Jotty

Wow!!! I sincerely hope that the holiday will go on for a   L   O   N   G time yet Jotty I hope so too! It's great when it's great. I just think that people like 5 element, who is French, and people who have gone through the whole French system including working here, being unemployed, taking retirement, having to deal with a multitude of Agencies etc (some of whom make the CPAM look like a Kindergarten)  have had more opportunities to meet the sort of rude attitude than more recent arrivals who may have simply bought a house and applied for Health cover, or those who simply have a Holiday place here and don't really need to be involved with all that. I agree that if you go in with a bad attitude you will probably find it reflected back at you, but I also think that there exists a sort of gratuitous rudeness which comes from the fact that in some positions people feel that they are 'petits chefs' . One of my friends who works in the Mairie said quite unconsciously to me the other day "of course they can never get rid of me..I have passed the concours", and this sort of security without any accountability may explain some of it. There is also as well as rudeness, a sort of willful delight in making difficulties. This morning I went to the Post office to send some money by Western Union. For once there was nobody at the counter (it is the end of the month so nobody has any money to withdraw) , so I went straight up to it. The lady behind the counter said 'Prenez un ticket'   ...not please or would you mind. She was in the right because they have just installed a system where you have to take a numbered ticket on arrival and wait your turn., but she could have expressed it in a better way. So I took the ticket, and waited for about 5 minutes while none of the 3 clerks served anybody or seemed to do anything. My number came up, and I went to the counter. I had the money all ready, and my ID, as I thought.  I have a Carte de séjour which is now out of date as they are no longer compulsory, so I gave here my French driving licence, as I have done many times before. "That's not a pièce d'Identité " she snapped  "and never has been" I pointed out that it had been accepted as such frequently so she changed tack "Western Union now requires a pièce which has a  finishing date on it, which a French driving licence doesn't have" ( This change isn't something I could have known) I offered my British  passport "That doesn't count, because it doesn't prove the address of the sender" I offered my carte de séjour "It's out of date" I suggested the combination of my Passport to prove my ID and my licence to prove my address, and got a grudging agreement. Now she is probably technically right, but there are ways of dealing with a member of the public who simply wants to buy a money transfer service which would have left me feeling less at fault. I didn't go in with a bad attitude, but I certainly came out with one. Not the best publicity for the campaign against the privatisation if 'La Poste'

[quote user="Jonzjob"]But as I have said before we have only been in the French system for just over 4 years now so who are we to argue? [/quote] After only 4 years you are still on holiday. Wait till you start to understand what people are saying to (and about you) [:)] Of course everybody has a right to argue...

As I said in another thread my Avis had a mistake in it, but my point is that I contact them by email, and usually get a reply in 24 hours.

I think that a republic is important to symbolise the fact that what you achieve is up to what you do, and is not just determined by who your parents are. Any French or American person could in theory become President. No British person can expect to be the next King or Queen, except those in the Royal Family. Straightaway that installs  the principle of inherited privilege. I agree that I should have written some posters. That is in fact what I meant.

I must be the Forum expert on falling house prices, having been caught out in negative equity TWICE in the UK (once at a period when interest rates were at 15%), and having transferred most of my money into Francs in 1996 at a time when I believe the exchange rate was even worse than today... If anybody wants to make money watch what I do and do exactly the opposite [:D]

I posted this in another thread but it might have some relevance here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2008/sep/16/michael.rosen On a rather more serious note, I have remarked that many  people give either negative reasons for moving here, such as various problems in the UK, or they give materialistic ones such as being able to afford a bigger/better house, or being able to live a rural idyll. Very few people cite positive things about France itself, such as the fact it is a Republic, that it has retained a belief in its culture,or   that it has a more just system of social security (although most are happy to be part of it when it come to Health care). Sometimes I even have the impression that posters would prefer that everything was done the British way and in English.

I rent to  a friend who gets housing benefit. The problem is that this is not the full rent, and he is very bad about making up the difference. It's only a small amount (about  80 euros a month) but it stays at the back of my mind.

