When it is time to move on......could I go back to uk?

I had a fabulous day in London a couple of weeks ago, a wander along Oxford Street, a lunch in Covent Garden, then off we went for a walk along the river , we (my daughter and I) packed so much into the day, I was excited by the buz of all going on around me, the diversity of people , I felt I lived in a foreign land , but then working in and out of London most of my life I have seen many many changes over the years, I dont doubt I will return for the 'hit' as you say Carol many times in the future, But could I return full time to live in the UK I am not sure. I do buy clothes when I return , I get items that fit and feel far better quality and cheaper than here, but then that is only my opinion.

No I did not see the programme.

Raymond blanc has made a great career for himself in UK

Had lots of financial backing and I believe that the Hotel almost went bust

once or twice. But it is a big project.

Been there a long time ago and he is, of course an excellent chef but I was not

excited by the restaurant.

I believe that the first crusaders were the Roux Bros and there would be Bruno Loubet...

not sure how many people knew of him....he worked with us for a while.

Jon Christoph-Novelli the heart throb of the kitchen.

However great looks and good cooking are not the only factors required to

make a restaurant a success story.

Works both ways.....

Murray Head lives/lived here .....lots of gigs....ONE in Bordeaux.

Who knows him in UK?

Watched one of the programmes last week on one of the food channels Shirley. This particular one followed him returning to his hometown and trying out the local dishes. It was over to the east (in the Burgundy if I recall) and the dishes were very 'traditional'. I have to say the food on the table didn't do too much for me...

Quite right about french chefs in the uk not being too well known in France ! The same with some of the singing stars. It seems like golden oldies like Sacha Distel (swoon swoon...) and the likes were much more appreciated in the UK than France !

Can I go on hoping that the French will suddenly yearn for adventure?

Here in the countryside amongst the vines the greatest desire is to be

able to stop work and check out the life of a chaise baguette who ventures

off to the chasse to disturb the lovely big rabbits with long ears.....and to

scare them into oblivion.

Not my ambitions please note.

There is never a dull moment in my mind as ideas are constantly churning

and, of course getting rejected by someone or someones some where. It

is difficult to be an optimist but I am not giving up yet.

The last idea was a to work with our architect. The chap who turned our

ideas into visual and structural reality and allowed us to prove true British

respect for the slightly sad and neglected grand du vin.

Hopefully he will progress with the idea and if he needs my help with

consultation regarding the operational and culinary aspects of establishing

a small tea shop or a restaurant of rustic tradition or very fine cuisine.

The concept is simple.

There are many chateaux in my region and beyond with unused rooms/

sections and if this space could be put to use to create another aspect to the buisness

and entice, perhaps increased wine sales.....then this idea could work for the chateau owner.

The idea is to charge sensible fees for the Chateaux owners....creating not only a little more

income for the architect, a little more activity in the region....possibly a job vacancy here and there.

What would be needed initially?

Some time structuring the finances....I have thought about this.

A way of contacting the chateau owners......Not a problem.

I can hear the 2 ARGUMENTS....

1.....Restaurants do not work....

Indeed they do not work if they are not good restaurants.

There ARE CUSTOMERS for quality and quality is driven by style,

competition and effort.

These are the ingredients.

This being understood by a chateau owner will bring them to the

conclusion that by enhancing their business and spending a few thousand

euros their business could flourish and the sole dependence on the wine

revenue is no longer.

I know that many of you will disagree.

But no surprise.

Off today to explore the latest idea.

ps yes I have driven off course....

Happens all the time on here.....does it not.

meant to say Shirley, you know you can order a lot of UK clothes online and only pay a small delivery charge...M&S and a lot of the catalogues too...Freemans etc. worth a look.

Had my husband in tow Shirley so not much in the way of 'fun shopping' took place, he has an allergy to shopping! but as a Londoner born and bred...I like the odd visit back. Agree regarding sizes...but unfortunately Im tall and have big feet...so whilst clothes are an easy buy in France...my size 8 to 8.5 womens shoe size leaves me no option but to buy in the UK!

Yes we watched the programme about the bakery in Brixton and thought it was a very impressive idea and I even (sort of) warmed to Gordon Ramsay as a result.

Can't imagine something like that happening in France - makes you proud to be British!

