Llantony

'Did you swim then?' I thought the OP couldn't produce evidence of trips to UK because he hadn't made them.  He said he'd been in France for several months but thought of it as a working holiday.

As our income (tiny NI pension for me and modest teacher's one for OH) is paid into Nationwide, I use their card for shopping and withdrawing cash.  I resent having to pay CA just to get a card to withdraw my own money. We have being paying a monthly charge to CA, assuming it was a bank charge.  We explained when we opened our foreigner's account that we only wanted it for a cheque book to pay bills: edf, tax, SAUR and house insurance.  I paid cash in when we were in France to cover these bills. This year a French friend said the charge was a bit steep and went with me to ask.  It turns out this was insurance in case we lost our cheque book!  The woman at the bank was entirely unsympathetic and just said 'you should have asked'.  It did not occur to me to ask because: we had not requested insurance, had not been asked if we wanted it. (would have said 'no'), did not know such an insurance existed and didn't need it!  Feel conned.  French friend was horrifed, suggested attitude unhelpful, no response, so emerged into bank complaining loudly so all the customers could hear.I wrote to CA and after 2 weeks they replied saying they'd received my letter. Trouble is, it's the only bank in the village.  

not quite relevant, but with the euro doing so well compared to the pound, would it make sense to have a euro savings account?  I know nothing about French savings accounts but, having just retired and having a bit of money for the first time - which will have to last the rest of our lives as pension v small - I wondered.

Don't worry moho, I'll pm you with the rundown on the personalities on the Forum, who to avoid, who to wind up, how to place a landmine etc. Me too!

]Someone told me that Johnny Depp has a home at Ill de Re near La Rochelle. Not sure how true this is. Anyone know of any other celebs who have homes in France ? Well, define celebrity!   Richard & Judy have a place at St Paul de Vence nr Nice, Wogan is said to have somewhere in the Gers.  There's been a lot of guff about Angelina Joli (I think) living in France and recently producing twins.  Chef Ken Hom had a place in France a while ago.  Jarvis Cocker lives in Paris.  There must be loads on the Riviera - I know some Rolling Stones had places there years ago.

We've had a quote from an electrician for updating our system in our small 2 bed house as we want an electric cooker and lots more sockets and storage heaters.    He saw the ugly old brick storage heaters we'd brought from the UK and said he could put in new ones with 'liquide' instead, which would be more attractive. and nowhere near as heavy (And looking at a previous thread, those might not be legal anyway...) The devis arrived, 6321 euros, including quoting for three 1000 watt heaters in the living/dining room (where we plan to have a woodburning stove as well) at 442.25 euros each, before tax , and 3 more upstairs, plus a 750 watt for the bathroom at 55.40.  I don't understand the huge difference in price between 750 and 1000.  Also, these are 'radiateurs a fluide coloporteur' - (caloporteur?).  OH thinks these might be, not storage heaters, but more sophisticated electric ones that adjust to the surrounding temperatures, and are very economical with electricity. Does anyone know anything?  I can phone the electrician but my technical knowledge is not good and I don't know if these prices are reasonable or too high so we could buy heaters cheaper elsewhere.

Thanks for that, I think I got us onto Liste Rouge, did the password etc

'We have knocked two rooms through to make a large kitchen, meaning we now have one less bedroom.....does this mean that our tax will go down?' I never thought about it, we have a very small house but decided to install a 2nd loo in our downstairs 'cave' while redoing the bathroom.  Seems very unhygenic to have a loo and no basin!  I wonder if knocking down walls, as we have done, would balance out the extra loo for tax purposes?  

Rumour has it that David Bowie has a place in France.  Anyone know where?  (Just nosey, not planning to pop round.) I gather he once had a chateau that Chopin had lived in but I think that one's a hotel now.

There is no difference. Both of them are very vulgar. Hyacinth Bucket   And horribly sexist!

'No I wouldnt Sweet 17 and in any case I dont think single sex marriages are allowed in France!' I think there is an equivalent of the UK civil ceremony - and why not? But how terrible that those children could be 'too French'.  In general French children seem more appealing than British ones.

Thanks for the replies.  I could try my 6 words of Welsh!  But I'd rather not get the nuisance calls at all.  When the phone rings I like it to be someone who is known to me.  We have a hyphenated name which we don't usually use and when we got sales calls in the UK people would say is that Mrs H and I'd say 'no' as we use the 2nd name only.  That would confuse them and they'd go away.  A friend said in the UK they are supposed to ask if it's convenient to talk, he'd remind them of that, then they'd ask and he'd say 'no'';  'when would it be convenient to call?'  'Never!'

