Benjamin

I do tip, but only where I feel the service I have received is exceptional and goes beyond what you could normally expect. This is normally in restaurants and, depending on how much of the red stuff I have consumed, is in the range of 5 to 10%. Hope that gives you a guide but at the end of the day it's a pretty subjective issue.   Benjamin

I always move over for bikers because I love the way they stick their right leg out to say thank you. Cute or what? Is this just a French thing zrx1100?   Benjamin

Nothing, and let's not go down the route that they're low paid or else you'll be tipping the lollipop lady next every time she sees your kids across the road.   Benjamin

Having looked at the site I'll go with Ron on this one.   Benjamin

I said on another thread a couple of days ago that I was having problems setting up a p c to p c conversation with a friend in Spain using VoIPBuster. The problem was actually caused by the volume settings on the p c at the Spanish end. Once corrected we had an excellent quality conversation with my friend using a headset and me using a microphone and the p c speakers. Good product.   Benjamin

These are very specialist and sophisticated investment devices and I am not qualified to answer your queries but I would have expected that all of your questions should be answered in the prospectus/literature that you should have been given by the person offering to sell you these products. You should pay special attention to the laws of the country where the trust is written and, if you are tax resident in another country, you should give consideration to their tax regime and laws also.   Benjamin

Ian You had me worried for a while as I thought I might have stirred a hornet's nest. I work on the basis that no one knows everything but everyone knows something and this forum is as good a place as any to share that knowledge. I was a little beaten up by the know it alls and nitpickers when I started posting a couple of months ago but I've had worse than that happen.   Benjamin

OK Miki, as Ian seems to have gone AWOL (or is he in the arriere cuisine with his neighbour and a bottle of red?) try going to www.voipbuster.com . I hope this is the one Ian was referring to. I've used this quite a lot recently as opposed to Skype and it sure is free to UK landlines although I'm trying to set up a computer to computer call with a friend in Spain and we are having all sorts of "hearing" difficulties.

Miki Patience is a virtue and everything comes to he who waits so just sit still and be quiet and Ian will tell you. Benjamin ps If he hasn't by tonight I will so long as you promise to be a good boy until then.

Washy It is only natural to plan ahead when you have an illness or disability which is progressive so I will relate our recent experiences which I hope will address some of your worries. We approached COTOREP in January of this year for a disabled parking badge. They wanted evidence of my wife's disability in the form of her medical dossier. As we had only just come to France we explained that we did not have this and the disability had originally been diagnosed 27 years before so the chances of getting hold of any records were pretty slim. No problem they said, she can see one of our doctors. The disability was duly confirmed and they told us a decision would be made in about four months. Bit of a long time for a parking badge we thought but we're new here and we don't really know the systems. Some five and a half months later and the parking badge arrived in the post one morning together with............... a CARTE D'INVALIDITE! So whereas in UK you can obtain just a parking badge, in France the system is much stricter but goes quite a lot further in confirming your illness or disability. So far we have discovered that the invalidity card gets you a free TV licence and also an extra half part towards your income tax allowances so therefore our house with just the two of us here gets two and a half parts of income tax allowance without the hassle of having kids!. There may be other benefits (?) in having this card. Also in January (busy month) we asked the chemist about a wheelchair for my wife. He arranged for the representative from the wheelchair supplier to visit and from several models one was chosen to best suit my wife's needs. We made an appointment with our doctor who issued a prescription for the chair which was supplied within one week. The representative submitted the prescription together with a copy of my wife's provisional CV on our behalf to CPAM and the cost was met in full. What the situation would have been had my wife have needed a very expensive or electric model we don't know. Which takes me on to E121's. When my wife submitted her E121 to the local CPAM office she was required to give a written declaration that she would not claim any pension from the French state. Pension was the word used but on reflection this could have been used to include benefits also. Apart from that no other problems and the Carte Vitale took about a month to arrive. I seem to think that I have seen some mention of something similar to DLA in France but I cannot remember where. From memory it is means tested and the income threshold is pretty low so you would have to be in dire straits financially to get it. We previously lived in Spain and in 2004 I wrote to Newcastle regarding Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance. The letter was redirected to DWP in Blackpool who said that to claim Attendance Allowance you have to be over age 65 and my wife could not receive Disability Living Allowance whilst living abroad. By letter in August 2004 I challenged this by quoting EEC Council Regulations 1408/71 which appears to state that for the purpose of claiming social security benefits where residence is a qualification, residence in any other Member State counts as residence in the original Member State. By August 2005, having received no reply, I wrote again with a copy of my original letter. To date I still have not had a reply. This has seemed like writing War and Peace all over again but I hope our experiences help in your forward planning.   Benjamin  

