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www.AuvergneHolidayCottage.com
- Visitor Information
We have added useful visitor
information to our web site - this is extracted from our
visitor information folder you will find if you visit one
of our holiday cottages. Use the links on the right for everything
from Shopping & Needs to Walks.
Our sincere thanks to all those who have helped compile
and add to this folder.
Last amended 14th Oct 2009.
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE
VISITOR INFORMATION PACK
PDF VERSION - 184kb
© Di and Peter Scott, 1993-2008 |
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Auvergne,
France
Auvergne is a "Region". It has precisely defined boundaries (like Scotland),
rather than vague ones like "The West Country". It is divided into four Departments
- Allier, Pûy de Dôme, Cantal and Haute Loire - which are equivalent to counties.
Condat is a "Commune", somewhere between a parish and an Urban or Rural District.
It has a mayor and an elected council. Paris is split into "Arrondissements" which
are administrative areas. Each Arrondissement is divided into four quarters - "Quartiers"
There are some 20 regions. Others are Provence, Brittany, Ile de France (Greater
Paris), etc.. France has nearly 100 departments, arranged alphabetically and
numbered. 01 (Ain), 02 (Aisne)... 14 (Calvados), 15 (Cantal)... 46 (Lot)... 84
(Vaucluse)... 89 (Yonne)... 91 to 95 are Paris departments. The department is
shown by the two last numbers on a car registration plate (ours is 5221 HM 15
because we live in Cantal) and the first two numbers in a postcode (ours is 15190).
Cars in France are registered to the owner, so when you buy a second-hand car,
you get a new registration number for it, with the last two letters showing the
Department you live in. One way to pass the time as you drive through France
is to spot where cars come from, starting at 01. Corsican cars are a bit thin
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The French live longer, work shorter hours, have
more holidays, enjoy better health especially in old
age and have higher disposable incomes than the British.
Income tax is lower and the
road fund licence was abolished in 1999, but social
security charges are much higher (there are actually
three entirely separate charges - health paid to a
health fund, pension paid to a pension fund and social
security proper paid to the state contributions agency).
Someone paying 6% in the UK would pay 23% here. This
is offset by a truly excellent health service, an income-related
pension entitlement, and cheaper cars/wine/petrol & diesel/food/etc..
Almost half of all households pay no income tax, but
it’s hard to make true comparisons. The two taxes
introduced to fill the social security black hole (CSG
and CRDS) now raise substantially more than income
tax (and make me wince when they hit the doormat in
October.)
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It is illegal to write a cheque if you do not have
sufficient money in your bank account...
On more than one occasion we have ordered goods from a firm that had never
heard of us and found the goods appeared before the invoice. It is common to
write a cheque and not be asked for a guarantee. Our Residence Card (Carte
de Sejour) is enough for us to enter most European countries, (other than Britain
which requires a passport).
Except for the drivers, France is a good country
to live.
A separate note about the health service will be added shortly as
so many people ask about how it works and how it’s funded.
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