Bureaucracy and red tape… bring it on !!

So we now have our cartes d’identité. The final step…. to register our cartes d’identité with the Marie so that we have the right to vote.

The process so far…
1. After 18 months of collating pieces of paper ranging from our parents birth and marriage certificates to gerndarmerie reports, and passing an oral french exam where we were quizzed on our integration into French life we are given French nationality. All the paperwork and interviews were handled by the local prefecture office in Vannes.

2. Now we have French nationality we are required to carry cartes d’identité. To apply for a carte d’identité we must go to the Mairie in our commune, Reminiac. I trot along with the piece of paper from Vannes prefecture confirming our French nationality and ask for our cartes d’identité. Not that simple!… Again loads of paper required, birth certificates, marriage certificates, copies of passports, proof of address etc etc.. And photos are required… the photo booth sort are not acceptable… they MUST be exactly xmm * ymm. EVENTUALLY we collate all of the required paperwork and fill in a four page application form for our cartes d’identité. These dossiers are then sent to the prefecture in Vannes, as they  issue the cartes d’identité. Needless to say the prefecture in Vannes already holds all of the documents in our cartes d’identité dosier.

3. After three months we receive our cartes d’identité. When I collect our cartes d’identité from the Mairie, the secretary advises that we can now apply to vote. Excellent, how do we do this? By going to the Mairie with the cartes d’identité and filling in another form. This form and copies of our cartes d’identité will then be sent to Vannes and we will be placed on the voting register.  Phew….

Now, it occurs to me that this is a small example of the HUGE amount of paper that is circling around France. Wouldn’t it be simpler for Vannes prefecture to issue the cartes d’identité and add our names to the voting register at the same time as they granted us French nationality?….

But then, France wouldn’t be France as we know it… no, on balance I am kinda getting used to the enormous amounts of  bureaucracy and red tape and dare I say it, I am becoming to find it quite reassuring. Proof that I am becoming integrating into the French way of life !!

Malestoit…. Orange weather warning…

Now enjoying fog, calm dense fog. A welcome change from wind, rain, more wind and more rain.

Malestoit, our nearest town has a canal running through it and although very pretty in the summer… has caused no end of damage during the last week.

The Orange weather warning has just been lifted and earlier this week this was close to being a Red weather warning.

Severe flooding... many roads closed

Many houses were flooded, the fire brigade used boats to evacuate houses, the two secondary schools were closed due to flooding (much to my daughters delight!!) and many roads are still closed.
For those of you that know Malestoit, you will not recognise the photos I took yesterday….
This photo is on a road …. leading to a dead end…

Many roads in Malestroit still flooded

It may be a while before this family play badminton!!

Galette des Rois.. the BIG question, pear and chocolate or frangipane?

The Galette des Rois (Kings cake) is one of my favourite French traditions. The Galette des Rois is a scrumptious cake of puff pastry stuffed with frangipane, where only refined almond powder is used.

Galette des Rois

Today is the day we can ‘officially’ eat this absolutely scrumptious cake which truely does melt in the mouth… although to be truthful I have been eating them since they first appeared in the shops on 2nd December!!, but today, as it is the day when EVERYONE has to eat a Galette des Rois.. I am off to the boulangerie to buy a ‘proper’ one for the after school gouter… Dilemma, do I buy the pear and chocolate, that the children would prefer or the frangipane that I prefer… a huge decision that will test whose ‘needs’/ preferences will come first.. Oh, how I hate these dilemma’s….

Inside of the Galette is placed a small ‘feve’, the prize, which usually is a small ceramic figurine which I am amazed is still permitted as these could easily be swallowed or at the very least break a tooth !!..

The tradition.

1.Gather friends and friends around a table.

2.The youngest person then crawls under the table.

3.The oldest (or the most honest !!) person then acts as distributor.

4.The distributor then cuts a slice of the galette and the person nominates who should be served each slice.

5.The person who finds the ‘feve’ is the King and wears the crown !!

Il y a de l’eau dans le gaz.

I wait by the school gates to pick up Joe.

The small car park is now full. As we wait we hear an argument from one of the waiting cars.

Veronique says..’ Oh il y a de l’eau dans le gaz. ‘

This seems a pretty wierd expression. When ever does water get in the gas?

This expression comes from the kitchen, when water gets into the gas flame it changes colour and the noise the water makes as it evaporates sounds like and explosion which has been likened to raised voices… et voila the source of this French saying!