Wendy

Our guest has just arrived and parked a vintage 1920's Citroen in the drive. It is a magnificent sight! Long, cream coloured...it looks like an old Bentley or Rolls. I have never seen one on the road, has anyone else?

Why are you bothering to declare it here when you would already have paid the tax in the UK?...and under which law do the Nationwide NOT accept this form? Speaking as a Nationwide customer, resident in France, myself.

HSBC are selling the regional branches that came with it's purchase of CCF some years ago. It's keeping the branches that are currently branded HSBC France (ie those with a big HSBC sign over the branch) but selling the various regional branches which are only marked by a small sign on the door. I suspect that it will probably end up doing what it has done elsewhere which will be to open new HSBC branches in the various regions after it's gotten rid of the regional banks (although it probably won't be telling potential purchasers that!). This is basically because the computer systems and product offerings by the various regional banks just aren't compatible with the systems and product lines that HSBC France offer.

I noticed that...so why do people not USE it!

You need the European Residence Permit which you cannot be refused. You are the spouse of a British/EU citizen, despite your Singapore passport, so you have the right to live/stay/work here. No, you do not need a long stay visa, or a short stay one either, or ANY visa in fact; you are entitled to the same rights in Europe as your spouse. You do not need a medical either. You come here as his wife. Have you lived in the UK for five years?...if so apply for a British passport, use that, and never ever mention your Singapore one when coming here. How many times has this been covered here...does this forum have an archive?    

Funny, my Scottish OH says that bagpipe-playing individuals are shot on sight these days...!

My guess is that the easiest option would be HSBC in that they also operate in France. We've had an HSBC UK business account for years and quote our prices in both sterling and euro but in practice nobody has actually paid us in sterling. I suspect that's partly down to people assuming that we would be applying some kind of rip-off exchange rate such as you get in the likes of Auchan who let you select your payment currency when you use a non-French card. By far the simplest route is to accept credit card payments and to ask your bank to update your machine so that you can bill in both sterling and euro. This would eliminate any complications from your accountant in that you would always be receiving euro. However, you should note that if you do this then you will be charging your customers the rate that your French bank use for currency exchange which is unlikely to be good. Also, some UK credit cards now apply a foreign currency conversion charge when you pay in sterling outside the UK so it's not free as many people would assume.

If you are running it as a primary earning 'sole job' here you may well need one...but you can register as a micro-business for which I think you get issued with the equivalent. Depends on how big a concern it will be.

Can you check your info...nothing at all relating to an 'Allasy' comes up anywhere on the web, on any of the search engines. Have you by any chance answered to a scam email?...

No Ron. Catch up please. Since 21st December 2007 these French losers cannot ask me for a passport, nor any other citizen - European or not - crossing a border within the Schengen region. See link...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7153490.stm...I am resident in France. I pay taxes here, I am the mother of a french-born child. I am entitled to be treated under the same laws as do the French. Not only that, I am REQUIRED to be treated as the French are treated. But, as I am not French-born I do not have a French ID card so I am not required to provide one nor be expected to provide one until the French see fit to issue me with such. Not that I want one in the least. I do NOT need a passport to either go into Spain... nor Italy/Belgium/Holland/Luxembourg/Germany basically over any of the land borders in Europe or need one to return to my home in France. So...what allows France to specify their own rules?...Sorry, they are part of Europe. They are in a Schengen region. One rule for all. And in reference to your sarcastic remark at the start of your ill-informed reply - I have never had, been at the scene of, nor directly involved in, a car accident here in France. My husband and son have though and luckily lived to make life hell for the person who caused the accident. So...what's your point? And as the French no longer issue Carte de Sejours, and I do not require a VISA to live here and do not even have one,  I only have my UK photo ID for ID and that is what I gave them and that is all I was required to give them...my passport stays safely in the house. Cathy and Ron: Your information is out of date.

Okay, so when hubby and I both see the same doc for sore throats why does he get charged 22 and I get charged 25? Same for our two kids...the 3 year old we pay 25 for and for our 5 year old we pay 22?...both always go in for the same thing as I only ever take them when needed...! The prices most certainly are not fixed we have found.

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Very, very few now I think you will find Ian. The majority of sites now are working to be 'google friendly' in that they use no-follows tags in their links. Google do not want people generating traffic to their site by paying for the links and they certainly monitor such activity.

The monkey dances for his food and nothing else. No-one held a gun to the heads of the men who shot those babies and children being pushed through the church windows by their mothers in the hope of escape. I myself would take a bullet rather commit such acts of barbarity against innocent children and babes. I could not live with myself otherwise...the thing is those men lived with their actions for many years afterwards, without any regret. You talk about politicians being held accountable? the french have built a memorial to that traitor and Nazi sympathiser, Petain, in his home town! And I have used a small 'f' to spell 'french' here in this context for good reason. That man sold his country and it's people out; he should have been executed. To think that many here think he should be commemorated...![+o(]

Hi, it sounds very much as though Nationwide have put a security tag on your card - you need to call them and sort this out. Been there and done that believe me. All our cards (UK issued) are chip and pin yet we get so many checkout chicks here attempting to swipe them first, suspicious of anything non-french; this in itself can cause a card to get blocked. Try telling these girls though that the card has a 'puce'!  

