Hereford

Thanks! We rather thought that ourselves but wanted someone else's opinion. H.

When we bought a "new" car we arranged the insurance in advance, then had to go to the garage and telephone the insurance agent with the (temporary) number plate details and the cover note (green slip) was faxed to the garage. Once the permanent number came through we had to get the insurance certificate amended.  Quite a palaver all round. H.

Hi Catalpa If there are 11 vacancies then presumably there will be lots of slips to pick up on Sunday.  I think the problem of the THT line going through the village (300 m from us..) may be putting  people off from standing.  Our Mayor is standing down and we suspect this is because of a few of us making a fuss after a very poor presentation by RTE.  We would like to know the thoughts on those standing regarding this, but it looks as though we will not know before Sunday. Thanks Mrs H

In a new twist to this original question we have been told the following with regard to the roofer concerned: He is "registered" and legal in the UK.  It is suggested that he is able to work in France legally using his UK business so long as he does not work here for "more than 182 days" We have never heard this as an argument before - surely nearly all the various English artisans could try that one. Has anyone else heard of this?  His website says "based in ......"(a French dept.) We emailed to ask for a devis with a siret number/confirmation of French insurance a week ago and have heard nothing directly from him. H.

OK Catalpa, mostly got that!  Our commune has about 150 able to vote (including us).  We have received one list with two names on it, that is all. We know from the local paper that one other person is standing but have heard nothing from/about her.  We have no idea how many vacancies there are.  Our mayor is not standing for re-election - possibly the one list we have is "his"?? Questions: 1.  Apart from the obvious one of asking, how do we know how many vacancies there are? 2.  Do we understand it correctly that you just put the list/slip in the official envelope with no cross in any box?  In other words so long as the name is not crossed off you are voting for them? We would like to look as if we know what we are doing on Sunday.  Thanks Mrs H

We were trying not to pre-judge but his invoice does not show a siret number.  We asked him to do a small emergency repair, and no we did not ask to see his insurance etc, (do people really do this) but assumed all was well as he advertises in the local builders merchants.  We made the cheque out to his trading name when we paid. In any case we have not named him here and as we do not show where we are in France it would be difficult for anyone to identify him. We intend now to ask him whether or not he is regeistered. We had just thought (and that is why we posted this query) that we could find out independently, having had him do a small job without asking.  The job was not for us but a neigbour who is non-resident.  We are upset that we may (and I stress may) have used an unregistered person. H.

Thanks to all of you. This roofer does not appear on any list on the sites mentioned. We will tackle him. What a silly man. H.

Thanks for these two replies.  The first one we found difficult to follow - it wanted just one piece of info not several bits and it did not recognise the name.  It only came up with two roofers in the whole of our department when searching for a "couvreur".  The second one has no business with the name we have (nor the "English" trading name!) Do these two sites purport to cover every registered business?  It looks as if we shall have to tackle the young man!  Thanks again H.

We know that given a Siret number it is possible to check the registration, but can you do the reverse - i.e. look up a name and see if the business is registered? We asked a roofer to do an emergency roof repair for a non-resident neighbour - we found the roofer from his card stuck up at a big local DIY store.  Given where we found the name it did not occur to us that he might not be registered.  However we now have the bill for the work and no siret number appears.  We would like some work done on our own roof and had hoped to use him as he was most efficient.  However we are not prepared to use un-registered labour.  At this point we are unwilling to tackle him and ask - we may needlessly upset him!  Can we check ourselves? His bill shows both a UK and a French address, and his vehicles are still UK registered but we do know that he lives in France as he told us he has a child at school here. Are we naive in thinking that no-one would be so stupid as to advertise in a big DIY store if they were not legal!!? H.