Itching to tell them Ian but it's your thread, so I'll leave it up to you. Benjamin

DAVEF I'm just up the road in south 85 and my 60cm dish works fine for all the FTA BBC, ITV and 4 and 5 with no degradation at any time of day.   Benjamin

I am not technically qualified in this field but it sounds as if purchasing the adaptor makes your own telephone think it's a USB handset which could be quite useful if you own handset is also cordless as you aren't then tied to the computer when making calls via Skype (as I think someone else has already pointed out). The downside seems to be keying in * at the start of the call, so should you decide to use another VOIP service is it still possible to use the adaptor that you have just purchased?   Benjamin

Lighter note? OK Did she arrive a 34b and leave looking like a 44 double D or did he depart as the lead dancer in an Italian opera.   Benjamin

But does it mean that you miss the filling station at Leclerc?   Benjamin

I was in our local Brico Depot last week and saw some pool fencing on display along with their range of gates (metal and plastic) and other fencing. Don't know the rules for pool fencing but consider it would be unlikely of them to be advertising goods for a specific purpose if they didn't comply.   Benjamin

Try going into your local chemist and ask as they are the people who normally arrange for the person from the wheelchair company to visit when you're in for a new wheelchair. We hired a wheelchair before getting a new one for the boss. Scooters?????????? don't know.   Benjamin

So where does the social levy (11% social security charges) fit in when you are selling a house?   Benjamin

There are a lot of percentages getting quoted in the last few replies. Percentages of what?   Benjamin

No, no. Our intention is not to attempt to avoid paying tax and is actually exactly the opposite. Let me explain a little more. From this year we become tax resident in France and as we are off on a Far East touring holiday for most of the first quarter of 2006 (when I think the French tax forms are issued), I decided to start looking at what information we will need to provide for the French tax authorities. Browsing the site of our current UK bank (former building society) I came across one of their terms and conditions which basically says you cannot have a savings account with them unless you are resident in the UK. Clearly therefore we need to move our money as we are no longer eligible for this account and, I suspect, there are possibly many others on this forum in the same position. The point of the original question was to ask if anyone knew if the French authorities would not allow someone resident here to have an off shore account when, for instance, there are comparable savins accounts available in France. Having now read about EUSTD (thanks Leslauriers) I know that,yes, we can have such an account and have the interest paid gross so long as we agree to an exchange of information between the new savings provider and the French tax man. One further point. Does anyone know of a French based savings scheme that will pay 4.85% gross and give instant access/closure without any requirements for minimum balances?   Benjamin

Does anyone know what the French tax man's attitude is to gross interest paying deposit accounts based in the Channel Islands? Benjamin

Hi Dave We're about ten minutes (without the summer traffic) away from you. Sorry I didn't see your original posting but will send you a pm with our contact details for the future. Benjamin ps You don't play bridge do you?

Lottie Sorry this won't help you in your present predicament but it may help for the future. We've recently exchanged our French car and when the carte grise for the new vehicle came from the prefecture I noticed a tear off slip on the bottom. I can't remember if the carte grise for the old car also had this tear off slip. In my limited French it seems to say that if you sell the car in the future to a private individual you should send off the slip. If it's sold to a garage you don't need to but it also says that if you loose the carte grise you can obtain another on production of the tear off slip. If I've got this right this would have helped in your situation but off course don't forget to keep the tear off slip in a safe place. Benjamin.

Thanks Nick, you're a gentleman. Don't see any snipers.............yet! Regarding the heather brush fencing (I've checked and it is Brande in French) this is not something that is growing but a panel made out of sustantial heather twigs for want of a better description. Not to be confused with your ornamental garden heathers. It's used extensively on campsites on the west coast to seperate emplacements as it's very strong and stands up well to the winter winds. Again, many thanks.   Benjamin

BJSLIV Thanks for your response. By using the words "amateur" and "D I Y" I was trying to convey that I don't already know the answers to the two questions that I posed. We're only in a small community so we don't have a wealth of fencing contractors locally. The two garden maintenance/landscapers that we approached in May to come and have a look and give us a quote never arrived despite assurances from both that they would come "before the weekend". The secretary at our local Town Hall (only open two mornings a week) checked with the Mayor who said that as far as he was concerned and because the only people who would see the fence were us and our neighbours and because we were replacing an existing structure, then we didn't need any specific permissions. Still hoping for a response to our questions.