Doodle

Wednesday evening I watched Masterchef The Professionals and saw Michel Roux jr make a french pork pie with apple and chestnuts and a british salad cream as one of the tests for the chefs. It looked lovely and I wonder if anyone on the forum knows where I can find the recipe for both items. I've googled but can't come up with anything except his venison pie. I can't remember all of the ingredients and he purposely didn't give any quantities. Thanks.

'Taking him to the vet to be chipped and snipped involved a pair of sheepskin gloves and a blanket (he'd bitten completely through my nail bed on the one previous occasion I tried to pick him up)' We had the same problem with the older of the two cats who beats up on the younger one and who gets stressed by other cats that come into the garden. To get him snipped we bought what we thought was quite a sturdy cat transporter cage. Trying to get him in it took us around 45 minutes, thank goodness the windows were closed as the neighbours may well have thought we were committing murder! The hissing, growling and wowling I wouldn't have thought possible so in the end the OH put on the thickest pair of gardening gloves and hallelujah, we finally got him into the cage. What happened next, he burst the door off and flew around the kitchen like something demented. We let him run out of steam and then bundled him into the car as he was. We had an appointment at the vets and had to ring and apologise for not turning up on time. The vet was very good and told us to bring him anyway and to leave him in the car when we arrived. We sometimes wonder what on earth we've taken but after several years he is now much calmer although he still has a go at the other cat from time to time but rightly or wrongly I have done as a friend suggested and have an empty plastic water bottle with a couple of bits of gravel in it. One shake is all it takes and he's off like the clappers. He prefers to live in the garage and bless him he can be quite a sweety pie when he wants to be so I think time and patience has gone somewhere to a relatively peaceful household! I would post a picture of them both but don't know how from my mac machine!

One would hope that on collection of the cats and whilst checking if they are chipped that the vet would notice that someone had been bothered to pay to have a cat spade/snipped and therefore it is not a feral cat. Also anyone just looking at the two cats that I inherited it would indicate that they are more than well fed and well looked after - glossy black & white coats etc, clean ears (one of the cats arrived with a terrible mite problem in it's ears constantly shaking it's head and it took some time to get it cleared). It might sound irresponsible but I don't want to distress either cat by taking them to be chipped. However, if I should have to go for another reason then I certainly shall have chipping done at the same time. Chris

Thanks Sue. Chris

anyone fancy some fresh fingers with their chips? http://www.thelocal.no/20131022/norway-store-pulls-gruesome-halloween-toys

Hi all, My french is not too good so would some kind person have a read of this and tell me whether by law I need to get my two cats chipped. I had them both snipped etc but not chipped as at the time 200 euros in one go was quite enough especially as they turned up on my doorstop. They both came as strays one about 4 years ago as a kitten and the other about 3 years ago as a cat that was abandoned in the village when their owners left! Thanks, Chris http://purina.fr/alaune.aspx?id=1&utm_source=NL+CSB&utm_medium=NL&utm_campaign=NL+CSB+CT+octobre

Ditto vette. When we took early retirement the OH's company (a building society) who he had worked for over 30 years would not pay his pension into a french bank account and so we opened a NW account especially as at the time the charge for withdrawing euros from an ATM in france through NW was next to nothing. As vette said there was no problem with the change of address to a french address. However, they will not allow us to open a savings account. Furthermore, the OH's building society will not let us open a savings account with them even after 30+ years of service. Hence my reason for emailing HM Treasury. We also do a lot of presents on-line as we have never been back to the UK in nearly 7 years - it would cost a fortune in postage if we sent items bought in france - another good reason for a UK bank account and ERNIE!

I had been trying to do the same last year with no success. In the end I wrote to HM Treasury asking why I could not seem to find any bank/building society that would allow me to open a UK account with a foreign address. Hope the link may be of some help. Chris The reply came back as follows: 1 Horse Guards Road London SW1A 2HQ [email protected] 27 March 2013 Dear................ Thank you for your email dated 18 March about access to banking. As it is not practical for Ministers to respond to all the letters they receive, I have been asked to reply on their behalf. You have raised concerns about access to banking services in the UK for non-residents. There is no legal or regulatory barrier to banks providing services to non-residents. Whether an institution is willing to provide such services may partly depend on a firm’s target market and whether an applicant can present themselves at a suitable branch to make an application in person rather than remotely. Although each individual is best placed to decide which bank account is best for them, you may be interested to know that the British Bankers’ Association provides information on their website (http://www.bba.org.uk/media/article/bank-account-access-in-the-uk-for-non-residents) intended for non-residents who are trying to find a suitable onshore account. Yours sincerely, Daniel Beswick Correspondence and Information Rights HM Treasury

Just an update - I have today received a recalculated avis d'impot form 1501 officially stamped by the 'Controller Principal' complete with cheque reimbursing most of the prelev soc ie a refund of 1131 euros (yippee!). No covering letter of why or how the error was made but I've got my refund ........... maybe I gave them just a little headache (certainly gave myself one!) as I bombarded them with so much paperwork, emails and plus my visit to their office! So Norman, we were both correct in our calculations - thanks for your input it helps to be assured that I hadn't misunderstood the forms. Chris

Just a conversation with someone who tells me that I should be showing my Paypal account on the 3916 form. Is this correct? I only use it to pay for items bought on-line not for squirreling away money!

