Foreign Perspectives

Bonjour mes amis:

We are gradually becoming legitimate French residents….

Last week we thought we’d make an assault on the mairie. They seem to be responsible for just about everything in these parts so it seemed like a good place to start on our efforts to become “legit” French residents.

We failed in the school registration as James is just too young. Everywhere else in France he could start now ‘cos he’s two but in Maury it’s three. That’s probably a good thing as his English will be well established by then though I guess that it’ll make his first month or two a lot harder for him.

A big success was acheived in the bin department though. Not only have we a much bigger bin on the way but on the 26th they’re coming to collect the massive heap of junk that was left by the previous owner. Actually, we have a much smaller pile now as the neighbours asked if we didn’t mind them taking some of it. Wendy reckons we could have sold it in one of the flea markets.

Health-wise we’ve hit a brick wall at the moment. It seems that to register for the equivalent of a national health number you first need to register for work. That’s in the works but so far I’ve not received my “KBIS” (dunno what that stands for but apparently every French business has one). Wendy had her “20 week scan” this afternoon so that’s another ‚€60 on the bill (I suspect that we’ll need to claim all the bills to date via the E111). The scan was a much, much more thorough one than James had at the Ulster Hospital. They check everything that can be checked and since junior wouldn’t play ball and turn over, we’ve to go back in a few weeks time so that the doctor can check the rest.

Bit of success too on the bank account front. Apparently the chequebook and card for the business account are in the branch waiting for me to pick them up.

Next challenge is to get Wendy a bank account for which we’ve an appointment at the bank tomorrow morning.

And after that, it’s off to the Prefecture (county council equivalent, sort of) who think that Wendy needs a visa. Remember all the work that went into getting her a European Resident Permit from the Home Office? Well, we’re about to embark on the same task over here. If anything it should be a whole lot easier as French law equates “living together” as being equivalent to being married in a number of respects, notably for immigration laws. Anyway, I will be looking up the relevant laws to quote to them so it should be an interesting meeting.

Also for this week is an IKEA trip. We have given up on trying to get “proper” pillows in Spain (they do cutdown French ones) and locally so we’re off to Toulouse where we’re also hoping to get some garden furniture for the lunches that Wendy’s intending to start soon.