Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Looking Up

 Just as there are bad days, there are good days too. Today is one of the latter.

The Magnificent M went to see the doctor this morning for a repeat prescription. So, as we do every time one of us sees him, she asked what news of the vaccine. We are on his list. For the next two weeks he only gets 10 doses a week and after that it is 30 per week. He is duty bound to vaccinate the most vulnerable first but a) he thinks we will have had our first jag by end March and therefore the second by end April. This means we could be in a good position to get into the UK when the borders open depending on what rules there are. He also has us on his emergency list so if people don't turn up we might get called to come straight in. 

Next up was that we both got an email to say we have our appointments to get our Carte de Sejour, the all valuable Right to Stay. This is in mid-April. They have accepted the forms we have sent them with the supporting evidence that prove we have lived in France for 5 years +. So all we have to do is take our passports, a typical passport sized photo, the email they have sent, and once they have seen those they should issue a card. All this is free from what we understand. Unlike the renewing of my passport which will wait for another day's scribblings. So again that would make travel easier if we can leave the country in May onwards. The other good thing about this, for us, is that it is one more physical sign of our integration into French living. Unlike many British who are scared stiff of identification cards, (whilst complaining about it on their mobile phones which are never more than a foot away from them), the French don't mind them. They make everything run much more smoothly. We will not be able to get the National Identification Card unless we take French Nationality. Which we probably won't, mainly for practical reasons should we wish to go back to live our final years "back home", although it feels less and less like somewhere we would think of as home with every year that passes.

3 comments:

Masher said...

Wow, sounds like you are almost fully froggyfied, Dave.
Don't blame you though: although we have only ever gone there for holidays (many times), we both like the more relaxed lifestyle that they seem to have (different in the cities, maybe). If we were to ever up-sticks and leave this sceptred isle, then France would be on our list of potential places to lay our hats.

Brennig said...

Good for you Dave. I almost wish I'd never come back from Spain; stayed out there and taken nationality. Almost.

kennamatic said...

Masher - I'm happy to be as frogified as possible without actually becoming one. Lots of people here of course panicked the moment Brexit was announced and went for French Citizenship. It hasn't occurred yet to some that they have indeed gained the right to stay in France but they have lost the right to enter the UK. That'll be the next thing. Complaining that the UK Government won't let them in and they are British.

Brennig - We like Majorca but don't really get on with mainland Spain. Too much tomato, olives and olive oil for me.