Hi, Just received an email from my top-up insurer MMA suggesting buying glasses on-line from Happyview.fr. The glasses look pretty reasonable cost wise. Has anyone tried this company? Thanks, Chris

[quote user="NormanH"]Ah OK. Down here we have this shop in Juvignac (Montpellier) who specialise, and will send their products, though I am not sure how they compare on price: http://www.tout-sans-gluten.com/ [/quote] Sorry I've not replied sooner (still sorting the PS problem) thanks for link NH it looks a good site and if I find someone to share the delivery charges even better.

Norman, we don't have any local 'bio' shops only bio farms. The Tamari is wheat free/gluton free and I have never seen it in any of the supermarkets and I have checked the 'asian' section & 'health' sections. I asked for in once in a very large supermarket in Laval and they had no idea what it was and I was politely taken to the Soy sauce. I had a friend (since died) who was diagnosed celiac she had a devil of a job getting gluten free food and always had it brought over from the UK. I don't have any health problems I just prefer Tamari to Soy probably something to do with the fact that it is fermented in barrels for around 18 months!.

Thanks for the info. I've been wondering about their service as it's where I have always bought my Tamari and natural cashews and I normally ask anyone who is coming over to visit to bring 12 bottles and 6 bags with them!

We used to have two very large green bins alongside the glass, paper and plastic recycling bins. There are quite a lot of houses in our village that do not have their own dustbin (wont pay for one) so they used the village facility. However, as others have found on this link everything was thrown alongside from microwaves, tv's etc. Our maire has now had the green bins removed and a notice put up telling people to take their rubbish to the dechetterie. It does seem to have had the desired effect - most of the time!

Crikey that sounds a lot. We receive a separate bill in May every year (not fonciere), this year's amounted to 128 euros. We live in a small village, we do have recycling bins in the village as well as our own bin that is emptied weekly and the bill states quite clearly that this amount includes the use of the dechetterie. Our neighbour whose home is a holiday home does not have a bin but she still receives a bill for around 85 euros to cover the village recycling bins and the operation of the decheterie which is in the next larger village 4 km distant.

Know what you mean Sue. We brought over a small office filing cabinet - now know that we should have got the large one as it is now bursting and paperwork has spilled over into various cupboards and drawers. We can usually find what we are looking for...........after a couple of hours!

Oh dear idun that sounds very sad - maybe it's not I don't know your circumstances. We hope that we never have to leave France but you just never know what may come to pass.......................

Just an update, I sent an email to l'assurance maladie asking for a copy of my attestation for the period 2011/2012 and the reply has just come back as follows: 'Suite à votre message, je vous informe qu'il n'est pas possible d'éditer une attestation de droits avec une date de validité antérieure à la date d'édition'. So don't destroy any bits of paper as it is worth keeping them if only for future proof for other organisations.

Thanks very much Norman for your very informative reply and links. Thank you also for your offer should we get stuck with the French - may well take your offer up. I would like to collect a pension of over 20,000 but in fact I don't collect anywhere near that amount. I printed a copy of the 2041GG that the tax info form suggested reading for further information for foreigners and from page 4 of this document came to the same conclusion as you in your final para and we are under the bareme. Not heard from them this morning yet!

Thanks Norman. I've found the document you refer to and have emailed the tax office. However, it doesn't show when it is valid until, ours shows a start date only. We are early retirees our E106 expired in 2008. The original attestation shows our code gestion as 70 however my wife received a new photo card in 2010 and her code changed to 89. This has all arisen because we are quering the 6.6% Prev Soc bill. We believe we should have been charged 3.8% as our tax bills have always been 0 euros. Yes we do usually pay Prev Soc of around 350 euros, this year it has come in at 1,500 euros! We also pay our cotisations yearly to URSSAF for health cover. Having thought that we had a little grasp of the system we are now totally confused by it all and just seem to be digging out paper after paper on a daily basis to forward to the tax office. I have asked the tax office to explain to us but they just keep asking for documents and when we visited the office we didn't get any further. Thanks again for your help, we will wait to see what transpires via our emails tomorrow!

Thanks Lehaut. I have checked out the site but it seems I can only get a 2013/14 attestion and not previous years. Am I not looking in the right place on the site? Our office is not open until Wednesday afternoon and I was trying to get another bit of paper off asap!

Hi all, A long story a 400% increase in Prelevements Sociales which I am sure is incorrect - I knew it was going to increase but not by that amount and am trying to sort out via my tax office and to which I am getting more fraught by the day! Please could someone tell me where I can get a copy of the document that my tax office is asking me to send to them (copy of the email below). I have gone through all the documentation I have and don't seem to have what she is asking for for 2012. (Vous devez retourner l'attestation ou les attestations de droits à l'assurance maladie couvrant l'ensemble de l'année 2012 pour vous et votre épouse.) Or l'attestation de droits communiquée concerne l'année 2013. Votre dossier sera examiné dès lors que vous m'aurez fourni les bons documents. Thanks in advance

Just checked ours and it's code 89. We are early retired. Our E106 expired 2009. Chris

I paid a euro cheque in to CA 3 weeks ago from a IOM bank and it has just appeared on my statement with a 19 euros charge - yikes - I haven't questioned it as it is still cheaper than a 30 euros charge for using SWIFT and then whatever CA decide to charge for receiving. Chris