Mjc

Two separate questions. We have had a salt water pool for about five years. Unfortunately, the cell has recently gone belly up and the cost of a replacement, with carriage, from Australia is quite high. Does anyone know whether a cell from any other manufacturer might be used instead or are the cells and the chlorinator an inseparable pair? Does anyone have any experience of, or comments on, the Floatron pool cleaner? We have recently acquired one, which we are using whilst trying to sort out the above problem, but so far, it does not seem to be keeping the pool as clear as claimed.

This question has probably been raised before, but I haven't been able to find it. Are the taxes d'habitation and fonciere paid in advance or in arrears? Having just received both dated 2004, do they relate to this year or to next year?  

This company seems to offer ver good health protection compared with other top ups. Has anyone had any experience, good or bad, with them.

Bear with me as a new "convert" to satellite TV. Whenever we get medium to heavy rain, we lose picture and sound - or rather, we sometimes have an unwatchable fragmented and jerky picture. Is this always the case with satellite, or is it a badly aligned dish/LNB? Can anything be done to correct, or at least, improve the reception during rain? If not, is this not a great weakness od digital/satellite TV?

I have found recently that when I visit certain web sites, for example eBay, I am unable to read the narrative, as this appears as absolute garbage, comprised of a whole range of characters which look like a mixture of Greek and Russian letters. Yet if I copy and paste into another application the narrative is displayed perfectly normally. Can anyone throw any light on this problem - and how can I cure it? Thanks in advance.

Have you tried anyone from the Cheque Emploi scheme? We have "found" an excellent gardener, who lives at Jonzac, and who charges 10 euros an hour - half of which is allowable against your next year's tax bill. If you do not know the scheme, and/or would like to be put in touch with "our" gardener, send me a message and I'll let you have further information. [email protected]

One of my email addresses is with laposte.net. During the past few weeks, many, but not all, of my sent emails are returned with a message saying that they are unauthorised and therefore refused. In the past week, when trying to download mail, the connection is constantly cut, with no obvious explanation. Does anyone else have similar problems with laposte? I have emailed them three times asking for an explanation, and despite an automatically generated reply promising a 24 hour answer, I have received nothing.

I have just noted in another thread, the recommendation from guyk, that it is not worth updating to XP, and I wonder why? I have just about saved up enough pennies to upgrade or replace my creaking PC hardware, currently on Windows 98, and have been recommended by others more knowledgeable than I (easy!)to get the smallest possible PC configuration capable of running XP home edition. Now I am confused. I am a light user of the PC, and right now have only used 2Gb of my hard disc, but I would like it to "go faster" (we are not able to get broadband) both off line and on line, and not to "fall over" as often as it is now doing. To XP or not to XP that is the question? If not, then what?

You can buy them online from the UK. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact address, but if you Google search for "diamond edge" you should find them. I seem to remember that they were at Brighton. Good hunting.

On a standard PC (Windows 98), is there any program which:- a)Can compare the contents of one file with another and report if there are differences? b) Can compare a list of files in one folder/directory with those in another directory and report any differences?

LAST EDITED ON 12-Mar-04 AT 05:15 PM (GMT) I cannot answer your specific question, butI am interested in your comment that the UK pays 2500 annually as a contribution towards the E121. Can you tell me where you found this information please? For a long time, I have been querying the legality of the French tax authorities charging UK pensioners 10% each year against income for the CRDS, CSG and Prelevemnt Sociale. The following is a recent reply which I received from the British Embassy in Paris, when I raised the query with them. "We understand the position to be as follows: Any British citizen who retires to France and who is in receipt of a UK pension (because they have fully contributed to the UK social security system throughout their working life) does not have to pay French social security contibutions because of the agreements in place, on this matter, between member countries of the European Economic area." So you will see that your observation about the 2500, if substantiated, will go a long way to helping the argument.

We are in southern Spain until end January, and have brought our Digibox and card with us. There is an existing Digibox with a free to air card which works perfectly, but when we replace it with ours, we get "No satellite signal being received". All the settings seem to be the same, so cannot work out whats wrong. A local expert(?) suggests that our Grundig is older than the installed Grundig and is less powerful. Is he right? Is there anything else one can try? From sunny Spain, I wish you all a happy Christmas.

This request is on behalf of a friend. She has XP but cannot find Windows Explorer. Should be easy, shouldn't it? Can anyone please tell us where it is?

Is there anyone out there who can prevent a couple getting divorced? My wife tells me that I snore, and my suggestion that she should sleep in the garage has not been too welcome. Has anyone come across a cure - or even those things which you can stick on your nose at night, which I have not seen in France (except worn by some athletes). Are they available here?

Paypal, which was used for paying for items bought through on line auctions was taken over last year by eBay. I think I am right in saying that it is now used only on eBay.

You may find that the British Consulate in Bordeaux will have the necessary information. You wouldn't like to come and work in our region would you?

The advice which we received from our Mairie some years back was that this tax is payable if the house is "in a livable state". So that if it is "finished and furnished", then tax is payable by the tenant resident on 1st January, or by the owner if unoccupied on that date.

as >I don't speak French You need only four words. Ouvrez Fermez Crachez Aieeeeeeeeee!

