Mjc

Is Saintes (17) too far? I believe that there is a chropractor there to whom a friend used to go. If Saintes is OK I will try to get details. From a fellow back sufferer (disc removed in 1984 with huge improvement).

Excellent idea, but who is going to come from Nice to collect my wardrobe in Charente Maritime? Seriously though, if properly thought out, this is a good idea...but why is there not a "paid for" classified section on the forum - it would provide more income for Living France.

That is correct. You will be re-imbursed 100% for a chronic condition, but not for any other. After all, if you have a chronic condition and then get 'flu, why should the state pay for the 'flu treatment? I have just been advised that "my" chronic condition will be re-imbursed 100%, but that cover will expire in the year 2039. Since, by that time I shall be 105, I wonder what they know that I don't!

The purpose of this message is two-fold. Firstly, to say that I have just had my operation - the new technique of radio active "seed" implant, and all seems to be well so far. So, if anyone else is in a similar position and would like further help or information, do not hesitate to contact me. Secondly, and as importantly, this is to say thank you to all the kind people who, in responding to the initial thread, contacted me one way or another to wish me well. Such thoughts and kindnesses from complete strangers were very much appreciated and supportive.

When we first came to France about six years ago, the E106 covered both my wife and myself. This gave us about 15 months cover, so check your two years expectation. However, I have read very recently that the E121, for retired people fully covered by the UK health system, although formerly a "one family" document, is now being re-issued at one for each person, although we have not yet received ours. So again, check with the British authorities to see if the E106 is also being changed.

> were there any >problems coming with a pre-existing >need? I am due to enter a French hospital next week for surgery (not for osteoarthritis), and the question of when my condition arose was never raised. Remember that, in France, you need not be referred to a surgeon by your GP, but may approach any surgeon direct, as I did. It does not mean that he/she will necessarily see you, but in my case it short circuited the procedure. I wish you all good luck and good health.

Readers should note that the French law on inheritance was changed considerably a few weeks ago. The changes are quite far reaching, although they still do not go as far as the "Anglo Saxon" system. The number of changes are too many for me to translate and post to this forum, and I would venture to suggest that Living France perhaps summarise these changes in a near future edition of the magazine, since they will potentially affect many people. In essence, the changes give the surviving spouse much greater security than "enjoyed" at present, but still not totally secure.

You do not NEED your medical and dental records, but it might be to your advantage to have these available for your French practioners. Note that, in France, you do not register with a doctor as you do in UK, but are free to go to any doctor of your choice at any time. So in these circumstances the French doctors will frequently not have full records of their patients if they have tended to move from doc to doc. This ability to move from doctor to doctor is one reason given for the high cost to the state of the French health system, as there is nothing to stop a patient getting a second, third or fourth opinion, and at each stage being supplied with prescriptions for medicaments.

"Where or how can I find my dream house/estate agent?", are questions which continually arise from UK based residents wanting to make the move across The Channel. There is a monthly publication which details very many agents and advertises even more properties, which is available by post. There are versions which currently cover twenty different regions of France, as under:- 13 Marseille 13 Aix en Provence 17 Charente Maritime/Niort 22 Saint Brieuc 27 Eure 33 Bordeaux 35 Rennes 37 Tours 44 Nantes 49 Maine et Loire 59 Lille 60 Oise 76 Rouen PARIS Est PARIS Ouest 92 Nord 93 Villemomble 94 95 Valle de Montmorency The cost of each edition is 8 Euros including postage (in France), and (I think) the minimum months to which you can subscribe is three. The latest edition for 17 had 32 pages of advertisements. They are published by Reflex Immobilier, 142-176 avenue de Stanlingrad, 92712 COLOMBES Cedex. Web site (which I have not visited) is www.reflex-immo.com E-mail [email protected] If an edition does not have your dream house, at least it will give you the details of many agents in your area.

