idun

I shall be pleased when the next few weeks are over, but especially this week with someone who obviously shouldn't have them, having the nuclear codes. AND the power to start a war, whether it be with say Iran or a civil war in the US.

 Yes, we live in England now. But majority of our income is from France, so we are absolutely tied to France, and could end up moving back if the pensions become affected by Brexit. Family in France and a handful of friends, you know the ones who are proper friends with whom I am very close, malgre the distance between us these days.

https://www.capital.fr/votre-argent/reserve-hereditaire-1324417 This link should be live. It looks like the least you would get is half the house. You should be classed a s reserve hereditaire. You need a notaire.

I keep waiting for someone to post that they have had the vaccination, but as yet, no one has.

How much is the house worth? I ask as getting notaires involved will be costly IF this has to go to court. You do need good legal advice from a notaire though.

double post

So as they used to say on The X Files,  'trust no one' and I basically, do not. We have VPN, but it is the bane of our lives sometimes, as we have it on for one thing and then say 'I' or 'him' haven't realised it was on, so don't  turn it off to use another system and nothing works........ takes us an age to twig what is going on. [Www]

Just wondering how you know if TOR is legitimate and not simply taking all one's information. Does worry me with the internet about who runs/owns what. TIA

Your post is not clear BIB because of the quotes that haven't come up properly. And it makes it very hard to understand.

Arrogance, really?  Moving to another country and not learning the language is to me the height of arrogance. Because there would appear to be an expectation that those of that country should adapt and cater for someone's either fear of rollocksing it up, or simply cannot be 'rsed.  And that is all I can think of for not learning. And IF anyone thinks I am in anyway doue with languages, well, I have enough problems with my mother tongue, 'english', and french well, I arrived with 5 words, none really any use, and I just got on with it, and my did I rollocks it up a lot, mangled it royally, and even now I can do just that.  And yet I can hold a conversation with anyone at all in french. My french friends take the mickey sometimes, not nastily, but they, like me, cannot stand all the foreigners who arrive and don't try. And I feel the same about those who arrive to live in the UK and don't learn english or any of the other native languages on these isles which is spoken in their chosen home. We did get a little help for just over our first year then we were on our own, in three years, we had 2 children and had a house built. So from this woman who speaks french like a vache espangole, out of basic respect for the country in which we chose to live, I knew that in spite of my inability with languages, if I was prepared to do my best and get stuck in that it should work out. AND it did. How can one get the best of one's adopted new home, if not able to  chat happily to one's fellow residents or understand the telly and read the language, because some information is very very important in one's life. And about that chatting in a village, gossip in a village is VERY IMPORTANT, as things that the Mairie or DDE are considering could well affect one's own life. Being able to communicate with the authorities, banks, and medical people, surely that is very important. I don't believe that it is up to them to speak english, what if things get lost in translation, not their fault, they know the words in french. So calling me arrogant, seems rather arrogant to me, and I wouldn't expect you, as a non french resident to speak french. You didn't chose to live in France.

A translator, really. Looking back on posts, Chocfish has been in France since a least 2014 and that is a long time. After that time surely all of us is capable of going to see the tax inspector and show that we are taking this seriously, without paying someone who may or may not be up to the task. Ofcourse it is complicated, it always is, especially when they are demanding money like this. And don't think that french people understand this little lot either, many do not. I always worked in accounts, and yet with british tax forms, I have not a clue as to what they want sometimes.

The thing I find hardest to accept is health care abuse. It is so costly. And that affects us all. It isn't 'none of our business', it can become serious to our own health  if our consultant is occupied, or bed is been taken by someone who isn't playing the game. So this is one thing that I really do believe, that the rules should be played by. I know french people and english people and probably british people in all of the UK will do some work au noir. I know that happens. AND it is no different for me than those who earn far too much and pay next to no income tax. It happens. ALBF, well, it would be difficult to get your wife british citizenship. They are quite strict about it, I know as a friend who is from an EU nation and has lived in England for 40 years has told me all about it and how costly it is too. Well for them it would be; as they are pensioners with very small pensions.

Well I had hoped that paperwork would become stricter, as when the 'free movement ' started it struck me that some people would move, being deliberately ignorant of french rules/laws and do as they pleased. And then these programs started on tv about the good life in France and some Brits happily lived in France, working au noir, usually in the building trade. How easy it was to undercut artisans when not paying cotisations and using EHIC 's, and certainly not being obliged to justify anything at the local Mairie who used to deal with all these things. And too many couldn't even speak French, so I would suppose doing cheap uninsured jobs for brits. I should mention all those who had British jobs, but as the expression goes, their bums on seats in France as they worked, believing that simply paying NI Contributions and uk tax was enough and it usually isn't. All because of that expression 'FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE', as if the EU was one country and not LOTS, all of which have their own laws. Not everyone, of course not everyone, was doing things as 'they' pleased, but too many were, and some probably still are in spite of things being tightened. So, yes, I do believe that things needed tightening, but why the local mairie cannot do it is beyond me. As I said they always did and sent the paperwork off to the Prefecture. I always had lots of paperwork and justifying to contend with, you just get on with it!

