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The most recent entries are at the top of this page. Earlier entries follow in reverse chronological order.
28.03.2017
John and I went to lunch with Kathleen and David, a couple who live in Oswego, Oregon and are friends with some of our friends in Democrats Abroad. We met Kathleen and Dave about a year ago at one of the DA meetings. They are a fun, interesting couple with many interests similar to ours. Dave congratulated us for having "made it" here. At one point Kathleen commented on my very limited French and asked, "How do you survive?" I replied (as if asking a clerk a question) "Do you speak English?" and I smiled. So very many people here speak English plus we have translation tools and books to help us out. There are still difficulties but it’s much easier than I had expected. 35% of the French people speak English. The % in the cities is much higher – easily 50%. I do recommend learning spoken French as best you can. Reading and writing French can be augmented with Google translate or other online translation programs (although their accuracy is spotty).
My sister, Linda, and her husband, Philip, will be here to visit in a few weeks (mid May) and we have so many things we want to show them. Although the water will still be a bit cold we're all gonna take a dip in the crystal blue Mediterranean Sea. You can almost see Africa from here! OK - that's an exaggeration, but the sentiment is there. Very exotic.
I am susceptible to sunburn so I prefer a modest swimsuit. I found a couple of swimsuits specifically categorized as "modest swimwear". They're not as modest as the burquini but the design is similar. It's a one piece with shorts beneath a short skirt attached to the top. The top has quarter length sleeves to protect the shoulders from the sun. The short skirt protects the upper thighs from sunburns. Although we won't spend a lot of swimsuit time on the beach the sun can be intense during the Mediterranean summers.
There are two pics below of our cat Tommy looking out our kitchen window. That morning John saw Tommy watching Dovey eating breakfast. It was a sweet image until Tommy lunged at the window giving poor Dovey a fright. It's OK, though. The doves come back in 5 minutes to scarf down more seeds. That scenario is part of our daily life with cats and doves we love (living with a pane of glass between them).
Normally I don't let the cats in the kitchen if I know the doves are on the ledge. Tommy and Danny have free reign with the pigeons (which I want to deter, because they poop so much right on the ledge), but I want the doves to feel safe. Have you ever tried training a cat that doves are off limits but pigeons are fair game (so to speak).
On 3 March the European Parliament voted to end visa-free travel for Americans. That action requires more time and more steps before it can be implemented. Because of tourism concerns it probably won’t be implemented, but if it is, John and I have had first hand experience with that process. It’s not simple. This vote comes after the US failed to agree to visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa. The disparity has been going on for several years – it’s not just Trump’s words and behavior that led to this vote which urges the revocation of the current scheme within two months, meaning Americans will have to apply for extra documents (for a 12 months visa) after the European Commission implements a “delegated act” to bring the change into effect. The latest vote, prepared by the civil liberties committee and approved by a plenary session of parliament, gives the Commission two months to act before MEPs can consider action in the European Court of Justice.
National polls after the March 20 French presidential debate indicate that Macron is well ahead of his opponents except for Le Pen. If he and Le Pen go into the final round there are very few other candidates who will throw their support to Le Pen, and Macron should win handily.
Richard Burr, the head of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, warned Wednesday that Russia is interfering in the French election just as it did in the US presidential campaign last year. Le Pen and Fillon are 2 of the top tier candidates who would give Putin free rein in France. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Macron!
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| Tommy watching Dovey eating breakfast. | Tommy trying to get a little breakfast himself. | David and Kathleen |
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| Ruth's ready to take a dip in the Mediterranean. |
23.03.2017
John and I both had birthdays this month. For my birthday (a bit early) we went to 3 Carnivals. On his birthday he sang a verse from a Beatles' song "Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm 64?" For those of you who don't know the song here's a recording.
We’ve delayed a bit, but we will go to a local archaeology museum for John’s birthday treat. Have I mentioned that he likes old stuff? John wanted to see this museum, but we missed last year because it was closed when we went there. That was because of government regulations that required city museums to be closed on certain days each week (days which are reserved for groups).
It rains here every few days in March but when there is no rain the weather is gorgeous. We went to the beach a couple of times because the sunshine and waves of the Mediterranean are so soothing.
The local monthly magazine Nice Expressions, informed us that the Nice Carnival is going to China. The floats and characters were dismantled for the trip. I think the sun king without his head and with his dapper suit looks like the headless horseman. I'm sure that was unintended.
The city of Nice is building a metro line near our place which will be finished next year. It's called West Line/East. The West project has a tunnel and underground. That's the part that is near our apartment. Murals line the length of the construction fences.
Any new mass transit raises property values in the neighborhood. There is also a new tram line projected for 2020 and another line sometime after that. Nice already has very good mass transit for this area of town. Now it will be even more impressive and the metro and new tram line will go to the airport.
John is doing our taxes for the U.S. and France. He noticed that TVs are taxed €133 per year per TV. That money goes to the French Public Broadcasting system. At least the "fiscally conservative" political parties (hopefully) won't be cutting funds for those services.
Recently we had a Catch 22 situation dealing with the United States SSA. Deposits of John's social security benefits were suspended because we had not provided a routing number for our French bank. John sent a copy of our French bank account information but SS said because it didn't have a routing number they couldn't use it. (French banks don't have routing numbers.) We told them to go back to using the bank in the states and they said they couldn't do that because they had purged John's info. John offered to give them the US Bank info again and they said they could only change our bank deposit info if we gave them the French banking info they had on record WITH A ROUTING NUMBER (which doesn't exist). The only option they offered us was to go to the American consulate. Ours is in Marseilles about 90 miles from Nice. John sent them an email with 5 documents attached detailing the SNAFU and asking for help. The consulate fixed the problem in two days! Great work from our State Department. Thank you.
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| Street art on the Metro construction site. | More street art around the corner. | Cartoon characters at the construction site. |