31 December 2014

Tonnerre bis, and a new life phase

As I said yesterday, here are some more "aerial" photos of the town of Tonnerre in Burgundy. We were there with the dog in October 2014. We drove up to the top of the hill from which the Église Saint-Pierre looks out over the town, and then we drove down to the base of the hill and found the Fosse Dionne. I foresee another trip to Burgundy in the not too distant future.


Today we bid the year 2014 adieu. For me it was the year of my 65th birthday. I began collecting two small retirement pensions (not nearly enough to live on) from two different French retirement funds that I paid into back in the 1970s and early 1980s when I worked as a teacher in a succession of schools in Rouen, Paris, and Metz.


Being a French pensioner means I'm now fully accredited by the French national health insurance system. I no longer have to fill out forms to re-apply for coverage every year, and Walt is covered too. Until now, we had to pay into the system every year, contributing an amount based on our income. As far as I know, my contributions to the French health car system now are deducted from my French pensions.


Both of us also have U.S. retirement pensions too. It feels like life is entering a new phase. I may well apply for French citizenship in 2015, and I don't think I'll have any trouble getting it. It's all about settling in. I'll still enjoy my annual trip to the U.S. to see family and friends, but I don't think I'll ever be tempted to move back there. When I came to live here in 2003, it was with the idea of finishing out my days in France.


Why French citizenship? Well, the forces of the extreme right are on the move in France. Marine Le Pen's Front National is polling well, and her party is radically anti-immigration. Who knows what might happen? It might be better for me to have a French carte nationale d'identité and passeport over the next decade or two. The only real requirements are having lived here for a few years and being able to speak French — I meet those.


I sometimes wonder what might happen to all the British people who have moved to France the way Americans might move from New Jersey to North Carolina to live, with no bureaucratic formalities to worry about, if the United Kingdom votes to pull out of the European Union. A referendum on the question is in the works for 2017 across the Channel. It probably won't happen, but it's interesting to think about. What status would all these newly non-European British expatriates have here under a far-right French government?

20 comments:

  1. Le Pen and immigration : I think you are not at all concerned ( you or british, dutch etc .. expat). Far right is more and more important in Europe even in nordic countries like Sweden for example.

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    1. I wasn't thinking about British people being expelled, but about the French government requirement that non-Europeans who want to live here demonstrate that they can speak French. And about non-Europeans having to get visas and cartes de séjour or de résident, which have to be renewed periodically. Also proving that you have enough money to live on without looking for work for the first five years. Those are all the administrative hassles we Americans have to go through. Not to mention the health care system.

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  2. I forgot did you visit Dijon ? A very nice city. After all it was the capital of the powerfull duchy of Burgundy.

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    1. Not this time. We'd been to Auxerre, Dijon and Beaune before. I want to go back to see Autun, for example.

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  3. I doubt you would have a lot to fear from the far right. But I would get citizenship -- it makes sense to be able to vote where you live, for example. I got it about 10 years ago and without it would not have been able to get the job I have.

    I didn't realize you had taught in France "way back when." What did you teach?

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    1. I was an assistant d'anglais in a lycée in Rouen for one year (1972-73), and then I taught English at l'ENA and at the Sorbonne for a couple of years. Later, I had a year-long job as a lecteur d'anglais américain at the Université de Metz and then returned to teach English classes at l'ENA in Paris for another 18 months. In between time, I was teaching French in the U.S. (7 or 8 years) and leading groups of U.S. students who were spending a semester or a school year in Paris. I was young and energetic back then, and I was really happy to be able to spend a total of about 7 years in France. I went back to the U.S. in 1982 and had a 20 year career there in Wash. DC and the SF Bay Area before retiring.

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  4. mais oui! it makes perfect sense.

    this country wants to move far right also, where only white anglo-saxon protestant str8 men have the power and everyone else (read: different) has none. you are better off where you are.

    happy 2015 to all at your house!

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    1. I do think we are better off here. Happy New Year to you too, A M.

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  5. Interesting, Ken. Did you teach French in high school? I did that before coming here, also for 7 1/2 years...was a debate coach too.

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    1. I was a T.A. at the U. of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign during the 1970s.

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  6. Happy New Year, Ken. I hope it brings you many new adventures.

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  7. When they held the referendum in Scotland re: independence earlier this year it became a serious issue for Niall. If the vote had been yes and Scotland had had to re-apply for EU membership [with of course no guarantee of membership] it could have gotten "interesting".

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    1. I imagine that was a worrisome time for you two. Happy New Year to both of you.

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  8. I can't imagine anything but positive to come from having additional citizenship in France, eh?

    Happy 2015! Hope your New Year's Eve celebration is great.

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    1. Yes, Judy, that's the way I see it. I would like to be able to vote. I don't think French citizenship would change much else for me, except that it would make to clear to everyone that I don't intend to leave France and live elsewhere.

      Hope you and yours have a fantastic 2015.

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  9. Bravo Ken! We wish you all the best if and when you decide to go ahead with your citizenship application. I am finding the constant gnawing away at UK EU membership extremely worrying, given my health issues and the dual taxation treaty which simplifies our tax position (believe it or not!). We'll be most interested to know what hoops the bureaucrats require you to jump through. Enjoy your New Years Eve and Happy New Year to you all.

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    1. Pauline, all the best to you and Tim, and a very happy 2015 to the two of you. The U.S. has a dual taxation treaty with France too, so the UK even if it left the EU might be able to keep that. I imagine that all you British expats would be "grandfathered" in after living in France for a long time.

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  10. I'm glad to see that your Grand Life Plan is unrolling as you hoped. Happy New Year!

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    1. Thanks, Chrissou. Happy New Year to you, Tony, and the whole famn damily.

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  11. You ask a pertinent question, Ken, one the anti-EU, anti-immigration mob in Britain seem never to have considered. It's not just France, of course - what happens to all those British pensioners who "snowbird" (or should it be "rainbird") to southern Spain? They're not going to sign up for seasonal fruit-picking and road-mending to replace the Bulgarians and Romanians. Oh, and one consequence of a vote to leave the EU might well be a new move towards Scottish independence with a view to their trying to get back in.....!

    Good luck with the application. It sounds as though the maire and local community would welcome it.

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What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?