gosub

I am sure someone will know, I have some (fruits?) from a mature tree that look like giant pears with a pale yellow/green skin, any ideas on what they are or what to do with them?

"Ten years ago when we bought in France I made up several adaptors (ie Fench male to Brit socket (ie secondary wall box,  without the wall) and it worked fine" I haven't tried myself but if you can search the archives far enough back, there were some wiring diagrams posted on this site for doing just this.

Get a pig to smell it, if it eats it, then it was probably a truffle[:)]

I would say if you have doubts see a Notaire. Here are a couple of links for information. Legal Wills

I changed our regime because although under current French Law and it;s much better than it used to be. If I died first then my wife would own her part of the property in France and have use of it for her lifetime, however she would almost certainly want to return to the UK, but she can not sell it, without consent of the other inheritors i.e. our children and then there are possible taxes for the children to pay. If my wife died first, then I would stay in France anyway and let nature and inheritance take it's course. By changing the regime if she wants to sell up and go back to the UK, then she can sell without formality and no taxes to pay. She would have full control of all the assets. Maybe I could have explained it better but you will get the gist of it. If you have children from previous relationships, it's not so easy but possible, if you can get the agreement of all interested parties, you would have to see a notaire to get the full SP. It seems to me that having a Will in France is of no great use, unless you have no one to leave your estate to, inheritance laws will always take precedence.

Have you tried applying for the carte elsewhere rather than SNCF?  the list of places you can apply to are on the Sevice Public  SITE. An extract form the site. Si vous êtes un ressortissant d'un pays de l'Union européenne ou de l'Association européenne de libre échange habitant en France ou travaillant en France : il faut un justificatif de votre nationalité (exemple : photocopie de la carte nationale d'identité) et, selon le cas, un justificatif de votre résidence en France (exemple : photocopie de la facture EDF) ou un justificatif de votre activité en France (exemple : photocopie du contrat de travail) 

The smaller propane cube bottles take the clip on "Détendeur" with a red on off switch, butane cubes have a blue switch, if you want the larger 13kg bottle, buy it from Intermarché or Leclerc and they will if you ask, give you the screw on détendeur to go with it.

Are you still paying a monthly rental on the Livebox? If yes, then take it to your local FT shop you may be lucky. If not then dump it. You can buy a new livebox for a reasonable sum from various outlets, if you want to use the internet phone.

"Tyres need to be good and check your wiper blades are in good condition" Although it makes good sense to have your wiper blades in good condition, as far as I know, they would not fail the inspection, unless they won't work or are missing.

I have not tried to do what you are want to do, it sounds a bit over the top, if you want/need an official translator your sub/prefecture have a list, you may be able to check this out by going to the prefecture on-line for your area. You could start HERE

You're so sweet 17[:)]

We have a new build property and have the majority of the sockets about 30cm from the floor but for kitchen bathrooms and utility room they are about 1m high, so I would guess that for sockets in the living room, you can choose to put them where you want.

You can also get all the info from the site below. http://www.ariase.com/fr/guides/resiliation.html If you wish, you can fill in the form on-line and even have it sent for you, Courrier en recommandé avec accusé de réception for a small charge, and no queuing at the post office. You can on the same site, with this link, cancel a direct debit with your bank. http://www.ariase.com/fr/guides/procedure-resiliation.html

If anyone wants to keep up with the cost of things, I have just changed our no complications standard Regime, to Communauté Universal for  €420.

Quote "Roundabouts are a different thing altogether.  Despite the fact that traffic coming on to a roundabout should give way to those already on it" Roundabouts are also priorité a droite, unless they are marked with a give way sign, you will have to stop on the roundabout and allow traffic to enter.

When all the works are finished you just need to send off the H1 form.

[quote user="minnie"]Since we prepared our tax form on line for the first time can anyone tell me whether we can expect to receive the tax avis before the 15 September?  All I have at the moment is confirmation of the date i completed on line and a reference. Thanks in anticipation... [/quote] You should be able to see your Avis on-line now and print off a copy if you want to.

If you are applying for CPAM through condition of residence, then you have to go through this procedure every year. But if you read the paperwork that comes with the request, it says if you don't have any revenue, or if you have given your revenue fiscal de reference, then just sign and date the form on page 3. You may still need to produce the documentation for your proof of income from overseas.

 "Well Ernie I tried three day insurance providers. One won't insure cars reg before 1993, one requires uk residency and the other couldn't come up with a quote for a 1971 MGB. So it looks like I will have to go armed with the details of my pet solicior." Have a look at my post "UK Vehicles being exported", it should solve your problem.

Info from the same link. "UK Registered Vehicle – Foreign Insurance General Position • The insurance may have been obtained and provided in good faith but it does not comply with Section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 unless the insurer complies with the following criteria: - Cover on a UK vehicle should only be given by an authorised insurer who is approved under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and who is a member of MIB - Section 145(5) of the Road Traffic Act refers. - If the insurance company is not a member of MIB the third party liability insurance does not comply with the law here. "

[quote user="ErnieY"]UK residency can be a problem unfortunately but it seems daft and petty to limit cover to post 93 vehicles, why ? I day insured my MG whilst still living in UK in order to move it from my own house to my daughters, I'll see if I can dig out the details. EDIT: Just had a good rummage but can't find the info. Your next option then is to send the export slip from the V5 to the DVLA stating the date on which you will actually be driving the car to the ferry you can then legitimately drive it on your French insurance, which is in fact the proper way to do it anyway. Keep a copy of the slip just in case though because if the time between sending it and departure is short and the details haven't made it onto the DVLA database you could have problems if stopped. Bon voyage [:D] [/quote] Here is some more info from the MIB. UK Vehicles being exported   There is an exemption from the general position following the implementation of the 5th Motor Insurance Directive into UK Law.   If a UK vehicle is being exported to another EEA state (the EEA comprises EU countries plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein), an insurer in that state can give cover on the vehicle for 30 days, to allow it to be taken to that state and re-registered there.   The risk is assumed by the insurer in the member state of destination of the vehicle being imported, who will ultimately be responsible for compensation in respect of any accidents occurring during the 30 day period".   

[quote user="Mel"]Ernie - it was mentioned very briefly on BBC TV's Look East news this morning. Other than that, I have not seen or read it anywhere else.[/quote] It's just been on GMTV, it looks like people are travelling normally today, the fun starts tomorrow.

"Opas, Mr O has one hell of a compo claim to make - wrongful arrest and unlawful detainment for a start! it dosen't matter whether you live in France, or the UK, or anywhere in Europe, a valid European issued insurance policy is all he needs. So long as it has been issued in Europe it is valid throughout Europe including the UK. Just the same as his drivers license is valid throughout Europe. And why were they looking for a green card ? - he can work anywhere in Europe, the green card was declared a 'barrier to free movement' ages back! This has all been a major breach of European law and you should go for as much as you can get. Those police should know the law before they lock people up." And if it's as easy as they say on the quote here, why did the problem arise in the first place? MIB "The Motor Insurance Database (MID) was set up by the insurance industry to help combat this crime, and the police are now the MID's biggest customer, making over 3.8 million enquiries per month.  The DVLA, with over 1 million enquiry transactions a month in support of their Electronic Vehicle Licensing operation, is the second largest user of the MID.  The MID also helps the UK comply with the 4th EU Motor Insurance Directive, which requires that insurance details of all vehicles in member states can be easily accessed by a national information centre.  In the UK, this role is carried out by the MIB via the UK Information Centre."

And if you want to improve your French at the same time, Watch This

I should have mentioned the age limits[:)]