I have very recently been diagnosed as having cancer in the prostate gland. I am waiting for my next appointment, but am very confident that it has been caught in the early stages and that treatment will be successful. However, the point of this message, based on my own experience, is to urge all males over 50 to have a regular check for prostate problems. It is simple, it is quick and even if you have some of the "old man problem" symptons, in most cases it will not be cancer - which most men fear, and is nearly always treatable. However, the longer you delay your visit to the doctor, the greater the possibility of giving yourself a more serious problem. My urologist tells me that most men wait until too late, whereas women are much more sensible in having a check up for breast and cervical cancer. If anyone would like further information, do not hestitate to post a message to this forum. If I can, I shall be happy to reply.

I think that everybody misses something of home. In my case it is pub lunches and good libraries. However, having recently had our first UK holiday in six years, which we thoroughly enjoyed, the sheer volume of traffic and crowded towns, both of which we had forgotten, made us realise that we enloyed more the reasons which we chose to move in the first place. I think we will try to get "home" more often, but we are no longer homesick since our recent return.

It seems that we British (apologies to non British readers), are only too willing to criticise anything good and to exaggerate anything that goes wrong. Witness the British NHS system. Warts 'n all, it now provides, relatively inexpensively, health cover to all citizens - indeed allcomers. Of course there are problems. With an ever increasing life expectancy and constant new discoveries of wonder drugs and cures, there will never be, can never be, sufficient money to meet all demands made upon the service. Yet we criticise and point with envy at the French system. ...but is it really so good? I have a number of horror stories from this side of the Channel, of which the following is just one. If there is any interest in this thread, I will gladly add one or two more. Last year, my brother in law was on a caravan holiday in France with his wife. On their very last day, she had an accident, falling and breaking her leg. Since neither spoke French, they could not summon help, but said brother in law, with much pain and difficulty, got his wife in to the car and drove to the nearest sizeable town to find a hospital - which he duly did. The staff would not come out to the car, and when he mimed the problem got the reply (in French of course) "Oh we don't do fractures, you'll have to take her elsewhere". The hospital did call an ambulance, but when it came, they would not take the patient without an up front payment of 2000 francs, which he did not have, being the last day of their holiday. "Okay", they said, "Give us your passport, and then we can collect the money tomorrow". Unfortunately, the passport was back at the campsite, so off they all trolled together to get the passport, and only then would the ambulance take her to another hospital. That was 70 kilometres away, the first twenty of which re-traced the route right past the original hospital. Brother in law was not allowed in the ambulance, so had to follow the full distance in his car, this now being near midnight and some five hours after the accident. Next day the ambulance came to the camp site, accompanied brother in law to a cash point and then demanded more money for their cost of that day's journey! He refused to pay, and after an argument (mimed presumably) he did get his passport back. In fairness, the treatment she received was first class, but can you imagine a similar situation arising in UK? Does anyone else have a horror story of the French health system?

I don't know of any web sites, although I'm sure that others will, but there are several magazines which include plans and sketches of "off the peg" houses. Don't recall the names off hand, but if you skim through the pages on the newsagents sheleves (in France) you'll find them.

One thing to bear in mind. If you buy materials yourself, you will be charged VAT at 19.6%. However, if you have work done by a registered artisan, and the house (as yours obviously is) is more than 2 years old, VAT will be only 5.5%. This is a temporary concession, the final date not yet being finally announced - I believe. This concession applies to any "improvement" to the property, including, for example, the laying of a fitted carpet when both the carpet and the labour will be at 5.5%. There are also (temporarily)some substantial income tax savings to be made against the artisans bills for improving an older house, so you can winnboth ways. Do your costings before you decide. Good luck.

Most larger chemists stock the essential oils, but they are usually called "essences" (not to be confused with petrol)and not "huiles". Good hunting.

I had no problem donating blood, and I was resident in UK at the (in)appropriate time. Mind you my ancestors were French - some 900 years ago! However, when I got to 65, they decided that I was too decrepit whilst in England they are happy to vampire you for a further five years.

