SC
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Posts posted by SC
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We've received a letter returning our docs and saying they are processing our application. For reference it was a joint application for both term bonds paid with one cheque, Notaires signatures on one set of our docs.Steve
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I don't know why, but all of our recent tax correspondence has been in black and white, even the Tricolor, and are not obviously originals.I've just re-read the NS&I letter to me and the included information sheet on the EU Savings Tax Directive and neither mentions foreign words.I had taken the precaution of writing everything on the certified copies in French and English beforehand and also pointed out to NS&I that our tax number was the numéro fiscal on the tax letter.Trying to cover all the bases, like you we also made clear colour photocopies.Watch this space then.....Steve
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A notaire told me today that she could verify that our passport copies were genuine but not a letter from the tax office because she couldn't be sure whether the letter was itself genuine, and that the only way that it could be legally verified was by the tax office themselves who, as I pointed out, weren't on the NS&I prescribed list.Nevertheless she wrote something on it, and after she stamped it and signed it you couldn't read what she'd written anyway.Incidentally, some of the points raised here are answered on the NS&I websitre - 7-10 day turnaround time, "we will cash your cheques as soon as we receive them", "the date of your bond will be the date we receive your application".Steve
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There's usually something in the handbook about this. As Rabbie said locking the doors physically with the key rather than the remote doesn't set the alarm. Sometimes the keyhole in the door is not obvious but there usually is one for flat battery situations; on my VW it's under the door handle trim (easily removed using the key).I do notice other drivers staring at me when I do this and I've never seen anyone else doing it, but it's in the handbook and I know how car horns hurt a dog's ears, so I do it.Steve
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A handy way to generate and remember a reasonably secure password is to use the first letters of a relevant phrase. Thus " I Buy Books And Stuff From Amazon" - IBBASFA.This can be strengthened by using 2, 4, GR8 etc in place of words: "I Go To E Bay for Cheap Bargains - IG2EB4CB. Once used a few times it sticks. Well, it does for me, and no, they're not my passwords......Steve
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I spotted this up to date article while looking for something else:http://www.toutsurlesimpots.com/location-meublee-pas-de-classement-requis-pour-le-regime-fiscal-des-gites-ruraux.htmlI was trying to find out if the various fiscal limits for letting, 23K, 32K, etc get upgraded annually?Also if "revenues locative" are considered to be before or after abattement? Steve
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"If I have understood, convection, would mean that the water would rise into the radiators onto the floor above????"It wouldn't need to if suitable radiators were on the same level as the stove, but yes. If you imagine two vertical pipes, joined at each end and completely full of water, if you heat one of them and cool the other, a convection current will flow round the loop. "We lived on the first floor and the only radiator that wasn't on the first floor was one in the downstairs hall, what ever, once the electricity went off it would sound like the expansion vessel above us, was full of boiling water and so the fire had to be put out gently."An out of control fire producing more heat than it can handle is a scary thing.......Steve
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Idun said: "The problem for us was that when the electricity went off, which was fairly frequently we had to dampen down and put the fire out as the system started to 'boil'. I suppose if we had had domestic water, we could have just run off the water. "I fitted a coal fired c/h system in our home in the UK. It was normal practice with solid fuel to design the system so that one or more radiators, capable of handling the heat produced by the stove, worked by convection if the electricity failed.We didn't opt for logs because a local farmer who had installed a wood system found that it used so much that he continually had a trailer of logs parked outside his kitchen window.Steve
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AnOther said: "When everybody smells the same nobody smells at all" I think Another's nailed it. Mind you the specific effect of Izal loo paper may have masked more general body odeur....I believe I have seen plenty of deodorants available in France, but fewer antiperspirants.Steve
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Another said:"If streaming is the only requirement then the cheapest Android tablet plugged into an amp will do the job."I'm not sure why Another's advice hasn't been followed up. I would only add, check out the sound quality reviews on prospective tablets, MOH has a Nexus 10 plus free radio app and it's superb.For me it doesn't make sense to restrict your possibilities and mimic 1920s technology, when so much is available via a tablet.Steve
