French Life-expat France

Pleasures of dealing with URSSAF

Boris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:47:37 +0000

Here is the translated transcript of a phonecall I just had from URSSAF, the body responsible for collecting social contributions in France. URSSAF: Hello Boris, can you tell me why you have sent us a cheque for 2540 euros? Me: Because you sent me a bill for 2540 euros and you charge me penalties if I don’t [...]

To jab or not to jab, that is the question

Boris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:42:45 +0000

We are under pressure today – we have to decide whether the children should receive the H1N1 flu jab. The school have sent a letter home that we must return today marked with our intentions so they can go ahead with planning. Does anyone know the ‘best’ answer? The risk of the illness turning serious or [...]

Pensions for expats in France

Boris — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:38:25 +0000

I just received this press release about pension rights for UK expats in France. I’m not fit to comment on it myself but it looks to contain important information about the age changes that come into effect next year so I thought I’d spread the word. Hope it’s useful for somebody, the entire release is [...]

The return of Marie Antoinette

Boris — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:32:27 +0000

It was more than 200 years ago in France that Marie Antoinette met an untimely end when she was executed by guillotine. Among other ‘crimes’ she had made herself supremely unpopular by spending great amounts of money on herself while the people of France were suffering from desperate poverty. Thank goodness that could never happen [...]

Language difficulties and expat children

Boris — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:27:31 +0000

Both our daughters would be considered bi-lingual and chatter away or read and write in either French or English with no difficulty – preferring French with each other and English with us old folks who struggle to keep up with their teenage blabberings in French. Eldest daughter is even doing a literary BAC, which involves reading [...]

Your holiday matters

Boris — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:15:57 +0000

Way back in the mists of time – well, about four years ago – I was part of a group of holiday rental property owners who created a holiday rentals company and website called Your Holiday Matters. The goal was simple – to try and ensure a quality holiday experience for those booking a holiday rental [...]

Five great reasons to be an expat

Boris — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:01:07 +0000

Looking at recent posts on this blog I can see I have been grumbling a bit too much, and not talking about the great reasons for being an expat in France. So to stop readers thinking I’m a miserable old fool or that France must be a terrible place to live I thought I’d be a [...]

Trek France

Boris — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:22:44 +0000

There have been various times in the last couple of years when I’ve complained about customer service in France. One time it was Europiscine, who fitted a new swimming pool liner for us with an expensive ten year guarantee and then refused to put it right when it immediately developed big wrinkles. Another was Dell, who [...]

Hot bath for the spiders

Boris — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:19:35 +0000

Episode 1 Last year when we closed the (rental) house up for winter I carefully emptied the hot water tank, turned off the electricity, closed the valves on the gas tanks etc so that we were confident that the house could be ignored for a few months. I also left all the taps open so that [...]

Running a SARL in France

Boris — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:03:39 +0000

I’m not an expert on French business structures and setup but I have been through the process of starting and running a SARL for the last 16 months and thought a few comments might be useful to someone. Bear on mind that you will always need legal advice before choosing a business structure in France, these [...]