Ask Anna.
My neighbour and I often car share for activities when they are outside our local town. Our doctor retired recently and the best replacement is a fair drive from us. We decided that that was OK because if either of us was not feeling up to driving to an appointment the other could help out. If either of us is going to one of the nearby larger towns 50km away we always check to see if the other person wants to take advantage of the journey. Iâm really pleased about these arrangements as it gives me confidence that the neighbors and their families will be there to offer support as I grow older. I love the friendliness of my neighborhood, my daughter bought a flat in a converted Edwardian house in south London and after three years she doesnât know any of her neighbours despite them all sharing the same main entrance. I feel so lucky to live in this sort of environment.
And we too are taken to Bordeaux by our friends in the village.
They have been extreemly kind and friendly and I am so happy
that we have these sort of people to share things with.
We have outings with friends and we collect them or they collext us and we
go out somewhere
But we still need our car.
Well, I was following on directly from Barbaraâs question âSo what happens if you need to go to the dentisrt, doctor or somewhere where you need to be takenâŠwhat do you do in those cases?â because in fact, that quite often turns out to be the reason that people are hitching, because the only appointment they could get was at a time that doesnât fit in conveniently with the bus times.
Getting silly now.
You donât say.
Yes why not? I have had a hard time in France
after doing property in England, a perpetual mover
and bringing up 3 children with no support on the
proceeds (which was hard enough in England
believe me.)
However France was something else, really bad
work usually, difficulty finding people who were not out
to con you and quite a lot of petty theft along the way
from those around who one trusted, cleaners and the like.
After 25 years I feel I have won through and won a
bit of respect at last. I have built up a holiday rental
business wth an income I declare of between
35,000 and 40.000 euros. I have virtually no UK
pension (ÂŁ43 a week) and I am 70 and still working hard.
By the way I do mix with "French"people!
Jane
Well Iâm sorry Anna but I have found I am entitled to
nothing in France and I have asked incessantly for 25
years⊠I think Iâm the only person in the Gironde who
had to pay for school lunches for my son and the school bus.
Thereâs always some reason⊠you are âproprietaireâ orâŠ?
Maybe I havenât got the right approach!
Jane
Message du 10/01/18 14:40
De : âAnna Watsonâ
A : jane.butler@wanadoo.fr
Copie Ă :
Objet : [Survive France] [General Discussion] Pensions âŠthe variations
Anna Anna Watson
January 10
Barbara_Deane:
In France it is around 15.000 pounds and UK 7,500.
This site explains what the basic state pension in France is for low earners:
La retraite en clair
Minimum vieillesse, allocation de solidaritĂ© aux personnes ĂągĂ©es (ASPA) etâŠ
MaternitĂ©, maladie, chĂŽmage⊠: notre systĂšme permet dâouvrir des droits pour la retraite mĂȘme quand on ne cotise pas.
and itâs about the same as the basic state pension in the UK.
âLe minimum contributif bĂ©nĂ©ficie aux assurĂ©s ayant cotisĂ© sur de faibles revenus, et remplissant les conditions dâune retraite Ă taux plein, câest-Ă -dire :
avoir atteint lâĂąge minimum de la retraite (62 ans Ă partir de la gĂ©nĂ©ration nĂ©e en 1955, entre 60 et 62 pour les gĂ©nĂ©rations prĂ©cĂ©dentes) et avoir validĂ© le nombre requis de trimestres (entre 160 et 172).
ou avoir dĂ©passĂ© lâĂąge de la retraite Ă taux plein ( 67 ans Ă partir de la gĂ©nĂ©ration nĂ©e en 1955, entre 65 et 67 ans pour les gĂ©nĂ©rations prĂ©cĂ©dentes).
Le minimum contributif est composé de deux parties :
le minimum proprement dit (629,62 ⏠en 2017 pour une carriÚre complÚte) ;
et la majoration, lorsque vous justifiez dâune durĂ©e dâassurance dâau moins 120 trimestres au rĂ©gime gĂ©nĂ©ral, qui porte le minimum Ă 688 ⏠(toujours en 2017).
Ces montants nâont pas Ă©tĂ© revalorisĂ©s depuis le 1er octobre 2015.â
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In Reply To
jane butler
January 10
Iâm sorry Stella but you seem to be living in a different France to me and Iâve been here for 25 yearsâŠsharing a car! indeed? I think Barbara makes some very valid points and its a shame you have to argue about every single one in rather a smug and patronising way. It IS interesting to compare âŠ
Actually I live in the Medoc and I am the only person
I know who actually pays tax, and for that matter one of
the very few who works⊠maybe I live in a deprived area?
Message du 10/01/18 14:36
De : âAnn Coeâ
A : jane.butler@wanadoo.fr
Copie Ă :
Objet : [Survive France] [General Discussion] Pensions âŠthe variations
Misty36140 Ann Coe
January 10
As an immigrant to France, one who has lived here for many years, I have often shared cars with locals.
