Thursday, November 26, 2020

An act of defiance.

The post lady arrives bearing a letter from the British Embassy in Paris.  A lengthy list of things that have to be done before the UK leaves the EU on December 31st. We did everything on the list three years ago, so there's no need for panic. Pity the poor souls who are only now waking up to the fact that they will soon be treated as 'aliens'.

The post lady also bring Obamas new book for 'The Font' .


No excess of caution on the part of the gutter cleaning man who shimmies up his ladder with gravity defying ease. He throws down handfuls of leaves . Sophie finds this to be soul hearteningly exciting. She stands at the bottom of the ladder and howls her support. Every clump of leaves that tumbles down from on high is carefully sniffed. What joy!

Sophie settles down on the front doorstep for a restorative nap. The builder arrives. There is much excitement in the village. Overnight someone has painted a skull and crossbones on the gates of the chateau. Underneath the words ' Virus ! Danger !! '. Angus can't help but think there is something rather medieval about this response to the arrival of the pandemic in out little corner of paradise. The builder volunteers his view on who might be responsible . It goes without saying the man with anger management issues is the prime suspect. This  story is the gift that keeps on giving. 


Holiday music from a more innocent age.This song one of the few things I remember as an 'alien' child from  the American Thanksgiving of the 1960's. It's certainly the right music for an unusual Thanksgiving :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBKkV1Q_DLM

5 comments:

Lisa in France said...

I never realized you have a palm tree! Happy Thanksgiving to all. https://twitter.com/SpotTheLoon2010/status/1331614141031673862

Susan said...

I admin one of the Brits in France support groups on FB. Only about a quarter of British residents applied for Cartes de Séjour when advised to after the referendum. And it is believed that there could be 10 times as many resident Brits as the French authorities are expecting in certain areas. So pity the French public servants lumbered with all this as well as the insouciant or frightened Brits (there are a lot of Brits who are frightened their income isn't going to be sufficient to qualify for residency or who have never submitted a tax return, so they've avoided the whole issue). I assume you know that CdS holders now have until July next year to exchange their card for the new WARP using the online application.

Coppa's girl said...

Some time ago I signed up to receive regular email Brexit updates from the UK Government.
Fortunately we applied for Residency, Health Care and Spanish Driving Licences when we moved to here years ago. We've also been tax residents for those years too - in fact I recently paid various taxes for 2019. At some time I shall need to change to a different form of residency card, (known as a TIE here) though we have been assured that there is no need for the time being. I have applied for an updated UK Health card (EHIC) - quite a simple process online, but had to be done before the end of the year.
Lucky Sophie - piles of rotting leaves to sniff - Inca considers this to be near the pinnacle of excitement. Yesterday I spent time in the garden bagging up leaves and she didn't get so much as a sniff in passing!

Fat Dormouse said...

I came on to say the same as Susan's last line. I have my 10 year Carte de Séjour, but I still have to change it for a WARP. Forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs!

Fay said...

And Happy Thanksgiving to all who would like to find something to be thankful for, during this (still) dire time. Having been in the United States for Thanksgivings in the 1960s, I, too, find that song a tad unusual for the celebration!