You may like to look at this site if you intend to work in any sort of legal framework

I pay about 60 euros a month to my Mutuelle  Force Sud. I am happy with their service, and of course it means I never pay anything else (except if I wanted luxury items like expensive crowns etc). It usually means that I also have the benefit of 'tiers payant' , that is to say I don't have to pay anything up front at clinics or hospitals, I just show my Mutuelle card, although I  still have to pay Doctors who no longer are allowed to use that system (Goodness knows why it was changed). I also have the daily costs of a hospital stay covered.  I have spent about 60 days in hospitals and clinics over a long time, and never had to pay, even for an individual room. They also pick up the bill for things that are reimbursed at less that 70%. I believe that the way the Health reforms in France are going more and more will be pushed over to the Mutuelles to pay, and less and less will be paid from the CPAM I know that there is an argument that this insurance is poor value for money. I have probably paid in more than I have taken out, but that is the principle of a Mutuelle..some pay in and some take out. One day it could well be me.

Readers of this thread might be interested in an article in today's Observer http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/21/fiction.france?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Most restaurants  in towns offer a special menu, with seafood,  foie gras etc and the more expensive ones include Music and dancing. New year's day lunch is also often a special occasion, but the evening of New Year's day can be quiet

Has anyone tried Philippe Claudel "Les Ames Grises"..? A review in English here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2008/sep/16/michael.rosen

Has anybody managed to get this service to work? According to their site here you dial *351* number you want to block # but when I try I just get an engaged tone...

[quote user="Sunday Driver"]I have to say, I declare on-line with a 2047/2042 and each time, I print off the instant assessment (that's the one available after you click on 'submit') and check it.  The 2047 data is always taken into account on the instant assessment and when the avis eventually arrives, it also matches the original assessment.  That does suggest to me that the automated system does work with my 2047......[;-)]         [/quote] Exactly what does not happen for me. 1) It is impossible to get an instant assesslent if there are both 2042 and 2047 2)The avis left off the data from 2047 which I had checked was transferred (manually) to the 2042 Perhaps different centres d'Impôts have diffent software?

It is not a question of a country name, it is a question of an adjective which describes the nationality of  someone. British is a nationality, United Kingdom is a country. I do not think that ISO can change this essential grammatical fact.

I suggest just using http://www.imooty.eu/ you can click on the map and get the main headlines for the  press in each  country.

I have always found that the instant calculation only works if you dont also submit annexes such as 2047 If you do it flags up as not possible.

Don't forget that franchise payments are sometimes 'lumped together'. That is you may find that the franchise for each box of medicine has to be deducted from the reinbursements you get for the Doctor's fee, especially as you don't pay anything over the counter at the Pharmecie. If you have several boxes the franchises are added together, then deducted from your reimbursement. Otherwise they couldn't collect them.

Have you declared your Doctor as your Médecin Traitant?

Any rights or servitudes should have been explained when you signed the 'Acte Authentique' and will be written in it. I don't believe that there is an offence of Trespass in France.

On the Ryanair security information you are forced to write United Kingdom...for Nationality! No way to put British... So I don't think the people creating the site are very literate...

[quote user="Weegie"]It looks as if Jotty's comment may have been directed at me. If so, I am not aware that I was "pontificating" in any way.  Merely expressing an opinion based on reading the documents and "Experience of life in France, and relationships with the people who work in the bureaucracy". There may,or may not, be a "bug" in the system. Whether that is the case or not, my suggestion to DrO was purely intended as a  pragmatic approach to a current difficulty he felt he is faced with.  (Thanks SD.) [/quote] Sorry; no intention of getting at you at all...It was meant as a general remark.

Yes a point of view..but I have to point out that in my post above I quoted from 'the horse's mouth' The system should work like that but there is a bug. Why is it that no-one British can accept the direct information that I quote from  a French Tax Inspector? Perhaps you haven't the same contacts as I have? Or you prefer speculation to concrete evidence? Experience of life in France, and relationships with the people who work in the bureaucracy count for more than pontificating on the basis that you understand official sites a little better than some people here who don't read French..

[quote user="allanb"]SD: does this mean that in the case of an on-line declaration the final assessment is generated without the need for any human intervention? [/quote] I checked this today with a friend who works in the tax office (but in the business department, not the individual) She tells me that it should work automatically as SD says  (ie go over from one It system to another)  but as I and other have found there seems to be a glitch in the system. If they get many more example like ours they are going to have to look at the problem. Perhaps we are all right? SD for the theory, and me for the practice?