mint

weedon you have injected some commonsense.  it is sorely needed.  let's just accept that some people will NEVER learn the language, for whatever reason. i personally would not mind helping someone out on medical stuff because i do know the latin phrases, if not the french, for most medical conditions. it can't be easy if you can't say what you want.  i don't say i am brilliant because i haven't even gone over to live yet and we are VERY new owners.  but, i am confident that i can communicate well enough on medical things to be able to explain my own condition (asthma), my husband's (glaucoma) and anyone else's (as long as it's not something like munchausen's syndrome by proxy) and even then, i'd have a stab at it!

twinkle, cariad my OH has just said, i've forgotten it's st david's day.  and, to be honest, we have not seen any children in their costumes. that's the worst thing about being retired, you forget things like today because you are not at work and see others with their leeks and their daffodils. anyway, happy st david's day.  what is the world coming to when you don't see the little girls with their tall hats and their red flannel petticoats!

found the petition and signed.  lynda, thanks for the email alerting me to this.  regards everyone

thank you, leslauriers.  i am now much clearer about, though not entirely on top of , this subject!  i shall be seeing a financial advisor later this month and, at the very least, i shall be able to discuss things with him from a more informed base. you have also reassured me somewhat, generally speaking, and i can see that all may not be as unappealing as i had feared.  i have spent an anxious night thinking through the implications of some of the things you posted yesterday.  but, i do hope to be able to use your comments as a springboard to some useful debate with the FA and my OH thanks again for your help; it has been much appreciated by me and others 

you do mean 20k euros PER transaction, don't you?  well, then, how many transactions are you allowed in, say, a year?  is there a limit to the frequency, number of transactions of 20k ,before the tax people are interested? will look at the site you mention after this post; couldn't get it to come on by clicking thanks for your patience

blanche neige you have just provided me with the answer i have to learn by heart.  "no, i don't think that would be a good idea."  no white lies, no excuses, no pretend "other visitors"; just out with it.  yea, i'm going to be sooooooo assertive.  wow!!!

leslauriers thank you so very much.  i was hoping you'd come on board as i knew you'd have sound advice.  thanks to everyone else as well.  i am waiting to talk to some financial advisors. i also need to hear your advice to grecian. incidentally, i have contacted exclusive health as per your advice on another thread and occasion and i am likely to sign up with them when i have the cpam stuff sorted your advice has been invaluable and will give me and the OH food for thought

tresco & catalpa right, whenever i feel too lily-livered to come outright and say "not on your nelly", i'll think of your good advice.  i'll probably have to really steel myself to do it but the alternative is too awful to contemplate. it does seem to be the case that people on holiday don't seem to or don't want to take on board the fact that YOU are NOT on holiday like they are.  therefore, you do not necessarily want to "do" the sights, drink late into the night EVERY night, eat rich "foreign" dishes at every meal and stay in bed till half the day is gone am i being curmudgeonly or merely self-preserving?

i have been diligently looking at many of the tax and financial queries on the forum and now i have one of my own that needs addressing so, PLEASE, give it all to me in idiots' guide version we are expecting to move over completely in the next few weeks so what i want to know is whether we should take out an ISA each while we still have our UK address and tax status.  I do know that whatever you need to do to protect your funds (as best you can legally and legitimately) has to be done BEFORE the big move. i know an ISA is only small beer but 2 years' worth for 2 of us will take care of £28k and, in the context of our total pot, that is not to be sneezed at. also, if we were to invest money in equity-based vehicles, is it better to go for capital growth rather than income-producing programmes (on which we will be paying unearned income french taxes)? please put on your thinking hats and give me all the advice/ personal experience that you have.  i shall be so grateful as this is one aspect of the move that worries me more than all the others put together! thank you all......the drink's on me, ok? 

agree totally with this last post.  although we won't be moving there till next month or early april, i would add don't tell any old acquaintance your french address or that they can come and visit (as my OH is too inclined to do) it's surprising how many "friends" we have acquired since people have known about our intended move.  i don't mean to be inhospitable, but i certainly don't want to be invaded by people whom we would then have to entertain and put up.  we are after all moving away to have a complete change of scene and that includes some of the boring old social circle one inevitably gets stuck with. also, if people do come, unless you love them dearly, insist that they have their own transport as i have visions of us taking them round all the local sights until we ourselves are sick to death of them. i will be looking forward to seeing friends and family of course, but only the selected few!

bugbear wrote "Anyway we all know that the welsh are fat and the scottish are thin.........................................." and we also know that all bikers are kinky, what with their fetish with leather gear, etc.  but, i won't hold that against you as i think you actually look rather dashing if your avatar is anything to go by!

