Pommier

I don't know if I fancy the wet labrador aroma! I went out in the drizzle today and my hair went frizzy, although it did comb back to a reasonable(ish!) state - probably the greasiness stuck it back down! On the positive side, my husband said it looks as if it's got much more body and that it doesn't look at all dirty.  

I've been inspired by the comments to give 'no shampoo' a try. The first time I washed my hair it was very lank and greasy looking, but already after only one week it's looking better, it's not at all frizzy and it's much easier to comb when wet - previously it was a matter of teasing the comb through as it was so knotted. Will chlorinated pool water affect it? What about if your hair got actually dirty (oil, cement dust etc)? I'm impressed so far! Cheryl

Many thanks Sunday Driver for your help. I know I ought to have just trusted the advice from the tax office, but my French isn't that great and I worried I'd got it wrong. Thanks again Cheryl

I've got forms 2042 and 2047. I'm under state retirement age but have a company pension which isn't taxed in the UK. I just phoned the tax office and it looks as if I filled in last years return wrong as I've now been told to put the amount of pension on page 1 of 2047 and also in box BS of 2042. Last year I did that but I also put the same figure in section VI (page 4) of 2047 and  in box TK on page 4 of 2042. Please could someone confirm which is right? Whichever it is, would the same apply to my mother who receives state retirement pension from the UK? Many many thanks Cheryl

Would a half buried pool have all the drawbacks of an in-ground pool - would it still need planning permission, security etc? It'd certainly look nicer than an above ground pool. Cheryl

I know absolutely nothing about pools, but reading various posts it looks as if, despite the fact that I'd much prefer in in ground pool, the negatives (cost, planning permission, increased taxe d'habitation/fonciere, pool security) mean that an above ground pool would be the easier option. I've been looking on-line at Castorama, and wonder if anyone could advise if the tubular structure pools are best? They seem to have a good guarantee compared with steel pools (which only have 6 months guarantee on the liner). Why are the wood ones so much dearer? Surely it's only wood cladding on top of the structure? Pools seem to come with filters, but what else would we need? Is there an idiots guide to chosing and maintaining pools? Many thanks for any guidance. Cheryl

I think that your daughter would need to apply for an E106, which would be refused if she's not paid enough contributions. She should then go to CPAM with the letter of refusal, proof of earnings and proof of ID etc, and I believe that she would then be covered by CPAM in her own right, paying contributions for her health cover if her earnings were above a minimum level. That's how I understand it anyhow. Cheryl

We have Neuf for broadband including free phonecalls, and it's been working fine. However, since Tuesday when I phone my mother (in France) I always get the engaged tone, even though most times her phone hasn't been engaged. I can call any other number as normal and there's no problem receiving calls from her or anyone else. Her phone is also receiving and making calls as usual and FT have tested her line and say it's working fine. Anyone got any ideas? Cheryl 

We're 25km south of Bergerac and never hear anything - just see distant vapour trails on occassion

Before we had broadband we used Telerabais which gave long distance calls in France and to the UK at local rate. There's no contract and nothing to pay up-front.

We moved to a hard water area in October, and within a fortnight the kettle stopped working it was so furred up. We looked at various filters in bricolages, but eventually bought a set of magnets designed to stop limescale off one of those vans that come round every month or so. It seemed a bit too easy and cheap to work - they were only €15!, but since then the kettle hasn't furred up at all (and hopefully neither has anything else!)

I think this is the service we've got. The phone is connected to the back of the modem, but we use cordless phones so we aren't limited to just the one phone. So far we've had no problems, and the phone was only out of service for a couple of hours on the day of the changeover. We kept the same number as we had with FT, and as we haven't got a fax machine etc that wasn't a problem. I know that if we get a power cut, we won't have phone service, so we'll just hope there aren't many!

I'd buy the cooker in France as firstly you'll get the burners for mains and bottled gas, plus the guarantee is more use if the cooker is in the country where it was bought. Gas comes in propane and butane - one can be stored indoors, the other outside (can't remember which way round it is!)

I'm afraid I don't know how it works - I'm not very good with computers! If you go onto the Neuf website and put in your phone number it tells you what you can have and how much it will cost. I found it very easy to install - the booklet was obviously written for people like me and it'd be hard to get it wrong. The phone works just as it did on FT, although we were advised that the best thing to do was to use cordless phones, with the base station plugged into the modem and other phones plugged into just mains sockets as normal. As that was what we already had, it was no different. I think that with corded phones you need to plug in a filter (we had some in the pack with the modem, but didn't use them). Calls sometimes have a very slight echo, but it is slight, and we don't find it a problem. The only biggish drawback is that if we get a powercut, we'll lose the phone, but powercuts don't usually go on for long (famous last words!!). Also, I don't know if there would be a problem if the phoneline came down - whether it'd be Neuf or FT who would fix it? Overall though we think that the benefits greatly outweigh any disadvantages (and broadband is luxury after the dreadful dial-up we had). Hope that's helpful Cheryl

Yes, We are degroupee. Cheryl

We paid about €3500 two years ago, although that was a smaller house than yours (3-4 bedrooms) Cheryl

We pay €34,90 to Neuf for broadband and all phone calls in France plus about 25 other countries, with no line rental to France Telecom. Cheryl

What I was saying is that if a person is entitled to health cover, benefits or whatever, then it's not in any way cheating the system to claim them. Everyone, whether living in France or the UK pay according to their means towards the general funds for the needs of the entire population. That's a completely different subject to people who work or claim benefits fraudulently, who I would wish to see punished severely. I would have thought that Teamed Up would pay Income Tax only in her country of residence, whether that's France or the UK, unless she has income arising in both countries, and then she wouldn't pay tax to both countries on the same income. 

 us folks who pay tax and social security and CGS etc etc in France are supposed to pay are we? As I understood it TU will be moving back to the UK in the future where presumably she will wish to be covered by the NHS, even though she hasn't contributed to it? I have no problem with that, just as I have no problem with people joining the health service in France. There seems sometimes to be a degree of resentment from people who have lived here for years towards new arrivals and those planning to make the move.

Many thanks for all the very helpful advice Cheryl

Can I ask you, Juswundrin, when your chauffe eau was on 3 phase did it have 3 live wires to it? Our chauffe eau has only 1 live to it, so does that mean it's single phase? Cheryl

I've looked at the electric bill (yes, I should have looked at it sooner!), and it says we have 9kw, disjoncteur set at 15A, tension 230/400 volts triphasé. If we ask EDF to change us to single phase what are the imlications? At present everything works ok. Would we need to have the house rewired? Would we need a new consumer unit? Would the chauffe eau be single or 3 phase? Any advice please!! Cheryl

My husband said he suspected 3 phase, but it seemed odd as there's nothing else 3 phase in the house. At a previous house everything was 3 phase and we had to get EDF in to change the meter. What a pest, as itèll mean running a new cable from the fusebox (which is about as far away from the kitchen as possible!) Many thanks for the replies. Cheryl

In our 'new' house 2 of the sockets in the kitchen (one of them where the cooker used to be) are like the big cooker sockets, but when my husband investigated, instead of having the normal thick cooker cable to them, they have 3 live feeds, 1 neutral (in the centre) and one earth (all 2.5). Is this normal? Will this be suitable for our new electric hob (when we get round to fitting the kitchen). In the fusebox none of the fuses are above 20amps. The house was completely renovated in the 1980's by French builders. Many thanks Cheryl  

We didn't. It was totally free, and the secretary at the mairie did all the paperwork for us (she volunteered to!). Cheryl