Farewell to the Granadilla Vine

Sorry I know it’s been a while. Dealing with French officialdom and administration is a full time job and has been taking much of my time.
When we first moved to France, my husband always said it will be ‘just for a year’ well that time has flown by and our year is nearly over.  I am however happy to report that is not just for a year especially as I am about to launch my new business Le Petit Chou Café.

But let’s rewind a little, after the kids were settled at school I began looking for some formal employment and even though the French grannies and gardens were keeping us busy it was not putting food on the table.  Obviously my biggest hurdle was my lack of fluency in French and nothing really suitable was being offered so as we say in Africa ‘ a boer maak a plan’ – (one makes a plan).

Our lovely friend and French teacher of all things official Mr C said ‘what you need is the little cafe under the arch’ what cafe under the arch?  (Mr C we cannot thank you enough for all the help and support you have given us).So this is how it all began.  We met with the owner who was amenable to our plan and so the paper trail began....

Firstly, I had to attend two courses in French one of 2 days and the other of 3 days, this was for the Hygiène alimentaire and Permis d'exploitation basically Health and Safety and the Operational licence.  Fortunately I was able to study some of the course material online beforehand and then translate the relevant slides so I could try and keep up with the class.  On the first day I arrived with big butterflies in my tummy worse than any exam.  (This was after very complicated child-care arrangements as of course, the courses were in the same week hubby needed to be in London.)  I greeted my fellow attendees with the usual bonjours and tried to smile confidentially when I was feeling anything but.  Just take the iniative Ruth, I thought, so I went up to the lecturer and explained my situation and he was very sympathetic as were the rest of my class mates.  I would love to say it was plain sailing from here on in but it certainly wasn’t in fact it was really hard work with lots of homework to do in the evening just to keep up, however I did manage to do it and obtain the necessary certificates required.

Next on the list was the notaire to set up the lease, ‘this is a very usual situation’, he said after I explained what I needed. Why was I not surprised, I thought the end of this venture would stop right there in the notaire’s office but then he said ‘ah, yes we could do it like this but it will mean this’ and then proceeded to list all the restrictions and conditions. Great, when can we sign? ‘Leave it with me’, six weeks later we were able to sign the lease, still not sure what took all that time but that’s how it goes around here.

Next port of call was the mairie; we had a good relationship with the outgoing mayor and didn’t really know the new one.  However we meet him socially and he was very charming and eager to assist in any way possible.  I made a rendez-vous for the next week and all the necessary permissions went smoothly including the agreement on me renting the outside space adjacent and opposite the cafe.

After signing the lease we needed to go to the Masion l’enterprise to register the business but surprise, surprise the local one is closed for the holidays and I now need to go to Perpignan,  I still need to register with the Department of Minstere de L’Agriculture, De L’Agroaliment et de la Foret, for the health and safety bit, meeting the bank manager or equivalent, sorting out the insurance all to be done by Friday. That’s all!

In the meantime we have been enjoying the company of some lovely visitors including my family from South Africa. Meeting them off the TGV from Paris, as my belle-soeur stepped off the train she didn’t see me, but my 7 month old nephew did and gave me this HUGE grin, what a way to meet him for the first time! It was precious moment. We had a wonderful time with them and I was very sad to see them go, however we have lovely visitors for the rest of August and currently some of our closest friends are with us.

So the cafe opens on the 1^st August we need to leave our rented house by the 31^st August so this is farewell to the granadilla vine that is in its full glory at the moment.  This house has cradled us for our first year and helped us settle into the community, we will miss the glorious views but the one thing about St Paul there is always a glimpse of a view.  So my next blog will be on peitichoucafe@blogspot.com which will be written in a quiet moment outside the cafe still looking at our wonderful mountains.

Thank you for reading this blog and the support you have given me and I hope to see you on the petitchou site. A bientôt.

How Alice went to Perpignan, Polish and came back French

It’s been a while, sorry, been very busy with lots of ‘things’ including our first foray into French bureaucracy.

Well that's not quite true as we had to do all the forms for school but this was a venture out into the ‘French government world’ of getting our Polish car registered before the end of January.

