Ron Avery

Perhaps you should posts some PM's to Mr a and Mr O if you know what I mean, sign them love Micki!!!!

Sorry, you are right, Carcassonne is nearer Toulouse than Montpellier, it is not as far SE as I thought.   Must check the maps next time, I was going by journey times from Rodez. 

Its Official, BMI Baby have just published their summer routes and  there are no Toulouse flights to E Midlands or Cardiff after March.  It would appear the Toulouse route has been sacrificed for the Bordeaux flights from Birmingham. Judging by the numbers of people who used BMI baby in the summer and over the Christmas period, (the flights must have been full going back after Christmas), this may not be the best commercial decision BMI baby have made, or perhaps Toulouse have been leaned on by Airfrance. Perhaps it is also to shore up BMI's scheduled flights to Toulouse, but having waited 4.5 hours on Christmas eve for a scheduled BMI flight from Manchester, (plane not available at Manchester, had to be brought from Edinburgh) I am not sure BMI are interested in this route at all.

When we moved here, I was told by those already here that for the first batch of bills, EDF . French Telecom etc we had to pay the first bill and sign and send the preleve form with the cheque and the D/D was set up after that, is the TIP system a different thing and a system where you have to authorise each payment before it is taken out of your bank?   

When you register as unemployed in France, you will be paid benefit, but unless you are a special case like a musician where different rules apply, you will also be offered up to three jobs, refuse them and they stop paying you benefit.  Source  "Association of Support for the Immigrant Workers"

[quote]No, you can do it Sue. Send the bottom slip of the bill, signed and dated with a RIB to EDF. The next time a bill arrives, all the top bit of the TIP will be filled in with your bank details so you ...[/quote] No you can't do it Sue,  unless EDF have a system where you live that is different to the rest of France or you have already set up a standing order type arrangement with them. All Alexis has done is repeat what I said, this sets up the preleve but does NOT pay the immediate bill. You cannot pay the first bill by setting up a preleve after you get the bill, you send off a cheque with the preleve and RIB. this sets up the Direct Debit and you don't have to sign or return a thing after that.  EDF take the money out of your bank on the date they will tell you on your bill.  

There is something odd here, why have you submitted an E106 to CPAM that is no longer valid?  If you paid NI in the UK in the last three years, you get up to two years on CPAM after registration, that is what the 106 is for, it also seems very odd that Newcastle took nine months to issue a 106,  unless there was a problem tracking your UK NI paymemts,  how long after you moved here did you apply? If your E106 has expired you will not get a Carte Vitale now until you enter the French health system, but if you do, it will have your name on it, but your wife can use it as a dependant. Whether or not you can claim back items will depend on when you applied to join the French system , best to ask at your CPAM office, you should get back anything you spent after you submitted your E106 to CPAM. but I doubt that you will get anything back before you registered with the French system after all,  how would they be able to establish that you were entitled to refunds if your E106 has only just been issued?

Wanadoo do let you have a holiday period, though doubt they or anybody else in the world would offer summer on/winter off.  Wanadoo also do a pay as you go which might be better, check "nos offres" on their website

If you drop down 15 items to the previous page of topics you will see topics around the beginning of the year.  Have a look at the Great News getting Sky topic and others about getting French TV around that time , these will answer your questions.  Don't throw away your old sky analoque box, the card is no good, but you may get French TV better through a dish than an airial.  In a nut shell, you need a sky digi box and a valid sky or FTV card  to get ITV and Ch 4 & 5 in France.

The forms are going out now, some friends brought one sent to their parents for me to translate for them.  The form has to be completed by the Doctor and patient and returned to CPAM and the system will be in place by July 2005. An accompanying letter also told them that from now on they will have to pay €1 ( they are both 80+) to see the doctor and as reported earlier on this thread before it lost its way, will need referrals from the Doctor in future to see a specialist,

Sue You say that "I know I can pay EDF by sending back a certain bit of the payment slip signed and no need for a cheque" That is not how it works.  You can set up a preleve ( direct debit) by sending back the slip on the bill and a bank identity slip (RIB), but you have to pay the immediate bill by cheque and you send the cheque with the preleve form and RIB back to EDF.  The preleve will then take care of future bills.  So to pay EDF you will need to use one of your cheques or get the money out of a ATM and go to their offices.  

