Hereford

I almost always pay with a nationwide card with Amazon.fr.  On the payment page is sometimes says my card is sterling but I always change/switch that to read euros!! Page does not seem to mind and it goes through NW as it always did.  I have never been forced to use sterling and I have bought twice this last week. Prime can be annoying! I bought a new battery for the laptop this week and the euro price (26.60) included free postage but I was still offered Prime to get it the next day.  I declined!  I don't think I have ever had a discount refused. The trick I don't like is that some shops now offer sterling equivalents at the till (i.e. showing on the card reader thin). I always insist I want to use euros and so far that has always resulted in a better rate when it gets to NW. I know that it could go the other way... Mrs H

Brandy butter Idun - Rum does not agree with me.  My puds are very dark and I use a recipe from the 1970's that my mother used. I don't have suet in my mincemeat now.  I ran out two or three years ago so googled "last minute mincemeat".  It is the nicest mincemeat ever!  Uses butter and is very quick to make. Keeps very well even though it uses butter.

Who gave this information to a French food journalist!? Read yesterday in the November/December edition of Maxi Cuisine in an article on "Christmas around the globe": In the Uk:  "on prépare le repas dès debut décembre avec l'élaboration du Christmas Pudding, un gateau aux zestes d`orange, raisins secs, cerises confits, graisse de rognon de boeuf et soupe brandy (un alcool local) cuit à la vapeur 6 heures quel'on macérer jusqu'à Noël." I love Christmas pudding (I know lots of people don't) but the above sounds quite horrible. I made my puds a month ago and they have lots more ingredients than this! Including dark beer, black treacle and in my case "vegetarian" suet.  I do not touch them again until 25th - certainly not "macérer" them. My Christmas cake is in the oven and I don't "macérer" that either...  Just mincemeat to make now. Happy holiday preparations to all. Mrs H

Currently some appeals against this charge have been refused (including ours) for 2016(2015). The theory seems to be that they changed the law in December 2015 and we have to pay again! I posted about this on another thread. We have not heard much about this and have not yet taken it to a higher authority.

to the OP: I rather doubt the tax office needs details of your wife's income before you were living in France. It is just that they know you came to live here on the date you gave but, from their point of view, what about her!! Once you have explained your error in the date it will all be fine. If not come back and someone will help. The French change their marriage regime too so the tax office will know what you are talking about.

We use a product bought in a garden center - made by Decamp, it is a "repulsif chien et chats". Spray it over the area and it lasts well. We bought it in desperation as wild cats were tearing into rubbish bags put out for the dustmen within minutes of the bags being out.  We spray the bags when leaving them at the end of the lane and occasionally around the area.  Magic - not a single bags has been touched for a year now. We are still on the first bottle of pray which cost around 8 euros so not expensive.

The best keyboard that I have found (and I have on my laptop) is a French Canadian one!  qwerty keyboard but with keys for accents too:  é ô ç etc! To get a ^ above the letter you just type the ^ and then the letter, same for¸ and ¨ but é is an actual key. Plus other combinations. But then my son lives in Québec and tends to donate laptops when he upgrades...

Some years ago we used PVA to seal a very dusty stone wall and it worked a treat. No more dust and the wall looks just the same. We did not however go to the hassle of painting it on - we used a pump garden sprayer and sprayed.  Wonderful, easy and incredibly quick - not much good for the sprayer though... We want to do another wall but having brought the original PVA from the Uk (we brought it over on our final trip before living here) we are not sure exactly which product to buy here in France.  We have been told "colle de bois" but that seems to be thick like a paste so no good.  Any tips please? Good luck anyway to the OP - dusty walls are a nightmare.

Thanks Norman.  I found all the info on the Manche website but no form!

I have looked up and have "printed" (to a file) all the explanation for the Carte de résident longue durée - we have been here 14 years. I think I must be losing it as I cannot find the actual form to apply for this - definitely having a senior moment. Norman - do you have a link to the form please? We think we will apply now rather than wait until Brexit happens. Many thanks Mrs H.

Thanks Parsnips - I suspect that as usual it will depend on where we live...

Update to my post yesterday:  Today got an identical letter to yours Powerdesal sent "signature required!" If we want to appeal the decision to refuse the refund we have to go to court. We won't bother as interest rates being so low means our payment is not all that big. A friend who has an accountant to do her tax form was sent a letter, by the accountant, to sign to appeal her social charges so it is not just those of us who go it alone who expected to get it back this year. Quel dommage. Mrs H

We have so far only had an acknowledgment letter from the local office saying that our claim has been sent to the department dealing with it.

Ah well`this year we have all,been charged again as the French are going to re-name/re-allocate the charge next year so that we will have to pay it again.  At least this is what I understand. Therefore we all ask for a refund again this year!! I have already done our appeal letter and deposited at the local tax office.

