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Woolybanana You do know that they have a word to describe people who indulge in your sort of activities, don't you?  Wouldn't it be better to make it a case of "if you can't beat them, join them"?

Sundance Love your post.  A dentist with a sense of humour?  My, you are indeed lucky.  Usually the ones that do think they have a sense of humour tell you funny things when your mouth is wide open and can't respond! Yours sounds an absolute treasure.  I hope you really appreciate him

Anaesthetic, what anaesthetic?  Still, it didn't bother me as I didn't feel anything being in a state of shock and generally not really registering what was happening to me!

Suninfrance Thank you so much for posting.  Will look at another dentist next time.  I did ask at the reception whether the dentist was "conventionee" to which the reply was yes. Just goes to show you have to keep your wits about you.  A friend of a friend said their friend paid 600 euros for a crown  Just goes to show, it appears to be anything goes!

Chas All is now explained.  Thank you.  Can't say I like the looks of the instruments of torture on the site.  But, there we go, probably FREE software for monsieur le dentiste!

Thank you, Cooperlola.  Can't think what Julie stands for; it's a strange looking little logo.  Yes, they did read the Carte Vitale in their little reader and I must say that 40 euros 97 sounds quite a lot for a filling which took about 3 minutes.  He didn't do any scaling or other checking up like my UK chappie would have done.  But then, I expected a crown at the very least and I was delighted he fixed the problem so quickly and efficiently.  Steep learning curve here but that's what we came here for; in order to avoid being stale and complacent in our old age! Bon weekend, as the French say & thanks again

Re Dago's post "You must mean cutting edge as in this post from August 2003: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/517947/ShowPost.aspx" Dago, that is the funniest joke I have heard for a very long time.  Fancy finding such a gem!  Thanks for making  my own settling down situation seem such a doddle!

Coops, I too have just been to the dentist for the first time.  I did remember to take the Carte Vitale.  I paid the amount they requested.  I was given a form with "JULIE" in the top left-hand corner with the full amount shown.  Does that mean the Caisse will refund all of that or do I have to claim some of it from our mutual mutuelle Exclusive Health?

Good luck with your move.  I can advise on which company to AVOID but it is unlikely that you will be using them as they are mainly based in the south west. Read the terms & conditions extra carefully.....just in case they are crafty b*****s like ours!

Go on, Twinks, GET in a michievous mood, do!

Twinkle Cariad, I have been so.................waiting to hear you are still alive!   I have been in France these 4 to 5 months and have just had my phone line from FT! It's great to see you are still posting. What is the world coming to when you look for your old mates and they do not appear?

Puzzled I am just that, puzzled.  Could you explain in words of one syllable or less?

Even I used to have an MG.  It was a midget and, if I rmember correctly, it was 1974.  The colour was a sort of bird sh...t yellow but I used to think it was marvellous and I called it "Yellowbird" (as opposed to the famous Bluebird, of course).  What defeated me in the end was the struggle to get the tonneau cover on and off and being stopped by the police for some trumped up excuse or other. Happy days!  Why does one have to grow up? Now I suppose the fact that I can't recognise a manifold if it was stuck in front of me would automatically disqualify me from belonging to ANY sort of motoring club.  Perhaps not even the AA

No S, merely shadier

But I bet someone will think of a song called "Dewey Numbers"

ErnieY & Dave Wow am I impressed or what.  Will now have great confidence sorting this out.  Will show the guy the picture and will get a couple of devis from different garages.  I know a Hyundai garage in Cognac and I think I'll make that my first port of call.  Having said that, the local garage I have mentioned might just be the place.  The owner does the welding work and I have seen him do some real swanky body spraying and the like.  In any case, I think he is the sort of guy that will tell me if it can't be done in his place.  I had my lamps replaced at his garage; it is something that I don't think he'd done before.  But, he came up trumps, ordering the parts, placing them and then, after I got my number plates, he rivetted them in with the right colour rivets. I do wish to thank you both very much indeed and this is not just some polite message but meant straight from the heart.  Nice of you both to have taken so much trouble.Cheers

