thomas16

hi,   i am not sur where to post this so here goes.......i recently lost my husband of 57 and am now alone in france with our 12 yearold.  i am not receiving any help whatsoever, so can somebody please advise me.  should i be getting family allowance, income support, and help with school bits and bobs.  i have no income apart from a little house which belongs to our house and i get 330e a month.  i am looking into bereavement pension in the uk, well i have applied and have been told that it is likely that i will get around 80 pounds per month.  although i have the small income from the house, i still have to buy food, diesel, house taxes,car/house insurance plus all the other utilities.....what a mess to be left in. can anybody shed light on this.  i am also trying to find out if i can get free french lessons.  we have only been in one year and i did start taking lessons but stopped when this happened.  my hus band was due to go back to the uk to resume some sort of work, but this was not to be.  thanku.paris[:(]  ps.  i also have to pay for my medical not much but still 50e per 4 months

hi, the poms,  saint denis in loches is a fantastic school, my daughter has great results, but due to our circumstances she has to go local, i would say her french is almost fluent, if u can say that................she misses her swimming as she swam for kent, and misses her music.  saint denis is a church school very strict and quite tough on the child as its all french but saying this there is lots of help, you have to be cruel to be kind.  she was also taking chinese which, although she find hard she did this for fun.  its a long day at st denis 8-9 as you have two hours obligatory etude(homework study)  i am a bit nervous about the local school as they are often short staffed and do not seem to push them.  st. denis will push hard for results.  if this school does not turn out too great then she will board in the u.k.  if u need to contact me please do just email and i will give u our phone number.  good luck

hi kali,   try saint denis in loches he will have to board, its not mega expensive, i guarantee he will be fluent within a year if he is ready to work.  its a great school not international but european language school, my daughter has just finished a year their great results, but due to our circumstances she had to leave to go to the local school, but her french is really very good now.  hope this helps.   ps their maybe a waiting list for internes[:D]

thankyou for your help i will give it a go.[kiss]

i know this is probably not the correct way to ask this but can anyboy help me my husband had a fatal accident in may and i have to sell his car.  how do i advertise it on the forum.  it is too big for me to drive it is a discovery 3 1 yr old lhd.  sori to sound like i am advertising, well i am but i am not on the right add page, i think.  help.  asap  thanku jan

its not worth the argument here, but i do take offence at the blonde moment  here!

hi ty,   yes we have a red e type a new discovery a freelander and just sold an xkr and no minimum wage just no wage at all!

hi, i am not sure if i can be of help, i brought my daughter here at 11 just as she was going to change from jnr to secondary.  she was at a private girls school in sevenoaks, kent, music,ballet,theatre, the lot, here it is totally different, she is a very independant academic girl, used to travelling, etc, but, dont expect it to compare with the english private schools, my daughter has 12 hours a week of F L E , french for a foreign student, she does not go to a local village school as they wanted to keep her down with the 9-12yr olds and she is too mature for this, so we  sent her to a french language school, i dont see any point in sending her to an english school albeit international, as she is going to be brought up here and needs to be fluent, the private system is not like uk, all the curriculum is the same in france, my daughter goes private, only because of the language and the fle that they offered, but we are moving her in the summer to the local school at least now she will stand a chance with the other 30 or so kids per class as her french is excellent, in six months she has done wonders, but only cos she boards and is with the french all the time.  she still want to go back to the uk, she misses her friends, swimming, team spirit in sports, etc.   hope this helps

and as u are such a know it all i am sure u can point me in the right direction for changing my plates, we are in the bellac area.  thanks

is this better! my god tony u are a know it all!does it really matter.

HI MY HUSBAND GOT BACK SAFE AND SOUND.  AND YES IT WAS AN OVERSIGHT, WE THOUGHT WE WERE COMPLETELY LEGAL, BUT HAVE NOW LEARNT OUR LESSON.  WE HAVE SINCE HAD THE LIGHTS CHANGED ON MY CAR WHICH WAS EXPENSIVE 300 EUROS, PLUS THE MOT EQUIVALENT, ETC(I AM ONLY A WOMAN AND DO NOT KNOW THE CORRECT WORDS FOR ALL THESE THINGS) BUT NOW ALAS I HAVE TO CHANGE MY PLATES, WHICH I DONT WANT TO DO AS THEY ARE PRETTY RARE OLD PLATES, ANYHOW SO BE IT,  BUT CAN U ASSIST, OR ANYBODY WHAT IS THE FIRST STEP TO CHANGE THE PLATES, AND ALSO I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT I HAVE TO CHANGE MY D. LICENCE, BUT I READ THAT UNLESS I HAVE BROKEN THE LAW I AM OK NOT TO CHANGE.HELP, PLEASE, I DONT WANT TO DO ANYTHING ELSE WRONG.   THANKS     JEAN

no, dont be silly.  my dad lives there, posh area no way.  but i have an e type and i am poor.  i moved from brands hatch.

