Belle

Could someone please give me the english telephone number for EDF. I have dialled an 0810 126126  nmber and the recording is saying that it's changed, but our french isn't good enough to catch it all. Thanks alot.

The bank doesn't convert our pensions, they get paid in sterling every month to our uk bank account, we then transfer them into our uk savings account, then at the end of the year we use moneycore to bring it all over.

We are about to fill in our tax forms, as we only bring our pensions over once a year, usually end of Dec. I right down the rate as it is at the end of Dec. Hubby is now not trusting me that I got it right, can anyone help with this please. Thanks.

Ok thanks for replys, we don't have any credit cards, so we will have to go to the bank and get a bankers cheque. We have an english debit card, but I suppose it has got to be a credit card has it.

Is it possible,does anyone know, to use an english cheque when renewing a passport, we are trying to go easy on our french bank account. Thanks Belle

hello we have had the same problem, what hubby did was to reprogramme, if you go onto bigdishsat.com it will tell you how to do this, failing that, it will reprogramme itself eventualy.

I don't want this to turn into nasty banter, but I would just like to defend my last post, Maricopa, I will tell you that I know for sure that our freinds neighbour really doesn't mind helping, because she says for them to bring all their english friends that need help, when we have met her she asks us if we need her help. I also may never be asked to speak French for anyone, but since we have been here, I have helped loads of brits, which hairdressers do I use, which Dentist, which doctor speaks english, where is the cpam office, where is the tax office, what E forms shall I bring from England, I could go on and on, none of this has been a problem for us, and will continue that way.

Do you know, reading all of these posts makes very sad that all of you are whingeing about helping your fellow brits out, and it is for that reason that hubby and myself struggle on by ourselves, we have been here for three years, and realised very early on, that we wouldn't get any help from our fellow countrymen/women, it's very easy for those of you with a command of the language, to critisise those who havn't, one of the statements was that ' you wouldn't help your neighbour in England to fill out tax forms, ring garages, or help with Doctors and dentists', well yes I would, I could'nt see anyone struggle, we don't have any French neighbours that we can call on for help, a friend of ours does, they have lived here for five years, and still go to their neighbour all the time for her help, she never tells them off for not speaking enough French, and she never tells them she can't help because she has a 'life'. nothing is too much trouble for her, is that the difference, between the French and the Brits.

The house in France that you are all talking about, was on escape to the country the day before, it was owned by an irish couple, who stated that they wanted to return to the UK, because of not getting on with the language, and the long closing hours for lunch, the house was priced at over 2 million, and they were looking to buy in Dorset.

Hi suein56, I went out and bought your recommended cream for trifles yesterday, we were having friends for dinner, well hubby and I started whipping said cream at 4.30, at 7.30 when our friends arrived, we gave up, have you a magic whisk or something, because after three hours, definately something was wrong.In the end we had to pour the cream over the trifle, not a total dissaster, but I would have liked it the proper way.

what is Lexomil please, and is it here or the UK.

Thankyou all so much for your advise, re Varifocals, but please don't be offended anyone, but may I just say that my original thread was not about Varifocals, and the wearing of them, because I know all there is to know I have been wearing them for over 10 years, my thread was asking everyone's advise how I could get my 600 Euros refunded, as my opthalmist couldn't give me a prescription without the dreadful distortion when I turned my head. I just can't afford to write off 600e because I will have to now pay out for a trip back to the Uk to get my glasses there. Thankyou all again.

hello Steve and Judith, thankyou for your comments, when I first started wearing varifocals 10 years ago, I was told it would take about two weeks to get used to them, but I was fine within a day, my prescription has always been very high, plus 8, in those days my lenses were very thick, as I got older, and more vain, I opted for the thinest lens available, now a few more years on, thinner still, my last optician in the uk said for me and my vision, the best varifocal was made by Ziess, and true to his word they were fab and I have been wearing them for three years, anyway over the last couple of months I have been straining abit to read road signs so I thought as I live in France I will go to an opth. here, he told me he could get Ziess and that my lens would be really thin, and when I collected them, they were, however,  when I shifted my sight from looking through the middle, all went out of focus, and I had to move my head to find the right spot, only to find that it went out of focus from the other side, I told him that I drive alot and couldn't keep taking my eyes off of the road to keep focusing to see traffic coming from the side of me, he then told me to use my old glasses for driving, and these new ones the rest of the time, hubby then said, no sorry that won't do, please may we have a refund, no sorry I can't do that was the answer, so I have paid 600 euros for useless glasses, and this afternoon starting looking to book a flight back to the uk, plus hotel accomodation and hire car, to see my old optician, these are turning out to be the most expensive glasses ever.

Just to say abit more, sorry if this is boring I won't go on too much longer, if I look straight ahead with these glasses, then they are ok, but the problem starts if I want to look sideways, it's all blured, so I then have to keep juggling my head about till I'm in focus again, I have worn them for a week and have felt so sick and giddy, that I have to give up, as I have said I know what to expect from varifocals, after 10 years, and this certaintly isn't right, I am now thinking that because the optician says in his opinion this is normal I won't be refunded.

Ok understand that, but how do I go about getting a refund when the optician is adamant that he isn't going to budge, we just can't throw away 600 euros, I have paid for something that I can't use, he knows this and just shruggs.

sorry maybe you are right, I have never heard of the word progressive lens before, I thought Varifocals were just called varifocals, it's getting a refund that is my main priority at the moment.

hello again, no my lenses are not progressive, they are varifoculs, I have been wearing them for about 10 years, my prescription is very high and I have an astigmatism, this is my first pair from France, and I have never had any distortion before, I really wish I had gone back to the uk now, if I can't get a refund, that's 600 euros wasted, and I still have to pay again in the uk.Thanks for your reply. By the way you would have got your money back after 30 days, it's the law in the uk, consumers rights.

Don't know whether this is legal or not, but it may well be, I have just colleced my new glasses from the optician for the second time, the problem is I am getting a lot of distortion, the first time he sent them back, but they have come back again, still the same, I paid 600 Euros for them, when I asked what next can be done, he shrugged and said you must wear them, then maybe you will get used to moving your head about and getting things into focus, when I said, sorry but this is not acceptable, and please may I have my money back, he said, no not possible, I will give you sun glasses for free, any Ideas what to do next please.

Sounds quite interesting this Paris trip, can you recommend somewhere to stay there, or did you come back later the same day.

Absolutely, Frogslegs, we have been taking a flask of coffee out with us for months now, gave up asking for tea, coffee, and chocolate, all arrived cold, and a waste of money.

Thank you so much everybody, I'm dreading it.

Hubby was in the front garden on sat, our french neighbour came round and told him that his wife's father has just died, he then told hubby that the funeral was in the village church at 10.30 on Monday , and there will be no flowers, hubby has taken this to mean that we have been invited to the funeral, but I'm a bit worried about turning up and we shouldn't have, we very rarely see our nieighbour, and didn't know anything about her father, so why would we get an invite. what do you think ?!

thanks to you all, I was getting a bit concerned, I have been trying to book a flight back from nantes to Stansted, for the middle of April, since beginningof Jan, and kept getting flight full.

I have just heard from a friend, that she thinks that Ryanair have stopped flying to Stansted, has anyone knowledge of this, please.We are in the vendee, so our airports are Nantes, and La rochelle.

Sorry I'm confused now, are you all saying that there would be a charge of 3% the amount being sent to the uk would be in the region of 300.000 Euros.