It has been interesting noting the different reactions from our English friends when we have talked of our decision to try to obtain french citizenship. They range from undisguised and freely admitted jealousy through bemusement all the way to outright disdain. So far the french we have mentioned it to have been supportive (that's a relief) - there has even been talk of celebrating with a party if we manage it.
The brexit result was the final push for us to get on with it instead of just talking about it as a future possibility and the last three months has been dominated by gathering the documents, certificates and translations needed to make the applications. This Tuesday was the interview day and we set duly off for the prefecture in Toulouse.
Despite thinking we were well prepared we nearly fell at the starting blocks when we were presented with a new list of requirements which apparently we should have worked to for the Haute Garonne prefecture. My worst nightmare appeared to be coming true. In fact it was only different in a few respects but it did demand extra copies of some forms AND for the documents to be presented in a specific order. Luckily for us our interviewer was sympathetic and made allowances and extra copies for us.
That bad start put TC on the back foot from the start and he came out after an hour and a half feeling he had not really done himself justice. Then it was my turn . Thankfully she was treating the applications together and did not go through every document that she had already seen so my interview was a measly hour! It was no holds barred as regards the language and I was glad my comprehension held up. The questioning got increasingly intense, the interviewer was like a dog with a bone on some questions and by the end of the hour I was probably talking the French of a 5 year old, at one point I couldn't even remember the dates of the second world war!
So how had it gone? who knows? At the end I asked what happened next and she said something to the effect that she could put together two good files from what she had ready to be sent off to Paris. That sounds fairly positive but we shall have to wait and wait and wait and see. The computers in the prefecture were down during the afternoon so she was taking notes in longhand on scraps of paper which could take a while to decipher I suspect. There is also something we have to sign which she said she would send to us in the post.
Will it all have been worth it ? Let's hope so. At least it would give us some security in the place we now regard as home and above all the right to vote here instead of in the last constituency in which we lived in England (how absurd is that) and eventually not at all.
Under current agreements we would retain our British citizenship and hold dual nationality. So as for those negative reactions - are we unpatriotic, disloyal etc etc.? Maybe so, but I have always been suspicious of patriotism for its own sake and there is much about todays Britain which makes me glad to be elsewhere. I feel at home here, much more so than when I visit England. I like living in a republic where church and state are strictly separated. Of course no country is perfect but for us the decision to spend this period of our lives in the country we have loved for so many years has been one of the best we have ever made - becoming french citizens would complete our story.
But let's keep things in perspective - how lucky are we to have the chance to even think about choosing where we want to live - our personal paradise - there are so many less fortunate displaced people just desperate to find a safe haven to escape real horrors and persecution in their homelands - another and much more important story for our times.
aici sén pla
