This French Life

Well the snow did arrive (as you know:)

We've got about 4-6" and it lay overnight and with little chance of a major thaw it looks like we'll hold on to the snow all week.

Meteo is predicting -15 (even -18 in places) not far east of us with our own temperature looking like it could fall to -10 or even slightly more.

My daughter was due to travel to Rome on a school trip this morning but it's been called off (no surprise there).

It was only this morning that the postponement has been confirmed...it can only be in France that this happens! A Facebook page or #schooltrip could have save the school a lot of phone calls this morning and also kept anxious parents updated.

I bet all roads to Loubejac are pretty hard to pass; especially with the hills?

Keep warm:)

Can anybody give me help how I cancel or block a payment with France Orange. I am being charged a large amount for internet plus, which I do not know what that is

Great picture in the papers today, effectively the still of the preview... nicely back lit with the flour cloud!

Does anyone know where we can get info,in english, on where there is Nordic Walking in the Alsace-Lorraine area?
Thanks.

Fantastic! Yet another reason to give up work and go to Paris.

Great stuff aren't they Roger :)
There is also the Musée des Plans-Reliefs which features more of the collection.
http://www.museedesplansreliefs.culture.fr/

Extraordinary. Wonderful. How come they've been hidden away so long?

I somehow think the HMRC don't need this legislation to go through to keep an eye on things!!!

Hi Emma, glad the info proved helpful and I most probably spend too long in front of the PC searching out stories ;-)

and would this be a bit of an open door excuse for HMRC to extend its tentacles ?

Agreed Craig, eventually things will be as they will be. And rating agencies are US based, non?

Thanks for your reply. We will not be using the badge more than once a year but we do want to go through the quick lane at the tolls so we are keen to use this service. Is it possible to hand the badge back at the toll, and cancel after a week?

Hi Craig, you really work hard on your info. This
item is most useful to know. Many thanks.

The Liber-t system is designed to be a long term subscription based service. If you travel to France at least once per year it is cheaper to keep the tag. Our costs are outlined on the following webpage.

https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/support/faq/support-Faq.List/#1.0.

House wanted near NIORT 79
We are an Aussie/French couple 49/55 looking for a long term rental near Niort (working in Chauray 79180 so a commute of maximum 30 minutes). We are non smokers, with dogs westies and a collie x. We are keen gardeners and would maintain any house and garden as our own.

Hi, I left my camera bag with a Lumix FZ100 camera on the TGV train (No. 5260) on 31 Dec 2011. Should be after CDG Terminal enroute to Lille Europe. This contains all the photos we've taken during our trip to Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and Bordeaux/Sarlat. So please email me if you found the camera and/or the SD card. Much appreciated.

You begin to wonder if everyone goes down a notch or two, isn't everyone still in the same place???

No doubt one or two red faces at the Elysée Palace.... but the UK could soon be next.

Hi. We are about to go to France for a week, in February. We intend to order the Telepeage Temps Libre badge, but I'm not clear whether you can just hand it back after a week and cancel the deal on the spot, at one of the customer service areas at the toll barriers. Does anyone know? I'd rather do this than post it to anywhere.

More and more I think photography is the visual branch of poetry. Thanks for the lovely image

I spent 7 months in there back in 2005 then released with no charge or apology,dont understand how a country can hold people under investigation without charging them for up to 18 months , notice also NO french inmates in there they have there own prisons with luxuries like food etc .if you end up here you have no contact with outside world during your stay ,a real bad place suicides daily or murders in the yard by gangs ,the colonial guards treated everyone like animals ,even now 7 years later i hate the french.

The four legged, wet nosed, dog shaped alarm clock helps ;)

And what about non-French vehicles? TomTom on the phone might be an answer. TomTom on a tablet PC?
I see it is not just the Brits who introduce laws that are foolish because unenforceable.

Lovely photo - gosh you get up early Craig!

The police have no right to look at your sat nav device (check if you don't believe me) so the only way they can actually fine/catch people is if the driver admits to having the sites marked within their device. Go figure how practical, useful this law is!

