Panda

[quote user="Jonzjob"] I have just tried the link and if the offending letters are inserted it works OK, but you have to be registered with them. A thought came to my OH this morning. She wondered if this poor animal is already a rescue? Also in the same field is a donkey, a mule and a larger pony. They all look in reasonable condition and not thin so they must be getting food and water. In this part of the country there is not much grass to be had for anything and all of the horses have to be fed extra. Even our choky labrador turns her nose up at the poo cause it's not grass fed!![:-))]! The pony in the photo is not thin either, quite chbby in fact, so it's a bit of a mystery. [/quote] I Would be very surprised that anyone who had rescued this poor animal would leave it for any length of time without taking any action on it's hooves.  There is no sign from the photo's that any attempt has been made to rectify the situation to my eye.  

Thanks all, I have now completed the invitation and it was very well received. 

Hi It is great that the hunting season ends today and as I lost one of my goats to hunting dogs I will be glad  to to know there are less about but I do also think about the poor dogs who after getting one run out a week for a couple of months will now be confined to a kennel and cage for months on end. So good news and bad really. Panda

Thanks both, I don't get to surf about a great deal (outside of this forum) as my work prohibits it (I'm in security) but I will indeed go now and look at google!

Hello My french neighbour has asked me to make an invitation up for her birthday and as she and her friends are into wildlife she wants me to add some pictures of things like wild boar, deer, general foresty things.  As this is the first thing she's ever asked me to do I would like to do a good job, I am struggling with her ornate french hand writing so any help on finding images would appreciated. Any ideas where pictures like this can be found on the net? Thanks Panda  

[quote user="Russethouse"]If you are still calling them 'totty' I suspect you may a rather l-o-n-g wait ![:)][:)][/quote] Exactly what I was thinking RH, very well put.

[quote user="Will"] But when you add the extras so the comparisons become closer, the differential is considerably less. [/quote] [8-)] [:D] Love this sentence, Will are/were you a politician??

[quote user="steve"]as a Micro, the gov are the boys that say how much it costs to run it - they look at 48% (it may have changed this year) of your turnover as taxable. the remaining 52% is 'running costs etc' now if you earn 20k,then around 9,600 is taxable - (with allowances you end up paying virtually no tax !) MSA on the other hand look at your declared income or 'profit' - 9,600 and steel their lump - approx 50% of that. Dont forget, MSA deal with everything from pensions to medical - we never pay anyone else anything. We have gone TVA registered as of 1/1/08, so hopefully, we can off set new machines, cars etc against any profit, scuppering MSA! I dont mind paying my dues, its just when you come back from burying your mother in law (2 years ago) you find a demand for the last 3 years contributions on your desk - 3 lots totalling around 9k! Bare also in mind we had been paying what they told us to, and suddenly they remembered they had 'undercalculated' this other 9k!.  Being honest and up front we pay, sorry I pay between 5 & 6 k pa now - Dawn will cost ne another 1200 or so - luckily she is covered medacally with her past employer until next year. This is our 6th year in the business and i aint gonna give it up to anyone! Have a nice day :) Steve [/quote] Soooo you pay 5-6k on 20k, which is 25% is it not???  Back to the original point the allowance you get for running costs etc, (your words) do you actually use that much to run this business turning over 20k??  If so what sort of buisness is it and what are these costs?  To my mind it's this area you should look at as the amount you pay to MSA (or it's equivalent body) will not change with TVA registration.   Granted you can off set some costs such as vans (be careful not always cars as this was a problem for a friend of mine recently) but unless these actual costs are more than the 10k quoted in our example you may end up with a higher 'profit' than before , a friend has changed over to TVA registered this year and is paying higher cotisations now than as a  straight micro. I'm always confused by this argument, how much do you think you would pay in tax and NI on 20k in the UK?  EDIT just looked it up and the online approximations say 23% of 20k would be paid in tax and NI in the UK, it is just an approximation but you can see it's not far different from the french 'charges'.  I think the term 'steal' is a bit harsh on MSA [:D]   

No, (it's ground hog day again), cotisations are paid on 46% of your taxable income, therefore 46% of 10k, and we are back to 5kish. It could not (should not) cost 10k to run a company turning over 20k, this is just the allowance before tax and ni equiv are levied, not actual costs.  It is does cost him 10k to run the company I suggest he gives up and quick!

Hello I've only ever had to press 'The button' when connecting obscure things like my sons new WII which wouldn't connect without said button being pressed, you had to try and connect within 20 seconds of it being pressed too, after that it was happy.  For a straight XP WIFI connection I haven't had to press the button at all.  Ernie is there any chance that some security conscious bod has changed all access codes to the livebox, as they had changed the default admin access after all! Panda

[quote user="steve"] If I were you I would stop and have another think. Setting up a business is NOT easy. Cutting a bit of grass, cleaning pools, cleaning etc. You will have to become a registered company and have a siret number - you will if you cut grass end up being registered with MSA - you have to be assosiated with an organisation, depending on your trade. They take at least 50% of your declared income towards your cotisations (national insurance if you like) so, if you earn 20,000€, you declare roughly 10k (if you are a micro enterprise) and then you end up with 5k to live on (the other 10k is for running the company). Its not enough! France is a great place to retire to, but a sod to work in! [/quote] Or to put it simply Steve, if you earn 20k you pay around 25% of it (i.e. 5k)  in tax and NI equivalent pretty much the same as you would do in the UK.  It's been done to death on this forum, if you work it all back the differences in what you pay (tax = more UK, NI quiv = more in France) are minimal.  

