Wednesday 27 July 2016

And another day out!

I was settled into a day of jam making,
the recent plum harvest now in the fridge, holding their own, but needing to be jammed.
But Lester was man on a mission today,
and that was to get the French Driving License Project done with,
so a phone call to a doctor to give me a medical.
an appointment was made,
oh dear, now nearly 11am, appointment at 1.30 pm in Tarbes, better get moving, not much time.
So into the supermarket to grab food to eat along the way,
into Tarbes in good time,
everyone at lunch as is the manner of French people,
(12 to 2 lunch break and lots of shops shut) 
so plenty of car parking space available.
A pleasant walk along to the medical place,
arrived in good time.
Medical certificate given.
 
Town now unpleasantly busy as everyone moves into their afternoon doings,
Lester, still on a mission, decides to tackle the Prefecture again.
Squeezes into a car parking space by inches,
this time right by the Prefecture,
which is a good thing,
because my feet were not going to be walking very far today after yesterday's hot hike.
Prefecture still not hugely busy, the time now being 2.30 pm.
Summonsed to the necessary desk almost immediately.
Oh, a different woman,
looking equally as irritable and bad humoured as did the lady from yesterday until we got connected by 'the thought', which then made her shine.
And here's a funny thing,
not 'funny ha ha' but 'that's a curious thing' funny,
because the new lady called over yesterday's lady,
who was still smiling and all of a shine,
and she couldn't do enough to get the documents processed as efficiently as possible.
If left to the new lady I think we would have had problems.
Oh I did observe the new lady,
thinking that perhaps she might lighten up,
but since I was sitting there like a lump of cold porridge,
fatigue having draped itself around me like a sticky cobweb,
no enlightenment came through for me to pass her way.
 
Done.
It is done.
And the curious sense of another link between me and my old life in the UK being severed,
as we walked back to the car with the temporary French driving license clutched in my hand.
We still have to wait for the official license to come through in the post,
but my old license is now being sent back to the DVLA in the UK by the French authorities,
so I am no longer a registered UK driver.
 
Yesterday's lady gave us the beamiest of smiles as we left.
She was a great help.
 
Home now, and absolutely tired out.
Not to worry, start again tomorrow.
The fruit already processed is still refusing to rot,
as is the bucket of plums still waiting to be prepped.
So, you will find me jamming tomorrow!
And we shall not be going out at all!
 
Bye for now,
 
Vx
 
 
 


15 comments:

PioneerPreppy said...

So your feet are fine and your making jam tomorrow? Did you have to squash those plums like the girls do with grapes?

Cro Magnon said...

I have considered doing this myself, as I believe that a French licence lasts FOR LIFE.

Dawn said...

in a few weeks I am making a trip away for a couple of days I am going to a quilting festival packed with people not looking forward to that part at all will be staying in our old home ground and dreading it, glad you got your license sorted and the day passed without issues.

Vera said...

PIONEERPREPPY, oh that is so funny, especially because my feet have now been walked on for many a year and are in a bit of state!

CRO MAGNON, yes, I think it does although I have to have an eye test again in two years. It took about fifteen minutes in the Prefecture to do the paperwork, and the new license will come through the post soon. Meanwhile we have temporary ones. I had to change licenses because I am seventy next year and my UK license expires then so it will need renewing. We don't have a UK address anymore and I would have had to ask someone to let me use their address, which is something I did not want to do. Definitely worth it to convert to a French license.

Vera said...

DAWN, are you, too, becoming used to the quiet life of a smallholder! I would also like to go to a quilting festival but would also not welcome the clutter of people and traffic......!

DUTA said...

Congratulations! Well done! The driver's licence is a vital thing when you live in a rural area.

Coco said...

Uf - driver´s licenses in Spain are a big cash cow. There´s yet another kickback scandal on at the moment involving the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. They wouldn´t validate mine so I had to do classes and everything. Passed the first time though. What a giant pain!

Congrats on another step to going native!!

Vera said...

DUTA, I agree with you, although you can drive electric cars without a license!


COCO, all we had to do was get ours converted from the UK license to the French license, which was a scary enough process, so not sure how I would have managed if I had to have taken classes as well. Done a thought panic I think!

Rhodesia said...

Glad it is all sorted. Our Mirabelles are still very green on the tree, but yes they are also heading for dehydration when they are ready :) Diane

Vera said...

DIANE, our next crop of plums is due for the dehydrator.

Kerry said...

Haven't even thought about changing our licence, perhaps in the future as we have years left on it yet. Our last effort at dehydrating wasn't good, we tried apricots. They looked nothing like the packet ones, so unappealing, but hubby enjoyed them :)

Coppa's girl said...

Congratulations on getting your licence changed.
Coco is right - driving licences in Spain are making very big money for the private Medical Clinics which do them. If you are resident, you have to have a Spanish licence. Each time it's 60 euros, and any excuse is used, once you're over sixty five years of age, to make you have a medical every year. My husband has to do this, and so far it's cost him over 600 euros, for a five minute consultation. All they do is check blood pressure and ask you to read one letter on the bottom two lines of an eye chart.

Vera said...

KERRY, I haven't dehydrated apricots, and probably never would preferring to can them in sugar syrup, but at least your husband will eat yours up. The French license makes things less complicated, for instance Lester was told off by a French policeman the other day because he still had his UK license. They were doing spot checks. Also, we do not have an English address in the UK anymore, and the DVLA will not post to France.

COPPA'S GIRL, ....my medical was the same,.....blood pressure, eye test, lasted five minutes, cost 35 euros, and I don't have to have another one again, but do need an eye test in two years because the doctor made me read all of the eye chart not just the last two lines. Looks like Spain have quite a scam going on with that medical every year.

minwks said...

Hi Vera,
Well done on making the commitment to your life in France and making the effort to get your licence.

I composted pounds of golden plums as I could not give them away fast enough. Once they begin to ferment they attract the bald face wasps who then harass the bee hives.

We shook and banged them off the tree just before we left for The Netherlands for three months on our little boat.

All the best.
Janine

Vera said...

MINWKS, I think making a commitment to a new life is the right thing to do.....I have seen too many people not be able to do that, and they end up dissatisfied with their lives, always looking over their shoulder at their old life which stops them from being able to fully integrate with their new life. I was definitely not going to do that when we came here to France.
If the only option you had was to compost those plums, then that is what you had to do. I have kept up with the fruit produce this year, but there has been years when I haven't been able to. All you were doing was putting the plums back to nature and saving the bee hives from attack from those wasps.

I hope you enjoy your trip to the Netherlands. It must be nice and slow way to have a holiday, which must be good for the soul! Vx