Will

The phrase 'photographic masturbation' came to mind. But I don't expect WB to understand. Norman might.

Sounds lovely. Did you know that 'Idun' is a make of tomato ketchup in Norway?

I tried Norman's original link and got this message: Erreur : cette page n'existe pas ou a été supprimée I think the page you need is now at http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1736.xhtml (in French)

Norman, I can assure you it is still the number one qualification as far as I am concerned. Although many other editors look first for English degrees, I know that having one of these counts for far less than a love of the language and high working standards. Unfortunately the magazine world is full of 'interns' - i.e. work experience students who work for expenses only, or a very low wage. Such people are getting training as journalists, which I hope includes the proper use of English, but in the meantime are working on 'real' articles. I only hope they have a good style sheet to follow, and that their work gets a close look from a good sub-editor before it appears in print. That is the case with all reputable publishers, though there are a few one-woman-and-her-dog outfits where even the editors have a less-than-adequate grasp of English grammar and usage. I'm not saying this applies in this particular case, of course, and I do count Archant Life as a 'reputable' publisher. Neither is work experience a bad way into the profession; our own daughter-in-law started just like that and stayed with the same publisher ever since, rising to quite an enviable position in a few years before taking maternity leave.

Well, we're back and all the animals are safely installed. Had a couple of mishaps along the way - rough crossing, one cat escaped into the car and vomited all over Bill's carseat. Then one got out of her box just before we arrived at our UK destination. Then my lovely mother accidently let the dog out today and she ran off down the road looking for me but a kindly neighbour found her and was just taking her for a walk when I turned up. I'm so lucky that I was able to bring them all back here. I feel privileged. Judie (Mrs Will)

And I think I am correct in saying that just about every Bugatti that left the French factory pre-WW2 was right hand drive. There were some later replicas and conversions that put the driver on the other side. The modern Bugatti, the Veyron, however, is not available at all in RHD, but it is built by VW, not Bugatti.

[quote user="Cathy"]I was born close to Paradise. It's a village in Gloucestershire. [/quote] There's also a Paradise in Norway, it's near Trondheim. And Trondheim's airport is at a place called Hell. So I can safely say that I have had a bus ride from Paradise to Hell in the space of half an hour or so.

I think it's rather similar to the myth that still seems to have wide currency in the gendarmerie that UK driving licences are not legal for use in France. They are, and there are numerous copies in circulation of the French and EU laws that say so, that you can give to the gendarmes if they try it on with you - our préfecture even issues them for free. Yet still the misunderstanding continues. So the confusion between a GPS with a list of speed cameras, and a device that incorporates a radar detector, becomes almost credible. Back to the Daily Mail. As my CV includes a few years as 'managing editor, Daily Mail' (admittedly not on the paper but in another part of the company that existed back then) I feel bound to comment. All that has been said is true, even the headline generator is not that far removed from reality. In fact there was a 'paragraph 19' rule (which applied to all stories, not just the cancer ones) - you could write any rubbish you liked in the headline and first couple of paragraphs, as long as you put the truth behind the story in paragraph 19, which no average DM reader would ever reach.

Unfortunately as past events have demonstrated, some of the police in the UK have shown themselves to be not only unaware of 'Your Europe' but of EU law in general, relying instead of their own incorrect interpretations of unofficial DVLA documents - ref Northants Police's 'Operation Andover' and the Mr Opas affair (dealt with at length on this forum). The French police seem no different, to judge by their inaction in respect of the many foreign-registered vehicles which are illegally in France. As Pickles' very useful response includes a reference number for his enquiry to the Your Europe site it does at least provide something that should be verifiable, unless of course he has made the whole thing up, which I have to say is highly unlikely. No 'simple' web site like Your Europe can cover every situation, indeed the law - particularly the French legal system which relies on government directives rather than precedent and case law - cannot envisage every eventuality. Yes, of course if it came to court then legal professionals would have to become involved. But it seems clear that the EU directives, and the clarification posted by Pickles, provide sufficient information about the law for most of us.

Most banks will do a very basic account with no charges, as long as you don't have a bank card. That somewhat limits its everyday usefulness, but my mother-in-law had just such an account with Soc Gen, for the sole purpose of receiving her CPAM payments.

I'm certainly not an expert on French, German, Italian etc satellite broadcasts, but I think the easiest way would be to have a second dish, pointing at something like the Atlantic Bird 3 satellite at 5 degrees W, and a second receiver connected to the TV via a Scart cable. This could be a generic receiver, or, for the full package of French broadcasts, a box with a card slot to take a TNT or BIS subscription card, depending on which channels you need. Note that some of the freely-available French terrestrial channels are only available on digital satellite by subscription. In theory you could fit a special multi-dish to see several satellites but I fear this could get rather complicated to set up and use.

