minnie

Thinking of you and your family Val at this very sad time.

Allanb - you've summed this up perfectly. This mainly affects people who have worked all their working life in UK and paid all contributions. They then decide that they wish to join family members elsewhere (outside Europe) during retirement but cannot afford to do so. This is what we would like to do. There are categories which make it easier for parents to join children in NZ and immigration should not be too difficult i.e. ypou don't need loads of money just the ability to support yourself with child providing guarantee of this. As an aside I believe that if you go to live in America your UK state pension does increase with inflation. I wonder why this is so.

The Government have to take notice in the form of a debate in the House if more than 100,000 people sign the e-petition. One day Rabbie we might be affected if, for any reason, the EU falls apart!

Pommier has hit the nail on the head. By leaving UK, in many cases to join families abroad the expat pensioners are saving the UK government a fortune by not taking up resources such as NHS, Winter fuel, environmental costs etc. We would love to be able to join our only daughter in New Zealand. We have both worked and paid taxes for 40 years each. Yet our state pensions would be frozen if went there as residents.

See link http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/offshorefinance/8856287/Expats-should-be-warned-of-frozen-pensions-policy.html While this may not affect us who live in France while UK is in the EU it probably would if we were to come out of it. It may be worth considering signing the e-petition shown in this article. (Not sure if the link will show up in the post or whether it'll have to be copied and pasted into browser.)

An excellent game. Both teams were extremely strong. Commiserations to all French fans. Being Welsh through and through I had hoped for Wales to come into the final, but there we go! However with daughter an NZ resident who had attended the France v Japan game and the Wales v. Samoa game I was delighted that NZ won the day. The fact remains that NZ have not lost one match during the World Cup - worthy winners.

You are saying that the builder made a payment after the ATD was issued. Do you know that this is actually true or is he telling you this? I suggest that you go and speak to the TP. We had building work done and, fortunately, paid for it straight away. Some time after payment we received a call to visit the local Huissiers de justice (bailiffs) soonest. After a sleepless night wondering what we'd done we went there and were told that all moneys outstanding from the work done were to be paid directly to the Huissiers. We told them that we had already paid the builder and I was able to show cheque stub, so that was the end of the matter. I suspect that the builder owed money and had told bailiffs that he would pay them when he received money from us! For us that was the end of the matter. Suggest you make any further payments against the ATD whatever your builder says. How do you know he's telling the truth?

All the very best wishes to both of you. I'm sure that things will get better soon. Keep your chin up Coops.

Thanks Hoddy for your contribution. In the event and having done a little research I've decided to give the Hotel de France in Monpazier a go. It's about equidistant between us and our friends who are staying in Sarlat.

We live in Lot et Garonne and have friends who are coming to stay in Sarlat (Dordogne). We want to meet them for lunch somewhere nice without having to go into Sarlat. Anyone with any suggestions for any that have good food and are reasonably priced, but South West of Sarlat. Thanks

Is there a product I can buy to deal with particularly stubborn limescale on bathroom sinks, toilets and shower trays; also surrounding tiles? I'm sure that there must be some effective product out there!

M&S parcel arrived today via the postman. That is good news if this is how they plan to make future deliveries.

Thanks Sweet. The order was made on Tuesday evening and on Friday I had an e-mail to say that it is on its way. I'll report back when it gets delivered. We live outside the village and just have a house name so that makes things more interesting. However, the house name is on the local map and works via satnav. We have no problem with some deliveries but others.....

I ordered stuff from M&S last week and will let you know when it arrives (or if). Last time I had no end of trouble.

I've only just picked up this thread. I'm thinking of you both and wish you well Am keeping fingers firmly crossed that all goes well tomorrow.

Thanks all - plenty to go at now.

We travel to NZ to visit daughter and son-in-law every 2 years at Christmas (looking forward to it now), and I think I've cracked the travelling thing. Firstly it's normally cheaper to go from Heathrow. Our choice is to go with Singapore airlines as they have a transit hotel in the departure area at Chiangi (Singapore) airport where we change planes. We leave Heathrow about 10am arriving at Chiangi at about 11pm GMT (local time about 6am next day). I organise it so that we have about 10hours between planes and I've booked a room. They charge something like about £30 for a block of 6 hours (ensuite). By the time we arrive at Chiangi we'll be ready for our natural sleep (no windows in room for light). If you want further info let me know. NZ really is a wonderful country and we love going there.

Is there nobody in South Lot et Garonne or Gers who can advise on this?

We are wanting to take our French friends to visit the bastide of Fources in the Gers. Can anyone recommend a decent French restaurant somewhere in the vicinity?

I believe it is that, if introduced, you would be able to adopt the succession rules of your country of citizenship or residency. However, which ever rules you choose you would still have to pay the French inheritance tax at the appropriate rate (or those inheriting would)

Yes they will accept a French address.

Thanks everyone. At 4pm I sent an e-mail to ADAC for info. I was immediately telephoned by a German lady called Amanda who spoke excellent english (better than many english call centres). We discussed the cover etc and I signed up to Plus partner. Before 5pm I had paid the Euros 97 and received our membership numbers. I cannot praise this initial service highly enough! I now await all documentation in the post.

Does anybody know of EU wide cover (similar to AA etc) available from France, and I mean a proper get you home service, not one which just dumps you at the nearest garage?

I've only just read this thread, having been in UK for a few days. I go along with SD's view on this. I can't see why your CPAM would be in Bayonne. This maybe a central point for data entry or whatever but Perigeux would be your CPAM. You'd be able to tell by looking up www.ameli.fr Sorry I can't help you with the translating bit. Hope you're able to sort it!

About 3 weeks ago I ordered some Piriteze and Mycil athlete's foot cream from a UK online pharmacy. As the stuff hadn't arrived I chased up the pharmacy yesterday. Lo and behold they said that the items were returned to them as prohibited (by whom I don't know - can only assume it's French customs). Anybody had anything like this happen to them? Are we not allowed to order off the shelf pharmacy items from UK?