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/2/3276610/ShowPost.aspx#3276610 The letter you need (written by Parsnips in August 2015) is in the thread above.  It is on page 2 (which is where I copied the "link") - sorry that it is not a proper link but I think you can copy and paste. We, and others, used the letter and have had our refunds.  The first year shown is now out of date but you can add the 2016 (2015 income). Hope this helps. Mrs H.

Ernie: The Social charges were not only charged to non-residents, a lot of us living here paid them when we should not have been charged.

Our tax avis online today. As expected Social Contributions charged again - including showing as a credit the amount we would have had dueto us  if last years contributions had not been repaid... (they were!) I have re-dated the letter of appeal we sent last year, put in the figures from this avis and will deliver it to our local tax office on Monday. Oh well, it makes work for someone.

http://www.donnelly-cpa.com/ The above is a link to the website of an American CPA. I know nothing about him at all but he belongs to a professional body so in the same way that I would hope someone would trust an FCA in the UK (I am one...) he may be able to help Victor. You could email him, although not exactly in your area. If the French tax office have doubled your income they could just have made a silly mistake. Perhaps it is written in two boxes (for different reasons) or from the pink to the blue form the transfer is to the wrong boxes. Good luck for tomorrow, I hope they come up with a treatment plan you are happy to agree to. Mrs H.

Victor: Don't panic yet.  Concentrate on your medical appointment tomorrow for now. You have some time to "appeal" this Avis.  I hope someone will post on here with a name or link to an accountant who can deal with US/France tax and they may be able to almost immediately spot what has gone wrong.  I will do some research myself later but am out most of today.  I know of English/French accountants but not sure if they do US too. The form did change a bit this year so perhaps you have just put something in the wrong box. If by any chance the amount is right because of a change in the treaty then perhaps you can get a refund from the US - that is what happens to many of us Brits. Best wishes Mr H.

My mother was almost 90 when we started having carers for her at home (still with my dad) and we were lucky enough to find two English ladies (one SRN and one qualified carer) who looked after her. They are much in demand! With an APA one can pay an agency who will almost certainly send French staff but we opted to pay by Cheque emploi (one can choose) so were able to employ whom we liked.  If one pays by C. E. then copy payslips have to be sent to the appropriate dept.for them to be sure the allowance is spent. If it isn't they deduct money the following month. We got the full cost of "inco" pads too. A letter/report from a doctor is needed to get APA. This shows the level of need and is send direct to the authorities. Mrs H.

I agree with Idun and Minnie, I would doubt that a UK P of A would be of any use at all in France. We did not go with a Tutelle etc for my mother as we did not need it to pay for her Home fees (the current account was joint with my dad) and it was clearly a lot of hassle with courts. We were able to get help at home etc without anything in place but unlike your parents my mother had completely "lost it" but dad was 100% OK mentally. We are too far away from you for the carers we had to be any help and would agree with earlier posts that you need to be in contact with the Assistante Sociale via their Mairie a.s.a.p. Bon courage Mrs H.

Binky Boo:  I feel so very sorry for you in this situation.  The Assistante Sociale (AS) will certainly be able to help but whan I needed to get help at home for my parents it took weeks to get a home visit from the AS and then 2 months to get a decision on a care package and how much they would have to pay themselves.  You parents will have to fill out a form detailing their income and the amount you get (called APA) is based on income.  The amount per hour is not enough to pay helpers in full. We did get it sorted out and found two English carers to help. We we did need a Tutelle etc in the end as my Dad was completely well and any discussion of Dementia is always done with members of the family present.  They had help at home until the point at which my mother was accepted into a Maison de Retraite (she had no idea of who she was nor recognised anyone by then).  I won't go into Maisons de Retraite in this posting but that is another whole new ball game. Does your father see a Dementia consultant? You or your mother should ask for a referral. I am in Normandy (which is of course a big department...) - where do your parents live.  If you do not want to post the name of the village online you can message me or email from this forum.  The carers we used are still around! Mrs H

I don't have children of Uni age (any more) but wonder: is there a five year residence rule for this allocation as there is for help with Maison de retraite fees? When our own son came ro Tours uni for a year under the Erasmus scheme he got the allowance even though he was not French resident but we thought that he got it as he was an EU citizen on an exchange.

My daughter married a German chap and later took German citizenship (so that she can vote) but she did not have to give up her British citizenship.  I think the law changed a while ago.

I wanted to report the two posts earlier this morning but the "report" button was not showing on the posts so I logged in again just now to see if they were still there in which case I would have tried harder to see where I could tell you. We could not belive that someone was actively trying to sell fake passports...