Many thanks Witsinfr for the advice and link, here's hoping people can update their TomTom devices with the correct details for France.

You should also delete the camera listings from your TomTom as well, they are going to be issuing a map update that will take care of this.

This 'removal/map update' will require you plugging your TomTom into your Windows/Mac computer and running TomTom Home or MyTomTom for the more recent models.

However, what to do is you either don't have a computer or one running Windows or Mac, well I asked this exact question on the TomTom forums and got a very good answer which can be found here...

http://goo.gl/MNEGj

We have a second home in france and a FT main line only. Each time we leave to come back to England we call at the FT office about 20 mins away and arrange for the line to be suspended on the day we leave. This is done in front of us. Its simple.
When we come back the first day we call and get it switched on again. No charge and no standing charge whilst we are in England. A brilliant service - wish we did something like it in England too.

We are looking for a long term let ideally renewed on a yearly basis within approximately 1 hour from the tunnel, minimum 2 bedroom, garden and parking. We are both non smokers, have a little well trained chihuahua and are looking to move permanently by no later than August 2012.

Hey Craig, thanks for mentioning Butterflyist here! It's definitely been a wonderful journey so far, and Glen has been a great teacher. Of course, he has to tell me off sometimes haha, but one of the most positive things is how many other people are learning so much from this too.

We've heard from a lot of people who have started excellent blogs from scratch as absolute beginners, and are already seeing many visitors to their sites, or even earning from them.

For me, it is of course a very personal venture also, as my blog very much reflects how I feel about life and my own journey to the here and now. Happy new 2012!

Happy New Year Gina, and hopefully people won't fall foul of these messages.

Many thanks for that Tony.

Further info here on the regional TER Aquitaine site with bus/train times:
http://www.ter-sncf.com/Regions/aquitaine/Fr/Se_deplacer_en_TER/Avant_mon_voyage/Fiches_horaires/FicheHoraire.aspx?gare=Sarlat

Just to let you know that the railway line from Sarlat is also closed through the winter to enable the SNCF/Colas to do more work upgrading the line, the rail service has been replaced by busses/coaches.

Hi Hilary,
I'm afraid there is only the option of a taxi, providing a link to Brive itself, or to Sarlat for onward rail connections.
Otherwise it is a hire car from the airport for further travel.

Hello Craig,
I have been aware of the cheap flights available from City airport toBrive for some time, but I have not yet taken advantage of them due to my concerns about transport links not being available from Brive airport to points along the Dordogne, eg.,Lalinde, towards Bergerac. If anyone knows of a regular coach, bus or train service that is available, I would like to know about it....perhaps it could be added to the bulletin to do with the closure of Bergerac and the necessity to use Brive ?
Thanks.

Thanks for this Craig. I had several of these messages in 2011, but zapped them immediately on the premise that I very probably wasn't due any free money. Hopefully your timely warning will forewarn the gullible, or sadly, the increasingly desperate. Happy New Year.

The best bit being the lack of other walkers. A beautiful landscape all to oneself! Cro.

Hi Shirley, many thanks for the best wishes and I'll do my best to raise awareness of as many charitable groups as possible - here's to a busy 2012!

That looks like a spam message to me, I'd just file it under 'b for bin'.

Hi Craig, thanks for promoting CSF along with the other Charities, in this weeks Edition. A good ad I used to see in the weekly press back in UK was 'its better to know us and not need us than to need us and not know us'

I think this holds so much truth, especially if living abroad, in a country with a different culture and language, so all the support and information that newsletters and sites like yours provide for the ex-pat,is so invaluable. I think you should adopt the saying for your information/advertising info pages!

I'll be in touch again soon with our CSF Drop in Day January info - but in the meantime, a very Happy New Year to you and yours.

kind regards - Shirley Morgan (CSF-L)

I am looking for a village house or apartment for myself & my small dog for Feb& March in an area with moderate winter temps . Must be reasonable rental cost and walking distance for daily needs.

