Llantony

It appears the person who first dealt with our case messed up! They should have given us a car... Tho when I phoned 3 days later I was still told we couldn't have a car locally. May not be worth it now as ours will be repaired some time and a kind friend has lent us one for the return triip to get our son to the airport.

We had a crunch when our car slid on ice (thankfully no injuries). The recovery people don't take you home, just to their garage. We phoned assistance again and eventually were got home by taxi, train, taxi. Now stuck with no car and our damaged one at least 2 hours drive away. The insurance agent said it's for us to sort... We can have a replacement car from the garage where our's is waiting for the assessor, but that means getting there - or pay for a hire care ourselves. Friends say when they had an accident a car was brought to their house, and later their vehicle returned to their home. Perhaps we need to change our insurance company - but of course can't do that for another year!

I agree about the French.. We just had an accident and I had to do all the phoning and sort out the assistance to get us home. I don't know what my husband would have done as he can't understand French on the phone. I am nervous of driving on motorways and haven't driven much at all in France but a friend said when we got here 'Don't stop driving, I know of so many women who've been widowed, or have seriously ill husbands and who are stranded as they don't drive'.

We are in Quercy and for the moment the fish and chips are available once a week 6-9pm in Lauzerte, Montaigu de Quercy and Montcuq on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I think you have to be brought up on Marmite to appreciate it - I wasn't. But pickeled eggs....

It's actually very good: chips they make themselves, not frozen, nice cod. Also Pukka pies, sausages, mushy peas (yuk!), pickled onions, cheeseburgers and canned drinks. I'll suggest Vimto! I know one can get fish in France! But sometimes it's good to have British style takeaway fishnchips for a treat. It should go well at the Marche Gourmand as the food last year was poor quality and not cheap e.g. chicken and nasty 'chips' 10 euros. Most people, especially the French, left it. I know as I helped to clear up.

We can now get real fish and chips once a week in our area. I wonder how popular it will be?

There a quite a few French electricians in my area (south of the Dordogne).  One has just started a burger van as business is poor. (Fewer foreigners buying and renovating.)  I suspect you need to have your qualifications accepted in France in order to work legally.  Other people know much more, but be prepared to struggle with bureaucracy - especially if your French is not good.    Don't forget you'll have to pay for healthcare and the cost of living is high, especially for people living on UK income/savings.  Apologies if you know all this already. Good luck!

Interesting!  I'm about to book.    I was thinking of checking whether the £ price differs from the euro one.  It would be obvious we live in France from the crossing dates but would anyone check?  It might be better to book crossings separately.  It's very expensive with trailer anyway.  Also we are taking the dog so I hope the one way charge is correct. I have a credit and debit card with UK address.  You have to give an address that corresponds with the one your card is registered at, so there would be a check - maybe automatically at your card issuer.

I think the tunnel better for pets, and quicker too.(Unfortunately more expensive, especially with our trailer.) We stopped en route as felt it too far to drive in one day.  Stopped at  Ibis and the cat was quite happy in the room.  Ibis had a little space outside the bathroom just right for the litter tray!  Now have a very nervous rescued dog and so will do the same when we visit UK soon.  The French customs didn't even stop us - after we went to the trouble of getting the cat a passport.  

Sounds a daft question:are these the same thing?  I ask because after paying for the carte grise we were told it would arrive in 12 days. The Certificat d'Immatriculation arrived very quickly but when I went to my insurance agent, she said to wait for the carte grise.  After a few weeks I phoned the prefecture and was told there was a 2 month wait.  That was 10 weeks ago.  Our cheque for 200 euros has not been cashed. Looking at the thing we received, it has all the info we'd expect on a log book, so is it actually the carte grise? It is sort of greyish!  In which case, we have been worrying about nothing.

Check they aren't charging you for insurance you didn't ask for - they did that to us!

Sounds a daft question, is there an standard measurement of the space between worktops and wall cupboards?  We are about to install an Ikea kitchen and realise we don't know.  Obviously we need to be able to work without bumping our heads, but the ceiling is low.  There is also the question of being able to reach the upper shelves of cupboards.

Yes, I know this isn't the right place but I can't see anywhere else on the forum and maybe some of you clever people can help!  I've been entering a list of books into a table/database in Word.  I can't find how to make automatic page breaks.  As I add books, and sort in author order, of course the pages change so manual page breaks are no help.  When I had fewer pages I copied the table and put in manual page breaks with a big margin at the bottom but it still didn't print the last line. I can't find anything in on-screen help, nor in a large book on Word.  I just want it to automatically break at the end of each page so I can print out the whole list!  I know it's possible because there was a similar database where I once worked. Please don't tell me to put it into Excel!  Things get lost in translation and Word is v simple.

