minnie

I have taken out a policy with staysure a couple of times. It can now be done online even to listing pre-existing conditions. I should add that I''ve never yet had to make a claim so can't comment on that.

I may stand corrected but my interpretation is that you'll not pay inheritance tax in France on a UK estate but you should include your inheritance as part of your income in your French tax return for 2014. You'll then get taxed accordingly on that. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong....

I've got a local source for mcvities ginger nuts. I also brought back a jar of honey and ginger from NZ - it's delicious...Makes me feel warm thinking of it!

12 years ago after a road traffic accident in France, where I cracked a number of ribs, I spent 7 days in a hospital in France. We were covered by a basic travel insurance policy. The Doctors at the hospital (down in the South of France) considered it unwise to travel home to UK by road and so the insurance company arranged for a nurse to come over and return with us from Bordeaux. We waited a couple of days at an hotel near Bordeaux airport while the nurse was arranged. We were then taken first class BA flight to Gatwick, put up in a transit hotel overnight and transferred to Manchester airport the following morning. A people carrier awaited us there and the nurse accompanied us to our front door which was about an hour away from Manchester airport. An excellent service.

In our region OH had call up papers effective from 10 October for the flu vaccine. On that basis it should be there already

Try contacting www.britline.com This is an English speaking arm of Credit Agricole. They're based in Normandy. I suggest you put your questions to them. In this day and age there's not usually any reason why you need to have your bank around the corner when everything can be done online and with credit/debit cards. I'm sure that there'll be loads of people who say that they're no good but we've banked with them for 10 years and have found them so helpful.

Don't know if its any help but - we're in UK en route to New Zealand. We'll be returning to France on 23 November. I can't help with frozen items but am happy to help otherwise with any things you want. The only thing is we could arrange to meet in Villeneuve sur Lot to pass on your goods. Of course this may not be convenient for you. If it is any help please let me know before this coming Tuesday when we leave France. we've been fortunate enough to find a forum member who is doing is a huge favour while we're away and if I can help anyone else in return then I'm happy to do so.

The main thing is not to come across as "superior" or flash a lot of money around. All our neighbours and most of our friends here are French and welcome us into their homes. We have standing invites to French friends for Christmas Eve meal and other ones for Christmas Day lunch. Basically we're accepted as part of their extended family. Must admit that they may feel a little sorry for us as our only daughter lives in New Zealand. We go there annually and they feed our chickens and geese daily. However, this year, we're grateful for some help from a forum member who is looking after our new little kitten. The French are not so fond of cats other than in the great outdoors (catching mice).

All you can do is ask your accountant to approach the impots with either a payment schedule or a request to wait until you've been able to raise a loan/mortgage to cover this. I very much doubt that they'll wait until you sell the property unless it's in the near future. The main thing is not to ignore it as, if they have your bank details, they could freeze your account.

Before we had UK state pensions we only had small pensions, with a regular zero figure on avis des impots. We still payed the contisations requested by URSSAF and there were never any queries. This happened each year for about 5 years. If the avis is showing a zero figure and you are content with the figures you included on the tax form I would just put it to bed now. You have every justification in not pursuing this.

Fully agree with Norman's remarks. If it says 0 and nobody asks for anything then there is nothing that needs to be paid. You could open a whole can of worms if you say that you think you might owe something....You've got the evidence in your avis.

A million thanks to the kind person who has agreed to look after our little man while we're away. I've replied to your pm. This has taken a real weight off our minds. When you e-mail we'll send you pictures of him.

A couple of days ago a tiny kitten landed at our door.It was crying and miserable and would not go away. After a night outdoors in the greenhouse it seemed so sad. We took it to the vet and were told he is about 6 weeks old. We've taken him home and keep him in a little room with his own things, interacting regularly. We'd like to keep him but here's the problem. We're booked to visit our daughter in NZ towards the end of October until 23 November. He'll have had some jabs but not enough for kennels to take him (unless anyone knows a kennel or rescue centre who'd look after him for 3 to 4 weeks without all jabs). The alternative is that he'll have to live outdoors with a neighbour feeding him daily.. I do feel that he's far too young for that despite the fact that our adult cat is content with that arrangement. Also our adult cat might eat his food. We really are in a quandry. He's such an adorable lively scrap. Is there anyone out there who might be able to take him in just for that period?

I've not been able find one that includes travel insurance. All the travel ones require declaration of pre-existing conditions. Each year I try for the best value as we visit our daughter in New Zealand. The one which best meets our travel need is with Staysure.com who do cover expats. Their prices appear competitive if you've not many issues and they do cover over 80s. If you do come across a company that does both I'd be very interested

Oh yes. He has heart problems, is diabetic, on water tablets and warfarin, so he's regularly monitored. He was only asking as traditional methods of dressing take so long to heal the ulcer....

Thanks everyone for your contributions. I think that I've got the picture now and have passed on the information to my brother in law. He can now discuss with his GP or nurse.

Thanks - I will. I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this type of dressing

My brother in law in UK frequently suffers from erupting leg ulcers. These are dressed at the surgery and then bandaged and take ages to heal. Another relative visiting France met a french person who suffers the same complaint and who had a superior type of plaster on his leg ulcer negating the need for bandages. I suggested that I would enquire on the forum if anyone knows the name of these dressings. Apparently they are too expensive for the NHS but if they could be bought privately in UK they would be happy to pay. An outside chance that anyone on the forum can contribute to this pleased. I'd be most grateful.

I, too, had a similar call yesterday. It threw the caller a bit when I answered the phone with Bonjour. He went straight into English and said that he thought we had a problem with our computer. I answered by saying: What computer - I don't have a computer. He immediately put the phone down. He spoke with an american accent.

Hi CeeJay, I've already started this thread in other topics as it didn't strictly relate to French Finance. There are some thoughts there

Has anyone read this consultation document - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/restricting-non-residents-entitlement-to-the-uk-personal-allowance/restricting-non-residents-entitlemen This might mean that ex UK Government employees who have to pay their tax in UK could lose their personal allowance. There must be thousands of people in this position.

How about just saying Dear Ladies. I don't see a problem with this in that this is being followed by satisfaction as opposed to complaint and is therefore unlikely to generate further mail

Tomorrow we have to go to Parc Innolin in Merignac. We're approaching on the A62 from Lot et Garonne. The logical exit would seem to be Junction 11A but all the direction websites say to exit at J11 (merignac airport). I'd welcome comments as to whether we can come off at 11A for Parc Innolin. Thanks

We, too, had a nice little cheque from EL last year.

I have no problems at all with belonging to ADAC. It was just thinking whether I could cut costs. It is immediately after our experience of a breakdown away from home that we actually researched and joined. My only reservation is whether at the point of telephoning from a breakdown there'd be somebody who could speak either English or French as my German is virtually non-existent.