[quote]I hate to say this but surely most people who come to live here in France don't just do it on a whim and do reseach and prepare for as much as they can? If you have the correct paperwork before you l...[/quote] Yes MDW it is very simple if you have a newish standard car, but it is not easy if you have an old car, a camper van or a US branded vehicle The problem, is that you don't find out these things until you go to register your vehicle.  You cannot get the correct paperwork until you get to France in some cases and the DVLA will not export the car until you are in France and that can take up to 4 weeks to get sorted, although I was told that the customs/export office in bigger French towns will provide the export paperwork, but if the DVLA do it you will avoid any SORN or road tax liabilities in the UK. 

Rob You cannot get an idea of costs from others as the two biggest price factors are the cubic capacity and the distance, also if you have a small load you can get on a split delivery that cut the costs.  We paid about £3000 for 40 Cu m ( a 4 bed detached house) to the Aveyron,  this isn't too bad as we know of a couple who paid £1000 in the UK to move a similar load 9 miles. It does costs a lot to move to France because it takes time as lorries are governed by driving rules and few trips to France can be accomplished in one day due to driving hours restrictions.  We used Lapworths  of Leicester, they are on www.lapworthsRemovals.com.  The UK people are very helpful and the team we had for the move were excellent, they worked very hard packing in the UK and unloading  in France,   they were careful with everything and very professional in the loading of the lorry and trailer. I could not fault them, they were brilliant and fully insured. On their site you can get an estimate of costs, you  enter your stuff room by room, this will give you a ball park figure.  They do have a packing service if you want it or if you want to do your own they provide all the packaging, boxes bubblewrap, blankets etc that you will need, all delivered to your house in good time so you can pack at your leisure, they also provide special wardrobe boxes for clothes to be hung up in rather than packed flat, they even provide the parcel tape and applicator. 

Rosemary Sorry to hear about your experiences En France, don't let it put you off. I doubt that you will get cover in the UK from any of the "big boys", they are not interested as they don't have the post codes to assess the risks in your area. It seems odd that a contents policy did not cover theft, are you sure that your claim was not refused because the house had been left empty for an extended period?  Many UK and French insurers would have not have paid out on your theft claim even if you had been covered for theft as many policies exclude properties left empty for more than 30 days or more.   There are probably members of this forum who have second or holiday homes that are left empty for extended periods, who will be able to tell you of suitable insurers and policies.

Would endorse the Honda from Weldom, my 4.5 works a treat, but, do not try to do too much, too soon.  If it is the first time your patch has seen a rotovator or if the soil is hard or compacted just let it bounce over the top on the first run or two, the belt may keep flying off if you don't.  Another tip is to dig out any perrenial weeds first, particularly anything of the bindweed family or you will chop and spread the roots all over your patch.

Groupama insured my car on UK plates while I was getting the paperwork for French registration in place, provided you can show place of residence, UK full licence and evidence of no accidents in the last 3 years you will find the rates very competitive v the UK.   On most UK fully comp policies you can legally use your car on UK insurance in France provided that you only want 3rd party, although I would check the policy schedule small print, most of the big UK insurers will only do a max of 90 days on a Green card for full comp.

Look in your cars handbook, if it is fairly new and a standard european make, it wil have a EU wide valid certiicate of conformitie at the front.  Take this with your immatriculation form ( or get a Immatriculation form at the Prefecture) and C of C to your Prefecture or sub Prefecture ( in some large towns the Hotel de Ville or Marie also do it. You pay the registration fee, which is dependent on the CC of your car and they will issue your carte gris. This will have the reg plate of your car and you then get the plates made up and the insurance changed over to the new reg.   For older and non standard cars and vans, particularly camper vans, getting to this stage is not so simple.