Ron I don't know whether I was just lucky or what.  When we had our interview with the CPAM, nobody tried to establish whether I was a "dependant" or not.  As explained in my earlier post, I am not yet of retirement age though my OH is. We had a letter from the UK W&P to take to the CPAM.  The letter showed both our names, dates of birth, etc.  The CPAM woman looked at the letter, our passports, all the other bumpf and then immediately gave us 2 forms to fill in should we need to see a doctor or receive other medical attention before the carte vitale came through.  She explained that it could take a few weeks.  Within about 2 months, perhaps sooner, we got our EHIC and then, a month after that our Carte Vitale.  I specified "our" because only my husband's name appears on it but my name appears on the Attestation alongside his. I have been to the doctor twice and visited the pharmacy for my prescription and there were no queries and certainly no obstruction of any sort.  I haven't made any special study of this, only going by my own recent experience

Sorry folks, for confusing everybody.  What happened was that when I had my car MOT'd in the UK (it was due), the garage pointed out that I had a crack in my manifold (must have been manifold, now I have read your posts).  However, it did not stop the MOT being OK.  Then, as luck would have it, we suddenly sold our house in a tremendous hurry (after it having been on the market for 18 months) and had to get out and over here to our French property. I desperately searched the internet for a secondhand replacement manifold that I could bring with me to France.  However, in the little time that was then available, I couldn't find a match for my car. Now that I have been here a while and finding my feet, I want to sort out this manifold problem.  I couldn't point out the part to the garage chappie because I do not in fact know where this part is to be found and, indeed, what it looks like.  Thence the need to be able to tell the garage man in French.  As the garage is a carroiserie (spelling?), I thought they'd be the right people to weld the offending part, seeing that they do body repairs and so forth.  However, if as seems likely, it's best to have a new manifold altogether, then that is what I will have done. The car, by the way, is a Hyundai Lantra year 2000.  I have only done 30,000 miles in it and that includes the 600 or so that I did driving from Wales to Plymouth and then Roscoff to here in the Charente Maritime.  I don't want to just give it up as it's nice to have my own little runaround and not have to share the OH's car. Any further advice gratefully received and thanks again for helping

Bugbear Thanks for that.  Look forward to trying that out in the garage. ErnieY Thanks for raising the query.  My husband also says that a manifold gasket, being made of cast iron, should not be welded.  However, a UK garage told me it could be done. If you know anything different, do you mind explaining?

Please, does anyone know what the French for manifold gasket is?  Mine has a crack in it and I want to get it welded.  Dictionary says nothing about manifold gasket.  Went to the garage and tried to explain what I wanted doing.  The garage man said, "Montrez mois" but, being a "mere" woman, I don't know what the hell to show him.

londoneye I might have been menopausal but I have not actually felt violent.  Do you think I am missing out on the best bit?

Blanche Neige You are spot on in your description.  The only horror to beat that one are overweight women who wear pink or flesh coloured leggings (yes, they do; I used to see them all the time in the seaside town I lived in back in the UK) and to team up with the leggings, they wear clingy tee-shirts with spaghetti straps. I often wonder how all that sort of outfit manages to hold together the contents!

Jamesg I have had the same experience as you.  All the ones that effect the most interest ("Oh, let's put the kids in this bedroom and my mother's dresser in the kitchen") either did not make offers or totally unrealistic ones. We had all this yet again recently (our housesale fell through after 5 "definite" offers and 3 surveys with good results).  Why oh why are people just allowed to walk off leaving you an emotional and financial wreck? As you said, the ones that do buy are usually not the wildly enthusiastic punters.  Our buyers came to us via our internet advert, only saw the house once and completed in record time. The ones that really get my goat are the ones that want to come back for other visits with mother/father/boyfriend/children/surveyor/architect/every-one-else-they-can-think-of and waste hours of your time (not to mention all the frantic cleaning and tidying you feel you have to do beforehand) and then go all quiet when you contact them to see if they are interested after all. Grrr..................

Cooperlola This is something I do know about.  My OH has reached retirement age but I haven't.  What has happened is that because I am officially his dependant (or his "beneficiare, nicer word), I do not have to make contributions.  In effect, I get all the benefits to which he is entitled. Of course, I pay the top-up which is a completely different, if related, matter.  

Never did like that Clarkson character but then I do realise that he says things just to be provocative.  We, who have moved here permanently, have made our choices.  And, as they say, "you takes your money and you makes your choice."  We moved in order to "expand" our lives and not "constrict" it in our retirement.  New life, new house, new culture, new language.....Are we swimming or drowning?  Time, no doubt, will tell!