Actually it is mostly Nigeria that these scams originate from. You have to feel sorry for the person that is roped into this business though; they desperately need the work and money there and obviously get a cut (albeit small) when some stupid gullible person from our end takes the bait. We`are at present working on a way that one can make money from these comedic scam email requests; will let you know when we hit on an idea.  

Fleur, how much do you pay when you see the doctor...do you also pay 22 euros as your husband does? It is not unknown for GP's to charge us women more than the men.

Fleur, how much do you pay when you see the doctor...do you also pay 22 euros as your husband does? It is not unknown for GP's to charge us women more than the men.

Cut it short maybe, but come in with a better remark than that please. In short, Africa has not thrived under African rule.

I know where you are coming from. Two of my closest friends are a married couple, much older than I am, who lived in Uganda in the late 50's - John was a surveyor for the British Govt there. They just loved that country and it's people then. They left in the 60's when the British began their withdrawal and 'handover' to the Africans. They now live in Australia and would love to return to visit Uganda but do not dare to. John says 'human life has become too cheap in Africa now'. They told me how the African people all had employment 'back then', albeit at the hands of the British, French and Belgians, but all the same those people had jobs and were able to support their families. They had dignity. Once those colonies were handed over, and thus taken over by dictators and military regimes, the rot set in. In short, they are starving and killing their own people and this is all sanctioned by the so-called 'civilised' west. The self important Sir Bob Geldof, Bono, and their ilk might raise millions in Aid for Africa; but to quote a woman from Ethiopia three years back...' our children are still dying from hunger yet the militia are all parading around with new guns '. Makes you wonder where the money REALLY goes, dosen't it? I think we all know. "In the long run we must look to our own future & security" - you have sure said a mouthfull there my friend.

Aahh Will, my guy could take an olympic gold medal in the farting-to-order stakes. He is British born and bred. His parents bathe once a week - to save water; they flush the toilet just once a day - to save water;  his mother buys one bar of toilet soap and cuts it into quarters...they are coming to France again in June...anyone want to host them to conserve my sanity?...[:'(]

Yes Sprogster, Soc Gen are a proper bank as is BNP, the only PROPER banks in this country...those such as Credit Agricole, Banque Populaire, Caisse D'Espargne, Credit Mutual - virtually all the others here - are mutually owned banks (building societies) and are not given to issuing credit cards on the same scale as your Soc Gen, or BNP.  These other 'banks' are extremely limited in their resources. Look at how diverse an organisation is Credit Agricole?...your local CA account  is not recognised in any other part of France. Your Soc Gen/BNP account will be though, right througout France. It is ridiculous! We have a CA account in Normandy and one here in the south...they are not connected in any way yet they are both CA accounts. Transferring funds from one to the other; you may as well be dealing with two different banks altogether. What brightspark/s came up with this idea?  

Frenchie, just looking at the engravings over the doorways and the sheer craftsmanship...there is obviously a lot of history connected to this place. Certainly some roman-influences in the arch work...so much of the features are still so well defined. Have you explored it's history at all? My guess is you need expert assistance with this project. Looks like something you could open to the public at some stage (of course charge a fee to be put towards it's maintenance) but it is exquisite - what a find!  

Tegwini, Africa as a whole seems to be too much of a problem for the so-called 'world super powers'. They are all more interested in where the oil comes from and who controls it (even though this is a significant issue) than what is happening to women and children on the African continent. They executed Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity in Iraq...yet do not have the testicles to do same to that mass murderer Robert Mugabe; even that vile murderer Idi Amin ended his wretched life in protected exile. The US are pursuing the capture of Osama Bin Laden for his role in killing over 2000 people in September 2001 under the pretence of 'world peace'. What rot. The people of the continent of Africa obviously do not matter in the bigger scheme of things. There is only one reason why the British and the Americans will not interfere here; race. Neither country wants to pit a white power against a black power. Too many problems would exist back on their home soil as a result. I wonder if Africa held the worlds oil reserves if the story would be so much different. Of course it would! The sister of my ex-husband visited relatives in Durban last November; she stayed 5 days before cutting things short and returning to Australia. She feared for her own safety. Africa, all parts of it, has become to the world  the black sheep of the family - we know it exists yet we do our best to ignore it's reality.  

J.R...your remarks are up the left. My husband was never executing a left turn. The drunken driver of the tractor was...it would have helped if he had indicated such before he actually did it! The old codger tractor driver was drunk. Plain and simple. He even ADMITTED he did not indicate, or look behind him. He simply felt the need 'to turn' all of a sudden. Anyone, deaf, and half blind, should not be driving any vehicle anywhere. Lets just hope that the EU will legislate for this someday too. Being 'French' has little bearing except when you are NOT French and attempting to fight a case using French 'law' against a French citizen. I would only have been sympathetic if he was willing to compensate us at the start for the extensive bloody damage he caused to us. Diminished eyesight and hearing all included. Plus the alcohol in his blood at the time. You are obviously a Nu-Labor voter; taking into consideration your siding with the criminal here. And we most certainly will win this. The end is already in sight, and in our favour.