[quote]Hi - yes we're in Laguepie; Is the train thing definite? On and off they have been threatening to withdraw it for last 10 years (I've only lived here full time for 2 and half years, but have been ho...[/quote] Hi maggi yes it is hard not to enthuse about this area, we loved it so much on holiday that we just had to move here I found about the train  from a leaflet I picked up in a cafe in V-F, it is still a  proposal but the comitie de enterprise in Toulouse have been told that it will stop on 31/12/05, which is still a year away.  The protest group also say that the ticket office will close at V-F station as a consequence.  Agree 100% about ASTI, it has brought my French on no end in just one term,and marvellous value for money, the strict "En Francais" policy helps that along,  it is also a good place for social contacts .  Yes they do try to get the "workers" in but with few exceptions it also that group that do not attend regularly.   Lets hope ASTI can keep going.

CW I wasn't having a dig at Darren about the previous posts and not doing a search, I was just stating that this topic had been covered in the last couple of months, perhaps I should have added that it was not obvious as it was under "Taken to court" Whether we like it or not MIKI is right and it is only when there is a problem that those who choose to flout the British and French laws will get their commeuppance, let us hope that innocent people do not also have to suffer for their arrogance.   You only have to walk around the car parks at the cheap flight airports to see some of the wrecks that English people are using on the cheap, three year old tax discs, no insurance, probably no MOT, and yes I know the French may also do it, but that does not excuse the English from obeying French law does it? 

I did read the page on the link but it appeared to be for those who do not live in France and want to change ISP when in the UK, or for those who have not committted to Wanadoo and want a ISP for OE. Due to not understanding some of the wording on Wanadoo like Supprimer, I mistakenly changed a configuration early on when i started with Wanadoo aand that cancelled my account with them and I got a Email to that effect, it also cancelled all the options I had and I lost my carry forward hours as well. Can you tell me if you have uninstalled wanadoo yourself and if you did, it did not affect your fidelitie account with them or lose your OE messags and address book.  As much as I find the double OE log in and intrusion of Wanadoo into almost every programme a pain, it is not worth losing my mailboxes for. Ron

[quote]Just uninstall the Wanadoo software and create the connection and OE account manually. http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-techcorner/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=435 The Wanadoo dialler software is totally u...[/quote] I agree that Wanadoo is very invasive and creates this double sign in problem on OE, but forgive me If I am being dim here , but if I uninstall Wanadoo won't Wanadoo get a message telling it I have unsubscribed and cancel my log-in? Also, if I uninstall how will my PC know how to connect to the Wanadoo site and the passwords and freephone numbers to use?

Darren If you go back a couple of months you will see that this has been covered in a number of threads, different people have different opinions on this topic. Yes you can get your car insured on UK plates, Groupama will do it, some will tell you that they have had their UK registered car insured in France for years and probably have,  but as far as I know, if you intend to keep the car in France,  you must register it France within 6 months or your insurance may be invalidated as the car will be technically illegal as it does not have a French certificate of conformitie and a control technique.  You may not find out your insurance is invalid until you have an accident.  

Maggi Bonne Année 100% agree on your post about our area, If you on the same train line as Villefranche and 30 Kms away you must be near Laguepie.  But two points you may not be aware of.  The night train to Paris is being withdrawn very soon due to the popularity of the daily flights from Rodez to Paris. The current waiting time for a place at ASTI is over one year, there is also some doubt that ASTI has a long term future due to funding problems.

[quote]Have you ticked the box for it to remember the password (Servers, Properties)?[/quote] This topic came up late last year, you cannot tick the box for remember password in the IE account, it is greyed out and creating another user account is no good either as Piddy says, it just defaults back the next time you log on.  Nobody has suggested a solution to the extra sign in yet, it appears to be the result of a conflict between IE and Wanadoo, the only thing suggested on the last thread on this topic is to keep signing in to the second box when it pops up

During the many hours of my life queuing at the checkouts at Carrefour,  Le Clerc and Hyper U, ( Motto: When there are  10 people in a queue we will consider opening another till) , I noticed that the French while pushing a supremarket trolley are quite happy to stand in a queue of 10+ people without getting annnoyed or impatient,  but put them behind the wheel of a car and they become the most impatient people on the planet. They have to overtake.  They risk life and limb to overtake the car(s) in front, doesn't matter if it is round bends and over the brows of hills, they must pass the vehicle in front.  Yet you will find that them parked up in the next village going into a shop to get a paper or a baquette. Is it just a case of C'est Francais