JMB

Does anybody have a view about, or experience of, living in Mauritius? They have recently introduced a retired persons visa, where you need to bring in $40,000 USD per year for three years in order to qualify for  a permanent resident permit. It is a beautiful place with strong links to France.  A bit like an English-speaking France in an island paradise with low taxes. It also has a 15% tax rate and no inheritence tax.

Is it reportage? John www.johnbradleyphotography.com

Does your wife play rugby?

John, you are absolutely right.  So my parting shot is that Macs are quite clearly cooler than  PCs.  ;-)

Ernie, many is the time I have said or heard others say OOOH I HATE THIS PC, but you never hear Mac users saying that about their machines, and you certainly wouldn;t hear it from me :-)

AMS, if you divide 1.4 billion by 50% of the population you get (if I have my decimal points in the right places) an additional tax burden of 47 euros applied ot 30m people.  At 1%, this means that for the government to meet its goal, 30m people need to be generating at least 4,700 euros (each) of unearned income.  This sounds highly unrealistic. I think it more likely that 25% of the total population pays income tax and maybe 5% of that group is liable to a tax levied on unearned income.  If these assumptions are right, then the additional tax burden required to generate 1.4 billion euros from 750,000 people is 1,867 euros.  At 1%, this means that 750,000 people need to generate 187,000 euros (each) in unearned income.  If 4,700 euros sounds unrealistic, then 187,000 is in la la land. France is so deep in the financial muck, it wouldn't surprise me if this is just the start of a series of  stealth taxes.

My Mac gets quite hot, especially when the weather is hot.  I think this is normal. However, I once left my mac turned on in a rucksack in summer and it got very hot indeed - caused some problems with normal running of the machine.  

Ahhh well that will the call of the Yukon.  A very common affliction for Huskies.

My young son wants to know why that man is trying to strangle that dog :-) Poor chap.

I'm no expert, but it sounds like you need more flux.

 Have you thought of goldfish? :-)

I'm learning so much on this site :-) - that really is such a good idea.

Whoops, actually my pictures aren't of Guinea Fowl ... but they look like Guinea Fowl ...

Am I right in thinking that only an  Aussie would call a chicken a chook? I have plenty of Guinea Fowl living wild around me.  They are quite beautiful.  http://gallery.mac.com/johnmartinbradley#100081&bgcolor=black&view=grid The only time I hear from them is when Mr Leopard is trying to catch them :-0.  Not a problem you will have in France, but I suspect that Mr Fox might think you're a jolly good fellow for providing him with such nice food - unless you provide a coup for them at night.

Clair, you are a font!

Ian Walthew has some interesting views on this subject. www.ianwalthew.com/

You're quite right, I shouldn't have deliberately run out of fuel. BTW I am the son of an airine pilot and I can tell you some stories that would make you shake you head in disbelief ...

I find it apalling that there should be a need for such a law.  It doesn't guarantee that anyone will stop, as was my experience when I ran out of fuel 30ks south of St Malo and nobody, including the police, bothered to stop.  Even my four year old flashing her knickers at passing cars didn't help!

I think using an effective vacuum cleaner like a Dyson can help.  Especially if you hoover little nooks and crannies like the areas under skirting boards and behind sofas.  The idea is to get rid of the flea eggs before they hatch.  I've aso heard that if you plan to leave a place vacant for a while, an effective thing to do is to walk through the house with a pair of wellies on, stomping hard on the floor.  The vibration causes the eggs to hatch and then, assuming the fleas have nothing to feed on, they either go away or die.  I don't know how long "a while" is, but I do know that if you come home too soon, you may find yourself being devoured by very hungry fleas.

Whatever you do, don't make that tick nervous - you know hard it is to get rid of a nervous tick!

Also check out: htttp://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/taxation/social-security/employers-employees/ http://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/taxation/social-security/self-employed/ and don't forget you need to pay income tax on top of all this.

LOL

Now that is a very informative article - whatever did we do before the Internet?!

If you paint the vent stack matt black it may create an updraught within the pipe when the sun shines on it. 

I think we are entering a period of great economic uncertainty and the conservative scenario is very bad indeed (the more optimistic scenarios aren't that great either).   This may not be a time for embarking on a new business venture in a land where the geography is different to what you know.  If you just look at the price of oil, some pundits are saying it'll hit $200 a barrel this year.  Even with the price as it is now, it is eating into peoples' disposable income in a big way.  If it goes to $200 or higher, then it will have a major impact on all our lives.  Everything will become more expensive and people will have less and less money to spend on things other than the essentials.  Of course you will face the same problem in the UK, at least there you probably have a support network in place and you know lie of the land.