Very good points, Gluey. But we were considering the business regimes - the ability of individuals to run a business, and the soundness of any business plan, are other issues. Though very relevant to the number of business failures of course. Given that most autoentrepreneur registrations seem to be from people already in employment and wanting a legal way to earn some spare cash, rather than those actually setting up a serious enterprise, it will be interesting, after the scheme has been running for a few years, to see the number of registrations that convert into 'real' businesses (as Hervé Novelli intended) and the number that fall by the wayside.

I think, as the original post made clear, that the 36,000 figure refers to British working in France. There are the same number multiplied several times who live in France and are 'inactif' as the French charmingly put it. And certainly, with the 300,000 French in London, at least one member of each family is working.

Yes, the article gives a very fair summary. There are many parallels between the way Sarkozy is going about reforms and the way Thatcher did things, the main difference being that Thatcher managed to put prior measures in place to reduce the potential power of industrial action. The only thing I might disagree with is the weight given to government sleaze. In this respect, the Sarkozy administration is no different from its predecessors, so that's not a reason on its own for it to be so disliked. But taken in combination with the confrontational, nanny-knows-best style, it is certainly a good reason to mistrust the French government.

Sorry, it doesn't answer your question entirely, but it's yet another indication of why, if you live in France, you are making a load of trouble for yourself if you don't have a French bank account. The sécu system depends on paying small amounts direct into your bank account, as far as I know there is no other way. The costs involved in transferring such amounts to a non-French, non-euro account are likely to prove uneconomic. So without a French bank account there is no other way to get reimbursement of any money you may pay out to doctors, pharmacists, dentists etc. If you must use your UK account, then you need to get an IBAN number. That is the nearest you will get to a RIB for a non-French account, because a RIB contains additional control characters which check its validity, and all the fields must have the right amount of digits which might vary according to the country of origin - see here for an explanation. There is no real reason why a French payment can't be made to an English bank using an IBAN number as long as the payer's system can accept it. Whether or not an IBAN is acceptable to CPAM only CPAM can answer.

The 'new premium' notice period applies only to policy renewals. If cancelling a contract for any other reason, e.g. moving house, the two months notice applies. Though as you say you are selling the insured house, the insurer may agree to cancel the contract on receipt of evidence of sale - ask the insurance agent you normally deal with. Will (who spent nearly all morning in a local insurance office while various paperwork was being attended to)

[quote user="milkeybar kid"]Now I am really confused...doesn't take a lot! I thought free to air was freesat! I have googled it but it start off talking about free to air and appears to then call itself free sat, mind you they are trying to persuade you to employ then to install, so for me its still as clear as mud . So if I walk into a French shop wanting a box I can view BBC ITV and radio what am I asking for , please... I would die without this forum..thank you[/quote] Let's try (I know this is a gross simplification, but...) There are several satellites used for various broadcast systems and programmes. So the first thing you need is a dish and LNB (the LNB is the sticky-out thing looking at the centre of the dish) pointing at one of the satellites (or groups of satellites) The usual English-language programmes are on the Astra 2 satellites, at 28.2 degrees E. These will offer a mix of encrypted programmes, for which you need a receiver with a decoder card - the Sky subscription channels form one example of this - and non-encrypted programmes, i.e. 'free to air' ('Free to view' is a different thing, and refers to programmes which are encrypted, but the card needed to decode them is not a subscription card). There are many generic 'free to air' receivers available, including those sold cheaply in French DIY stores and hypermarkets. Sometimes these are wrongly referred to as 'Freesat'. They offer all of the free to air programmes available from the particular satellite(s) to which the dish is pointing, in all languages but usually with a pretty basic menu system and usually only basic 'now and next' programme information. A true 'Freesat' receiver will be either a 'freesat' one (a joint venture between BBC and ITV to make their programmes and other free to air channels available in an alternative, non-subscription, user-friendly format to Sky) or 'Freesat from Sky', which is a decoder card available from Sky for a one-off fee which gives easy access to the free to air and free to view channels, with the free to air regional channels matched to your address. Note the lower case initial 'f' in 'freesat'. The major difference between these receivers and the generic ones is that Sky and freesat receivers include software which arranges the channels in an electronic programme guide (EPG), usually including programme information for up to a week ahead. The Sky card, and the postcode you input when setting up a freesat receiver, will give you the correct regional programmes (a Sky receiver with no card will still give you the EPG but will normally default to BBC London and ITV Central W; the BBC regional programmes are available elsewhere on the Sky EPG, and the other ITV regions, plus five, which are not on the EPG, can be programmed into the Sky receiver's 'other channels'). For licensing reasons Sky and freesat receivers are not available in France through 'official' channels, but a French-bought generic satellite receiver will still receive English language programmes if the dish points to the correct satellite. A dish and LNB correctly aligned for the Astra 2 satellites will work with Sky, freesat or generic receivers, even though it might be sold as a 'Sky' dish. Sky or freesat receivers are not capable (at least not without a lot of messing around) of receiving programmes from satellites other than the Astra 2 etc satellites for which they were designed - which is why you may see good signal strength but no programmes if pointing at other satellites. Generic receivers will receive programmes from just about any satellite - but setting up and finding channels is, by their very nature, rather more for the 'techie' than the average TV viewer. Edit - RR, yes, your box is a generic 'free to air' receiver.