And to add, a croque monsieur is a creamy ham and cheese toasted sandwich, what with the bechamel on the top AND inside it. And some use creme fraiche  instead of bechamel. And a cheese and ham or what ever toastie, without the creaminess isn't a croque monsieur. As I said, I enjoy a toastie, these are just different plates of food. And both very enjoyable to eat.

When making a toastie in a toastie machine, I was always told to butter the outside of the bread prior to going in the machine. And that is what I do. I would only butter inside if I was actually putting it under the grill which I used to do  prior to having a toastie machine.  And I sometimes actually  just make a grilled toastie, not in the toastie machine, because they are different and that is what I fancy and they are different.  In either, I prefer ham and cheddar.

Haven't you already paid tax in the UK on this income anyway? You need to see someone about this, that is for sure.

And that is how I make toasties, I am partial to cheddar and ham toasties. But a croque monsieur is just something different.

Now that was interesting, I always lightly toast the bread first and butter it. Also, I put more filling in.......... you should see the Pizza's I make![Www] Thin base, loadsa topping[:D] Apart from that, looks quite like mine when cooked, but mine seem to have slightly soggy bottoms, is that because I toast the bread first, I wonder, I will try without toasting next time. I use emmantael, I prefer it to comte on a croque, but that is down to taste, and we are all different. One thing I do do, is make my bechamel on the evening before and fridge it so it is as shown, spreadable the next day.

Many friends in France had to wait for literally months to renew their passports, as they had to be interviewed and usually many kms from home. It isn't as if the french govt doesn't give their own the run around, so if they are doing this for CDS's, should be no surprise. When our son got his CDS last year, he had every last bit of paperwork with him that he could think of including everything on the list given. Ofcourse they had forgotten to mention a birth certificate was required, and he had not ordered to take it.

I have  a toastie maker, but as Lori said, the bechamel would just go all over the place. So I wouldn't use it for a croque. Ours makes very nice basic toasties though.

What's a croque toaster? I have never heard of one.

I was wondering how any of you made Croque Monsieur. I used a bechamel with lots of emmantael in it. In fact I use a LOT of emmantael cheese in mine. I toast the bread lightly and butter it. Then put a nice good layer of ham on one slice, cover that in bechamel and a little grated emmantael on that. Top layer of toast and cover that in bechamel and then grated emmantael on the top. As it tends to skid, I put cocktail sticks in to keep them in place whilst in the over. And this is the bit that I have most trouble with really. I put a grill on a tray and the croques on that and have my oven on a mix of the oven getting hot and and the grill on partially. They taste lovely, but the underneath is often not as crisp as I want, and I have tried putting the croques straight onto the baking tray and they seem to go soggy. So how do you do yours?

I bake and freeze mince pies. They don't take that long to defrost and I have been known to zap them in the micro wave, this pastry for me at least doesn't seem to go soggy when I do that. So I will say get a couple out at lunch time to have with afternoon tea around four'ish, always defrosted by then. The other thing I do, if say, I have left over pastry, is bake a pastry bottom on a pie dish and freeze it. I leave it in the tin when I freeze as it is too fragile to just be left, could easily break. I make a lemon merangue pie when I want. Makes a lot less work when I get around to doing it. 

WHY don't you know where to start? Beats me. You are on the Internet, information highway. And in the olde days when I moved, I contacted the french embassy, they will know exactly what you need to do AND prove in order to live in France. One of my first questions when I came on this board twenty odd years ago, having already lived in France for almost twenty years by then, was why so many posters were moving to France or were so desperate to do so. And I still don't get it. And lots moved to France and an awful lot moved back. We always planned on moving back upon retirement and that is what we did. Take it your 4 people includes kids. The french education system, well until I have real proof that it has improved RADICALLY I would not recommend it . And it does work for 'some', that I cannot deny that. We moved back to England 12 years ago, different life yes it' s a different country, our cost of living is certainly lower here. But our life style is just fine here, absolutely fine and it was in France too, because if it had not been we would have left. If you have jobs in place your employer will likely help you. But IF you really want to make this move, learn french. 7

My French friends loved it when I gave them jars of homemade lemon curd. Must admit I usually buy it these days, paresseuse moi!!!!