Some of were around when the Woodstock festival happened 40 years ago!  To commemorate the 40th anniversary, there will be a free rock festival on Saturday 8th August from 1500-3.00am. One group will sing the songs from Woodstock. Lots of groups, camping free, beer and food available. 

72 euros a year sounds quite a lot!  When we still lived in the UK we got statements and a cheque book.  We were charged around 4 euros a month which we assumed was a charge for a foreigner's account. After 5 years a French friend said we shouldn't pay charges and I discovered it was for insurance - which we had never asked for, didn't need and would have refused if offered!  There was no apology and when I wrote to complain it took a month to get a bland reply ignoring all the points I had made. We now live in France and do not pay charges as we don't have a bank card.  Most bills are paid by cheque and we withdraw cash and pay in shops with our Nationwide debit card.  We thought of changing to La Poste but the queues there are always long and very slow moving.  

'Our CA (Nord Midi Pyrenees) has been cash-less for over a year now.  To deposit cash, I have to put the money into an envelope, fill in the details, and deposit it in a hole in the wall type machine.' Does that make it cashless?  Our local CA has got rid of the counter and wants everyone to use machines. I have always withdrawn money from the ATM and paid it in to cover expenses.  I don't need or want to pay for a CA bank card.  I transferred money from Nationwide a few months ago and when I want to withdraw some, they give put a temporary card into the ATM for me. JR - I didn't realise CA charges for checking the account online.  Where does it say that?  

One would have liked it to be true but what has it to do with money saving ex-pat? 

...and let it all hang out.

Well, maybe the rules have changed, but we first booked a CT at our local centre and he asked for a CoC  too (in the end we didn't use him) so this is the 2nd one who asked for the CoC before doing a Controle Technique.  He did say some rules changed 3 weeks ago - which is why we have to find the horsepower- and what a palaver that was! The garage man who does repairs etc. is of course independent, in a different village too, and has no reason to lie.  He seems very pleasant and obliging and is reasonably priced.  Anyway, all is well as our cert is acceptable.   So long as the car passes OK, or at least has no major problems, we will at last be on the way to get our new numberplates.

No, we don't all live in modern houses but strangely enough, some of us can 't afford antique furniture.  Our small house is at least 600 yrs old and we are unlikely to find appropriate furniture for its age.  We also want a few mod cons like a computer and a fridge and hot water !  It was a holiday home first and we found Ikea stuff was reasonably priced, fair quality and much more our style than the very fussy stuff you can find in many French shops. By the way, the prices in UK and France were similar a few years ago - remember the pound has fallen a lot so of course most thing in France seem dear to people with income in sterling (especially when it's a modest pension).

We got a C of C from Citroen UK.  When we went to make an appointment for the Controle Technique, we were told a European C of C was acceptable in all countries except France!  Checked with our garage man who agreed.  He says that even tho it's a French car, those made for export are made to a lower standard than those for the French market.  He thinks the standards were put in place to stop lots of foreign imports (and keep prices high in France). We were right p'd off as paid £94 for C of C and faced paying 135 euros for same from Citroen France.  Went back to CT with our cert which is actually signed by a French person in Paris and has all the info required.  It was grudgingly accepted, except we need to phone Citroen to find out whether the car is 5 or 6 chevaux. Seems daft as all models must be the same. Just thought I'd mention this in case anyone else comes across the same problem!  

Yes, we will use the Tunnel as we have a very nervous little rescued dog and she panics and barks non-stop when left in the car; apart that I'd hate leave her on the car-deck. We had thought of getting B & B near Dover, but the French chain ones are very cheap and have no problem with dogs and cats whereas UK places don't usually allow pets.  Have you found a good one?  The other reason we stop at Calais is then we don't find ourselves either rushing to catch the crossing or arriving far too early and having a long wait or paying more.

"You're a bit late - the cut-off date for submitting your tax declaration was Friday....." I know, but we went to the tax office last week and they said no problem, made us an appointment for next week - but we want to complete the forms and take them along just to check we've done it right.    

'You would think it would be easy for the french authorities to check that all foreigners who are in the health system are actually registered for tax.  If it's all on computer a simple query would produce the sinners list.  Cracking down on these infringements and others such as cars not reged correctly just doesn't seem to be the french way.' I just noticed this on another Finance thread: 'It may have slipped your notice that the financial and health care systems are linked and have been for some time, the Impots know exactly how your healthcare is provided and who by.'  So yes, they don't bother to cross-check - yet!

Determined to get to grips with first tax return! (see other posting 'I wish I hadn't started') so checked the helpful FAQs on this forum.  It says we need forms: 2042, 2047 and 3916  but Connexions says the first 2 plus 2042C.  Tax office only gave me the first 2 which I've now downloaded to re-do.  So which is it? Also the FAQ link to how to find your tax office just leads to Google home page.