Shane

We tried the fish and chips at Nexon last night and they were superb. Apparently they will be at Nexon 5 to 9 pm every Wednesday evening and St Yrieix every Sunday afternoon 12 through to 9 pm. They are a good price, and tasted lovely. May go again Sunday!

Hi we have just got back from two days in Paris, first time for me, my husband has been before many years ago, and it was a wonderful experience. We live in the south Haute Vienne so took the train from Limoges to Paris, 3 hours and the train was very good and comfortable. Took the metro to near our Hotel which was 500 mtrs or so from the Eiffel Tower. On the first afternoon we met some Americans who were on their way home and they gave us some tickets for "les cars rouges" and what a god send they were. They cost 24 euro each and are valid for two days, but the Americans just gave them to us. The following day we found the first stop in front of the Eiffel Tower, showed our tickets and went to the Musee du Louvre. There are 9 stops with this bus and the Musee d'Orsay is one of them. You can get off at any stop and do what you want to do for how long you want to do it and then go back to the stop and get the next bus. They come every 10 minutes. You pay on the bus and keep your tickets for two days. They give you a brochure with all the bus times on etc. We got back on the bus from the Lourvre and went through to the Champs Elysees and got off and had lunch and took the next bus back to the Eiffel Tower. We told the driver however that we were running short of time and he dropped us off near our hotel which was not a scheduled stop, bless him. If you only have a short time I would recommend this bus. The other thing I will say is we have just been and it was very very busy to get into various places, we had to wait for an hour to go up the tower and about the same for the Louvre. Check menus when eating and drinking, we paid 18 euro for 2 beers medium size and learnt to check the prices after that experience. We had a nice lunch on the Champs Elysees for 13 euro - main course and sweet and 5.50 for a demi pitcher of wine, not bad. Wonderful place, cannot wait to go again, have fun!

Hi We bought a French caravan last year and needed an awning and all the other bits and pieces, electric lead etc. We went to out local caravan supply center in Limoges to be told that an awning would be 1800 euro and there was no choice, only one type available, and it would be a 4 - 6 week order and only one type of ground sheet and again another delay. Other items we looked at seemed very expensive and the shop was rubbish compared to the caravan supply shops in the UK so............ surfed the internet and came across Towsure in the uk, www.towsure.com and you can surf through their on line shop and then email your order through to the export centre at Sheffield. A very nice girl rang us and confirmed certain things and then we placed the order for £900 sterling worth of gear from awning to a wine glass including delivery. We paid with Visa and a week later the girl rang to say the order had just left the depot and two days later it arrived in France, everything just as we wanted it. Their customer service was brilliant. We saved alot of money and did not have to wait weeks for a delivery. Hope this helps.

My advice to everyone is go get a cholesterol test, it is THE SILENT KILLER! Some people have high cholesterol via their diet but with others if they never ate or drank they would still create too much cholesterol and it does KILL! My husband was diagnosed with high cholesterol in the UK before we moved to France but the doctor just shrugged and said it was his life style and diet and never gave him any medication. Two years after being here he had a heart attack and the French doctors found his cholesterol levels were through the roof and it is only medication which keeps it down, it is not his diet but just a genetic thing and once he told his brother etc they all found they had high cholesterol too. Thank god we were in France when it happened but anyway we cannot emphasise enough the blood test, it is well worth it. I can eat cheese, chocolate, drink wine etc and my level is fine but my husband cannot not. Tryglycerides is the other baddie which needs checking too. http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/triglycerides/glance.html  

http://www.labtestsonline.org.uk/ I find this site quite good for understanding our blood tests.  

Got to support Benjamin and Ebaynuts statements and hey I'm blonde!! And I defy anyone to say they have always, all their life never ever broken the law. Have you never just exceeded the speed limit by a mile or two, never just had that one glass of alchohol when you shouldn't have, never ever accepted cash for something and thought "oh blow it why I should I delcare that to the tax man". Because if you are whiter than white and have never ever ever done anything you perhaps shouldn't have done then I take my hat off my blonde hair to you. Some good points have been raised in this thread but at the end of the day the person at the top of the thread posed a question and it was answered by people who gave their experiences in their particular situation. I don't think it should have ended up in a "lets get at those on benefits" thread. And yes I agree lets give some support to those who are with an E106 and going to struggle if the mess does not get sorted out and feel for those people who want to move to France to join us in this better life, with or without a swimming pool, and are now having to think twice.