Your offer of free financial offshore advice is very generous. I shall spend the next few weeks trying to remember all the offshore questions I have had in the past and then bombard you with them later. Thanks in advance.

I believe my following answer to be correct, but others will update me if I am wrong. Taxe d'habitation is payable by the person living in the property on 1st January each year, so you will have nothing to pay in 2002 as you only became "resident" after that date. I think the same also applies to taxe fonceiere. As for you UK paid tax, this is a little trickier. You will be taxable on your income in your country of domicile, which means (roughly) the country in which you have your main residence. If you are going to spend your time 50/50 in UK/France, make sure that it is nearer 51/49 in favour of the country where you would prefer to be taxed, since it would then be easier to claim that as you domicile - but not definitively! Good luck.

Thought you might be ineterested in the following recent article. Reproduced without comment. Britons pay more tax than almost anybody else in Europe, and save the least, research by The MarketPlace at Bradford & Bingley claimed today. The study, which compared taxation in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, found that Britons lose 29% of their total income to tax, second only to Germany, where the tax man takes 30%. At the bottom of the scale, the French lose just 22% of their total earnings to tax, while in Spain they part with 23%, and in Italy 27%. Ian Darby of The MarketPlace said: "This means the average UK household has to work from January 1 to April 15 to pay their gross income tax bill. In France, households have fulfilled their tax obligations almost four weeks earlier, on March 22." Income and wealth tax, such as capital gains tax, takes up 13% of Britons gross pay, compared with 15% in France and just 7% in Spain. Social contributions, such as national insurance, account for a further 16% of Britons' incomes, less than the 20% German's contribute, but more than double France's 7%. Yet despite the relatively high tax burden Britons still have a higher level of disposable income in terms of cash, because average income per household is higher in the UK. Britons have an average annual income per household of 35,917, which gives a disposable income of 24,407 after tax and other transfers such as life insurance premiums. The sterling equivalent of average total household income per household in Italy is 24,111, which leaves 17,051 after tax. However, Italians still manage to save more than 10% of their disposable income, compared with Britons who set aside just 5%. In percentage terms, Britons are saving less than any of the countries in the study, with the French saving 15.8% of their take home pay - nearly three times more than the British - and the Germans putting aside 15.1%, while the Spanish manage 11.6%. Mr Darby said: "With the debate on UK pension funds continuing, British workers are being encouraged to put away a lot more than they'd expected for retirement. If our tax bill is increased this year it may put added strain on our ability to save for our future." Another reason why workers in other countries are able to save more could be the comparatively lower cost of living on the Continent. According to the research, which was carried out for The MarketPlace by the Centre for Economic and Business Research, the cost of living in Spain is 26% lower than in the UK, while in Italy it is 23% less. The study also found that Britons are having to work longer for their money than their European counterparts, with people in the UK averaging a 8.7 hour day, an hour more than the average Italian works. Workers in the UK also have fewer days off, with the employees getting an average of just 28 days holiday a year, compared with 47 days in France and 46 in Spain.

Go to any post office. I think that all can help you open an account, even the post offices in the smallest of villages.

I believe that this subject has been raised before, but if not, the following may help. For various historic reasons, my wife and I now have a number of debit and credit cards issued in the UK (we have just been remiss in not cancelling the unwanted ones). However, we recently carried out an experiment by drawing the same amount of euros from French cash points on the same day, to see which gave us the best exchange rate. To our surprise, our Nationwide B.S. Visa DEBIT card gave us 1.585, and was far and away the best, whilst the worst were Nat West Master card and Royal Bank of Scotland Maestro/Cirrus card, which gave us 1.51 approx. Since the latter two also charge 1.5% cash handling fee, whilst Nationwide Visa is "free", the difference is greater. So we then used the Nationwide and Mastercard each to buy an identically priced item, and found, once again, that the exchange rates were broadly similar as for cash withdrawals. Obviously, there is potentially a slight loss of interest by using a debit card, but for the amounts in question, the difference is negligable. I wonder if anyone else has found one type of card to be preferable to others for both cash withdrawals and purchases.

Once you are in the French health system, a percentage of your medical costs will be refunded - the balance, if you are wise, being covered by a top up medical insurance. The percentage is not fixed, but varies according to type of medication, treatment, etc. In the case of chronic illness, costs will frequently be re-imbursed 100%. Wait until you are in the French system, and then apply. I have certain medicaments for a long term condition, but did not know, at first, about this 100% scheme. My doctor told me and she wrote a letter on my behalf to the health authorities, following which repayments were back dated to the 1st of that year and until 2039 (by which time I shall be 105!). Good luck.

Please excuse this reply coming from a mere male, but when I recently asked my GP the same question on behalf of my wife, I was surprised to find that the French health service does not have a screening programme. In order to have a smear test or a mammogram, you need to visit your GP, who will then write a prescription for you to go to the nearest establishment where these tests are performed. In my wife's case, it would have meant two separate appointments as they are not under the same roof. No problem in having the tests, but just a long winded way compared with UK. Good luck. NB. I think the tests would be chargeable, like any other French medical rendezvous, but I am not sure if a % is recoverable from the state or your insurance.