Friday 16 May 2008

I Am An Internaut

Following our run in with the law we thought we'd better get on to sorting out registering our ownership of Frogmella and whilst in the mood for venturing into Limoges and looking officialdom in the eye, why not get TS registered as self employed to increase our employment options?

The saga started Tuesday when our very good friend Elizabeth from Limousin Property Shop . (very very very good friend. What else can you call someone who will drive for an hour to do you a favour and then be surprised and delighted when you offer to pay for the coffees, bless her she is one in a million).

Anyway it started Tuesday. First job was to go to our local Mairie to get the right form for the car. We thought at this point (naive!) that we were going to the Marie to actually sort this out. No we were given the right form and instructions on where to go in Limoges to sort it out and what to take with us.

In the mean time Elizabeth had rung to check what we needed to do for TS to register and where to go. So the printer was red hot photocopying our life's archives passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate, driving licences, utility bills, bank statements, school report from the fourth year (kidding! or am I?). And we thought "Great! we can get all this done in an afternoon with the aid of our French speaking friend"

There will now be a pause while we and everyone else who lives in France laughs hysterically.

To be fair we did loose an hour by getting lost in the one way system and not being able to park.

Then we went to where we thought we should go only to find out we should actually be somewhere else at the other side of the city centre. So we hopped into Elizabeth's car to go where we ought to. There we (well Elizabeth) spoke to a very nice lady who couldn't actually help us but promised to pass TS's dossier on to the person who could the very next day. This person would ring Elizabeth if they had any questions.

And she did the very next day. We were impressed!

In the mean time the very next day we went back to Limoges to sort out the car registration as by the time we had finished at the right place where they couldn't actually help us at that moment in time the Prefecture was closed.

We went in a took a ticket. Good system I thought. It was. The only problem was the 33 people in front of me in the queue. Anyway to cut a long wait short I presented all the right documents got a slip of paper in return then queued at the paying for the car registration desk and YAY ! got the new Carte Grise (car registration document).

Do you know I have lost the will to live just recounting this so I will race to the finish and tell you that another two trips into Limoges later TS is registered as self employed in the business of Computer and Internet Services and Gardening. His title? Chef D'Enterprise.

I am consumed with envy at this important title as I am now classed as his dependent (then again I always did want to be a kept woman), but my time as 34th in the queue was not wasted oh no for I learnt a new French word whilst watching the information screen going round and round. I am an internaut ! So much more dashing don't you think than internet surfer.

ps the park is the Jardin Moulin Pinard which we found when we were lost at some point over the last week.

13 comments:

softinthehead said...

Breezy - forewarned is forearmed, if you had read my post Bonne Anniversaire ! (May 2nd) (I know I am crap at links - what can I say - I know I obviously need to hire your Chef d'Enterprise at some time in the future!! :) anyhoo - I degress - Had you read it, you would never have ventured anywhere near Limoges :) Just reading your post brought it all back.....

Kitt said...

Ahhh, good times in foreign lands! Glad you got it all sorted.

dND said...

You were so right, I read the line "get all this done in an afternoon" and dissolved into laughter.

Well done on getting it all sorted, I think 3 trips to get two official things done is pretty good going.

Deborah

aims said...

I know you are not kidding - but I want to say 'You're kidding!'....really - I want to!

Why does everything 'official' in France so incredibly hard? Why do they make everyone jump through hoops all over the place?

"Under my thumb" keeps going through my head....

Breezy said...

SITH what can I say but needs must! I'd be quite happy never to go into Limoges or any other city really

Kitt The really frustatung thing is not being able to communicate properly. I am compiling a list who people who are in for a good talking to just as soon as I can

Deborah you'd think we'd know by now wouldn't you?

Aims I have to accept that my hosts have a different way of doing things than I'm used to. It's the other side of the coin that makes France such a nice place to live. One of the differences seems to be the need to go down and personally deal with people rather than just sending off forms.

Debra in France said...

Don't the French love beaurocracy? Why do something today when you can spread it out over 2 or 3 days and involve more than one department! WHen I went to register as a hairdresser in the CHambre de Metiers, and I already phoned and made an appointment, arrived on time only to be told that the person had left and that I didn't have a appointment after all. I could have screamed!

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

Oh Crikey I though the county and local councils were pedantic enough here. My sis lives in Luxembourg and the red tape they have to go through makes France seem a breeze. Everything there is noted, recorded, registered, cast in stone etc. One day a friend of my sister was bitten by a dog. The owner was unsympathetic and was quite rude to her so she reported the incident to the police. She had to go down to the station and lo and behold the cops had a photo album with a picture of every dog that was registered. She had to pick the dog out from a stack of photies! The owner was fined and warned not to let the dog bite anyone else!

How's that for efficiency!

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

Oh Crikey I though the county and local councils were pedantic enough here. My sis lives in Luxembourg and the red tape they have to go through makes France seem a breeze. Everything there is noted, recorded, registered, cast in stone etc. One day a friend of my sister was bitten by a dog. The owner was unsympathetic and was quite rude to her so she reported the incident to the police. She had to go down to the station and lo and behold the cops had a photo album with a picture of every dog that was registered. She had to pick the dog out from a stack of photies! The owner was fined and warned not to let the dog bite anyone else!

How's that for efficiency!

Anonymous said...

NEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD LEEDS GOING TO WEMBLEY NEXT SUNDAY WILL HAVE TO QUEUE ALLNIGHT FOR TICKETS AS MY MUM IS TO OLD TO DO IT ANY MORE ANYMORE COME ON YOU WHITES

MARTIN

Breezy said...

Yes Debs we had something like that "come back any day this week just a few things to sign I'll keep it on my desk" just our luck she wasn't there so we got a different set of stuff to fill in. We even had to give them TSs mother's and father's names for all the good that will do them


MOBs I now have a mental picture of a book of known offenders full of dogs of the ilk of Bill Sykes' Bullseye holding little number plates up in front of themselves.

Martin Yes it's a shame your little sister is in France and can't be persuaded to go queue for you anymore too. Never mind the grandson will be of queueing age before you know it so you's better start indoctrinating him now. If you get your tickets don't have so many refreshments on the bus down that you fall asleep and miss the match. ps how did they manage to get to Wembley?

travelling, but not in love said...

French bureaucracy. They do it so well, don't they?

Whenever I'm faced with it I just say to myself "it could be worse, it could be Italy" over and over again.

It rarely helps, if I'm truthful.

Rowan said...

Sounds like quite an experiebce! Just as well you had Elizabeth to help out, I think officialdom is pretty much the same everywhere, nothing is ever straightforward is it? At least it's all done now anyway:)

Breezy said...

TBNIL yes I only have to say to myself I could be on the M62!

Rowan yes first round over now all that's left is to get customers and make money surely that will be easy in comparrison