Thanks for such a speedy answer. I will ask her how she entered it on her tax form! Mrs H

We have a friend who is on long term invalidity benefit, and therefore has an E121. She has Parkinsons disease so the benefit will be long term. She is well under 60. She has been charged Social Contributions in France on the amount of this benefit.  We do not think this is correct. Can someone advise please from personal experience?  If she should not pay, we wonder whether she put the amount in the wrong box on the tax return.  Can someone advise on correct box please?  If she goes to the tax office (again!) to explain: what is the French term for "invalidity benefit" ? many thanks, Mrs. H

We got a Carrefour visa credit card quite easily and it also provides free holiday health cover.  I think we pay €25 a year. We had to produce our tax statement and usual other docs. We put that we were "retired" on the form and were telephoned to ask our professions before retirement.  As we are both Chartered Accountants there was no problem apparently! Cards arrived soon after! We put all our weekly shopping on it and get good discounts. You can pay monthly in full (which we do) or it can be used like a budget account.  We have used the card to book plane tickets etc with no problem as it is a "visa" card. H.

Why do you think it will attract 22% tax in the UK?  Normal pension Fund cash payouts (e.g. 25% of fund on post 1988 policies) are tax free in the UK. As we understand it (but no proof) the sum would be taxable in France.  We got over this by taking a bigger pension and no lump sum on a small fund. I am sure someone who lives in France and has taken their lump sum will know the answer - just supposing they told the French authorities...(Yes I am cynical) H.

My Dad  exchanged his UK licence for a French one when he was 80 years old (so he had already had to renew in the UK more than once). There was no problem or query and there does not seem to be an expiry date.  Indeed that is why he changed it! This was about 4 years ago and the exchange was free.  You will be told that you "do not need" to exchange it, just say it is "more convenient" to have a French one.  You may feel it necessary to check if rules on expiry have changed. hope this helps Mrs H,

We saw the "parliamentary assistant" to our Deputé yesterday as planned.  The emails setting up the appointment did not say that we would see an assistant but perhaps that is what happens here and our Deputé is very busy. She was quite sympathetic about our environmental objections but did say, as expected, that the line was needed and that EDF say they will decide on the "least worst" route.  She also said that she has no idea when the final route will be settled! We tried to press her (i.e. 3 months, 6 months, a year) but we just got shrugs... We do not feel that we gained much but at least we have tried.  Our neighbour is investigating a petition direct to the European Court on the basis that a proper environmental study has not been done. An MEP in London has suggested this could be done. We hope people will keep this posting going so that we all keep up to date. H.

Hi Catalpa (hope you are well too!) Our neighbour is English and a Civil Engineer and has suggested several options to improve the line thru here. Even saying he would pay for landscaping and buy/give the land to allow a short section underground.  RTE were unhelpful and are adamant the line will go between his house and ours! Will post again tomorrow when we have seen the Deputé. H.

To bring this subject back to the top:  A neighbour of ours had a meeting with our Mayor and a rep from RTE on Saturday and was told that the "preferred" route is going ahead.  We have also had a letter from some organisation saying that we will be visited to complete a questionnaire as we are in the 300 metre band from the line. We have an appointment to see Mr G Huet (our Deputé) tomorrow so may learn more then.  We had not heard that the route was finalised but it seems it has been. More later. Hereford

Have sent you an email with contact details.  H.

Sorry, obviously asleep this morning. H.

Sorry, can't seem to find how to email you! There is a gite near us that could well be available to rent for the winter. It is detached, small but warm. It is in the triangle between Avranches/Mortain/St Hilaire (normandy but Brittany not far away!) I will email the owner and ask for you.  They have often had winter lets but do not have one yet this year. H.

We have had French EHIC cards for a couple of years. They only run for a year at a time so if you renew in September 2007 it will run out in 2008. Nothing to do with current possible changes. H.

Thank you for this info.  I will check the yellow pages again. H.

Thanks for that suggestion. The picture in the caralogue certainly looks attractive,  We had hoped to find someone or a shop that would make proper loose covers to include seat cushions, rather than just something that "covers up" what is already there. H.

I have posted a message re this on our "section" of France below but no respone. Does anyone know where/how one gets loose covers (for a small sofa) made in France please.  We cannot work out a "heading" in the Yellow pages. We are in Normandy. Many thanks H.

Has anyone had loose covers made for a sofa here in France?  We are in the Mortain/St Hilaire/Avranches triangle and would be very glad of a recommendation or even the name of a shop or artisan that does this work.  We can find nothing in the Yellow Pages - although it is possible that we have not hit on the right heading yet! Thanks in advance H.