The day after our France Telecom phone line was installed we got a call asking if we want Neuf internet, the next day it was cheap electricity.  A French friend told me you have to pay so as not to have your number given out; we were not offered the choice. Don't they have Data Protection law in France? We were ex directory in the UK and I hate these calls. My husband can't understand what they are saying, he speaks some French but not on the phone, and doesn't know whether they are cold callers or something important.  I asked one frozen food supplier where he got my number and he said he didn't know.    

Excellent, thanks for replies.  BricoDepot have something called Primaire d'Accrochage - is that the same sort of stuff?

We are tiling our bathroom - on plasterboard walls and tiled floor - and have been told we first need to apply something that sounds like 'accrocheur',  a brand name is hibotaque for walls and hiboprime for floor (spelling unknown as French handyman didn't have his glasses on to check).  This is to make sure tiles don't fall off wall and the floor ones don't 'claque' on the existing one. OH says we'd normally use PVA.  Is it the same thing? Do they have this in France and if so what is it called?

We are re-doing our bathroom at last and previously had an electric heater on the wall.  We have just been told that a heater needs to be at least a metre from water but as we'll now have something in each corner - bath, loo, basin and shower - there isn't anywhere to put the heater that would conform.  We don't want to be electrocuted, or break regulations.  Any suggestions? (I did mention there used to be ceiling light + heaters but as the French guy who is going to help pointed out, heat rises so that wouldn't be very efficient.)

Amazing!  We've been coming to our house in France for 5 years.  A week after we moved in permanently, a kitten walked in and made himself at home.  No response to a notice in the vet's and no-one asking after him tho he's obviously been a pet.  Couldn't chuck him back on the street, so he's ours now. Now when we go back to UK to fetch our cat, we may have to put this one in a cattery.  We do plan to get him neutered, but what other requirements would we need to put him in a cattery?

I saw something jump from next doors roof up to our garden.  A friend said could be a loir, a roof rat.  My dictionary said edible dormouse.  Didn't notice a bushy tail tho.

When I write a message, below the box I write in, there is a box which says 'Email me replies to this post' and it's ticked. So I delete the tick if I don't want to get an email everyone someone else posts a message on that topic.   Usually this means I don't get the emails.  This time I do!  Including my post complaining about it! As I was writing this message, the tick kept appearing and disappearing - I've never noticed that before.  But anyway, I untick the box after writing a message. In fact, I posted this message and when I clicked on 'edit' the box was ticked again, even tho I had unticked it...  twice, as I noticed a typo and went in to change it.  

Why oh why do I keep getting emails about this topic in my in box when I have unticked the box that says 'email me replies to this post'? I keep thinking I'm getting emails from people I want to hear from and it's this wretched thread again - in which I have now lost interest!

I don't eat meat but I sometimes give in and eat fish as otherwise it would be hard to eat in many French cafes.  They usually try to be helpful if you ask.  They do often put ham in things. This story does sound a bit of an exaggeration!  They could eat pasta, omelettes, pizzas (ready made), veggies stews etc.  If they haven't got a cooker there's always salad and sandwiches.  It can be hard not eating meat in France.  I had a problem in our local restaurant whereby the manager insisted frogs' legs aren't meat.  Maybe true, but I like frogs and don't want to eat them.  I don't drink coffee either - but I am partial to wine so not completely a lost cause.  

Thanks Checking online, they are advertised by Argos, Currys and Comet but we haven't actually bought one yet.

So, to get UK TV in France, do we just need a Freesat box, bought in the UK plus a satelite dish? We don't want Sky, just the main channels we currently get with our Freeview box? (Which I gather won't work in France.) Sorry if repeating but I can't find my way through all the refs that come up on a search.  

I've had no probs with CA which is the only bank in my local village. It's a foreigners' account and costs 4.5 euros per month.  Could I get cheaper?  I've been paying cash in when in France to cover EDF, Saur, tax etc. I  was not impressed by Britline, who kept addressing me as Mr in spite of my female name and me telling them off.  Also they sent poorly photocopied info with bits missing. Has anyone tried the HSBC international account that they are trying to sell to my husband? (I thought I'd posted a similar item a few days ago but it doesn't seem to have appeared, so apologies if I'm repeating myself.)

There is a socket  but we've never tried plugging a phone in as we haven't yet bought one in France.  Didn't seem worth getting a landline when we were there for a max of 3 weeks at a time, we have a mobile for urgent calls and the public phone is 1 minute away. We currently use Skype in the UK and put in £5 ages ago and still have £4.00+ so I don't understand why we would pay 30 euros a month.  We will have to pay for internet access and will use email or Messenger to keep in touch with friends.