At some point in the last three years, the goal of this website changed. It started as a ‘let’s make a site about our favourite places in France’ website, to an ‘OK let’s make the best possible site about France’ website. How and when it changed is a bit of a mystery, but I am [...]
France isn’t best known for its high level of customer service, and today I’ve been dealing with a fine example…
For years we had an unwritten rule in France of not buying anything on the internet, because the only slight chance of getting customer service in France is to stand persistently in front of a long [...]
Well, after years of resisting, and much good advice to the contrary, we have become a SARL. A SARL is a fully fledged French company with shares, proper accounts, and - so we are told - enormous associated expense and bureaucratic effort.
I can hardly wait.
I won’t trouble you with the reasons why we have embarked [...]
I’ve gleaned a few useful facts about starting a business in France that might be useful, and more importantly could save you loads of money, so I thought I’d share them. Note I am not an expert, I’m just trying to point out some potential pitfalls and things to be aware of. You need to [...]
We live near quite a small town, about 3000 residents including those of us who squeeze into the surrounding fields. All the same, our town has most facilities that you want - primary school, 2 supermarkets, DIY store, 2 butchers, bars and restaurants and so on. And four estate agents.
A few years ago when we [...]
The events in the financial markets last week were so significant that we even heard about them down here. Wow, they must have made some noise. In fact it was the noise of expats worrying about their savings and pensions that we heard first, followed closely by the sound of the dollar crashing into the [...]
The year is gliding to a close on a bit of a poor note, world economy wise, and I’ve been wondering how it might affect us.
I read that property prices in London fell 7% in November. If that continues for another 14 months, houses in the UK will cost about the same as a flat [...]
Starting a business in France is something that has troubled me before, but this time…we’ve actually done it! OK we haven’t received our SIRET number (company registration number) yet - the application has to wind its way through French bureaucracy for a week or two first - but we’re on our way.
Mrs B insisted on [...]
A few days ago I wrote about some of the ways that expats can earn money. Today I thought I’d give two examples of how people make very large amounts of money on the internet.
I don’t do either of these - they are not very ethical and and do require some technical knowledge - but [...]
Having had the excitement of advertising our property for sale on the internet, having quite a few enquiries very quickly, and agreeing a sale price with a potential purchaser, it turned out we can’t sell (at least at that price) because of complications with tax and notaires.
No big deal I suppose, but slightly annoying. Especially [...]
As we move closer to the day of actually starting a French business, we’ve been talking to other people in a similar situation about the options. Every conversation ends ina horror story, and the dire warning that whatever we do we shouldn’t start a French enterprise, unless we like paying enormous costs and being buried [...]
Well, we got a little bit of snow yesterday- only about two centimetres deep, but enough that the children were out desperately trying to slip and slide down the field on a bin-bag and a dustbin lid. Meanwhile only 100 kilometres from here away they got 20 centimetres which is much more impressive. And ours [...]
(For actual advice about marketing and advertising your own gite or holiday rental property you might prefer to read our later entry at gite marketing.)
Funnily enough I do have a life apart from running gites and generally lazing about.
So today, I haven’t got time to tell you the anecdote about the boy at our daughter’s [...]
One of the funny things about living in remote places in foreign countries is that important (and trivial) news items can pass us by without a murmur. We get the Economist delivered every week, so usually know about the major world events, but always seem to be eating dinner when the TV news is on.
Anyway, [...]
When I’m not busy looking after guests in our gites or writing this column, and it’s raining outside, I have been known to pass an hour or two surfing on the internet. I’m quite a gullible kind of person, and very often ‘get rich quick’ adverts catch my eye.
Occassionally I take a look, but usually [...]
