Sunday Driver

Organising a free Alis doofer has been on my 'to do' list ever since we moved to France, but as I've never yet encountered a queue at any of the péages, I've never gotten around to it. There again, I'm not commuting to and from any of the big cities......    

What's the point in using a satnav to discover what you already know - that your true speed is a few kph less than what your speedometer reads, which is what it's supposed to do?  As far as your example is concerned, anyone driving in a 90 limit with 105 showing on the clock deserves to be fined. To clarify when a fine is applied, the speeding ticket shows the actual speed of the vehicle, from which a 5kph tolerance is deducted, leaving the net speed (vitesse retenue) which determines the offence.  Where the speed limit is over 100kph, the tolerance is 5%.  Finally, what are these speed limits that you seem to think are being decided on the throw of a dice?  Are they the ones that are properly put in place to protect pedestrians or manage traffic congestion on urban autoroutes or signal other potential hazards like dangerous junctions or bends - or are they different ones........?  [;-)]    

Nothing has changed, Coops. Ian doesn't need a European C of C as they do not exist for pre 1998 vehicles.  What he needs is a French national type approval certificate (attestation d'identification à un type réceptionné en France) which can be obtained by writing to the St Germain address as given by your ex-forum member and mentioned by Dave above.  

[quote user="deltamike"]  They do not deliver in their little yellow vans as per their website. Shopping is delivered to a semi detached house where it is thrown in a single walled old cardboard box, not even packed properly, and then sent by carrier. [/quote] You mean those photoshopped yellow Sprinters with the dummied up logos on the side and the yellow Renault Magnum 44 tonne artic and semi trailer - all of which are likely to be non-existant and all designed to fool people into believing that they provide a personal service, hand delivering Marmite to a few hundred of expats over the whole of Metropolitan France??? It'd be cheaper to order your UK groceries through Amazon.  They only charge £18 to deliver 30kg to France - and properly packed too..........[;-)]  

You were lucky......................

Dave I replaced my old TV setup early last year and I got lots of useful advice at the time: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1/2382265/ShowPost.aspx#2382265 In the end, I bought a Sony Bravia LCD from Amazon.fr - ordered at 4pm, delivered 8.30am the following morning. Also bought a Humax box from Amazon.uk for the UK telly to replace my old French decoder. As regards connecting everything up: Humax box to TV - HDMI cable. Humax box to DVD recorder - SCART. DVD recorder to TV - SCART.  

I'd be inclined to send a unmarked bank statement just in case they come back and ask whether any of the blanked out items are hiding an entry which says " debit back of cancelled pension "........[:-))] Just keep it simple and do what they ask.  

http://www.david-dickinson.net/ [:P]    

Mrs Sunday just receives an annual letter from our CPAM headed 'Relations internationales - Attestation sur l'honneur du versement d'une pension' asking her to certify that she receives a pension from another EU state and that she does not receive a French pension,  She just ticks the appropriate boxes, signs the letter and sends it back. No request for details of amounts or anything - she must have an honest face......[;-)] The letter contains a reference to article 24 du reglement 883/04 (Special provisions relating to various categories of benefits) which concerns pensioners from another EU member state who do not have a French pension giving them entitlement to benefits in kind in France, but who obtain the right to those benefits provided they were entitled to them in the member state which pays their pension and that the other member state covers the costs of the benefit - in this case, assurance maladie via the form S1/E121 arrangement. http://www.cleiss.fr/docs/textes/883-04/t3-1.html  

Hot off the press..... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8963947/Eurozone-crisis-Foreign-Office-plans-evacuation-of-expatriates.html  

Simplest way is to write to them and tell them you've imported your Hiace van and in order to obtain a carte grise for it, you need a type approval certificate. Provide some basic details of the van, attach a photocopy (front and rear) of your UK V5C registration document and offer to provide any further information they require. Like this: Messieurs J'ai un fourgon Hiace que j'ai importé du Royaume-Uni et en vue d'obtenir une carte grise française, j'ai besoin d'un attestation d'identification à un type réceptionné en France. Renseignements sur le véhicule: Type:  Hiace VIN:  (VIN number) Moteur: (essence or diesel) Boîte de Vitesse:  (méchanique or automatique) Nombre de places assises:  (number of seats including driver) Date de première mise en circulation:  (date of first registration in UK) Pays de Provenance:  Royaume-Uni N° Immatriculation dans le Pays de Provenance:  (UK registration number) Carrosserie du véhicule:  Fourgon P.T.C du véhicule:  (Gross vehicle weight/MAM in kg) J'attache une copie complète (recto - verso) de la carte grise étrangère (V5C certificat d'immatriculation communautaire) et je reste à votre disposition pour tous renseignements complémentaires.  Je vous prie d’agréer, Messieurs, l’expression de mes sentiments les meilleurs. Signed Doing it like this means if they come back to you with questions etc, it gives you time to work out exactly what they are asking for......[;-)]  

As your Hiace is too old to qualify for an EU certificate of conformity, you need to obtain a French national type approval certificate (attestation d'identification) from Toyota France. Toyota France SAS, Service homologation, 20/30 bd de la Republique, 92423 VAUCRESSON cedex.  Tel:  01 47 10 81 00  

[quote user="Chancer"] Dont use the easy start too often as diesel engines become addicted to it, I am being serious. [/quote] Is that like glue sniffing for engines........?  [;-)] Back in the 60's a friend of the family who had a contract to do the Xmas post offered me a job driving his J2 van, collecting the sacks from the sub post offices and delivering them to the main Newcastle sorting office. He warned me never to try starting it without first giving it a quick spray of Easy Start.  