gosh you really know how to make a person feel good!  we  moved  here a few months ago..  we bought a new car and it was imported LEGALLY  we innocently went to the uk on english plates with a valid french insurance. we are home now. and now we will change all the plates of all our cars and hope this will be the end of it but thank you for all  your help.

YES U HAVE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD.  AN INNOCENT MISTAKE WE THOUGHT WE WERE ALLOWED A WHILE BEFORE WE CHANGED THE PLATES.

YES I AGREE THERE ARE A HIGH NUMBER OF UNTAXED VEHICLES IN TOWER HAMLETS, AS WELL AS DUMPED CARS, ETC. WHY ARE THESE NOT TAKEN AWAY?  I KNOW THERE IS NO LINK BETWEEN ETHNICITY AND THE DVLA DONT BE SILLY NOW, BUT U JUMPED THE GUN I WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS,  READ THE POSTING ILLEGAL PEOPLE.  THE DVLA WERE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TRYING TO TAKE MY HUSBANDS CAR THE TOWER HAMLET JOBSWORTH CALLED HIS CLAMPERS IN 4 BURLY BIG TOUGH GUYS TRYING TO INTIMIDATE MY HUSBAND AND MY 80 YR OLD DAD, THEN THEY CALLED THEIR MATES IN, TOWER HAMLETS HAS NOTHING BETTER TO DAY.  THE CAR IS FULLY INSURED AND FRANCE WHICH I UNDERSTAND INCLUDES THE TAX, NO MOT REQUIRED AS IT IS A NEW CAR, AND WAS IMPORTED HERE IN NOVEMBER, AND THE DVLCC IS STILL HOLDING A CURRENT TAX DISC FOR US WHICH WE ARE AWAITING REFUND.  AS FAR AS DVLCC ARE CONCERNED HE HAS NOT COMMITTED AN OFFENCE THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED.  THE TOUGH GUYS CAME PAST MY DADS TODAY WITH A BIGGER TRUCK TO TAKE THE CAR AWAY.  BUT ALAS IT IS NOT THERE ANYMORE.  SO WHEN HE GETS BACK WE WILL HAVE TO SORT OURSELVES OUT WE GENUINLLY THOUGHT WE WERE LEGAL.  AS U KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT CARS,  IS IT POSSIBLE TO KEEP THE UK NUMBERPLATE ON OUR OLD E TYPE OR DO WE HAVE TO CHANGE IT.  BY THE WAY PREY TELL ME WHAT THE OTHER OFFENCES MY HUSBAND HAS COMITTED.[8-)

THE DISCOVERY IS NEW IMPORTED HERE IN NOVEMBER, THEREFORE DOES NOT REQUIRE AN MOT, WE THOUGHT IT WAS LEGAL, AN OVERSIGHT. WE ARE FULLY INSURED AND WE WILL RE REGISTER WHEN HE GETS BACK.  AS FOR TAX WE SENT THE TAX BACK AND HAVE NOT HEARD FROM THEM.  (AS FOR LF POSTINGS MY HUSBAND DOES NOT USE THIS FORUM I DO )THE RETURN WAS AN EMERGENCY.  THE DVLCC HAD NOT INSTRUCTED ANYBODY TO IMPOUND THE CAR, THEY WERE JUST BEING BULLY BOYS EMPLOYED BY TOWER HAMLETS, I HAVE JUST HEARD THAT THEY CAME BACK TODAY WITH A BIGGER VEHICLE TO LIFT THE CAR, SO BASCIALLY THEY ARE OUT TO GET HIM AND HIS CAR, WHY NOT TAKE AWAY THE ABANDON CARS IN THE STREET.  THANKS FOR YOUR KIND WORDS.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY.  THIS IS ALL AN INNOCENT MISTAKE, WE ARE FULLY ISURED, AND YES I KNOW THAT TAX IS NOT REQUIRED AS IT IS IN WITH THE INSURANCE, THE CAR IS A NEW CAR WHICH WAS IMPORTED IN NOVEMBER 2005, MY HUSBAND SENT THE TAX BACT TO DVLCC SO LEGALLY IT IS STILL TAXED.  WE WILL SORT IT UPON HIS RETURN.

