smudger

[quote user="Lassie"]With so many people selling up and returning to the UK, will there be a new forum dedicated to helping them?  We have put our house on the market ( in a small way) and will do a major marketing in the early Spring.  Meanwhile, what preparations should we make? I keep hearing about this final tax certificate which you need to be able to move your money back to Britain. Having sold your house, the first thing you want to do is to remit funds to the UK and get some decent interest as well as being able to buy quickly if the right house comes up.  Recently sold a small property and had to show the bank the sales documents from the Notaire before they would send the money back and that was only a small amount.  ited to because you are 'abroad'. Everyone has his reasons for coming and for going back too. [/quote] I sold up finally back in July and got the notaire to send the sale proceeds direct to UK rather than my French bank. She did query, though, my residence status as I had a non-France address on the sale documents, and suggested that I might have to sign some sort of guarantee to pay any tax due from the sale. However, after producing my French tax reference, it seemed there was no need for anything. I think they just needed to make sure that it was a main residence and not a holiday home.

[quote user="nickinorthez"]I was wondering  whether anyone has heard of the following organisation the Comite de defense  des campagnes Francaises who have an obsession with sticking a flyer stuck on my car window! This has happened twice in the last week, once in Salies De Bearn and now also at the supermarket car park in Orthez. [/quote] I wouldn't get too worried about the Béarnaise. They are traditonally a very morose, bull-necked and dour folk - all mutters and no action. And they hate the Basques, so no 'joint campaign' against the Brits. On a lighter note I always wondered why expats seem to choose to live where they live without referencing the characteristics of the local inhabitants. Go East to the Ariège and you'll find French folk who smile, laugh and really don't mind the rash of white-topped shrilling Brits who materialize on market days in Foix, for example. And the houses are quite inexpensive.

And while I'm on the subject [quote user="Cat"]TF1 is showing all of the French matches, which, for the moment, are the ones that the French are the most interested in.  Anyone living in France who was keen enough on rugby, or sport in general, to want to watch every single match would already have a subscription to Eurosport. [/quote] Easily said, but I wager a lot of you French expats would bleat if you had to pay (God forbid)  for your 'free' BBC/ITV etc, which I understand is not strictly pukka.

And today, Wales v Fidji. What a stonking match (by all other accounts). Fact is the remaining knockout matches will probably be deadly dull with the favourites grinding out weary victories for fear of losing. Not just TF1's fault but also the FFR and French blazers like Serge Blanco. Come the revolution......

I'm in France for a few weeks and can't seem to find decent coverage of the RWC on French TV. It seems there's only 9 out of the 80 preliminary matches on public TV and a further 30 or so on pay to view Eurosport. Am I missing something? Surely there's more coverage somewhere? I mean isn't France hosting the RWC? And why aren't the streets continually throbbing to the sound French rugby fans congo-ing thru village and vale,  necking 1664 and cheering SA's whupping of the Blighty Boys?