EmilyA

Well so far we have had one attempt by one provider which cost 300€ for an electrician to run a wire through the gaine for the existing telephone line which goes across the garden and under the house before emerging the other side. The technicians who came to install fibre broke the wire and could not install the new line. Some months later we are now trying again with Orange. Line under house impossible so terrassier needed to dig up courtyard and run gaine underground from opposite direction. Cost 700€. Cheap it isn't.

YCCMB I said nothing about compensation for an adverse exchange rate. That would be ridiculous. I was talking about the anomaly of the way the tax has traditionally been calculated in France, on an occupational pension taxed at source in the UK. The subject of this thread, in fact.

Not sure I understand that YCCMB? We pay French tax on our income every year and obviously the amount goes up and down depending on the strength of the pound. Only my occupational pension is taxed in the UK.

Would be nice if it could be backdated. It might make up for the plunging pound. ? Still at least we will pay less tax next year.

We use Google maps on our phones, with the function that shows traffic density in red, black etc. The black generally shows where the blockages are. We have found it reliable. We have fuel shortages from time to time, a few goods in short supply and problems on Saturdays when roundabouts are closed and the GJs walk backwards and forwards across pedestrian crossings (rural Normandy).

Thanks Norman, we didn't have any choice about payment, it was cheque or virement. I have however asked for the return of the cleaning fee. I was a bit surprised by how quickly the agent said, "no none of your policies (health, house, car) cover that", but OH has checked the small print and I think it is the case. Just bad luck really and thanks all for the good wishes. I am (just about) adapting to life in a full leg cast.

Tried the insurance agent and nothing in our policies covers us and they don't do travel insurance either. It was only the accommodation cost we lost so could have been worse. I have a lovely wheelchair, walking frame and crutches from the pharmacie though. ?

Thanks all. I have tried the bank and our debit card is just an ordinary one and only covers accidents when away. We have one agent who has our health, car and household policies so will try them. I think we have asked about travel insurance in the past and they looked a bit blank so I went with the European insurance at that stage. I would have renewed it apart from (expletive deleted) Brexit. Grrrr....

We are permanent residents in France with CV and mutuelle. We had rented an apartment from a private owner for a holiday this week; it is a French registered business with a Swiss owner. The day before leaving I fell down the stairs and broke my leg. We have obviously cancelled the booking, but wondered if anyone has any idea about any avenue by which we might reclaim some of the cost of the apartment. We paid by virement from our French bank account. We had European travel insurance, but I did not renew it this year because the company could only deal with EU / EEA citizens and obviously that might not work after next March. (?) One of my neighbours suggested protection civile, but I don't see that ours will work, she thought maybe theirs? We realise we have probably lost the money and tant pis for us, but just thought it was worth asking.

We are rural too Pat, though I do stuff like U3A which makes a big difference. I guess that I know the town where my daughter lives in the UK very well, no doubt it would be very different in an unfamiliar part of the UK.

So sorry you are having problems Pat. I spend about 6 weeks a year in the UK with my daughter and grandchildren and I honestly can’t say I feel any sense of dislocation. Driving up from Portsmouth I usually think “oh what a lot of English cars” and on day one I have an urge to say “merci bien, au revoir” in the supermarket, but then I adjust and pick up my English life. I am sure if I moved back there are things I would have to get to grips with like “switch and save” ? but I don’t think it would be too hard. Traffic and crowds would be the thing I would dislike most, I think.

I am going to disagree here. We buy excellent flour for bread from our organic supermarket; there are some very good ones around. You have to understand how flour is categorised and you won't find all of it in the average supermarket, the bio shop is what you need. Type 150 is wholemeal, Type 110 (85% of grain) similar to wheatmeal. Type 80 is high gluten flour and Type 55 all purpose flour. Type 45 is patisserie flour. I have seen self-raising in supermarkets and you will also find various raising agents (levure chimique, levure boulangère) in their baking section. You can also buy spelt flour, chickpea flour, rice flour etc. We now make our bread with spelt flour (épeautre). We get lovely crème crue in Normandy, I find the best for whipping is the stuff in the cartons with checked packaging, but I do think it has a back-taste. Hope this helps.

On deck? ?

If you had heard "Laties and Gentlemen we will shortlee be arraiveeng in Portsmoot" as often as I have, you would know I am right. ? Actually my favourite BF announcement was when they had a Captain Bienvenue. "Le Capitaine Bienvenue vous souhaite le bienvenue à bord ...."

Has nobody mentioned Portsmoot yet? I have someone in the English class I teach who is a retired anaesthetist. That was challenging for her.