That was worth a rant!

They do rather seem to make it up as they go along when something goes wrong, don't they? Probably because they're sub-contracting the repair work to third parties. A tree came down on the chemin leading to our house about three weeks ago, taking the phone and electricity cables with it. Fortunately, we didn't lose connections. Enedis have replaced the electricity fittings on the pylon, but no sign of the Orange sub-contractors.

An interesting (to me at least) and perhaps little known fact that might be useful to post on this thread.

8 years ago when we bought our little rental house it had no phone line. So at the time, you had to get Orange to install the line and then go with the provider of your choice. All well and good.

When we bought our new home last year, it had an existing line but had not been in use for over a year, so after a visit to Orange we learnt two things.

1. A line not used for over a year has to be treated as a new line.

2. New lines no longer have to be installed by Orange but by the provider of your choice and that they are responsible for its upkeep.

We went with free and they have been very reactive and up to date excellent.

Of course with the advent of fibre and the fact that no new copper lines are being installed and the future demise of the copper network this may all become irrelevant. 🙄

and it's not yet Tuesday...........

Funny you should say that but we have become very scarily dependent on it now - banking, shopping, tax returns. It’s not good really how much control of our lives we have given it. I personally find the security is getting more complex now too and dread to think how the very elderly cope with it all……

A friend was recently having trouble with buying something for about 7 euros via CMB and couldn’t get it to work so he phoned CMB who insisted it was easy and the problem lay with him so he marched to the bank and demanded that they show him how to buy it and guess what, they couldn’t 😆

You've hit on a very real problem Jackie and it's going to get worse. It's lucky my wife finished her nursing career when she did because there is no way she would be able to use the ubiquitous laptop or mobile phone. She now has dementia, not so bad she doesn't know me or her friends or indeed a lot of things but being with a telephone bank - First Direct, it is now a nightmare that I have got to navigate a way out of. Coupled with the fact that writing had become difficult for her for a few years now. Hopefully she will with practice be able to write a cheque to transfer a sizeable chunk from her account.

The one thing that I/we should have dealt with before we left the UK was a power of attorney or even better an enduring power of attorney for both of us. We left the UK in 2001 and until 4 years ago Angela was not only physically very fit, far fitter than women many years younger but mentally as well. Strange but I can't remember any of our friends mentioning POA. My cousin Zak lost his wife to cancer (late diagnosis) the year before he took early retirement as a geologist with Shell at 55. He never told me that was when he set up a POA with his daughter.

What younger people cannot grasp is that one day they are going to get old as well, and it's becoming clear that dementia in both it's forms is happening to younger and younger people as time goes on.

Helpful banks - no way. I rang First Direct to get in touch with their legal dept. There is no way that my wife could travel to the UK and I doubt that I can arrange a POA from France so I was put in touch with someone who when I said I could get the French court to issue the equivalent of a POA, after being examined by one of many certified doctors, that's not possible in the UK, you have to be compus mentus to enter into a POA in the UK. My question was, can you let me know if that would be acceptable, obviously translated by a certified translator for First Direct to let me operate my wife's account. His answer was 'no, first they would have to see the document before they could approve it or not' So I have to go through a legal process with all the expense without knowing if it will acceptable or not. If not I would have to go through a very expensive  and time consuming Court of Protection procedure in the UK. 

This obviously has nothing to do with Brexit whatsoever. The thing is First Direct is part of HSBC and by chance I saw a reply from HSBC on just such a matter and it is much more open and clear than their subsidiary.

The French system for those with assets in France is much more detailed and specific. If my wife's account was in France I could apply for a POA specific to bank accounts, there are many forms of POA in France. As it is, for many reasons we do not own a French property, we have always rented. The only asset we have in France is a joint account.

Now I hear that the French might not accept wills drawn up according to the laws in other countries. The reason we moved to Spain and not France when we left the UK was because of the Napoleonic Code which Napoleon set up when the French made him an Emperor. And why did he set up this rigid Code? Simple - primogenitor. An old system used in many European and Scandinavian cultures - the eldest son gets everything. That was the reason that he  On a trip to Spain joined the French army. He had no money and nowhere to live. It was the main reason for the Viking raids across Europe, the younger sons knew they would get nothing when their fathers died - looting and pillaging replaced inheritance. I unfortunately  have a cold blooded narcissist for a sister who under French/Napoleonic inheritance Law would be entitled to at least 50% of my estate. In the UK I had a will which stated that she and her two children would get one old penny each which was an awful lot more than they were worth. This would be acceptable to any judge if my will was contested because it clearly stated my wishes and of course I said exactly why in my will - it wouldn't stand a chance in France. 

I hope all those who took French citizenship realise that their wills must follow this Code. On one trip to Spain we got talking to a couple from London who were moving to Spain. The man had been a builder all his life and cleverly bought, renovated and sold one house after another, until in 2000 he had sold their last home for around £1 million. They had one son who was a heroin junkie. It was a story that I knew well and like so many other parents had had to admit there was nothing they could do anymore for their son. Maybe one day he would find the strength to quit,very,very unlikely. In Spain as in the UK they could write him out of their will for the obvious reason - in France they would not have that chance at all. Junkies create more junkies, it is how it is. With at least £500K he would be able to ruin a lot more lives. Most females become junkies via boy friends it's how it is. That is why this couple chose Spain to live and not France.

Its not really true to say that you can't disinherit someone in france.Unusual yes but not impossible.