Rupert

Thanks, the drive home last night wasn't so bad either despite a massive thunder storm going off all round us, because as a postscript,  this weekend at Belmont Sur Rance he effectively (he only has to start at the next race) won the regional (Midi-Pyrenees) championship after only 4 of the 6 races. This also means he automatically qualifies for the 'Coupe de France' in August.

I thought this would be the place for the petrol heads. I just wanted to tell more of the world (boast) that my son Simon, age 9, won the Minikart race last weekend at circuit Alain Prost. Here's the press release: Simon Carr, age 9, is just coming up for the anniversary of his debut in karting, at the end of April last year,  already he has notched up 5 wins and a dozen podiums in his Minikart. On a high from his double win the previous weekend in the first round of our regional Championship, we had high hopes for the first big national race of the year, the Kart Mag Prem’s at Le Mans.  Dry free practice on Saturday saw Simon dip into lap record territory, but a shower just before the evening qualifying made life difficult, the boys with local knowledge were a bit faster but with the track drying fast he may have still got pole if it wasn’t for waved yellows on both of his last flying laps. He was still 3rd when he crossed the line for the last time but was pushed back to sixth at the end of the session as others got a clear run. With 32 entries, only 20 could qualify for the main event, a 3 group/3 qualifying race system meant that dropping it in either of  his two heats on Sunday Morning was not a option, so a cautious 2nd in each heat (one dry/one wet) each from 4th on the grid was quite satisfactory. This put him 3rd for the Semi-final.  A dry race, Simon took second into the first complex and by the end of the 1st lap was leading.  He managed to steadily open up a small gap, coming in about 10 lengths clear of the fight for 2nd. The Final, with intermittent sleet and snow showers, was always going to be down to a bit of luck, so with an almost dry track but a black sky, we plumped for a dry set-up and high pressures. The opposition obviously went the wrong way because other than a quick scrap for the lead in the first couple of corners Simon just drove away taking almost a second a lap out of the chasing pack, in a dry race (it chucked it down 2 minutes into the next race, phew!) This saw him cross the line almost 11seconds up on 2nd place to take his first national win, making the 7 hour, 500 mile, drive home much more bearable.’

Car drivers always say they are signaling before they turn left or right on overtaking bikes.

The contradictory posts on this thread relating to how this case was treated by the Portugese just goes to highlight the whole issue. 'In France, the ministry for internal affairs gives the following figures for 2006: 43 245 runaways, 895 worrying disappearances of minors, from which 380 parental abductions, 1 570 other disappearances' 'The Portugese Police have been woefully inept from Day One.   An event of the magnitude and public interest of Madeleine McCann's disappearance is not something a police station in a relatively small holiday resort would be expected to have experience of, in which case it ought to have been handled by the police in Lisbon  who are perhaps more used to dealing with high-profile cases, ie. as Scotland Yard takes control of cases in the UK.    Any chance of finding forensic evidence after the event was lost due to those bumbling buffoons crashing about in the apartment and the hire cars etc.'   I imagine the French figures may be similar to Portugal, so why does the Madeleine case, of apparently such magnitude and public interest warrant so much more interest than the hundreds of others. Policing and Politics in the UK may be slavishly driven by press and media attention, thankfully the same knee jerk principles do not seem to apply in Portugal.

I would think very carefully about yourselves before taking the plunge. From a reverse perspective, I'm very glad to have just got out of the Gite business after many years, in my time the market has gone from demand massively outweighing supply, to quite the reverse. It gets worse each year and as more people start to struggle and discount it will only get worse.  Furthermore, in my experience the key to running gites(with the exception of very large houses) is ultimately repeat business and the key to repeat business is a very simple concept. People tend to rebook for people not places. In other words it will be down to you to make people come back, your enthusiasm will make this happen or not. However, in many years observing people come and go in this business, I have never seen anyone last more than 10 years with a gite complex, most 'burn out' after about 5. They simply get fed up with constantly sharing their lives with other people, being asked the same questions over and over and recanting the same anecdotes, really it happens. I still remember nearly 20 years ago, my last week in the office, while doing the morning routine, post and messages etc., winding colleagues up along the lines of: 'next month my morning routine will be cleaning the pool'.  It's amazing how quickly cleaning the pool becomes a drag, The grass is always greener. .