I live in Canada and for some reason I keep getting an email message, in French, appearing to be from France Telecom (Orange). It's an alert saying my bill is past due. From service-orange@alert.fr

I can barely read the message, I'm not very good with French, but it shows an amount in Euros? I think? 59.80 that I owe. Do you know how I contact these guys from Canada about this? I have NEVER HEARD OF NOR USED THIS SERVICE.

Thanks!

Well a few years have passed since this original post so you'd would naturally assume that any teething issues associated with the formation of the RSI would have been ironed out by now! Well, this is France so surprise surprise...NO. We've been running a successful business now for 7 years, we survived the 3 year 'hit' when social contributions are recalculated based upon previous years revenue submissions ( apparently a stagering number of businesses 'fail' in their third year - due in no small measure to being hit with a huge unexpected bill ). In entire time we have had dealings with the RSI it has been nothing but one problem or mistake after another; two accounts being opened one for me and one ( for a reason nobody can explain nor fix ) in my father's name who doesn't even live in France; an average of 4 or 5 letters from RSI PER WEEK!!! each one generally contradicting the others, all with different amounts; duplicated direct debits followed by excrutiating amounts of haranging to get the extra payment returned or indeed even credited against the next; we've now been advised by our accountant - confirmed by the RSI - that we have overpayed nearly 1000 Euros but that they will only credit if you ask for it!!! which we've done....two months ago and waiting. In short the RSI is a totally incompetent organisation with little or no concept of customer service populated by staff who really couldn't care less if they tried. Thank God we have a persistent accountant but that persistence costs us money which we will never get back. Be warned, check everything from the RSI very carefully with your accountant, be prepared to write lots of letters because the RSI never answer their phone, and don't be pawned off by excuses for their poor service and mistakes.

I'm really sad and upset to read this. We've used Seafrance ferries for our voyages to/from UK for about the last 8 years and they usually have been the cheapest fares and great ferries to travel on. Je suis tres triest!

Today at 7:05 I took a taxi from Rue de Turenne to Gare de L'est.
I forgot my Laptop bag ( porsche design), with 2 apple laptops, and my blackberry and other items. I do not have the taxi number or company, who can help me? Is there a general "lost and found "
for taxis?

It's also worth mentioning that some airlines cabin baggage size is smaller than the DoT sizes... Ryanair for instance..55 x 40 x 20 cm

Happy Christmas..

Steve

We are an Australain family of 4 (2 boys aged 9 and 6) looking to rent a house in the South of France whilst house hunting, for about 6 months starting March 2012. Prefer something with character and close to a good primary school that speaks English. Must have a pool and internet access. Feel free to contact us at yannicos@bigpond.com

PLEASE give me your mailing address. I telephoned from USA to SUSPEND my telephone and ASDL services on 05 65.38.14.74 until I reactivate in May, 2012, but the agent tole me I had to write a letter to request ASDL suspension, The line was cut off and I did not receive from him the mailing address.

Merci ppur votre assistance.

Rudolph Lea

hi, graig.
is it likely with this change, that "brittany
ferries"will reduce the price for pet travel,i
have three dogs and this company charge almost
50 pounds one way, for what?,the dogs stay in
the vehicle,so i no longer travel with "brittany"

I am English and my partner is from Barcelona, we plan to France next May or even before. We have a 7 year old daughter and a 19 month old baby. My partner speaks good french but i have only just started learning. Our daughter speaks Catalan, Spanish and English.
we would be grateful for as much info as possible as we hear alot of good comments and also negative about moving to France. We plan to move to the Sologne which we visited in oct and we have found the places that we like, Lamotte, Chaumont sur Tharonne etc.
I have read about if you dont speak the language it can be a big problem, so now im starting to panic!
My partner is also a Homeopath and we know that he cant practice without being a doctor. We need to know so much and would be so thankful for any big advice, also on paying taxes, finding work, renting and most important will the children adapt.
Thank you!