Benjamin

KKK After our little run in last weekend I never expected to be saying this but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed in your last two posts. Benjamin

Thanks to you both for your responses. My wife's disability is for one of the 30 or so conditions "longue duree" although she has more than one specialist to see. All of her treatments are reimbursed 100% so it seems that we will have to start asking a few questions when she goes for any more treatment, which she is due to do this week. The last time we travelled out of the Department for treatment was about 120kms or so. The specialist said that the first visit was normally just for a consultation but as we had travelled so far he would try to get the first part of my wife's treatment going immediately. He made a couple of phone calls which resulted in my wife having a couple of hours of tests and a further consultation with the same specialist all in the same afternoon. Can you imagine this happening back in the UK where the specialist actually picks up the phone and gets things happening? Benjamin

Will Thanks for the web site. It does sound as if it could be a power supply problem. I'll try to find a repair agent when I'm next in the UK. The power disconnection nor the forced download seem to do anything. Thanks again. Benjamin

Tony F Your post doesn't say why you were able to claim travelling expenses. Was it because you had to travel out of your Department or Region or was there some other reason? Recently my wife had to travel to the next Department (but within the same Region) and she was not offered any travel expenses. Benjamin

Anyone who has been involved in property transactions in Spain, either as a buyer or seller, would not believe that these laws are Europe wide since it is quite normal for cash to make up 25-30% of the agreed price. And where is the biggest gateway for drugs entering the EU?.......yes, you guessed correctly. Benjamin

Our Grundig digibox has "frozen" on one channel and will not respond to either the remote control or by pressing the manual selection buttons on the front of the digibox.We've had a number of trouble free years of service from it. The questions: is it repairable and secondly is it worth repairing appropros the likely cost? We fortunately have a spare digibox for such an eventuality so  there is no pressure on to get it repaired. Benjamin

It's also interesting to follow the link at the end of the article that Logan has posted headed " Taxes hit all-time high". All of you who work in France say how high the taxes are here but Gordon Brown doesn't seem that far behind. Is that why so many Rosbifs are heading in this direction? Benjamin

I like a laugh and a joke every now and again. I've even been known to post the odd one liner here although most people on this forum are sharper and wittier than I am. Many relative newcomers to life in France are indebted to the knowledge that people like Clair and Ron Avery (sorry Anna and Suze but I haven't followed your postings so closely) are able to pass on. If you want to start your own amusing/silly thread, as you have done on another topic, then so be it but please don't hijack (and kill off) threads that others might be interested in. SSDD ? Same S*i* Different Day, to mark your second day on the forum although I suspect you and your friend TWINKLE*  have both been around the maypole before. Benjamin

KKK SSDD Benjamin

This is only a guess but I suspect the majority of people are usually transferring money from UK to France. For the sort of amounts you are talking about can't you find someone who will put sterling into your UK account and you put Euros into their French account. You could agree an exchange rate with reference to the internet ( didn't someone mention Reuters? ). You thus both avoid any bank charges. Just a thought. Benjamin

It was only a temporary situation. We've now put a roof over our heads so we won't have this problem come next year. Benjamin

Thanks for the info Teamedup. So it's goodbye a la carte and back to plat du jour. Benjamin

So does that mean the three amounts added together are the "gross" interest and, provided I manage to enter the figures in the correct boxes, the amount shown as Interets 2005 Nets will not be subject to any further deductions of tax? Benjamin

Try some of the UK camping and mobile home companies ( Eurocamp, Haven etc ). They usually sell off mobile home stock at the end of the season (September) but they may still have something left that didn't sell. The stumbling block however will be your budget. Unless you are able to get hold of a mobile home that has been insulated etc. to live in all year round you will find it very very cold and damp as next winter comes on as they are only really built as seasonal holiday homes. Sorry I couldn't be more positive. Benjamin

We have just been credited with some interest on our French bank deposit account. Can anyone shed any light on what these three entries on our statement might mean, especially as it will soon be time to fill in our first tax return. Interets 2005 Nets    ( a credit amount ) Prel Csg/rds Csg/int Brut     ( a debit amount ) Prel Csg/rds Rds/int Brut     ( a debit amount ) The credit amount obviously outweighed the debit amounts. This is just a normal compte Livret, where we parked some money earlier last year whilst we were waiting for our house purchase to go through. Benjamin

Ab Please accept my abject apology for denigrating your posting . Of course I chose to interpret your use of the word poor in a monetary sense and not in the sense of unfortunate as you intended. This was due to my quirky sense of humour which I know some people find difficult to follow. It's good to know however that you've got a p c rottweiler looking after your interests.   Benjamin p s I do have a pool, 3,5 metre diam, blow up, and a Lambo, scalextrix of course.

The first line of your response says it all in most many people's eyes. Poor and pool owners just don't go together[ip].   Benjamin  

Thanks to all three of you; Ian for always being spot on, Will for his reassurance (you realise your middle name is no longer "adventure" when you start paying the insurance renewal the day it hits the doormat) and Paul for his confidence in the product.   Benjamin

Paul Thanks for that. I've been to the Mozilla site. Can I believe everything it's telling me or are there any direct comparisons where it scores over IE? If it's just a subjective thing is it easy to uninstal if I try it and don't like it or is it one of those invasive pieces of software that are dificult to get rid of?   Benjamin

Sorry to be thick, but can anyone tell me what Firefox is and the benefits that I might receive if I installed it?

Why should this come as a surprise to anyone. This govenment and presumably the one before although it seems such a long time ago I can't remember, has progressively stopped/withdrawn benefits that are normally claimable by UK reidents from those living elsewhere in Europe. In view of the bankrupt situation regarding the State Retirement Pension it's on obvious move sooner or later. It's just a case of when and how it can be dressed up as a "good" deal for everyone. What we should all be looking at is what the situation here in France is if we were to be disenfrachised. Mind you, once M Chirac discovers we all might be foisted on him by Mr B Liar, he'll soon give him another bloody nose.   Benjamin  

I had a fairly easy question to ask CPAM but was a little afraid to phone in case the answer was a bit too rapid/complicated for my limited French. Then I noticed that you can email them. 30 minutes later the reply came back and a couple of minutes peering at it and my query was answered. And, yes, I would have been struggling if I had telephoned. Seems as if this will become my preferred method of contacting CPAM if they always answer so promptly.   Benjamin

This is the result of my money transfer with WWC as promised. I transferred 2,000 pounds via internet banking to WWC on Tuesday and they received it on Wednesday. We both bank with Barclays, hence the speed although next time I effect a transfer to a previous payee it should happen on the same day (or so I'm told by the Barclays web site). Received a call from WWC's admin team on Wednesday telling me they had the funds and would effect an immediate transfer and I should receive the funds in my CA account today (Thursday). Just checked my CA account (Loire Atlantique by the way) and there are the funds as promised. I have been charged 2,75 euros by CA and no charges from WWC. A result or what?   Benjamin

Patf If I inform on you as a law breaker  do you think they might just cancel my speeding fine?   Benjamin

In a former life I once visited the factory where Atora beef suet was made. If I remeber rightly it was in the Sunderland area and was then part of the Rank Hovis McDougall group. If ever you've seen what goes into it and how it is made you'd never go near the stuff (polite word) in a 100 years.   Benjamin