[quote user="Panda"] Hi It is true that if it's your  main income you should register as a full business, cotisations will be at least  (could be more)  25% of  gross income though  not 11%.  In the Vienne I had to really go to some lengths to have my gite business recognised as non professional so it is obvioulsy different across regions as some people seem to have the reverse case where all are registered as non professional unless stated otherwise.  In my case I had a full other income and it too was registered but they still wanted me to fully register the gite, they did back down in the end but it was by know means simple. Panda [/quote] What do you mean by Gross Income? Turnover or net profit?  If you opt for the Micro Bic regime then one is automatically a function of the other. i.e net profit is 29% (correct still?) of turnover. If you were to be charged cotisations of 25% of your turnover then this would equate to nearly 90% of your net profit, which is a bit steep even for France. So, I was led to believe that you would pay 11% (ish) of your turnover, this equates to 40% (ish) of your net profit. Hopefully somebody will know the exact current figures.

Copied from You quote these people as saying they can't afford the private cover, this would perhaps indicate they they are of limited means and that the Gite income though relatively small my be their main income?????. Isn't it the case now that if the Gite income represents more than half of their total income then they must register and pay full cotisations anyway. Even is this is not being strictly applied in their area at the moment, I believe it is in some. Therefore it seems to me they should bite the bullet and get registered  with the Chamber of commerce now. They will pay 11%???? of their turnover, but in return get full social benefits. If they don't and there is a retrespective crackdown then they could well end up paying twice.

You quote these people as saying they can't afford the private cover, this would perhaps indicate they they are of limited means and that the Gite income though relatively small my be their main income?????. Isn't it the case now that if the Gite income represents more than half of their total income then they must register and pay full cotisations anyway. Even is this is not being strictly applied in their area at the moment, I believe it is in some. Therefore it seems to me they should bite the bullet and get registered  with the Chamber of commerce now. They will pay 11%???? of their turnover, but in return get full social benefits. If they don't and there is a retrespective crackdown then they could well end up paying twice.

Which is of course the ultimate irony in all this. All those who were contributing the most and more than paying their way, will take their business to the private sector, leaving the health system as a whole considerably worse off. It would also seem to open a legal door to well heeled French nationals to challange the right to opt out of the system and go for private health insurance care as well.

How many people are in this situation? i.e are only finding out this week that they have no health cover? What a scandle! What a country!

It seems incomprehensible that the original changes could be implemented so quickly but that the reversal requires a decree!

[quote user="Boiling a frog"] Seems pretty simple to me.  Not working and not seeking work [/quote]   'Not working' doesn't do it. 'Not in paid employment' perhaps.

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="Rupert"] Just stepping in to be Devils Advocate here, but up until a few weeks ago, how many Brits in France would give the 'excellent health service' as one of the reasons for being here, I know I did! [/quote] The health service hasn't changed Rupert, in many areas of treatment (not all, of course) it is still streets ahead of the UK.   [/quote] Exactly, so how many already ill or suspect they may soon be ill people have moved to France on the basis that they will get better health care?  The fact is that prior to this new legislation there was no legal reason why somebody could not do this, in future they will be unable to do so. Is this a good or bad thing? I know what most French people would say!

[quote user="makfai"][quote user="Boiling a frog"]  health tourists having come to France for better treatment under the French health system. But that is of course only my opinion   [/quote]   Health tourists do not normally take up residence. [/quote] Just stepping in to be Devils Advocate here, but up until a few weeks ago, how many Brits in France would give the 'excellent health service' as one of the reasons for being here, I know I did!