Although I’ve not been down about living here, I had started to question the decision, given our financial situation and lack of work prospects. So a few things happened today that says to me that France is doing her damndest to encourage us not to go.
We had a few errands to do in Nontron so we headed out around 10 with Will behind the wheel. About a month ago, I received a notice saying that I needed to file a tax return here for 2010 and it claimed that I had received a previous notice months earlier (I didn’t). We’ve learned things go much more smoothly when you show up in person, rather than over the phone and today was no exception. We walked into the tax office, showed her the letter and told her that we didn’t actually have any income in 2010. She said they just wanted me to file so she grabbed a form and a pen and filled it out for me right there. She then said, “you’ll want a copy” so grabbed another form and filled that one out too. I signed them and we were off, all in under 5 mins. Next was the sous-prefecture office to drop off a copy of Will’s license with a self-addressed envelope. There was no wait at all and we were out in even less time. We got bread, washed the car and then Will drove us home (are you seeing a theme here?).
The previous day, Will drove us to our doctor in Thiviers, mainly to renew my repeat presciption. The previous visit, he was in a bad mood and not very helpful. I mentioned that my back was still bothering me despite the physio therapy that I’d just finished to which he replied that I have a curved spine and there’s nothing else to do about it. So this visit, I was expecting the same but he actually asked me about my back before I mentioned it. I explained that it was the same if not worse so he prescribed some more physio with no questions asked. We were out of there with both prescriptions in under five minutes and we didn’t have to wait at all for our appointment. A real pleasure as far as doctors visits go.
As long time readers will recall, we’ve had a few runs-in with our ISPs here. Our current one is Orange and had a few issues when we signed up, the short of it being that they owed us €150 and also lied to us about our line speed. We learned from our previous experience that you only got results by writing a letter sent by recorded delivery so we posted all the info to them in June. Needless to say, we had not heard anything from them since then, not even a letter acknowledging they’d received our letter. So I badgered Will until he agreed to call and find out the status or our complaint.
Unsurprisingly, they had no record of the letter, or for that matter, of any of our many previous conversations. What did shock us, though was the very helpful employee who actually addressed all of our complaints! I realise that this is a case of who you happen to talk to since we’d been through this on the phone before and got nowhere. They are looking into the line speed issue so that’s not resolved and I’m not terribly hopeful that it will change but at least they’re claiming to try. On the cash front, we are getting credit for €110 so not quite what we’d asked for but far more than we’d expected. This is our second victory with customer service here so I may have to revise my expectations.
When I say “our” victory, I really mean Will’s since he’s the one that has to deal with these people all the time. I am all right when I can see the person and have a clue about context but I’m sure I’d be useless on the phone, both speaking and understanding. I mention this because Will and I had a deal before moving out here: he would get his driver’s license and I would speak French. Well, he’s now fulfilled his part of the bargain whereas I’ve still got a ways to go. I’m definitely improving but not quickly enough. I have resolved to watch the news every night although I only seem to manage it a few nights a week.
On the topic of speaking French, we had dinner at the neighbour’s on Friday night. They’d been very busy for the past few weeks because of summer holidays so it had been awhile since we’d seen them. We stopped by Thurs just to say hi and they had purchased a bottle of vodka since they were planning to have us over and they know we like it. So of course we had to sample it then so ended up having a few that evening. The next night, we returned for dinner which was sauteed cepes (porcini), followed by pizza on a homemade thick crust with tomatoes, anchovies, olives, onion, mushrooms. We each had two slices thinking that was the main but turns out, it was only the entree so then we put away pork rib chops served with sauteed mushrooms of a different variety that Lucien had picked early that day. Dessert was a fruit tart with apples and peaches oh and before that, a small salad course instead of cheese. And don’t forget that all meals must be served with bread so there was loads of that too. We left around 11 so it wasn’t too late which was good since we were out the next night too.
Saturday we had dinner at Sharon’s along with Lee and Richard. The three of them had met at our housewarming and we’d failed to meet up since then. Sharon made pork steaks that I bbq’d and she cut up and served with lemon and parsley. That went into grilled pita with hummus and was served with a bean and date salad that is a new specialty of hers. Richard made a beetroot and goat’s cheese tart that was very tasty. For dessert, Sharon made a sort of fig cheesecake with ginger cookie crust, ricotta and marscapone centre topped with fresh figs and honey. Wow was it good. I had some work to do the next day so didn’t drink very much at all whereas the boys had brought sleeping bags so didn’t need to worry about driving. The other four all did a good job on their respective wines (we had all three colours represented) and I was amused to watch the evening progress through various stages of drunkenness. It is rare for me to abstain on these evenings so I actually enjoyed being a bystander. Everyone seemed to enjoy each other’s company too.
On the work front, it’s gone a bit quiet but there are still some possibilities afloat. Of the three, one is definitely not happening and I’m waiting to hear on the other two. Tonight I finally finished my work for my friend with his own business that I’ve been doing since May. Now that Will can drive, he may see if there is any work in the area but we’re not too hopeful. My dad arrives tomorrow for a week so it will be nice to have some time off. Writing that doesn’t seem right but there it is.