Dampness comes in many forms. Rising damp through walls - including external walls if they make contact with the ground. Rising damp again through floors which do not have a damp proof membrane. Penetrating damp through external walls, either from years of rain water soaking or from, for example, broken rain water down pipes. Water seeping through leaky roofs, either from displaced tiles of from tiles which have become porous or damaged. The biggest problem is usually trying to find the source of the damp and although all are curable, perhaps a bigger problem is finding the cash! The problem is certainly not unique to France, but does seem to be more prevalent because so many old houses have been left empty and neglected for very many years. Good luck!

We are considering having our own house built - probably in Charente Maritime or adjoining Departement. Does anyone know of an English (speaking) architect in this region. Our French is quite good, but when it comes to technical things, it may fall down a little. We have roughed out our house plan, but we need to talk to somebody to asceratin practicality and approximate costs before we tkae the next step. If someone can recommend an architect or a developer, we would be grateful.

I am not sure about maintenance jobs, but if you are having any new building, extensions, new house etc, then you are obliged under French law to take out insurance to cover the myriad of possibilities which can go wrong. As one reply says, the artisan/entrepreneur has to give a ten year warranty, but if he goes "walkabout" or refuses to accept responsibility, then your insurance company will pay up and they will chase the builder - or suffer the loss. Incidentally, unlike the UK there are no regular inspections by building inspectors, so unless you are yourself building knowledgable, you would be well advised to employ an architect. We didn't because (a), we did not know we had to take out insurance and (b) we did not know there were no inspections. Our slightly dodgy builder did not advise us on either point as a result of which we now have a serious damp problem to rectify at our cost in a new extension.

We have lived in CM for six years. Sunshine is as good as they say, but one must not pretend that it is ALWAYS beautiful weather. During our time, we have had the famous tempest, we have had snow (albeit only twice), we have had frost, but again fairly infrequently and never long lasting, we have had an ice storm which made the roads treacherous and caused the police to close the motorway, and last year we had a very, very wet winter and spring. But having said all of that, we probably remember these things because they are the exceptions - and anyway the global climate is changing. In summary, the climate is very good - far better than UK, longer summers and shorter winters, but be prepared to accept the unexpected. Godd hunting in "our" beautiful departement.

Renting is easy and cheap compared with UK. You will find many ads in the local weekly papers, especially the free ones which you can pick up easily in many shops in and around La Rochelle. Note that La Rochelle together with Royan are the dearer parts of Charente Maritime, thus it may pay you to look inland a little if that suit's your life style. We rented when we first came here, whilst house hunting and eventually bought the house we were renting! Good luck.

You may ask for such a clause to be put in your Compromis de Vente, but the vendor may not be willing. In fact, you can have a whole range of clauses "Subject to..." but these have to be acceptable to the vendor. The most common include, subject to obtaining a mortgage or subject to a satisfactory survey for example, and these are quite common, but an open ended clause which could indefinitely protract the contract is less likely to be acceptable. Try it though!

Firstly, no, estate agents are not obliged to point out rights of way etc - any more than they are in England. However, if/when you get to the buying stage, the obligatory notaire is legally bound to tell you about anything which DIRECTLY affects your property. However, he is not obliged to mention anything which is outside your boundary. So, if for example, a ten lane motorway is planned for a few metres beyond your boundary, provided the actual works will not impinge upon your property, the notaire need sat nothing. You can check locally yourself, through various sources, of anything which may affect your property, and you can have a clause written in to the purchase agreement, saying "Subject to...." If you have not yet decided in which area you would prefer to settle, why not rent a property for a period of time whilst you look around. That way you are not committed to a house which you might otherwise buy on impulse, you can take out an inexpensive short or medium term rental, and keep your animals with you. After all, if you rent a property unseen, it will not be such a big disaster as buying unseen or in a hurry and finding it is not for you. Good luck in your search. mjc in Charente Maritime.

As somebody else has written, there are several other insects and mites which bite. Here in Charente Maritime, and doubtless elsewhere, there is a microscopic creature called auott (I think that's how it's spelt) which lives in the grass and administers bites around the elastic area of pants in particular and bras. The bites, which are not felt, develop into large red and itchy spots, mainly around the waist. These creatures are more like mites and are microscopic. All chemists stock a repellent spray for these aotats as well as a soothing spray if you are too late!