mazandcol

Sorry, can't advise on different readers, but I know there are lots. However, I tried to buy a Kindle from Amazon UK for delivery to France and it refused to do it - even though I was using a UK bank card.  I was automatically re-directed to Amazon France and then had to 'fiddle' registration in order to buy books from Amazon UK

Hope someone can help - I've been looking on-line but find conflicting info (surprise, surprise).  This is my first time growing Globe Artichokes and want to know when I should split them - autumn or spring?  Seems there are different opinions so wondered what people on here do.  The 'shoots' are currently about 18-24 inches!  Also, do you leave the 'old' stalks in situ, or dig the out? By the way, we're in Lot-et-Garonne. Any advice gratefully received....

I did this a couple of years ago and all's been fine.  The 10 euros is more like a payment for 'activating' the international facility - charges are taken monthly from bank account.

Yes, that's right - just go to mobile.free.fr and "j'inscris"  Mine came in 2 days.

Hi, I've been using FREE Mobile for 3 years now with no problem.  2 euros a month Direct Debit to include 2 hours of French calls (mobile and landlines) and for a one-off payment of either 10 or 15 euros (can't remember which) you get international access with low rates.  Cost of international calls are taken from your Direct Debit monthly, but I've never paid more than 5-6 euros including the 2 euros. This has worked fine for me in France, UK, Italy and Spain - worth a look.

Hi John Brown, the spreadsheet doesn't appear to give any credit for UK rental income - am I not doing something right?

For anybody who is still interested in the original purpose of this thread.... I e-mailed Villeneuve Wed afternoon asking why they had charge tax and social charges on our UK rental income - quoting relevant articles from the DTT and included the e-mail sent to Connexion 31 May (I posted it earlier). I had a reply yesterday (less than a day!) saying I was indeed entitled to a rebate of the relevant amount of tax and all the social charges.  They're sending a new avis.

Hi all, As requested here's the e-mail from DGFiP to Connexion on 31 May 2013 - Connexion printed this e-mail on Page 5 of their August issue. From: [mailto:[email protected] Sent: 31 May 2013 09:53 To: Oliver Rowland Subject: Re: The Connexion - ma question sur certains types de revenus en provenance de la Grande-Bretagne   Notre réponse correspond parfaitement à votre question. TOUT revenu perçu est à déclarer, revenus mobiliers et pensions y compris, quelles que soit son origine. Un crédit d'impôt s'appliquera à partir du moment où le revenu correspondant a bien été soumis à l'impôt au Royaume Uni. C'est très clair. Autre chose qui peut vous intéresser, dans les cas où l'impôt est égal à O en raison d'un abattement obtenu en Grande Bretagne (âge, niveau de revenu autre...), le crédit d'impôt effaçant l'impôt français est maintenu. Nous vous avons indiqué dans le mail précédent comment faire pour les contribuables qui souhaitent modifier leur déclaration : via compte fiscal sur internet ou via le centre de leur lieu de résidence, les agents sont à leur disposition pour aider les contribuables dans leur démarches. Daniel Baldaia

Hi all, thanks for all the replies - I've just received a copy of the e-mail sent to Connexion by the DGFIP confirming that we should NOT be taxed on UK rental income.  I hope that will help me... I'm about to go look at the French Entree forum.

Hi all, So, we got our Avis d'Impot 2013 today and as I suspected following my lengthy 'discussion' with the Villeneuve tax office in May, we have been charged (for the first time) both Tax and Social Charges on our UK rental income, because it was below the tax threshold in UK.  This is contrary to info published in Connexion 31 May (and confirmed to me directly by Connexion since) which stated the French Tax Authorities had agreed this would not happen.  Here's the article: http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=4762 Either the Connexion info was wrong, or the decision hasn't got to Villeneuve yet.  So, it looks like a long, hard battle with the authorities - I just hope I'm up to it.  I'm sure we're not the only ones who've had these charges this year, so how many are we, and is it just Villeneuve/Dept 47 or any other departments on this forum?  Now we need to start  REALLY researching how to go about it all...

Thanks ericd, so at least it wasn't me who couldn't figure out how - you obviously can't send pics to the forum, only links to pics. thanks very much

I wonder if anyone else is experience a big increase in Potter Wasps in the house this year? We've had a few nests in the past, on the window frames, or even in the wardrobe!  But so far this year we've had more than a dozen - on window frames, ceiling beams and behind picture frames.  Yesterday I was sitting quietly in the kitchen when I heard buzzing coming from the dresser.  Investigating, it was obviously in the 'stack' of wooden salad bowls on the top of the dresser so I lifted them down to release whatever was trapped.  Low and behold, in the bottom bowl there were four beautifully crafted nests attached to side of the bowl in a neat row and a wasp busily finishing the fifth. I'd love to post a photo of them, but can't find how to attach one to this posting, or if it's possible. Steve

Thanks very much Pierre, using the link you posted I've discovered the channels are on Astra 1KR at 19.2E - so it looks like the 'switch' isn't working properly and is not switching between the two dishes (which are pointing at 19.2E and 28.2E) Time to check the switch... Steve