Kathy it's such a coincidence that you have mentioned not bothering with contents insurance.  i was coming to that conclusion anyway.  although we are fully covered here in the uk, i have been trying to think when we last claimed for anything.  the anwer is never! the way i look at it, all our costly things tend to be jewellery bought in the far east (where the gold and gems are of wonderful quality) or family heirlooms and our musical instruments.  as the instruments cost too much (by way of premium) to insure, we have just accepted that if we had a fire, we would be more worried about other things than our possessions (such as our pets).  and a burglar is unlikely to cart away a piano and violins. after taking into account the excess on the cover, it's never seemed to us appropriate to claim.  after all, these days, if the tv or hifi or whatever get damaged, you just tend to go out and buy the latest or better model, don't you? as you say, we will all have different ideas of what is "valuable".  i have come to the conclusion that the real value of our things tend to be sentimental ones and you can't put a price on those, can you? was it oscar wilde who made a scathing remark about people who know "the cost of everything and the value of nothing"?  

heather sorry can't help but can't resist posting to wish you all the best and to let you know i am rooting for you to get faya back!

panda bear it's only fair that you now tell us where this notaire is?  which department, town?

i, too, have used hifx 2 or 3 times and find them very easy to deal with.  if you wish to use them, or indeed, any other foreign exchange company, ensure that you have gone through their money-laundering procedure and set up an account so that when you want to exchange money, there is no unnecessary faffing about at the last minute

rumzigal but where does that leave the welsh and the scots and the northern irish?  why is it only the english who get all the fun?

cooperlola yes, that's what they are called.  they do them in english/italian as well.  other thing i do is collect brochures, tourist literature, whatever, in french and english and i try and see how much of the french i can understand before referring to the english my husband likes to learn by reading the bible of all things.  not that he is conventionally religious but, as he so rightly points out, most of us do know the english text of, for example, the 23rd psalm and then you can read it in french and work it out quite well!

megan le fey i have nothing to add; just feel so sad and i want you to know that i think of you and can guess at how dreadful you must feel. the pictures are truly heart-breaking.  you did your best for the animals and you could not have anticipated what that sub-human creature was going to do.

yes, thanks missy.  i'll have to have a good scout round next time i'm over.  jeanne claire, i have had your pm and i hope you got my reply ok. "bath of pleasures"....perhaps i could get one of those as well.  imagine having a "bath of pleasure" whilst scoffing dried fruit!  oh, and a glass of chilled white to sip!

bugbear my childhood was bl**dy awful.  now my SECOND childhood.....suits me SO much better!

have you tried asking the syndicat des eaux to recommend a local firm?  as the sde has to give you a certificate when the works are done to say that your fosse conforms, then if they recommend someone, they had better be sure that the works are going to be ok, don't they? we did this recently and, apart from a small problem (which we will get put right when we are next out there), it was fine and done within a reasonable time scale. of course, if anyone near you know of someone they have used, then that's even better information.  good luck with your project

logan, you are a difficult person to disagree with because you sound eminently sensible.  and i am not disagreeing with you as such you have admitted that you were fortunate in having had a good education and can think for yourself.  there are, however, many many people much less fortunate than you, who perhaps are not equipped, mentally or otherwise, to do things for themselves.  and i am not talking only about the industrialised world at this stage.  i am thinking of poor, ignorant, starving people who maybe do need some practical help with just staying alive and organising democratic, non-corrupt governments. i don't mean that looking up to icons and role models is always necessary either. it's just that sometimes, if you do not have access to impartial information or you are mentally unable to work things out for yourself, it's very good if someone in a prominent position could give you some food for thought or present to you in a clear way some other positions than your own.  and you have to admit that even the best-informed person can at best have only a limited perspective. i do agree that there is a limitation to what one lone person can do (although it could be a very great deal as in the case of bill gates) and that there are times when only good governments and big organisations (that is, individuals acting collectively) who have the resources to change things for those who are unable to help themselves for all the reasons that we can only too readily think up. 

logan what you have said makes excellent sense.  however, i cannot totally agree with your penultimate sentence.  i like to think that there is someone other than ourselves that we need to believe and trust in.  now, i am not a religious person, so i will not resort to depending on any other Being or Force "out there".  but, surely, there are people (even politicians) who have an altruistic inclination, people who do want to make a difference? i know he is not a politician as such but i was thinking of someone like bill gates.  he can and does make improvements to the lives of millions, does he not?

will & carole (who kindly pm'd me).  thanks for pointing out my error.  i meant arromanches of course.  in fact i had to ask for directions to it.  i remember seeing pictures of arromanches on the tv at the time of the d day landings 50th celebrations and i just HAD to visit. i know where avranches is as well.  never been inside the town but did'nt particularly want to go in when i viewed it from the road high on the hill, looking down on it.  trouble always is having to pick and choose what to see on account of lack of time! i think one of my favourite places is bagnolles de l'orne but that is NOT a place for buying for rental.  on account of its spa town status, it has an over provision of hotels, etc.  lovely in the summer but in winter, most of the towns and restaurants seem to close down till round about easter. my husband always says that the trouble with france is that the last place you visit is always the best.  no wonder it took us over 2 years and several trips to view property and places. just couldn't make up our minds! 

i ADORE normandy; at least manche, orne and calvados.  don't really know eure.  i do think the bocage is so lush and green.  best of all are the romanesque churches (if you're into that sort of thing) the one time we were there in january, i did find it extremely extremely cold.  even so, i didn't reject normandy for that reason.  we are in the charente maritime more by default than anything else. i don't know about lettings but i must say that there does seem to be a very good range of accommodation for hire at very reasonable prices the sunday morning that we got off the ferry at ouistreham and drove north to avranches, stopping at all the normandy landing places, and then having breakfast overlooking mulberry harbour has got to be one of my most abiding memories of  all time!