I HAVE JUST HAD A CALL FROM MY HUSBAND HE IS IN THE UK AT PRESENT WE IMPORTED OUR CAR 7 MTHS AGO INTO FRANCE, A NEW DISCOVERY, WE INSURED IT AND SENT THE UK TAX BACK.. THIS MORNING THE UK CLAMPERS TRIED TO TAKE IT AWAY DUE TO HAVING UK PLATES AND FRENCH TAX.  ALBEIT WE HAVE STILL NOT HAD THE OLD TAX REFUND.  IT ENDED UP WITH 12 OFFICIALS FROM TOWER HAMLETS AND THE CLAMPERS TRYING TO GET THE CAR TOWED AWAY.  MY OL MAN CALLED THE POLICE, THEY WERE VERY SYMPATHETIC BUT SAID LEGALLY THEY CAN DO IT!  THE CLAMPING CREW SAID THAT THE DVLCC SAID TO TAKE IT.  MY HUSBAND CALLED THEM AND SAID RUBBISH, BUT...........U HAVE TO HAVEUK TAX FOR UK CAR. ANYHOW, AFTER MUCH DISCUSSION HE TOLD THE POLICE TO LET THEM TAKE IT AWAY AND GOT OUT OF IT FOR THEM TO TOW, BUT...ALAS IT WAS TOO HEAVY.   THE POLICE SAID THEY ARE SORI BUT NOTHING THEY CAN DO.  B 4 HE LEFT FRANCE FOR THIS QUICK TRIP, WE WERE ABOUT TO GET THE CAR SORTED WITH THE NECESSARY PLATES. ANYHOW HE WILL BE BACK THIS WEEK.    THIS AREA IN TOWER HAMLETS(BOW, LONDON) IS FULL OF ILLEGAL PEOPLE, ALL SORTS. ABANDON CARS, ETC.  AND THEY DONT HAVE A PROBLEM. TO GET TO THE POINT IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO/CUD HAVE DONE.  HELP!!!!!!!!

HI FRANCES,   WE HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE MAY 05,  WE ARE NOT EXPERTS IN EDUCATION, WE HAVE AN 11YR OLD, SHE WENT TO THE LOCAL SCHOOL, AND YES, THEY WANTED TO KEEP HER DOWN ONE YEAR, MOST SCHOOLS DO.  SHE AND WE DECIDED TO SEND HER TO A FRENCH LANGUAGE SCHOOL TO HELP HER WITH HER FRENCH.  IT IS OK TO KEEP ONES CHILD DOWN BUT SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN STUDYING WITH 9,10 YR OLDAND THE WORK SHE WAS DOING BEFORE SHE LEFT THE VILLAGE SCHOOL SHE  DID 2 YEARS AGO, SO TO KEEP HER DOWN SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN BORED AND UNSTIMULATED.  IT REALLY DEPENDS ON THE  CHILD, IT IS VERY, VERY HARD FOR THEM AND THE FRENCH SYSTEM WILL NOT WAIT FOR HER OR MAKE  HARDLY ANY ALLOWANCES FOR BEING ENGLISH. UNLESS SHE HAS A GREAT KNOWLEDGE OF FRENCH SHE WILL NEED A TUTOR.  I FELT GUILTY ENOUGH AND SHE IS 11 A NATURAL BREAK JUST AFTER COMMON ENTRANCE.  MY DAUGHTER HAS GONE FROM A TOP INDEPENDENT SCHOOL WITH ALL THE ACTIVITIES U COULD IMAGINE TO A SCHOOL THAT IS ALL ACADEMIC, NO ARTS, NO SPORT AND SHE SWAM FOR KENT, NO SWIMMING.  IT IT A TOUGH DECISION AND THE ONLY WAY WE COULD GIVE HER A GOOD START IS THE LANGUAGE SCHOOL, IT COSTS, BUT NOTHING LIKE ENGLAND, IF I CAN BE OF ANY HELP OR U WANT TO CHAT PLEASE LET ME KNOW..

[quote]Thanks, guys! We are actually between Mortain and St Hilaire du Harcouet, but were travelling to Rennes on the recommendation of others. We don't want to put in rubbish and spend a fortune sorting i...[/quote] hi lynda, i have looked and looked in france but could not find anything of good quality compared to uk, i have bought my sanitary ware in uk and it is coming over for approx £300.  i have a fantastic contact that can do u original french or copy french excellent quality mostly in fireclay.  i can give u number if u require.  jeanm