Stuart

I have to hand it to the Impots people in Flers - they seem to have got their act together very nicely.  I wrote to them in the summer asking if any future post could be sent to us at our UK address, to avoid it being left unopened over the winter. I didn't get a reply from them and I wondered whether my schoolboy French had completely mystified them.  However, much to my surprise I received my Tax Foncieres this morning.  Things are beginning to look up. The amount was almost 100 euros above last year's bill - but we have had quite a lot of renovations done to the property and the value has gone up accordingly, I suppose. The Foncieres bill said I could choose to pay on line if I wished, so I gave it a try.  Well, I have to give the designers credit - the site was very clear and simple enough for even me to understand.  It took about 3 minutes and it was done.  They then sent confirmation by email.  The only thing you have to remember is to print the Direct Debit attachment from the email and send it to your bank. I was quite impressed. Stuart  

Hmmmmm, now what would I do? Shopping for me.....Velux Window.....Shopping for me.....Velux Window?  Don't be daft - who wants to be able to look at clouds and rain when you could buy something you love but don't really need?  You can always get a window - but that handbag might have sold out - get shopping!!      Stuart

[quote]I would try again tomorrow. Their site is loading so slowly that it make Living France look like a Formula One car racing a pedestrian. I suspect that the CA system is having weekend upgrades, or just...[/quote] Thank you very much. In fact, you can award yourself 5 gold stars and go to the top of the class!!! Tried it first thing this morning and everything is back. Phew! Stuart

Well, I deleted all my cookies, rebooted and tried again but still no luck. Can someone post the actual weblink they use?  I checked the Britline entry on Google and it was given as www.britline.com but I still couldn't access it via that link. I've never had this sort of problem before and I've had internet connections for over 8 years. Oh gawd! (a very depressed) Stuart

Thanks Lizzie but that doesn't work on my machine either.  It seems to start loading up but then just hangs and I have a blank screen.  I can close the window down so it is not the machine itself that is frozen. I'll let you know what they say tomorrow. Stuart

Of course, I just tried to call and there was just an answerphone saying I should call back during office hours, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow (Hmmmm, I don't think it is bank holiday in France tomorrow?) Stuart

[quote]Hi there, No not at all it comes up every time for my account details.[/quote] Now I'm getting increasingly worried. I have tried all of the following but I have not been able to get any of them to load up: www.britline.com www.britline.com/g1/index.htm www.ca-calvados.fr www.campg-enligne.credit-agricole.fr I have tried all the other french sites in my favourites and the rest all come up without a hitch - it is just Britline and Credit Agricole sites that seem to be affected. Are they picking on me? I'll try to give them a call to see if they have any news. Stuart

I am having trouble getting the Britline website to load up.  Is anyone else? Stuart

Ron/TU That sounds good to me and thanks very much for the help.  Should I just reply to the tax office that "nous ne sommes pas domiciliées en France"? If this means that I just have my taxes d'habitation and fonciere to worry about, does anyone have a magic wand for getting rid of those as well???  Stuart    

We are UK residents and our french house will be for vacations only.  We will not be renting it out at all - we have no French income whatsoever. Stuart 

Sorry - second question: I have inserted my french address as at 1st January 2005, but the form also asks for my address as at 1st January 2004.  We only bought the house in March 2004, so do I leave this section blank, or put in my UK address? Thanks again Stuart 

I have just had a quick trip to my french house and found a reminder to complete my "Declaration Des Revenus 2004 (Form 2042)".  If I had done my research properly I would have realised that I had to get one of these completed earlier, so I have probably given M. Chirac another reason to be disgruntled with the Brits!!!!!   I should explain that our only incomes are our UK salaries, which are taxed here by PAYE, so I think the return should be fairly straightforward - however, as this is the first time I have completed one of these, I would appreciate some guidance from those more experienced out there: The French Entree site explains that "earned income from a UK activity, should continue to be taxed in the UK but you still need to declare the taxable amount on your French return as 'revenue exonérés à prendre en compte pour le calcul du taux effectif global'"  The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a separate section on the form for this - so is there something I have missed or do I simply include the salaries in the general "Traitements, Salaires" section and add a note to explain that they are UK-taxed? Thanks Stuart

Well, we got back to the UK this afternoon and I thought I should just update you about my title deeds. We popped in to the estate agent on Wednesday to ask about the paperwork and she was very surprised we had not received it yet.  She phoned the notaire and the lady there was extremely apologetic.  She said she would get everything ready for the next day. True to her word, we were able to collect the papers, together with a cheque for a 116 euro rebate, at 10am on Thursday morning. Thanks to all thise who were able to offer some advice. Stuart

Thanks for the information. I will definitely pop in while I'm there next week to jog their memories. All the best Stuart

Hi all We are coming over for a week from Saturday 14th May and I wondered if anyone knows of any fun things going on in or around the Domfront/Flers area while we are there. Mind you, we are bringing 4 dogs with us so we are more or less condemned to outdoors events (it better not rain all week!!!). Thanks Stuart

I'm probably being a bit pushy but we actually bought our house on March 21 last year but we haven't received the deeds from the notaire yet. We are going over for a visit on Saturday (now that the renovations are more or less finished) and I might pop in to the notaire to ask about them. I was just wondering what sort of time scale other people might have experienced before they received their paperwork.  Stuart