Chancer's link doesn't seem to work, maybe too rude? There is a wide selection here, and more here . I used to have a picture, which I can't find at present, of a French village sign for 'Les Bians'. Meanwhile, the French find some English names funny too - see here.

There was a report last week, unconfirmed, on another forum that a fuel retailer in Mortain (I have no idea which) was limiting sales to 30€ and giving you 7 litres for that sum. There are certainly limits, and some places have run out, but fuel is available in the region and the situation seems to be gradually improving.

And confirms that Britain is a good place in which to work, compared with most other European countries. Or maybe that certain countries with high unemployment and restrictive employment regimes are rather xenophobic when it comes to employing non-nationals?

I agree wholeheartedly with Gluestick. Having been a self-employed sole trader in Britain, having done the same in France under both micro and réel regimes. and being married to an autoentrepreneur, the UK system is by far the simplest, fairest and least restrictive. There is no need for a special small-business autoentrepreneur scheme in UK - anybody can start as many small businesses as they like, with no registration, Siret type formalities, and just declare the profits on the self-assessment forms. You obviously need very basic accounts just in case you are asked to justify the figures, but that's about all. Of course, once you get into VAT/TVA and start employing people or move into one of the more complex regimes like limited companies/SARL then it gets more complicated, and you need to keep full accounts, which probably means the services of an accountant. That applies in both countries, but I still think the UK system wins hands down in terms of bureaucracy.

The truck doesn't look very British, although I can't say what make it is it looks far more European. My guess is that the clue is in the 'TIR' symbol that the chap in the gendarme hat is applying .Although Transports International Routiers has its origins in the immediate post-war period, it was only formally constituted in 1954, so it could well have been newsworthy in 1955. As TIR was intended to ease international journeys carrying goods then if some trucks were intended mainly for trips to countries that drove on the left, they could well have been right hand drive, even though they were French. Just as some British hauliers use LHD trucks for European voyages today.

I suspect that EU reciprocal social security guidelines will ensure that if you are resident in France you get the same deal as British residents. Remember that the present system means that those who choose to live in countries without a reciprocal agreement when they retire do not get the annual increases that EU residents, for example, do.

You will get basically the same channels on freesat as a Sky box without a card - though some of the more obscure channels won't appear in the guide and may have to be set up manually. The extra channels like Dave which appear on the digital terrestrial Freeview service are not yet on freesat. The advantage freesat has over a Sky box with no card is that your choice of regional channels, and channel five, are available through the normal channel list rather than having to go round the houses, and if you get a HD freesat box you can see the BBC and ITV HD channels. (I know this is repeating what Danny said, but this is it in a few words without having to click on the links).

[quote user="NickP"]...this arrangement is to enable the person mentioned to avoid paying parking and speed camera fines as well as not paying RFL. But of course should the insurance have to pay out a large claim, the proverbial may hit the fan[/quote] I know what you are saying, but this particular person would never go fast enough to risk a speed camera fine and is probably s*** scared of traffic wardens. If you have bought motor insurance in one EU state, then other EU directives say that this will provide legal cover (i.e. third party risks) in all states, so it would only be 'own damage' and any associated claim that was not covered, and then only if the French insurer found out that the French address on their records isn't actually his principal residence. It's not the insurer's job to uphold EU guidelines about vehicle registration - no, it's just another example of an EU law that is not enforced, probably because in most countries it's difficult to understand all the ramifications, just as hard for the enforcers as for the members of the public who are supposed to follow it.