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It's understandable that you are concerned. I have no experience of French schools in Duras, but I do have the experience of our daughter, who went through the French system very successfully to call on. It's probably fair to say that not all Brits have had the same experience.There's a few points that are undeniable.The private (Catholic, but you don't need to be one) system is not expensive, costing a about 500 euros a year in primaire.In both systems you will be given a list of books and materials to buy. If you are hard up you can get help if you're in the system.Pupils in France must be insured against damaging school property, most home insurance policies include this.Teachers in the private system rarely strike.The school year is Sept-Sept as in the UK, but the intake for the year is Jan-Jan.This is a personal view, but I think that the main difference between schools, colleges and lycees here is between "private" and public, rather than between different schools in the same regime.Steve
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I'd add, a very pleasant ferry to cross with re ships, food, etc, next to BF in my book.Shame.Steve
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I can't be bothered to look for the absolute lowest price, but I like to know that I'm not being overly ripped off.Fitted two front tyres in December in UK, Asda tyres, including fitting £229.Fitted identical tyres on rear in France in April, 123pneus including fitting 246 euros.Steve
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Or even the one after that "Rather an unfortunate abbreviation, wouldn't yawll agree?"
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I also thought that the next topic, 20cms might have been what I was looking for....
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And there was I looking for a thread on the mayor of Bretteville-le-Rabet :-)
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"The final rate was 1 GBP Pound Sterling = 1.2357 EUR Euro, and we charged you £4.98 for the service. "Transferwise - £1000 ordered on Tuesday 14.31 UK time, and in my French bank account now, Thursday afternoon.I think the rate is slipping back now.Steve
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>On 01 May we started with a different mutuelle. Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that you could only change at the end of December. That's what we've done in the past.I would tell CPAM and anyone like your local pharmacy where you don't pay upfront..Steve
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If it's really 20cms, will they be able to pass each other safely at speed?
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Not for pounds to euros, not for me, TW £2000=2443CF £2000=2442Depends on the moment....Steve
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AnOther> I suspect the rule is that if one is fitted it must work and be on the LH side.Me too, and I prefer to have mine that way. I bought a "French" one on e-bay for an uncommon car for 25€.On some the L/R light might be swappable, on some the unit can be dismantled using hair dryers and the red reflector added or removed. Don't forget to cross over the wiring....Steve
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I don't think that the amount transferred affects the exchange rate with Transferwise, my experience is it will be as near the ECB rate as makes no difference, depending on the movements at the time that the exchange is made. I've had slightly better, slightly worse. Their fee is 0.5%, minimum £1.00, but it's the simplicity of the operation that ticks my boxes.I've used them a dozen or more times over the past two years, usually around tax time :-( Once you have an account, which after a few transfers you have to verify with copy of your passport, the process is smart, taking less than a minute to order the transfer.Their fast transfer service can be a facesaver if you make a booboo and need money in your bank on the same day, and it's reasonably priced.At the moment Transferwise is showing a better £ to € rate than Currency Fair , so I don't think that you can bet on one being always better than the other.Steve
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What's a PAD?Steve
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Re RHD vs LHD, it might be sensible for the OP to consider where he/she will be mostly driving before deciding whether a RHD would be practical. Once we are out of our local lane (1km north or 2km south) we are on roads where everyone with the exception of vsps and tractors are travelling at or over the speed limit, and the urgent need to overtake in the way others have described is very rare.We have LHD cars and one RHD car and for us the RHD car isn't at a disadvantage locally, and as longer trips are mostly on dual carriageways and autoroutes, despite the potential peage problem (but on longer trips there's normally two of us), there's no problem there that isn't easily overcome either.On the other hand if you have to drive miles on winding hilly roads peppered with lots of slow trucks just to go shopping, then I'd recommend a LHD Lotus 7 with a towbar and a light trailer :-)But as someone said, do the maths, the costs of coc, registration, headlamps and possibly rear foglamp depend on the car of course.Steve
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