I am very happy to recommend HIFX for transferring larger sums - http://www.hifx.co.uk I telephoned them on Tuesday morning to arrange a transfer.  They quoted me 1.43 Euros to GBP - which is pretty good considering the interbank rate was just over 1.44 at the time. I sent the funds to HIFX by CHAPS transfer from my Halifax account at 1pm.  There was an additional charge by Halifax of £18 for this but the money arrived at HIFX before close of business the same day.  HIFX could then arranged for the Euros to be deposited into my Britline account and they were credited to online bank account by Thursday afternoon.  Britline charged me 14 euros to receive the transfer but as I needed to make sure the funds were there in time to pay my builders, I am not complaining about that. Also, I have had a few scares in the past with Moneybookers, when they have taken 3-4 weeks to deposit the money into the Britline account so, as far as I'm concerned, paying these small charges is definitely worth the peace of mind. By the way, the renovations are starting to look pretty good so far - I just had to tell someone!!! Regards Stuart

".....I'm just waiting for Speedferries to build up its profits so the company can invest on a western channel service." Hang on young Will me lad - if Speedferries do start to expand, it would make more sense for them to gradually creep along the coast instead of leaping from one end to the other. By that I mean that they should consider making a bid for the Newhaven to Dieppe service now that Hoverspeed have let us down so badly.  Once they have consolidated those bases, it would make sense to move further westwards. Stuart 

Did you link Star Academy with Culture, TU???????  That's about as far-fetched as saying Michelle McManus has the same amount of style as Dusty Springfield.  Sigh  Stuart

Alcazar Is it really P&O being more fair minded or is it the fact that the success of Speedferries has pushed the big boys into cutting prices? Whatever the other companies might say, I don't think that we would be seeing posts like yours if it hadn't been for Speedferries.  Good luck to them is what I say. Stuart 

Tresco Sorry to disappoint your memories of the South-East but what happened to young Benjamin is sadly only too common nowadays.  It really has become unwise to venture into many town centres after dark, unless you are inside a vehicle.  There is so much booze-fuelled mindless violence going on out there that I am sad to say Benjamin's experience is fairly mild by comparison and it would be unlikely to even make the inside pages of a local paper. We had a case close to us where a middle aged man was waiting for a bus after the pubs closed and he was picked on by a group of young lads because he wouldn't give them a cigarette.  He was beaten so badly that he now has brain damage and will spend the rest of his life needing assistance with everything - even the simple things like washing and getting dressed.  He had a normal life one minute and it was snatched away from him by an unbelievable few minutes of sheer savagery.  Guess what - they showed CCTV photos of the gang in the local paper but none of them were ever turned in!  And we still try to pretend we live in a civilised society! I still feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Stuart

Not quite on the French theme but I hope someone can give me some ideas. I am planning to drive to Greece in May and I will be passing through France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and then Greece.  I have checked with the DEFRA site and it seems to me that my current Pet Passport should be all I need for all these countries.  However, when I was discussing it with someone else, she was adamant that I would need additional paperwork for Switzerland. Now I realise that Switzerland is not part of the EU but the DEFRA site has it listed as part of the scheme, so I cannot see what the problem is. Does anyone know if I have missed something and need to apply for something else? Thanks Stuart

[quote]BCBG - Big Car Big Garage peut-être or beaucoup croissants,big gut[/quote] Thanks Val, for explaining why my reflection in the mirror is a bit larger that it perhaps should be!

[quote]lucky people who managed to live in Britain without slippers. you clearly weren't living in Edwardian houses with inadequate insulation and no money to pay for any to be put in. My mother doesn't ha...[/quote] I remember during the late 70s/early 80s, before she could afford to get rid of the parafin fire (God, what a dangerous thing that was) and have central heating installed, that my Mum got herself a large fur lined boot-shaped foot warmer that she plugged into the mains.  During the winter, she used to virtually live on the settee with her feet in the boot and her dressing gown on. I always used to make fun about it at the time but, now that the odd arthritic pain has begun to make itself known, I have started to think about how I can get one for myself and use it without anyone finding out!  I did think of disguising it in plaster of paris and pretending I had broken both my ankles but any less drastic suggestions would be very welcome. Stuart

[quote]I can't imagine what it must be like living in an isolated area because just living in a street full of people can be isolating enough in France. Sometimes, you don't see anybody even in summer and ...[/quote] Georgina I agree with you that, if you want to make to make meaningful contact, and eventual friendships, with your neighbours, you really do need to make the effort to learn some French. However, you may be surprised at how many people live fairly solitary lives here in the UK - and there isn't a language barrier to blame.  There was a report on today's new channels about a man who died in his flat and was not missed for SEVEN MONTHS.  This is not a new phenomenon - there are some who have lived (and died) like this for many years. I know that there are a few people at work who seem to have little in the way of a social life outside of the office and it seems that their main source of company in the evenings is the TV.  I can't see that they are likely to change this way of life once they are retired, so it is probable that they will experience the same kind of isolation here that you are saying can exist in rural France.  In fact, as long as they had installed Sky TV in their French home, they could live in much the same way over there as they do over here - except for the added bonus that their house would have cost them much less to buy.  Also, if they do all their shopping in supermarkets, and used Credit Agricole's Britline for their banking, they wouldn't really need to have any French language skills at all. Mind you, if that is their lifestyle of choice, they might not feel that they are isolated.  They might just consider themselves to be private, self-sufficient types.  Not the way I would necessarily choose to live but, as they say, it takes all sorts. Stuart