weegie linked to gives: Principe  Le permis E (B) autorise la conduite des véhicules de catégorie B attelés d'une remorque lorsque l'ensemble formé par le véhicule tracteur et la remorque ne relève pas de la catégorie B. http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/N532.xhtml?&n=Transports&l=N18&n=Automobiles%20et%20deux-roues&l=N529&n=Permis%20de%20conduire&l=N530  - Permis E(B) referring back to: Principe  Le permis B permet la conduite :  des véhicules dont le PTAC (poids total en charge) est inférieur ou égal à 3,5 tonnes, pouvant être affecté au transport des personnes ou des marchandises,  des véhicules pouvant comporter neuf places assises au plus (siège du conducteur compris).  Aux véhicules de cette catégorie peut être attelée une remorque :  dont le PTAC de la remorque est inférieur ou égal à 750 kilogrammes,  si le PTAC de la remorque excède 750 kg, il doit être inférieur ou égal au poids à vide du véhicule tracteur, et la somme des PTAC de l'ensemble doit être inférieur ou égal à 3,5 tonnes.  Si ces PTAC sont dépassés, un permis E(B) doit être obtenu pour pouvoir les conduire. http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/N532.xhtml?&n=Transports&l=N18&n=Automobiles%20et%20deux-roues&l=N529&n=Permis%20de%20conduire&l=N530 - Permis de conduire B. At least I assume that campervans and car-caravan combos are generally no more than 3.5 tonnes.

Having been prompted by a thread elsewhere to take a look at my licence, I note that while categories A&B (all I'm interested in really) carry on indefinitely, categories C,D,E are valid only until my 60th birthday. I suppose I might one day consider a caravan (cat E), so what happens at/after age 60? Is it necessary to get a medical or what?

[quote]France has even more government employees than the UK and they all get to retire at 50 with an excellent 'golden' pension.[/quote] How many errors in one sentence? UK: public sector employment rose every year to 5,846,000 in June 2005 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1292 FR: l'État emploie 3,08 millions d'agents au 31 décembre 2006. http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=agents06 but you do have to add about 1M health workers. http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/tableau.asp?reg_id=0&ref_id=NATTEF06103 Anyway, it is well-known (as oppsed to the "well-known" myth that preaches the opposite) that both the number and % of PS employment is greater in the UK (and has been so for a decade or so). As regards the retirement at 50 (which certainly applies to some), our médecin traitant gets to retire at 65. (edited several times within a couple of minutes of posting because there are some incompatibilities between the forum software and the Chrome browser - especially for quotes and links - so I had to fire up Firefox to reformat accordingly)

Merci, Odile. La "tuyauterie" c'est un nouveau mot pour moi mais un mot que je n'oubleirai jamais. La tuyauterie extérieure a été enlevée hier. Maintenant ce n'est que la tuyauterie intérieure ... celle-là marche à peu près correctement mais j'ai encore besoin d'un plombier (sinon un pompier!).

I have just had a look at my licence (obtained in exchange for my UK licence two years ago). Caravan valid only until my 60th birthday. No idea what happens after age 60 (medical needed?).

Eh oui, depuis que je suis sorti de l'hôpital, je me lève environ 5h du matin.

Est-ce qu'il faut que j'apprenne à tricoter? Ou peut-être il faut que j'assiste au boulodrome le plus proche. Pendant mon séjour dans l'hôpital j'ai appris beaucoup de mots du vocabulaire des professionels de la santé. J'étais au courant avec des mots comme déféquer, uriner, la verge, l'hématome, ... Maintenant j'ai ajouté les mots utilisés par les infirmières (et mêmeles chirurgiens): faire caca faire pipi, le zizi, le bobo, ...

[quote user="paw862"] Les seuls livres que je n'ai pas lu dans la maison sont les histoires d'adolescent de vampire. [/quote] Il y a des mlliers et milliers de livres, tous gratuits: 28.000+ livres @ http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Et peut-être le meilleur site pour les livres en français: http://www.ebooksgratuits.com/ et leur liens aux partenaires sont très bons, surtout Feedbooks. Pour les lire sur l'écran d'un ordinateur, on doit télécharger le Mobipocket Reader (gratuit). C'est beaucoup plus confortable à lire un livre avec Mobipocket que, par exemple, avec Adobe. Alors, tout est gratuit.

Bonjour à (tous et) toutes, Merci beaucoup pour tous les expressions de vos meilleurs sentiments. Je suis en train de me guérir, surtout après quelques jours chez moi. Les interventions chirurgicales ne sont jamais sans risques et la mienne était difficile; 6h en place de 3h et 16 jours dans l'hôpital - 8 en soins intensifs - en place de 5 ou 6. Il me semble que tout va assez bien maintenant même si j'ai quelques soucis (tout à fait normal) en attendant le résultat de la pathologie.

et les boys? Je viens de passer 16 jours (5-6 prévus) dans l'hôpital  mais ils ont laissé échapper le prisonnier même si seulement "en liberté conditionnelle" et je reprends le clavier.

The thread so far (if you want to argue about the phonetics, don't argue with me, take it up with Le Robert & Collins). Incidentally, I never really used the API/IPA phonetics until the beginning of this year when I found that they were an important part of a distance course (AFPA) that I have been working through. Phonetics have helped my pronunciation no end and I strongly recommend the Phonetik software which, with the Alphonetic and AlphoneticGB fonts installed, makes switching back and forth between French and English phonetics a doddle. Ru Républik 'tretHFrFs RéCpèRméabilizé pnE divèR mujiR tiJFl ERo siRk strc: lc: rc: buH bUH séRuRRi bUJwaR pUl pul le dèRnJé RévèRbèR fFJ akFJ ékuRFJ méRi imatRikulasJI pwal - x2