Life as an Imminent Emigrant

Reality Check

This week, I've fallen back down to Earth with a bump.  This week, all thoughts of swooping swallows, rolling hills and Derek the buzzard have been consigned, albeit temporarily, to the dustbin of 'Escape To The Sun' whimsy.  This week, I've been finding out about forms.  This week, I've encountered more e-numbers, E101, E104, E106, E121, E205 E305 et al, than a group of children on a school trip to a Sunny Delight factory, but finally, by jove, I think I've got it.

The whole process was, in hindsight, made more complex than perhaps it might have been by me taking advice from Helena Frith-Powell.  That's not to say that the advice was poor, merely inappropriate to me personally.  In her book 'More French Please, We're British', HFP recommends bombarding the DWP in Newcastle with requests for as many forms as you can lay your hands on.  I therefore spent the early part of the week doing so, only to be met with confusion on the part of the long-suffering DWP staff, who failed to see the relevance in me applying for an E121 30+ years early.  I could have argued that there's nothing wrong with thinking ahead, especially when planning an emigration, but I fear the lilting Geordie tones on the other end of the phone may have morphed into something altogether more menacing.

Time to reassess.

Having thought this through, and perceived a slight disparity in lifestyles and concomitant costs of living between HFP's and my own, I can only assume that several of the E forms she applied for related to swimming pool, au pair and hand maiden allowances, and as such could safely be crossed off my wish list, or at least my realism list.

So finally, and with the usual hand-holding from the usual saintly suspects on the Living France forum, I distilled my requirement down to ONE form, or more precisely a form to apply for a certificate, namely CA3916, to acquire E104.  The wording of the form suggests that I'll have to wait for my final pay slip before applying, so I'm assuming I'll end up filling it out in France and posting it back, before getting the much-prized certificate posted back to me, but it's progress, nonetheless.

So, one week, one form.  My manipulation of this Kafkaesque living-nightmare is going to have to get both more efficient and more Machiavellian before I take on the assumed masters, French public servants, although I fear I may be fighting a losing battle there.

Another research strand this week:  website creation and Internet marketing.  Once again, thanks to detailed advice from the LF forum community, I feel relatively well-armed with tips on the best routes to take in building an effective marketing tool for each of our proposed businesses online. And once again, I'm relieved to be doing all of this now, well ahead of our nominal dates of registration with the C de C and/or C de M.  When we finally buy our Pyrénéan retreat, I'll probably do something dopey like build an extension without getting planning permission*, but, for the moment, careful and timely preparation is proving to be a source of constant reassurance.

Perhaps now I'll allow myself a weekend break, returning to more whimsical research relating to pain, vin et campagne, before a fresh assault on something hideously convoluted next Monday morning - verb conjugation perhaps.

Allez les bleus!

A bientot x 

*just kidding!