Just back from a fabulous day in London, starting at a 10am arrival at Paddington, walking to Oxford Street, along Regent Street, catching the tube to the Tate Modern and a Richard Hamilton exhibition. From there we walked miles....along the river. Had a fabulous pub lunch, walked across London Bridge, visited the Tower of London and eventually back to Paddington. We are going again next week for the Turner Exhibition in Greenwich. Nice to get a 'hit' of London now and again...like you Barbara, wouldnt choose to live there full time though!

Thank goodness life is not just about selling houses.

But it certainly seems to be dominating life.

But getting back to the original question just once more to tell you about

some of the things we are missing in uk.

Well Brixton prison which offers both a complicated dining experience

and an opportunity for offenders to show you their new found professions

In the form of a dining lunch a la style of Oliver.

The inmates ....due for general release in a little more or less than a year

produce pretty impressive looking dishes which can be purchased for around 20

pounds. You would need to go through a checking system to include fingerprinting.

The meal is devoid of alcoholic consumption and you have to eat with plastic

ware.

Other than that I am informed that the waiting list to see a doctor will be approx. 3

weeks.In the meantime it looks like dear old London is working overtime along with

nurses and doctors.

Yes I miss the shopping and the restaurants but not enough to live there.

Oh you are a laugh, I understand it and have benefited from this and many other benefits for a number of years. I posted it for all these people that don't know how you qualify for an exonération or réduction of taxe d'habitation as there seems to be so much confusion.

Mind you this forum is like the tower of babel, more like a crowded pub near closing time.

Chris

David we didnt even know where they got our old UK house address from... we were living in France at our apartment in the Languedoc when we bought our house in the Dordogne....had been out of our house for months and never gave anyone the old address...a mystery!

I am at a loss then David we went down that road first year down to the Hotel D'Impots explained that we now live here it is our only house, the habitation bill straight to the uk but as you redirection worked thankfully found out later that about 1 in 3 got redirected others got pushed through the door of our old house, so back again watched him as he canceled our uk address on his pc no more trouble friends told us dont bother with an accountant we will do your return we dont have any problems well none they told us about but we were given the name of a guy in Carcassonne who spoke perfect english explained everything and nearly fell of his chair when shown my uk pension he again was shocked as my wife is younger than i and falls into the new age group for her pension she cant claim hers until she is 66 his reply why not make it 99 then they wont have to bother, he charged us nothing went back last year he completed again 100€, the friends who do their own were called into the tax office to explain their life style on such a low income, they may be French but they certainly aint fools at the tax office since our first tax return by the accountant no tax habitation age low income or my sheer god looks and boyish charm i dont know but not complaining

Probably not Paul but then he (my father in law by the way), like me, didn't have a clue what RSI or CFE is/was. It's a good job that by virtue of my age I am unemployable as It would be impossible for me to exist in a world of acronyms.:-)

You didnt have the same Fi L as me Vic did you only decent thing my ex wife did was to clear off and leave me the kids we were all far happier pity the law never caught up with her

I'm afraid that rule about taxes that your father told you just isn't true in France Vic Evans. If you are self employed here in France as a Regime Réel (and not as an autoentrepreneur) as most artisans are, then even if you make a LOSS , you still have to pay minimum RSI cotisations of around 1700 euros, plus the CFE tax ( usually minimum of around 500 euros) and then of course there are accountants fees and such like !!! One of the major differences between the Uk and France !

I'm unfortunately 68 but still pay a shed load of Tax Habitation so, unless I am totally misinformed, it ain't about age. As my first father in law said about taxes " stop moaning about them. If you don't earn it you don't pay 'em" Probably the only sensible thing he said though apart from "bugger off then" when I & his daughter parted ;-)

We lived in France (main residence) husband is 66 and we pay higher house taxes than anyone we know! I am sure it is linked to your income

So frustrating! And I still don't understand why they ignored our letters and emails - the letters posted in France and the emails coming from a french orange account. And all in french.

Ah well.

Beware....when we moved to France we had sold up entirely in the UK. We did the same as you David and had a re-routing service. House taxes all went to our old house in the UK. We explained we no longer owned the house...we lived full time in France. For 3 years our taxes went to our old address...no matter what we did and said, they kept sending it to the old UK address. Lucky for us we are friends with the people who bought off of us, and they just send our post on...but could have been difficult. You are usually fined in France for late payment!

The link is above as I posted, it ain't too complicated.

Perhaps someone or somethree could make a note of it and pass it round?

Chris