Back in December I called the ever helpful and reliable E, HELP, I need to go to the Prefecture to get the ball rolling to register the car.  We go into Perpignan and go to said office and stand in the queue, I have what I think may be all the necessary papers but I am convinced there will be more.  How right I was.

E and the helpful women rattle off in French, I am catching only the odd word here and there but when I hear Paris and Renault I really start to panic, especially when E repeats it. After what seemed forever, the conversation abruptly ends with 'mercis, au revoir and bonne journées'; and E says we need a coffee and a sit down and she will explain it all slowly as even she got confused.  Thank goodness she was with me.

So we have a list of forms we must take back with us to get the all important ‘carte grise’ the most important one being the European compliance form from Renault, as that takes the longest and should be done straight away. We should not go to the Treasury before the 22 Jan as then the car (Alice) will be exactly 10 years old and the import tax will be half price which would amount to rather a large saving.

I dutifully email Renault straight away asking for said form, a couple of days later I get a reply, they are very happy to give me said form if I part with €155.00. Are you kidding me, this car has never been out of Europe and now that I want to bring to France (home of it’s manufacture) I need to pay this for privilege.  E and I tried to investigate further, on why we had to pay this large sum but we were hitting our heads against the proverbial brick wall. So pay we did and held our breath that it would come in time.

Now for the control technique (MOT), once again the lovely E came to the fore and booked our appointment in Perpignan.  We duly took Alice in and of course there was a ‘petit problème’.  Which meant we had to go to our local mechanic to have the petit problème’ fixed.  However the lovely mechanic was ‘très malade’ and unable to work for three days, he is quite well now thankfully.  I was starting to panic as the insurance was going to expire in three days....

I really did not want to be driving an illegal car especially with other people’s children in it.  So we went to our local insurance office and explained our problem, once again no officiousness just a very kind and helpful woman who, fortunately for me spoke quite good English.  This is very complicated she says, we know we say, however leave it with me and then I will send you the quote we still have a bit of time.  So we did, and she did send the quote and although I still do not really understand it all we paid for a month and then when we get our card grise she will start the yearly insurance cover. Okay breathe, it’s going to be okay.

We had also been to the Treasury to get their required form, another trip to Perpignan I was really holding my breath here as we thought this would be very expensive, however, the once again very kind man (who spoke perfect English but will keep speaking French as it is better for us to learn) gave us the correct form required and charged us NOTHING!!! What the whole reason this had to be so last minute was because it would be cheaper not nothing, but don’t look a gift horse and all that...

So, the letter had come from Renault, hurrah. With the mechanic back in good health the ‘petit problème’ was fixed all we had to do was go back to the control technique to have it rubber stamped. Then back to the Prefecture.  Let’s just check do we have all the correct forms and passports?

We arrive at the Prefecture at 10.30ish and stand in the queue, closes at 11.30, while we in the queue I realise I have forgotten the most important document, the car registration, which fortunately was in the car in the car park.  Hubby says wait and see what the lady says and if she is happy with all the other forms and then he would go and get it.  Our turn at the window comes, no English this time but smiles and understanding on both sides result!  But before we can get the all important number she must see the car registration card first.  No need to queue again, just get the card and come to the window.  We do all that,  but she is not at the window, phew she sees us as she is going for her smoke break and is happy enough for us to be rewarded for the all important queue number.

So we are number 59, and its only 30 something on the board, so we wait and we wait, and wait a little longer, eventually we are called and all looks well but then we wait some more to be pay and get the all important form.  The doors have closed long ago, lots of the staff are leaving for lunch, the blinds are coming down on the counter windows we are still waiting, and there are only about five of us left.  It must be complicated I say this Polish registered car, bought in England, manufactured here and now trying to be registered here.  Eventually our name is called and you would like HOW MANY EUROS..... so this was the expensive bit, but it’s done, Alice is no longer Polish but French.

Our reward was a delicious lunch at a local bistro with some great local wines; Alice was presented and fitted with shining new French plates. On the way home hubby says now that we know what do to do it will be a doddle for the English car.......... I had no words!