la bezarderie

Assuming that you want to instal a wood burning stove, if you haven't already bought it, you will find all retailers offer an installation service.  We bought ours from Magasin Vert.  Their installer came round to check that the stove we wanted suitable for the room; checked what bits and pieces would be necessary and then arrived a couple of weeks later to do the job. At this time of year there are a lot of promotional offers and a lot of choice available and I think you still pay the 5.5% rate for TVA.

I am becoming more and more interested in finding out what degree of consultation has taken place between member countries of the EU, prior to France adopting these new laws and rules. It's for certain that if the UK was planning something this radical there would have to be a lot of research/consultation done with affected parties and their governments.  I'm never sure if this is done because that is the UK's stance on change or because they have to do it due to EU directives (or think they have to do it because of EU directives. Nonetheless, it would be part of the process. I don't think that any  EU member country wants to be rapped over the knuckles by the Commission or worse still, told to go back to the drawing board. If the research/consultation took place, I would have thought that word would have leaked out well before the announcement so my question is.  Was anyone aware of the potential for change prior to the announcement of a fait accompli?

I had misunderstood re: the E106.  So the problems will start after 2 years if people aren't covered by an E121 or are not fully subscribed into the French system? It would be interesting to know if research was carried out prior to the changes to the law being enacted in order to assess what degree of hardship could occur.  It would also be interesting to know what degree of consultation took place with the DWP in the UK. If the product i.e. comprehensive private health care is not yet available from French insurance/assurance companies and people whose E106's run out soon have to find immediate cover, I would have thought a longer change over period could have been scheduled. Reading through a translation of the EU directive,  it would seem that people who don't manage to find cover, could be asked to leave France. I would welcome clarification on the last point from someone who knows more than I do.

I was under the impression that new arrivals to France, intending to stay for longer than three months, will need 100% private health cover.  Have I misunderstood what is being said?

I am confused by one aspect of these changes and don't think I have seen reference to it anywhere. On what grounds have the French government decided that an E106 issued by the UK government is no longer acceptable in France and how do they justify this decision? I have no idea what the answer is but I think we should be told.   Lin Norton

We're off to a soriee repas et dansant at the sallle de fete.  If it follows the usual riotous form, the roof would have to come off before anyone took much notice.  A powercut might calm it down a bit if it messes up le disco.

Thank you very muchh for that, most helpful.  I've been ploughing through the Health forum entries this morning and there are some very interesting cases on there, that are similar to ours. I'll look at frenchentree as well.

Could I ask you to clarify please?  Not entitled to what? 

Despite several hours surfing, I can't quite work out how to obtain a carte vitale for my husband.  He has been offered some work on the cheque emploi basis but because all  our work has been carried out in the UK during the last two years I'm not certain where to start getting him into the French system.  I think it's probably through the E106 form but would appreciate any advice that's going.

Yolu so don't understand the turkey cooking thing. It should be as follows. 1. Buy cooking sherry for trifle.  Open. Err. That's it.  

Anglo-Normande may or may not be the source of rumour and mis-information (I personally haven't found it to be so) but in this particular instance there's no getting away from the fact that we heard it there first and it was confirmed to me by BF Poole this morning.

With further reference to your slightly supercilious posting Will, come on, do admit, did you know that BF were selling the Val de Loire?

I don't think it's such old news Will.  BF took my sons' money 2 weeks ago for an afternoon crossing Cherbourg-Portsmouth on the 29th December but when I picked up a new timetable on the Val de Loire last week, it showed no crossings at all on that route from early December onwards.

I find my Livret account with the Post Office is fine.  There don't appear to be any charges, it pays some interest and setting up direct debits is a piece of cake.  I can transfer money into it from with the UK without difficulty.

Bad but not unexpected news on the Anglo-Info site.  BF will reduce sailings on Cherbourg-Portsmouth route next month and will only be running fastcats next summer. I did wonder why a timetable I picked up on the boat last week didn't show any sailings after the middle of December. I spent 5 hours on the Val de Loire on Sunday idly trying to tot up just how much money the route must be losing.  The answer was obviously "too much."