The problem with sending real Xmas cards to old friends is that you're obliged to include a word or three about how we are both well, that the cat is still alive, and so on.  Problem is, after years of typing everything on a computer, my handwriting is now virtually illegible. Mrs Sunday likes to send everyone a "proper" Xmas card, but at the moment, she's got a problem with the nerves in her hand so her handwriting is even worse than mine. God knows how people will understand our gobbledegook.....[:-))]  

When I popped into to my local tabac at teatime to flirt with the cigar lady, all she did was moan about the torrential rain we had here today.....[:(]    

Friends of ours tried Phone Expat a couple of years ago but went back to Orange after a short while.  Can't remember, but I think their service was a bit flaky. Here's what we do: - France Telecom fixed line - 19€ TTC per month including 2 hrs of free calls within France. - Orange Découverte ADSL - 21€ TTC per month.  High speed, rock solid. - Skype for phone calls to non-French landlines - 2 cents TTC per minute - Skype for phone calls to PC users - free - Windows Messenger for video calls to PC users - free - Facetime for video calls to iPad/iPhone users - free  

Tell him to phone his local Citroen dealer and ask them where the sensor is and how to cure the fault.....[;-)]  

Swiss debt collection agency. http://www.ch.ch/private/00093/00102/00486/00487/index.html?lang=en (version in English)  

"Our friend has phoned the prefecture at Arras and has been told that it is obligatory to have the V5 and that no other form will be permitted". Not according to the official Public Service information website......... Acquisition d'un véhicule d'occasion à l'étranger Pièces à produire Ancien certificat d'immatriculation du véhicule (si le document a été conservé par les autorités administratives du pays étranger, il faut fournir une pièce officielle certifiant que le certificat a été retiré ou bien un certificat international délivré par les autorités du pays étranger) The V561 certificate of permanent export is such a "une pièce officielle". I suggest your friends go in person to their prefecture and, if necessary, ask to speak to a supervisor.  

Everything you need to know about using crépi: http://www.brico.be/wabs/fiches/pdf/fr/3-4.pdf    

Our local small town (Cerizay) is twinned with Ongar and has a old red British telephone box outside the Hotel de Ville. Nearby Bressuire is twinned with Leixlip in Ireland and hosts an annual Irish music and dance spectacular. There's even a roundabout named after the Irish town. They also put on a Highland games day with caber tossing in the park below the castle walls.  

Three months seems a bit slow to me...... When Mrs Sunday received her S1s (for her and me), I just dropped them into our CPAM (Niort) whilst we were there on a shopping trip.  The counter girl had no idea what the forms were and said we'd have speak with Madame Whatshername upstairs on the second floor. We trekked upstairs and eventually found a grumpy looking Madame Whatshername who sat us down, took the forms and tapped the details into the computer.  "All done," she declared with a smile.  "You'll receive your new attestation and a form for your new photo carte vital in the post within the next week or so."  They arrived a couple of days later. As we were no longer covered under CMU, I gave it another week then rang URSSAF to see about getting a refund of our unused contributions.  The girl confirmed she'd received the CPAM cancellation instruction and was actually in the middle of processing the refund when I phoned. Slick burocracy is alive and well in Sundayland.........[8-|]  

The general criteria for a 'life change' allowing access to CMU is defined as: "......if the applicant can demonstrate that unpredictable events and difficulties beyond his control led him to lose the health coverage previously available to him." In your case, your CPAM could argue that a periodic medical re-assessment was a condition of getting your E121, therefore the possibility of being re-assessed as fit for work was not unpredictable. On the other hand, if your medical condition was originally diagnosed as being unlikely to improve, then you could argue that you would not have expected to be re-assessed as fit for work therefore it was an unpredictable event. If that doesn't work, then you could always argue that you couldn't stop yourself 'getting better' so the improvement in your health has resulted in difficulties beyond your control.....[;-)]  

Provided you haven't sent anything off to your prefecture, you can simply regard the 'barred' carte grise as defaced and apply for a duplicate. Comment faire si le vendeur ou l'acheteur du véhicule renonce à la transaction alors que le certificat d'immatriculation (ex-carte grise) a été barré ?  

You don't need tax returns or an on-line account as your numero fiscal (and the reference de l'avis) are shown on your property tax bills.  These are all you require to pay the bills online.