idun

Two thoughts came to mind, one a friend put that liquid floor leveler down, and it seeped through into the appartment below, they were not happy bunnies. The second is, as it sounds like this is a house, is what use you are planning on, as you need permission to convert a loft space into a room and you may not get it. All to do with the surface habitable.

When did you lose your father Cathar Tours??? I only ask as our son has recently got his french ID card and his is a Titre de Sejour, not Carte. Over the years we had had Carte de Sejour and subsequently Titre de Sejour. The title difference would seem so 'nuanced' to me that I cannot really tell the difference, and yet it was changed. Also, all my photos on my passport, ID cards, driving licences are all horrible and for all they are me, they do not show a 'me' that anyone could cherish. And when I am gone, I bet when my kids go through my things, they will have a bit of a laugh about some of these photos.

My cookies get wiped everytime I come off my computer, so even if I clicked to remain on, they would wipe my log on. IF I leave some things open though,  the cookies don't get wiped and I remain logged on. So for me, it depends on how I leave my computer.

Wondering if are you worried about crossing the road and driving too, because you have more chance of being killed than flying, doing just those two things. As far as I am concerned the terrorists should not win, so I simply go about my business and do not give a thought to it, however, if I saw an unattended bag  etc or even someone acting suspiciously, then I would notify the authorities, but I would do that anyway. Look at that flight that crashed into the Alpes du Sud, just the copilot crashing his plane....... life happens, death happens, just one of those things, have you been worried since then?

I tell him to not open the email which I don't think should have been sent out. Then on another computer I open our account/membership, what ever, with the purported site and see if anything is mentioned. If not, I tell him to spam it and clear the cookies. If it happens on my computer, I erase the cookies and look on the site myself. If it isn't there, I spam it and then bin the spam folder and then I erase the cookies again. I truly don't know what else to do other than be very very cautious with any unsolicited contact. You were braver than me, frxpt, I worry about opening  things, and that is because I really do not know that much about computers....... helas, not the only thing, I don't know how much works, including my car..... I live in a truly miraculous world, full of wonder, with certain things that I do worry about and am as prudent as I can be, never the less. [:$][Www]

And surely that address should have been https, and the s was missing, supposedly meaning a secure web site. Just checked my french bank,  then L'assurance Retraite and Malakoffhumanis, and  are all https, as I expected.

Thankyou for the full reply, and with your prompt, I remember the discussions on here about the CdeS and the prefectures not wanting to issue them. And yet, I would have got them for us. Not necessary never meant that one could not have one and they are so handy and no need of a passport, which if lost is much more hassle and cost to replace and as far as I was concerned only ever necessary if changing banks OR travelling. BinB, even when we all had to have them,  the CdeS was never for use when travelling abroad, it was an internal french ID card. Whereas french ID cards could be used when travelling to other countries within the EU.

Have you never had to have a Carte or Titre de Sejour mint and ofcourse many other posters too??? What I found very very strange was when they said that they were no longer required, was that so many things in France are so dependant on the ID card as one basically has to have ID at all times in France, or is it four hours to produce it. I suppose a UK driving licence would do, but  would it, but I would not want to be carrying my passport at all times, that is for sure.  I liked having french ID, everyone understood it.

Yes, we should all meet really, but it is a strange thing how time passes sooooo quickly these days. And the plans I make can remain plans from one year to the next. I sometimes feel rather ashamed of myself, but don't seem to be able to get some things done. I told an old friend from when we were young that we would meet up, two years ago or more now, and we still have not. In fairness, for some reason, I do go from one catastrophe to another with daily things, and maybe that explains how my days and months and years just wizz past.

Wondering exactly what date you will use mint, as the tax return is done in the middle of the following year, so how are you going to date your move???  Or was it marked on that tax bill, ie so many months during the previous year???

I have tried several times to open that link about the all the perks of health care and it won't open. And then I tried to write a post about it not opening and there is no reply button on it either. Which is why I am typing a separate thread. If the post is about what I think it is about, then I knew that these things were available, and thought that in Germany there were even more of these things, like thermal respite etc. I have mixed feelings about this. I have no idea how much such things actually do help, although I am sure that all who go to them find them rather pleasant.

In the last 15 years, has not been our experience, as we still have regular financial dealings with France, during the last few years, I have had some right royal 'battles'. AND I imagine will have more in the future.... sadly! I am sending you a PM Sue.

Sue, how I do use that expression in England. When things go wrong, I simply 'rale' and tell them that it is what any self respecting french person would do, 'rale', when confronted by such dreadful service. I was really in France far too long for that not to have rubbed off on me. Years ago, in France, I  went to an evening organised by psychologists.  Friends had said it would be something different and interesting. Three people came onto the stage, all psychologists apparently, one playing M Dupont, another a  clerk and a third person to address the audience. It started with M Dupont at the Impots, having been overcharged and unable to get a refund. He had been there 10 times already and seen a different person every time.  M Dupont shouted at the clerk he was seeing saying things like, I don't believe it, yet someone else to explain all to. At which point, the third person, intervened with the audience and said that he would be wrong to complain, he must be polite. And so it went on, as the person playing M Dupont was very angry about it all, this third  person kept saying that he should have simply told his story........ yet again and let people do their jobs. In the end I walked out, because it was a load of rollocks, there was no indication as to whether in real life, the clerk would have done their job at all either. Just that the injured party should not upset people who are 'NOT' doing their jobs......  the poor victims  should be patient and accepting. As I said a load of rollocks and I felt that someone who was being messed about by the system had every right to be annoyed, very annoyed. Still french law says that one should not be nasty to fonctionnaires, but it would be helpful if they did their jobs properly though.