Hi, I'm hoping someone who kows about these things can offer some suggestions... We're in Lot et Garonne and our location is a bit tricky for reception as we're at the bottom of a cliff face which has meant placing our dishes on a pole.  We have two dishes (UK and French TV) and a Sedea S1000 box which switches between the dishes.  Everything's been OK until last week when we suddenly and completely lost any signal to the box.  Man came round and said the pole had moved, so he re-aligned the dishes and the box showed signal strength and quality of about 80% each. So far so good.  However, we needed to re-scan and we've finished up with very different channels.  The 28.2E is especially affected and has lost all the channels we had before (inc UK) and only found German and Polish TV Any ideas? Steve

Does anyone know an English speaking dentist in the Fumel/Villeneuve area?  My wife has a long-standing issue that would just be so much easier to explain in English.  Thanks in advance.  Steve

Emergency care is only 'automatic' in so far as they will treat you, but without the relevant EHIC or the Provisional Certificate you'll probably get sent the bill - especially nowadays! Also, Newcastle have told me the new cards only take 20 days - once they have the correct forms, of course!

I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with obtaining new EHICs following their move to France.  Here’s our tale so far... My wife and I retired to France 25 May 2011. We knew that once we had registered with the French health system (via S1 form) we then needed to change our EHICs, even though they still had to be issued by UK, we needed to change them.  Straight forward we thought. In early August 2011 I phoned UK to check what was happening and was told there was a huge backlog, but I could push things forward by faxing a copy of the S1.  I was given a specific fax number and told what to put on the coversheet.  This required obtaining a copy via the local CPAM office, but this took only two days, so the form was duly faxed in early August. No response for months, and impossible to get through on the telephone. Ten months later, in late June 2012 we received in the post acknowledgement of receipt of the S1, our change of address and transfer of health care to France. The letter also included an application form to apply for renewal of our EHICs.  The completed form was posted 4 July 2012. No response, and still impossible to get through on the telephone, despite frequent waits ‘in the queue’ of up to 30 minutes. Finally, on 20 November 2012 I e-mailed UK asking for information on our application and attaching a copy of the form posted in July (I’ve been here long enough now, to scan everything before posting).  I received a reply three days later informing me we had been sent the wrong form (after over a year!) and that new forms were being posted to us.  I replied immediately expressing our concerns and disappointment in the delay, and in the fact that had I not e-mailed we would probably never have been told about the wrong form.  Six days later we still have not even received any new forms to complete. I also asked about our situation regarding emergency health care in the UK when we return for Christmas, as we know the EHIC should be used on any visit outside of France (within the EU of course).  Apparently, we need a “Provisional Replacement Certificate (PRC) obtainable by telephoning the Overseas Healthcare Team”.  The same team I’ve been trying to ring for the last six weeks! For anybody old enough to remember Flanders and Swan – “T’was on a Monday morning the gas man came to call....” Sorry about the length of this posting!

I've just had another play... I was originally using i.e. when it all went wrong.  I've tried with GoogleChrome and absolutely no problem getting to the weather via typing in the address (france.meteofrance.com).  So I copied the address from the address bar.  Then back to i.e. and deleted my bookmarks for the meteo, pasted the address into the address bar and hey presto - no problem.  Re-saved the bookmark and now it's fine in i.e. and Chrome.  Not tried Firefox yet 

Well, it's not just you - exactly the same for me!  I even tried typing the original address into the browser, but it still goes to the "token.meteofrance.com" site Most annoying is the fact that the links and search go nowhere so you don't even get any weather forecast anyway.  Maybe the site's just not functioning properly yet, or maybe somebody has 'highjacked' France meteo...

"Any changes to times or dates mean that you are now treated as a new booking at current prices with a credit for the old crossing." My point exactly BJSLIV - not an amendment anymore.  So, given there's no difference for 2 x 1-way tickets, booking seperately looks like the way forward from now on.

You're perfectly right about the 'yeild-based' pricing, and BF have done this for years. However, my point was that I was changing only one leg of an existing booking (for which I would expect to pay the new price) - I changed nothing on the return leg, so why up that price?  This is why I say it's no longer an amendment, it's effectively a cancellation and start again!

Good idea - I'll certainly look into that next time...

A couple of months ago I booked with Brittany Ferries to return to UK for Christmas (Caen - Portsmouth, Portsmouth - St Malo), but recently discovered we needed to travel over a few days earlier so I went on-line to amend the booking, something I have done a couple of times before.  Even though I was only amending the outward journey date, the price for the return journey shot up by £60!! I expected the outward price to change, but not the return as well. I rang Brittany Ferries to check/ask why but was told that's the new price - basically take it or leave it.  She did offer to do it for me on the phone, but that would cost an extra £15 as well.  So, obviously I went back on-line. The moral is - it now appears that an 'amendment' is actually cancelling your booking and starting again at current prices.  Not an amendment at all.  So be warned.

Hi all, last December we went to a book fair at Castlefranc (Dept 46) where you could buy 2nd hand English books.  I think it was to raise money for a cancer charity, but can't remember the details. Does anyone know if they are doing the same again this year, and if so when and where?   Thanks in advance Steve and Marie

Danny, thanks very much for the info - it looks like it is feasible to do. I realise the recording limitations with just one cable, but I'm a bit concerned about trying to pull another cable through as I'm unsure of the pathway and would hate to get stuck halfway... OH, and sue, an arial is not an option I'm afraid, we're about 35 metres from a 30 metre cliff topped by a ruined chateau.  In fact UK TV is a bit tricky as they inconsiderately built the chateau between us and the satelitte.  Just no forward planning! Thanks again all