The “things have changed since 2004” was in the context of the necessity / obligation of having a CdS…& was his quote, not mine.
My own experience was similar when I arrived in 2002 ; I / we applied for CdS within the given period & waited until the following February to be told we didn’t qualify…only later did the Mayor tell me it was no longer necessary.
I’m not sure either if saying they can’t be arsed is entirely fair…unless you know them personally…only evidence I’ve seen is the article on the Connexion page.
I think in general, a bit more understanding & a lot less criticism from ex-pats, at ex-pats might make the whole, frankly, fucking awful situation a little more palatable for all concerned.
Nothing gladdens the immigrant heart more than an expat wot repenteth, Bob, and the next stage in your return to the fold for you, my lad, is the preputial snip at the practised hand of our resident High Priestess of Normalisation & Integration Sainte Véronique, or Baptism by Total Immersion by our resident Monseigneur de la Sacrée Piscine Propre who, if my feeble memory serves me well, is HH Dr. John Scully of this parish.
I thought both you and Bob could benefit from a lesson in the meaning and usage of expatriate versus immigrant in order to avoid any future “telling’s off”, or should it be “telling off’s” -( I’m sure someone will tell me )- from the SFN grammar Police. Having left school at the tender age of fifteen l am always grateful for any help l can get in both the spoken and written use of English. https://grammarist.com/usage/expatriate-vs-immigrant/
Reflecting on it, the thing that galls me most is not that they got it wrong. As you point out we can all get things wrong from time to time. However, her vituperative reaction that blamed everyone but themselves was the bit that I found unpalatable. (I looked at her facebook video). Had she said “whoops! Look at the mess we’ve got ourselves in and does anyone have ideas about how we can climb out of this” I might have had sympathy. But swearing at ‘them’ is just pointless.
I tend to agree with the last post but…I have just honestly burst into tears of frustration whilst trying to bill the French state via the new whizzy online payments site.
It was about as user friendly as being taken moose hunting by Sarah Palin.
I unfortunately couldn’t make the FB video work.
I realise that some folks maybe feel more entitled than others; & therefore, expect help to be more readily available… I can’t tell you the number of times & the wasted hours spent trying to get answers from RSI, as just one example (even my accountant couldn’t be arsed)…but, I can’t see the point either of vitriolic replies from other immigrants / ex-pats who could so easily have found themselves in the same shit.
This is a situation (B word, for clarity) that could / should unify (is that the word ?) people living abroad; not bringing out the smugness in those that are "sorted.
Sorry if I come across as some fucking hippy, who loves everyone regardless
And just to add, I haven’t been sniffing patchouli or crocheting yoghurt
I love crocheted yoghurt, particulary if flavoured with patchouli so I would never hold that against someone.
Yes I am sorted as far as CdS goes as have permanent card. However just because I have no sympathy for them doesn’t automatically mean I am smug about it. Despairing perhaps, ashamed at the feeble behaviour of fellow country-people, and stunned at how they have managed not to progress very far in two years - but that’s about it. I really don’t think you can extrapolate one from the other.
No assumptions made Jane…my remark was in (humouristic) response to replies from both Vero & Peter…
When I last looked, humour was still permitted on some sites…& even threads pertaining to the wretched Brexit
Sometimes one just has to look a bit harder for it
And just to relieve a little of the confusion, my earlier post has been edited.
Bob you seem a very tender-hearted man, your signature image has always lifted my spirits, almost as much as Captain Bill Morgan’s and his goose (both of blessed memory, Gone But Not Forgotten, and his lovely wife: NB Bill was not married to the goose, neither was the wife, it was an aquatic ménage-à-trois, and platonic as far as the goose was concerned, who mysteriously disappeared). Come back Bill!
Many years ago when I was a student in Germany I had to have an Aufenhaltserlaubnis aka permission to stay in Germany. At the end of the second academic year I didn’t renew it because it ran out in August by which time I would be gone, I would no longer be in Germany, I would be on holiday and then off to another university in another country.
Well I was called in for an interview with the criminal police when I hadn’t renewed my permit by the end of June, they were v surprised when I said I had no intention of staying in Germany and it was all a bit Kafkaesque really. Anyway a couple of weeks later I got an official letter saying I was cleared of suspicion of slight infringement of the law on foreign residency. Anyway I don’t think residency is that difficult nowadays unless you actually are doing something dodgy.