Ebaynut - Well said!!!

Hi Benjamin Thanks for that, I have looked at this and am just under the 80% to qualify for the card but they said that as the medical problem will only get worse they now have a dossier and it is just a matter of re-applying. They did award a priority card in the meantime which means not having to wait in a que, priority seating etc which is very handy.

Tony - yes our GP is brilliant, saved my husbands life literally and diagnosed a medical condition which I did not know I had which resulted in surgery. Why I get 100% I do not know but it would not have mattered had I not as we have the top up anyway. Ron Avery - when on Incapacity Benefit there is a very strict criteria to judge whether someone is "unable to work". It is based on a points system and when you have a medical in France they use they same system. The medical is very thorough, many questions, full medical examination and you have to provide medical evidence ie x rays, hospital reports, blood test results etc. Personally I was unable to work well before we came to France, following 25 years of employment with the same company in a professional position. I was not aware that I could bring IB to France until 2 weeks before we left the UK when I informed the Benefit Office that we were moving and they told me. If I was still in the UK I would still be getting free health care and would not be paying a top up policy - would I not? Incapacity Benefit is my entitlement as a result of 25 years of NI contributions which in itself is an insurance which entitles you to certain benefits. Also if still in the UK I would imagine I would have reduced council tax and other benefits which I could claim for. Here I do not get any such assistance and neither do I expect it. And actually I would much sooner have the few thousand pounds a year from my previous employment than the few euros a month I do receive in benefit. I too have known people who have "fiddled" their way in to the Incapacity Benefit system but I have faith (fool I may be) that they will be found out eventually to the benefit of those of us who are genuine.

Sorry but that has not been the case for me. I have arthritis and have never had to justify my case to my doctor in France and it is not on the list of the 30 or so health problems which allows 100%. I have been with our doctor for 5 years. When we first registered with the CPAM the attestation stated 100% and I had not yet seen a doctor at that point. I have always recived 100% for any doctors treatment, pills etc for everything including an operation for Thyroid removal and the subsequent medication. My physio is covered 100%, blood tests, a visit to a specialist was 100%, x rays 100%. My husband who had the heart attack and is included on my E121 however gets 100% for any treatment for that but for other things then he gets 70% or 65% and the top picks up the rest. I am not saying you are wrong Tony just that this is our case.

Hi My medical was at Limoges at the doctor spoke English and she said at the end of the appointment "it is ok - you cannot work - I will tell England" and about 2 weeks later I received a letter from the UK to say I would be reassessed  in 2011. Our friend who went to Perigueux for his medica, and I went with him because I speak French and he has only been here 12 months and did not feel his French was strong enough, anyway the doctor there did not speak any English at all, but said that it was ok and he had nothing to worry about. Our friend said that the medical here in France was alot better than the English one, easier and more straightforward. So I think for the reassessment it all depends where you live as to whether they speak English or not. Our E121 was sent to our French address when we moved and we have always found Newscastle very helpful. We did not take a top up policy when we first arrived in France but following my husbands heart attack took one up then and it has paid for itself time and again. If you want to know anything else just ask.

For those in France receiving Long Term Incapacity Benefit and with an E121 - you will be re-assessed in France at your local CPAM by a French doctor at some point. I was re-assessed 18 months ago and a friend of ours just two weeks ago. It is perfectly straightforward, the questionaire is in French and English and the doctor sends it all off to the UK. You receive a notification from the UK first to say you will have to go for a medical and then the French authorities contact you at some point to make an appointment. Those people who receive an E121 do not get ALL health care free, we still have to pay towards dental costs (varies depending on level of top up) and most of the cost of glasses as does the spouse who is covered on the E121. And also the spouse is only covered by the 70% or 65% reimbursement and so a "top up" is necessary and has to be paid for. In our case we both have a top up policy.  

Try this one   Tracey on 05 45 85 44 06  Go to  www.bluebellwoodkennels.com

Does any of this mean that someone already living here in France and receiving Long Term Incapacity Benefit with a mobility problem can apply for DLA for the first time or does it have to have been already applied for before leaving the UK?

And just found this on the orange.co.uk web site regarding activation of phone with livebox. switch your Livebox off and on again at the power socket. After a minute the phone symbol on top of your Livebox will light up and you'll be ready to make calls over broadband same procedure here I woul imagine, our box is switched off every night so I would not have noticed any different.