Nick has been struck down with "man flu" this week so I have been on morning dog walking duties.
There are several walks I like to do with Hugo.
A walk twice around the lake at Paulmy is one of our favourites.
It has been very cold with foggy starts to the mornings.
It was 2°C when I set off on Friday, 3°C when I got back.
It hardly seems five minutes since it was 22° and even 32° not long before that.
The change in autumn colours has been rapid.
The bit of rain we had in September and early October seemed to give the trees a second chance and they perked up and held on to their greenery.
Then all of a sudden the leaves turned and the recent strong winds blew a lot of them off.
Another favourite is along the voie verte at the little hamlet of Étableau.
This stash of cable indicates that some electrical work is planned nearby.
The voie verte (meaning green lane) is a wonderful facility for walkers and cyclists.
It is the old railway line that linked many of the villages and hamlets until the 1960's.
The railway tracks were removed years ago and in recent years the overgrown trees and shrubs alongside were cut back and a good gravel surface put down.
Relics of the old railway still exist in places.
All of the old cottages that housed signalmen at points along the track have been renovated and are occupied. This one is used as a holiday home.
This one has more land and is a permanent home.
From several points along the voie verte there is a good view of the old ruined fortress that sits on the hill overlooking the hamlet of Étableau. It was built in the 1100's and is now, although in ruins, privately owned. You can read about it here with the option of reading the text in English.
Changing the subject, the protests, riots and vandalism mentioned in my previous post are still taking place. Last Monday we went to the centre of Tours with a friend to collect her carte de séjour. The ambience was very much business as usual, with people going about as if nothing had happened, yet there were numerous shops and businesses boarded up or burnt out and the roads and pavements scarred by fire.
The shops targeted were almost exclusively clothing and accessory shops; Adidas, Levis, H&M, Sephora (selling perfumes and cosmetics), phone shops and so on. Many of the larger chain stores were clearly re-stocking but the smaller ones were just boarded and closed. We were baffled why the opticians had been destroyed. No doubt the valuable sunglasses and even spectacle frames are now being traded by the thieves but the damage to the business by setting fire to it will be hard to recover from; patient records gone, orders gone, expensive equipment destroyed.
The friend accompanying us has had a mammoth struggle to get her carte de séjour. It has taken her nearly a year to get it. Her previous card expired in December 2025 so this new one is only valid for another six weeks. Now that she has it she can apply to renew it.
However, there has clearly been yet another change of process adopted by the Préfecture and they have resumed sending text messages. She received a text telling her that her card was ready and giving her a date and time slot to collect it. We set off with a degree of trepidation, expecting the usual hassle to get into the Préfecture and not knowing what state the centre of Tours would be in. The collection process turned out to be smooth and slick and she was in and out within five minutes, clutching the precious card. The fee for it has now increased to 250€ per year.
To our absolute amazement, yesterday we each received text messages informing us that we can also now apply to renew our cards which expire in March next year. Minutes later we received emails telling us the same thing along with a link to the website.
This is a refreshing change. We know that the Préfectures have been told by the Ministry of the Interior in France to pull their socks up and deal with CDS applications more quickly and efficiently and this is very promising.
We shall see!!
It's always nice when bureaucracy works smoothly!
ReplyDelete