Dare I say it [:'(], AngloInfo forums have one good use and that's selling and buying, you shouldn't have much trouble if you post your advert there!

[quote user="Maricopa"]Of course, we can only ever go on our own experience.  All I know is that my own business appeared on the site I use within days of receiving my extract K.  Interestingly, my business didn't come up on the site Will uses[:(], go figure[8-)][/quote] I eventually come up on the site you list Maricopa and I am profession liberale, oddly the address is out of date in spite of other agencies now using my new address and my telephone number is wrong, completely, it's not even my old number, my first name is spelt incorrectly so not finding someone you can not assume they are not registered, how many mistakes can one site make???  

Hello Northern Charente near the border with the Dordogne.  There were hundreds of cranes flying over today going North, beuatiful sight and all calling to each other, swirling in formation.  Meg's thread on spring arriving has some great shots, I didn't bother to try and get a picture today as they fly so high. Panda 

Hello Ducks flying in formation, not something I've seen here, I've got loads of the blighters quacking at stupid o'clock right outside my house at the moment though, lovely as they are they can really squawk when the maitng season starts approaching!  It's my own fault as I encourage them on the lake by daily feeding, they are beautiful when coming in to land I could watch them all day. Panda

Hi All I can turn this on it's head as I moved from a 300 year old cottage with a garden and paddock in the UK so my UK house is probably just like your french houses!  I was looking for something similar here I have to say but it happened to me too, saw a place that whilst needed renovation was fairly new 20 yearsish old.  So I will have a house that will look modern when it's finished and will have those benefits.  So why did I chose it?  It is in the most wonderful location has loads of land and a beautiful lake which you can view from every window!  So I think it's all about what grabs you on the day. Panda  

Glad I never posted my pictures, they look like pictures of herds of mosquitos in comparison, they were very high in my defence!  Still a wonderful sight though.

They sell carpet underlay in Leroy Merlin, it's very thin but assume it would do the job.

A laying service was advertised in Leroy Merlin but had a minimum of 18 metres squared before they would take the job on.  They had a fair range of carpets, some rubbish but 6 euros a square metre some better at 20ish  so the choices were there.   Most large DIY chains do some carpets I think but as it's not a common choice the range is not the best.  

Why would be the obvious question here without sounding too blunt?  EDIT Just checked out your website and I can see you provide this interim service for people importing pets for whatever reason If the answer is so that a loved pet stays with it's family then great.  I believe that if the dog can have a blood test showing he has rabies antibodies one month after the rabies jab (whilst in China) then the wait should be 6 months from that test, if not then it will be 6 months in France again from the date of the blood test. If the 'export' is simply to buy some special breed then have a heart and think about the 35 lovely dogs about to be put down in Angouleme if no one can home them. EDIT Again, of course it's not you that's shipping the dog so forget that last comment, it has really got to me today, both the 35 and Joy whom Magnolia is trying to rehome. 

There are properties on some of the AngloInfo type sites that have been around for years now not months.  I noticed that they've started to only show 6 months previous postings on the property for sale section and would suggest this is a direct result of people trying to sell wanting to make it look like a new property as per the post above.   I agree with logan, hang on until the pound gets a little stronger as the housing market looks set to decline further.

Jeez...., listen carefully, in my town the charges are not linked to either the fonciere or the habitation tax, why is that so hard to understand?  There is a company totally independant that collects the rubbish and who ever uses the service pays, when my flats are empty no one pays because no one uses the service, when they are occupied the tenant pays.  

[quote user="groslard"][quote user="Panda"] Hi In my part of the Vienne the dustbin charge is separate to the tax fonciere and goes to the tenant not the owner. Panda [/quote] "Cette taxe porte sur toutes les propriétés assujetties à la taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties ou temporairement exemptées de celle-ci. Si le bien soumis à la taxe est loué, le propriétaire peut en récupérer le montant dans les charges locatives." So the owner can get it back from a tenant as part of the charges, but it is charged to the owner as part of the taxe foncière, not the taxe d'habitation. Normally it is the owner who pays the foncière. Direction générale des Impôts – Instruction fiscale 6 F-2-06 n° 128 du 31 Juillet 2006 – taxe d’enlèvement des ordures ménagères – Mesures diverses [/quote] Seems I must repeat, in some areas the service of rubbish collection is billed directly by the company collecting to the household, in my case I have 4 appartments and all 4 go to the tenants directly.  I do not reclaim these charges, they are billed to the tenant.  I pay the tax fonciere (obviously) but the two were separated back in 2005.  

Ahh right OK, now that makes sense.  I do actually have long term lets so I was wondering why the agency haven't mentioned it, having just checked the contracts mine are only asked for one month through the agency so it makes no difference to me. Feel for you with the bad payers, I'm touching wood when I say so far so good on that front, just the odd blip which was covered by insurance. 

[quote user="Cerise"]  Even in 1980s policewomen wouldn't wear those clothes to work.  [/quote] I agree, it's the clothes, last week she spent the whole show in stockings and suspenders, as a teen in the 80's I know I didn't often dress like that and certainly never saw a single female policewoman like it!!