when you think you've got it sussed!

French bureaucracy is notorious but one of those things you get used to if you live here, arriving anywhere vaguely official without your passport, birth certificate, proofs of address etc etc would be just foolish and today we got ourselves well prepared, document case bulging.

First stop the tax office in Montauban - easy - we've been there several times. But no - we arrived to find the building abandoned with no forwarding address!. A helpful lady at the prefecture told us that it had been moved out of town. In fact three exits along the motorway away. When we eventually found it it was only to be told that for the certificate we needed we had to go to the office in Caussade (luckily that was on our way home and the certifcate was easily obtained).

Next task for the day as we were in Montauban and at the prefecture - change my driving licence to a French one. Again easy, we've done it once for Trevor, I had filled in the form on line and had all the required documents. Again - not so fast Mrs C - an appointment is now needed plus the Montauban prefecture has added the need to have your English driving licence translated by an approved translator so another hiccup.

Lunch was not a great success either. In the past we have enjoyed moules/frites in the square as a treat when have a dealing with officialdom day but the menus of the restaurants no longer include them. Today we made the wrong choice from the available menus and were disappointed with our lunch.

On the plus side though I hadn't been to Montauban for some time and the square really is very beautiful and today was a abuzz with people enjoying the sunshine.

The hassle and long drive meant I arrived home feeling  tired but at least we have achieved at least part of what we set out to do today and the driving licence is not urgent. Still nothing in the post though!

deprexit

At last fully recovered from my little health issue a certain level of post brexit depression remains. How can all this have really happened? The farce that is British politics at the moment has produced one joke after another - the best undoubtably Boris as foreign secretary! I keep find myself having to explain the unexplainable to my French friends and who knows where it will end. They say a week is a long time in politics, at the moment the ground seems to be constantly shifting and predicting what is to befall us next is a fool's game.

In the meantime we have spent the last month amassing the documents required for our application for naturalisation. Unsurpisingly it is no small task. I sought the help of my brother to get hold of copies of my parents births and marriage certificates before he left for his holidays. He was impressive in his prompt response to help his refugee ex-pat sister but unfortunately the postal service has not played fair. We have waited eagerly each day for the post to arrive but nothing - next step is to contact the records office and hope they will be quick enough for us to get the translations done in time for our interviews in September.

Trevor however is the now proud owner of a glossy certificate which states that the British police can find "no trace" of him in the fatherland. I hope mine will arrive soon - I was a week or so behind applying because of my illness.

In the meantime summer has settled in - lots of sunshine, storms just to keep you on your toes and lots going on.






Unfortunately this week the stormy day coincided with an outdoor event where Trevor and his friends were booked to play. In the end the evening went well - enough people turned up to make it convivial and we even made space under cover for some dancing.

the best of times, the worst of times

Summer had eventually managed to tighten it's grip and had started to bless us with some sunny skies and all was looking good . The pool was warm, the garden was flowery, the veg was starting to be picked, everything we could hope for.


Then the bombshell referendum result. A referendum  called for by arrogant and self serving politicians as part of some strange Tory game which they thought they "couldn't lose". The campaign had unleashed a tsunami of fear, hatred and bigotry and no- one it seemed could see the echoes of history being played out. It had all gone badly wrong and no- one could think of anything to do except resign.

For heavens sake the referendum was supposed to be advisory - we should be letting parliament decide now, with a detailed analysis of the divisions in the country before deciding whether there is actually  a "mandate" to leave.



A deep gloom descended. One thing we knew we could never go back now. We had already thought of applying for French Nationality now there was an urgency to get it done. So lists have been made, folders have been bought and we have started on the long road of preparing our applications.



Then bombshell number two. I was overcome with a fever, couldn't eat without being sick and slept for the whole weekend. When I went to the doctors on the Monday she promptly sent me off to hospital as she suspected a heart infection.

I ended up staying two nights (it felt like 2 weeks). Just about every organ in my body was ultrasounded. I slept with bags of ice to bring down the fever. Eventually they have diagnosed a lung infection, gave me antibiotics and let me go home. That was almost a week ago and I am just about starting to have enough strength to stay up all day. All I need now is to regain my appetite so I can enjoy a meal and a glass or two with our visitors this week.

I have been lucky to have pretty good health and have only stayed in hospital 3 times before, twice for the birth of babies and once for an operation on my shoulder. It was quite a challenge to cope with the French hospital feeling so ill but one thing I was pleased about is that my French skills were not found wanting, I'm sure I understood as much that was going on as I would have done in England.

I am blessed with the best of husbands. For over a week now Trevor has done all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, watering, emergency garden tasks, lawn mowing, looking after the animals including Emil who is still manky legged, in between he's managed to remove the old bathroom from the garden to the dump and even fitted in couple of finishing off jobs on the new bathroom there should be some sort of medal. There have been days when he seemed to be on some sort of turbo charge.or over a week now Trevor has done all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing, watering, emergency garden tasks, lawn mowing, looking after the animals including Emil who is still manky legged, in between he's managed to remove the old bathroom from the garden to the dump and even fitted in couple of finishing off jobs on the new bathroom there should be some sort of medal.

 He has driven many hundreds of miles over the week. We now have visitors and he has taken them off for a spot of tourism - I didn't risk going as I was afraid I might put a damper on things I want to save my energy  for this evening - it would be nice to feel hungry when we all sit down to eat.

As for the future?      Je suis européen.    aici sén pla