Oh I agree that in this case it is not good, or nice and I too would be very very annoyed. They have your money and you want it.  But still, those bretons do do things in their own sweet time, and getting them to get a move on, I would imagine to be rather difficult.

Sue, I love Brittany and IF we ever move back would move there. However, we found over the years that the bretons seem, well the expression we use is 'unable to organise a booze up in a brewery', I am being polite there. Not just us, we have a few friends who are artists and over the years have had bookings at some of the big concerts and they all had tales of not going on stage when they should and everything being an f up. Some of these friends are irish, so you can imagine what they would say.[:D] And yet, like us, they said that everyone was lovely, just so disorganised. That you say that they are slower, well, it is  probably the breton way and that is fine by me.

 LOL mint, if I speak in french to someone and they are english in such circumstances, and I am in France, I stick with the french. I do know british people in France, but not many and sometimes if they had a 'do' and there were was a mixed bunch of us there, it has happened that  I have been told by some of these other brits that I speak good french, but only by those  who had been in France about as long as me, and had not, shall we say, 'made the effort' to learn. In Canada, 'they' in Quebec, thought I was francaise........ ah the canadians, what can one say! Still on a visit to Paris, a parisienne thought I was from the Midi, so there you go, the people with me thought it was hilarious.

I suppose I speak street french NH, and I am usually understood, there are a few rare exceptions[Www], but it never helped me get a french accent, although I do know of brits who have been in France since the 70's and still have thicker english accents than me and they speak good french. I always thought that if I had moved to the midi I could have managed that accent far better, with a sank '5' as sink etc etc. I really think I could have managed that, but how could I speak like that living in the Alpes??? couldn't do it. I suppose it is all down to having the ear for languages and I do not.

When living in France, I would not have dreamt to have done other than the french, but not everyone would 'know' what the french do, ie my parents or parents in law other family members and a multitude of friends,  would write numbers  as they always have and I believed that a letter/parcel should arrive. And isn't that what was being said, that 1's and 7's without the 'french touch' to them are being misinterpreted. And that really is inexcusable and lazy as  keyboards have 7's as in the way it is written in english and a 'I' well, it should not be beyond someone's imagination that it is a one, and not a letter, or a 7 does not always have a line through it. What Three Words could be of use in France, how many times have we heard, on here, no less, of people living en campagne not getting their deliveries because the delivery person could not find their address.

I still have a strong english accent when I speak french, I cannot rid myself of it, I have tried, but it is there. And the truth is that french people seem to like it, from 'adorable' to 'mignon' to all other sorts of little pleasant comments, and never a 'moche' or an 'affreux'. And not just me I have heard it said about other british people who speak french with a strong accent too. IF that is the french people think, then my kids hate my accent, and I was wondering how other english speakers find spoken french with 'british' accents ??? Is it pleasant to the ear, or does it jar. I must admit, 'my' french jars with me, as I said in spite of my efforts.[Www] I won't even go into regional british accents, because there are some I hate, literally, and some I am not keen on, including where I live. And I probably have one, but can pick up on it instantly since we ended up living so far away for so long.

Really, or are you pulling my leg[8-)] Now if you had said angle, I would have thought that that makes sense. But there again, it does look rather like a down facing one sided angel's wing........ so wooly, are you taquine'ing me, that is the question?[Www]

Happy and Healthy New Year to Everyone!

Oh boy, at last out in the open. I know of too many 'combines' from notaires and cleverly done would be very hard to get to the bottom of things. Not helped by our local law officers who were very good at checking papiers and stopping lady motorists, but not much else. AND they are full of themselves, 'Maitre' indeed, even the women! A few I know, if they shake your hand you should count your fingers afterwards.

Or, IF France has hit the modern world like say Mongolia, they could use 'what three words' for something to get there. What Three Words is great, and very precise. ps I don't know what a serif is, so that wouldn't have been a word I could possibly have used to describe and frankly in the clear light of a New Year's Day, cannot think of a better description than I gave![Www] But sometimes I hope that in my little brain something better 'might' be there, I just cannot quite find it[;-)]

For '1's, I always write as '1' or slightly differently like on this display So the little jaunty angle at the top and a line below......... too late at night to think of the proper terms, but that is what I always do, so as not to confuse anyone. It is a 'classic' '1'[:)]

And I too heard the same thing, but only on this board when I first joined, that one should suck up to the local maire, but by that time I had been in France far too long to be more than appalled by such a suggestion. Most of ours would have taken the bottle, shaken our hands   with a smile, but it would not have stopped them being underhanded and slippery deceivers. We truly  had some awful awful Maire's and only one fantastic one during our 25 years in that village. One of the maire's had a french friend  of ours arrested and his home and place of work searched, poor bloke nearly lost his job because of that........ as the Maire believed it was he who had committed an act of slander against him and his office.  Nothing came of it, as the gendarmes could find nothing, but there again, I doubt some of 'them' could find their own backsides. I never did ask our friend if he had been involved in the campaign against the Maire and his minions plans. At least someone had started to do something, as it needed doing. As it happens,  as I said something needed doing and in the end it was  me that put the sabot in the works and stopped that particular Maire's 'plans' and of that I am rather proud, and all done perfectly legally[:D] wanderer, sounds like you need to go and see what is happening and find a 'city' notaire.  Look up the Chambres de Notaires in your Dept and see if you can see one for free. You would have to make an appointment.