ANOTHER SUNSET

 

As the sun sets on another day in the middle of France we think about our future.

The SMS from the Préfecture inviting us to go and collect our cartes de séjour has still not arrived after almost six weeks.

We think it's unlikely that they are not ready, that they have not actually been manufactured yet.  Our 2024 cards were ready within two weeks but the message to collect them was sent to the wrong number.  We finally collected them after they had been sitting at the Préfecture for eleven months.  Our 2025 cards were ready within two weeks and we collected them promptly.  We think it's likely that this year's cards are ready but the text has not been sent to the right number, if at all, or the text has gone missing into the ether, as they sometimes do.

An SMS seems a very insecure and unreliable method to use for such an important thing as residence cards, even more so that there is no procedure to follow up uncollected cards.  With text messages there is no indication whether a message has been read.  So, we have sent an email to the Préfecture asking, very tactfully, in "would your dog like my breakfast" tones, if they are ready and if an SMS could be resent.   We are advised that when contacting the Préfecture it's important to imply that any fault is ours, not theirs!  Email is the only avenue of contact and you can't get into the Préfecture without showing the SMS on your phone to the security guard on the door.  We expect to get some kind of reply in a couple of weeks but are not hopeful that it will be helpful.

Lately, we have been thinking about our future in France.  The house we have here would be difficult to manage if there was just one of us, or if one of us needs help and care.  We have come to the conclusion that, like many of our friends, we will have to either downsize to something more manageable in our old age, or return to the UK, where we already have a small house perfect for an old couple or, importantly, an old person on their own.

Lately, several of our friends have put their French homes up for sale to return to the UK.  Mostly it's the need to be near to family as they get older.  For one it's the hassle of managing an old property by themselves as a widow.  

For us there is another dimension, a direct result of Brexit, that we do not have the right to live here and have to go through this palaver (and expense) of re-applying for residence cards every year.  After we have had five one-year residence cards we should get a ten-year card.  That would be in 2028.  Which means that by the time we would have to renew that we would be well into our eighties and that could easily be one thing too much to cope with.  

The health service in France is excellent, better than in the UK, but living out in the sticks if there was just one of us would be very hard.  Not to mention that sooner or later we would almost certainly not be able to drive.

The thought of giving up our place in France and returning full time to the UK has filled me with dread but we would have to do it while we are still physically and mentally capable of doing it.  We don't want to find ourselves in the position of being forced to do it at a time when we are unable to cope.  So, we have come up with an alternative plan.  We are going to sell this house and look for a small holiday home.  We would become UK residents again but having a small house in France, somewhere in the same general area, that we could use for holidays or a month or so at a time.  Back to where we started.  Once we felt unable to make the journey we could sell that, or leave it to family, or just walk away from it.

We love this place, love this house and the life here and don't want to give it up, but have to have a plan for the future while we still have options and can cope with a move.  We are conscious that we shouldn’t leave it until it’s too late. 

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

February may well be the shortest month in the year but in many ways it often seems like the longest.  The weather this February has been just as bad, if not worse than last year and we are more than ready for some sunshine.

However, the entertainment machine doesn't stop just because the weather is awful and although February was not quite as busy as January we certainly had some fun.

On 14th February, St. Valentine's Day, we hosted a ladies night.

Finding somewhere to eat on Valentine's Day where you are not surrounded by tables for two with couples gazing dreamily into each other's eyes, subdued lighting so that you can't see what you're eating (never mind read the menu), flowers on the table that bring on your allergies and cringeworthy soppy music, can be tricky if not impossible.  Not to mention the silly prices.

So, we invited some of our single friends round for an evening of friendship, food and fun.  We did a retro 1970's  menu and a quiz (with prizes) on the subject of Valentine, love, hearts and roses.  It was great fun and could easily become an annual event.

Only a few days later we went to a Chinese New Year event.  It's the year of the horse and dressing up was (as usual) encouraged.

Nick dressed up as a jockey.  All we needed was a pair of long johns to complete the outfit.

I dressed up as a stable hand.  All props model's own (although Nick's best green wellies).

We are however, somewhat on tenterhooks.  This time last year we were fast becoming nervous wrecks as our applications to renew our cartes de séjour went pear shaped.  You can read all about that here.

We applied much earlier this time, fourteen weeks before expiry date in fact.  The very earliest you can apply is sixteen weeks before the cards expire - which is in two weeks from now.

Yesterday, twelve weeks after we applied, we received our "prolongations".  These are the documents that extend the period of the visas by three months - three months that the Prefecture gives itself to consider the application.  The good thing about the document is that it restores our right to live in France and, importantly, to return to France after a visit back home to England, for three months beyond the period of the visa.  (Something we never had to even think about when Britain was in the EU.)

You have to wonder why bother to apply almost four months before if nothing is going to be done until they have almost expired anyway!

The prolongations came with, as anticipated, some questions.  This time they were straightforward, easy to answer and carried no threat of refusal.  However, in the coming three months there's time for all that but we're trying to be positive.

To celebrate the step forward we went for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Le George in Loches.  The "menu du jour" there is always delicious, only a couple of euros more than the mediocre menus served at a number of other places, and the ambience and service are excellent.

We were conscious that this is where we were last year when the phone call came from the lady at France Services telling us we had to sort the problem out quickly or we could be deported.

This year, we do feel somehow more relaxed.  Fingers crossed that this time it goes smoothly, that we get our "décision favourable" and cards sooner, and that we don't have quite so many sleepless nights worrying about what we would do if the Prefecture said "non".

(They have no grounds on which to say "non" but the computer programme dealing with applications last year thought otherwise.  Let’s hope they have fixed that.)

IN RECOVERY

 

I am recovering from a very recent attack of something I haven’t had for many years - gastroenteritis.  The drama of it was quite alarming.

I have no idea where I picked up the bug.  All I can say is I wish I hadn’t!  I'm on the mend but, as my old dad used to say, still feel "rough as a badger’s backside".  Although how he would know about that is a mystery.

With my renewed success in uploading pictures from my iPad I have added one from a walk at Paulmy last week.  It being 1st February spring is only one month away in my book and the thought cheers me up immensely.  Not that January has been quiet…….new post to follow.