Richard Thomas

Thanks for that. Do you know if the dish on the side of the house would work with the Sky signal? Obviously you don't know the type of dish it is, but is the technology used by TPS/Canal+ the same as that used by Sky? If we wanted to get a box without subscribing, could we get one in Carrefour, and if so, roughly how much would I be looking to spend? Thanks again Rich

Hi, I have recently moved to France with my French fiancee. The house we have bought came with a satellite dish, but no box. To get French TV, is it possible to buy just a box and get the public channels for free, or are we forced to enter into some kind of subscription with TPS/CanalPlus? There is no aerial or other television receiving equipment on the building. Separately from that, if there is a subscription, we think it would be better for us to get a traditional aerial for the French TV, as we don't want all the extra channels. That would mean that the satellite dish would be available for receiving UK Freesat. Does anyone know whether the type of dish often found on the side of a recent French house will work with Freesat (assuming it's pointing in the correct direction and has the correct box attached)? We're living near Calais, so the footprint issue won't be a problem. Thanks in advance Rich

Hi, My girlfriend and I are in the process of buying a house in France. Because she is French and I speak French to a reasonable level, we've completed most of the process by hand with the branch of BNP Paribas in my girflriend's parents' town. We are going to have a bridging loan to cover the equity in a flat that I own in the UK, while we wait for it to sell. As part of this, the bank in France requires an "ordre irrevocable de fonds" which acts as a guarantee that the UK solicitor handling the sale of the flat will transfer the required money to clear the bridging loan as soon as the funds are available in the UK. Can anyone offer any advice or recommendations regarding getting this "ordre"? At my last meeting with BNP Paribas, I provided a signed letter stating that I would make the transfer as soon as the funds were available - at the suggestion of the lady in the bank - and while this seemed to be sufficient for her, we've now found out that it must come from the solicitor handling the sale of the flat. This has crept up on us a bit, as the mortgage in France has gone through a lot quicker than expected, while in the UK there hasn't been much interest in the flat (summer isn't a good time to have a property on the market). I've tried emailing some of the advertisers in Living France Magazine, but so far to no avail - one isn't interested, one is about to go on holiday and wouldn't be able to help us in time, and the others are yet to respond. To be honest, I'm not sure entirely what I'm asking for in this post - I suppose just hearing the experiences of other people who are/have been in the same position would be useful. Thanks in advance for any help or advice Rich

Ouch! That might put a spanner in the works! I'll try and speak to someone. Thanks for your help!

This might apply to me too (hoping to commute to the UK for 3 days/week and do 2 days/week from home through the net, and be paid by my UK employer). Where would people recommend going for professional advice?

If you're travelling on the Eurotunnel Frequent Traveller scheme, do you have to do the usual 'turn up 30 minutes before departure', or are you fast tracked?

Hi, I currently live with my French girlfriend in Kent. I work in the county, and enjoy my job. My girlfriend would like to teach in France, so the plan is for us to move near Calais, and for me to commute from there to Faversham on a daily basis. I bought this months' Living France magazine, as there was an article on commuting between the UK and France, but to be honest it was a bit of an anticlimax, as the commuting seemed a lot more long-distance than a daily journey from the Pas-de-Calais to Kent. A few years ago I saw an article on the BBC's South East Today programme about a man who commuted from near Calais to the big pharmaceutical plant at Sandwich. I am assuming that this was done using the Eurotunnel Carnet scheme, which I believe might have stopped: Eurotunnel claim there is no such thing as a commuters' scheme any more, and say that the cheapest option is £25/return trip, which is too expensive. The BBC programme suggested this commuter was paying about £40/week. So my questions are: Why did Eurotunnel withdraw the scheme? Surely they need all the money they can get, and I'm sure that many trains at commuting times of day are otherwise running quite empty? How are the existing commuters coping with the withdrawal of the scheme?Are there any plans for the replacement of the scheme with something else?Are there any alternatives - I'd rather not have to spend nights away from home when it's not really that far. I've seen mentions of something called Opale Link - is there a website or a way of expressing my support for this organisation? Thanks in advance for any help, questions or advice. Rich