Ouais, c’est possible -
though possibly not the most effective way of meeting people with such proclivities - nevertheless, even in our midst, there may be some dark SF horses…
Apropos the above, I have a plastic block thing that opens and starts the car; would this be an acceptable substitute in a traditional purist ‘car keys’ scenario, or is that sort of exchange now limited to members of classic car owners’ clubs?
Perhaps SF’s infintely resourceful Stella can advise… 
Hi @DrMarkH .
After, not a great deal of thought, I may give the swinger scene a wide berth!
I did read somewhere that plants in your garden could be an indication of such activity.
Thanks for the info about Mark and the car reg. It would be great to know where he is in france and if I have to travel far to get to him. assuming he still does the registrations.
I have to figure out how to send you a PM.
Ok hopefully this is how its done…!
If you click onto any of our names
ie @captainendeavour
a box opens up bearing information and Message.
If you click on Message, you are chatting privately with whomever’s name you clicked on…
If you click on their name in their post then you’ll get an option to send a message. There is a logo of an envelope if I remember correctly.
Thanks Stella and Gareth! I think I have done it! 
Thanks Porridge
Hi Gary,
We’re just back from a couple of months in the Indre. We met a really friendly bunch of British ex pats. They’re based around Chatillon. They play pétanque every Tuesday and were very welcoming. I’m sure I could introduce you if you wanted to pm me an email address. What did you do in the film industry?
Hi @Bristolpete
Just sent you a PM hope its worked!
I have done quite a lot in the TV and film world mostly TV. I worked at Sky for many years as a senior video editor doing all of the promotions/trailers for the movie channel and premier league football promos and several programmes at the time.
I ended up in Hong Kong working at Star network and BBC world service (TV) then went on to help build radio stations in Bangkok Thailand, then ending up in Australia setting up a shopping channel as I had help set up QVC shopping channel in London some years before.
I have made training films as a TV director for care home workers and my last job was building a Craft Channel in the UK from a defunct Bid Up TV station. The Craft Channel sadly did not make it and has gone bust!
Gary, you don’t need to RdV with Mark. He does it all by emails. He gives you a list of docs to assemble and or/how to obtain same. Once you have a dossier that he can work with he takes over and does the biz with the registration office.
The office for registrations, for the FR as well as incomers, is another of the acronyms so beloved by the FR - ANTS. As I have mentioned, there are SFistas who have successfully done the whole thing themselves.
But - two points 1] The ANTS system [computerised vehicle reg] was condemned, back-along, in the FR parliament as a failure and not fit for purpose. It may be better now. 2] It was one of those admin jobs, early days, where giving it to a specialist and one day the Carte Grise arrives in the post, was well worth £40.
You will find the same with insurance. In the SF ‘community’ is a broker who is the immediate suggestion for insurances of all sorts by many here. His company is FR but he and his staff are all well up with English.
If you delve into the ‘Insurance’ threads you will soon zero in on him. FR insurance for a GB plated car? No problem. You get 90 days [I think] to send in th Carte Grise showing your new FR plates/reg and go from there.
Yes he is but as I am not, we did it all by email.
Sorry I just realised I didn’t say g’day and welcome! I think you are very brave and I hope your new adventure goes well and you enjoy your new life here!
I’m “liking” your interesting life, not the Craft Channel going bust
Hi @Stella,
Thanks for the like, yes it was a shame about that channel, it was run but a moron though so I was not surprised. (the moron was NOT me ha!ha! )
Thanks @toryroo I don’t know if it’s bravery but I do find it quite scary at times. I guess its because of doing all this totally alone.
Gary
Hello @GaryC and a belated welcome! I’ve been here as a permanent resident for some years now and it’s really only recently that I’ve become sufficiently familiar with enough of the various French systems and how they work not to feel very nervous at every administrative encounter! However, it does get much easier once the initial hurdles are past (Carte Vitale, car, health and the first tax return) so keep going and you’ll be fine, honestly!
There is a vast range of experience (and personality 
) on this site and someone will certainly be able to point you in the right direction whatever the problem. If you acquire a selection of responses, you’ll be able to work out which ones make sense for you.
Hi @AngelaR
And thanks for the advice, getting my Carte de Sejour took ages, my next worry is the car!
Thanks for taking the time to say hello and I am sure we’ll be speaking soon. Hopefully I am going to start a blog with a bit more info about me.
Cheers Gary
Hello, good evening and welcome.
I hit the ‘send’ button my my CdS application on 10/03/2021. I got the card on 16/12/2021. Things can take a very long time here. I was very surprised to find that bureaucracy in FR matches or exceeds that in Spain, in volume, complexity and length of delivery/resolution.