"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
et...

"David (Normandy)" wrote in message
...

I have that problem too David, but usually manage to give mine away to
family and friends....maybe you could put them outside on a table with a
sign "free plants"
Jenny

Interesting idea, though I suspect in France that would actually be
illegal

REALLY???


and my first 'customers' could be the Gendarmes! They have some weird
laws here which are very alien to those from the UK.

Oh Lord, we'll be next no doubt :-(

Mary


I'm only speculating based on the following French laws:
1. Businesses can only have two sales per year, the dates are specified by
beaurocrats.
2. It is illegal for businesses to sell anything at a loss outside of the
official sales periods.
3. Car boot sales are restricted to once or twice a year and sellers are
heavily regulated.
4. In France you just can't start 'trading' without joining the official
body for the trade, paying them cotisation fees and jumping through vast
amounts of hoops and a mountain of beauocracy.
5. Giving plants away may be considered to be starting a business or trying
to take trade away from registered garden centre businesses. There are very
strict protectionist laws regarding doing anything like that here.

You can't even mow your lawn on a Sunday here! It is illegal to make any
noise on Sundays or public holidays. While this law is often flouted by
those living in the countryside it is more strictly observed in Towns.

The strangest law we've come across here so far is regarding selling your
property - if you sell it within 2 years you have to share any profit you
make with the previous owners of the house! If you spend your own money and
time renovating a property (DIY) your own capital outlay is not counted. So
if you buy a house for 100k and spend 50k on it but end up selling it for
140k (in effect a 10k loss) it is regarded as a 40k profit and you have to
give 20k to the previous owners of the property! If you had registered
tradesmen do the same work, then cost would be allowed against the profit -
again an example of the protectionism towards trades here.

Weird laws aside, it is not a bad place to live :-)

David.