Could you define who all these people are receiving state aide and for what ?
I donât understand either your reference to a club which expats ( awful word ) are unlikely to be invited to join. In my experience if you are friendly and welcoming to others and participate in local events then you are usually made welcome and invited to all sorts of events in return.
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In Reply To
jane butler
January 10
Iâm sorry Stella but you seem to be living in a different France to me and Iâve been here for 25 yearsâŠsharing a car! indeed? I think Barbara makes some very valid points and its a shame you have to argue about every single one in rather a smug and patronising way. It IS interesting to compare âŠ
Hi Everyone⊠Iâm Back⊠!!!
Back from an unexpected trip to hospital to sit for 4 hrs in A&E with the family of a chap who was taken ill⊠and how did I do that�??
Received SMS from the family in A&E Then a friend called (theyâd had an SMSâŠtooâŠ) asking if I want to get to the hospital to sit with ****. Yes, Please .
Phew finally got back home just after 8.30pm⊠That is how friendship and neighbourliness work⊠especially important in times of crisis. and No, Iâm not being smug⊠Iâm saying how things do work here⊠how do they work where you live??? mmm⊠that could well be totally different.
The MĂ©doc IS a deprived area, the majority of employed people are unskilled agricultural workers, which is the most deprived category, socio-economically. Hard to believe when you see the wine chateaux and tourist places but it is⊠and Entre-deux-mers isnât far behind.
I really do not know too much about MedocâŠhave not been there for ages.
Every one here in 33890 seem have the basicsâŠthe car, the TV and food,
wood for the fire and the roofer, the electricians and the plumber seem to be
working really hard and making a decent living. I know some of them and a friend is
a roofer, He gets a great holiday every year and is a happy man with a head for high spots.
Yes the chateaux are amazing and produce âŠpossibly the greatest wines in France.
Stella how dramatic!
What are you trying to proove.
How did you get to the hospitalâŠby the way?
I think there is a lot of unnoticed rural deprivation and that you are very unlikely to see it unless you are confronted with it for one reason or another.
Apart from Guard Larose, St Esteph and co and a few restaurants etc
the Medoc is bleak in appearance a wildreness of Forrest.But Entre-deux-mers
is such a pretty region.
Remembering old conversations regarding the airport at BergeracâŠalways busy
and the 936 leading towards it there are new buisness buildings popping up like
wild flowersâŠlots of them.
The restaurant where we ate today was absolutely packedâŠon the other side of the
936 near Casyilon La Bataille.
Maybe these poor people hide away in dark little homes but I never see them.
Message du 10/01/18 21:10
De : âVĂ©ronique Langlandsâ
A : jane.butler@wanadoo.fr
Copie Ă :
Objet : [Survive France] [General Discussion] Pensions âŠthe variations
vero VĂ©ronique Langlands Team
January 10
The MĂ©doc IS a deprived area, the majority of employed people are unskilled agricultural workers, which is the most deprived category, socio-economically. Hard to believe when you see the wine chateaux and tourist places but it is⊠and Entre-deux-mers isnât far behind.
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In Reply To
jane butler
January 10
Actually I live in the Medoc and I am the only person I know who actually pays tax, and for that matter one of the very few who works⊠maybe I live in a deprived area? Message du 10/01/18 14:36 De : âAnn Coeâ A : jane.butler@wanadoo.fr Copie Ă : Objet : [Survive France] [General Discussion]âŠ
Absolutely right⊠I hardly know anyone who works here
except in the vines,
but 15 minutes away is Chateau Lafitte Rothschild
and another 300 chateaux who double their income
every year. Jane
And just across my parkland grow the grapes for the 2nd wine of Laffite
RothchildâŠthe hunters charge across the land and my cats play and sleep
between the vine lines.Life is far from perfectâŠbut I would not go back.
Unless you are in contact on a daily basis with a wide cross-section of families then you wonât have a clue, Barbara. Iâm afraid you are precisely the sort of person who wonât see rural deprivation as it really is because nobody will mention it to you - you are foreign and will be seen as privileged, running your own business as it suits you, in relative isolation and catering for a luxury mainly foreign market.
So really nothing in common with the sort of families, maybe only a few hundred metres away from you, whose children we have boarding free of charge because that way we know they are safe, fed and decently housed.
I am foreign and not privIiledged! I am someone who is working longer than
most French women!
catering for the luxury end of the marketâŠno upper middle.
Providing clients for the locals. My clients use the bars,the pharmacies and buy
the wine which grows close to my land.
My money fed artisans, bricos and the notaire and local agent did pretty well.
I did this to be in a lovely area and carry on doing the work I love.
The people I am thinking of wonât benefit from the Barbara-generated largesse coming the way of the businesses you mention, there is no knock-on effect for them, they havenât got the sort of job you would notice, in fact most of the time they donât have jobs at all. They are under the radar. They have less in common with the notaire & co. than you do.
ps " SEEN as privileged" read what I said!