The Things You Do For Love...

...of a country!

We have finished dinner and are now sitting in front of a roaring fire. Dessert is a cup of coffee and I have eaten my apres Diner chocolate. Its a French thing.  Well, that's my excuse:) Waz doesn't buy it...the excuse that is...well, AND the chocolate! I buy the chocolate, mostly at Lidl because I like one of their brands.
Where was I??
Oh yes, what you do for love of country.

Today our brains got blown. Seriously blown!
A morning visit to the Accountant we had been referred to was enough for one day, but there was more to come.
Forgive the lack of photos, but you cant really ask the accountant to smile for a photo, can you?

The accountant put us straight on what the French Govt. expects from us, and will from now on. The young man was well versed in international treaties, being in a small town where there is a preponderance of English and American folks. We like that he knows the US part.

We stopped at a Boulangerie on the outskirts of Riberac to get a baguette and well, a dessert. Our brains needed the food, right! lol. Waz chose a tarte citron Meringue...guess what that is...yep! Lemon meringue pie!..I chose an Éclair Chantilly. Yes, an éclair filled with Chantilly cream...only this one had toffee on top...like a toffee apple! It was a bit challenging to eat, but I didn't squish the cream all over myself.
I heated the last of the pumpkin soup that I have frozen, and we ate half of the baguette with is, finishing with the dessert, of course. We knew our afternoon was going to be a long one.

We left here about 1.30pm towards Angouleme. We needed to stop off at Leroy Merlin, the large hardware store, and find new shaft for the front door handle. It has a smaller one installed temporarily, and we are afraid we will be locked out again, and Waz will have to put another Houdini and break in. This man can do ANYTHING! lol.

Satisfied with that purchase, we went in search of a coffee. It was taking so long at the mall where the Carrefour supermarche is, that we walked out without our coffees. What next? The Bank.

Our appointment with the Bank Manager was for 3pm. We thought this was a little late in the scheme of things, but we could not have anticipated the time it took to do everything needed to open our new account.

Seriously! Opening a Bank Account in France is fraught.
First there is the problem of all my names. Yes, All my names. In France, the one you are born with is the most important. Nom de Naissance...Birth Name. This would be my Maiden Name as we call it.
I also usually go by the last name of my former husband and the one my children are also known by. There is a good reason for this, but I wont detail that here. THEN, there is my married name to the Wazster.
Just to be sure he had ALL bases covered he printed out three forms with the three different names on them, and I signed all of them ....just in case!
Filling in the blanks on the screen was another issue altogether. We wished like heck that whoever wrote the program had highlighted the items in red that were incorrect, rather than always kicking up a window that said 'Error'.
Frustrating! Our manager kept saying the word 'ZEN", and some other words which I think he thought we didn't know the meaning of, lol.

So much paperwork! We were seriously hot in the office, had stripped off our outdoor clothes upon entry, but our faces were flush, 2 hrs into this ordeal, and water was not offered. We were all in this for the looooong haul.

The bank normally closes at 5pm. We walked out of there WITH ACCOUNT IN HAND>>>YYAYAYYAAYAY! at 5 after 6pm. The other staff could obviously not leave the manager in the branch on his own with us, so they both had to wait for us to finish. I think we owe them a box of chocolates.
Our Manager declared that he was going home to have a glass of Cognac with Shwepps and put his feet up.

We were pretty fried...well no, actually we were REALLY fried afterwards, and we needed to get home. Thank goodness it was still light at 6.30pm. We drove the 45mins home and I immediately set about making dinner. I had been planning nachos with meat sauce, avocado and good British Cheddar cheese grated on top, for a few days now. We opened a container of Crème Fraiche and enjoyed that alongside.

We will sleep well tonight, methinx.

Oh, before I go...and sorry, no photos again...we enjoyed a lovely dinner with the Lord of the Manor opposite...well, you know, across the stream and through the woods, but we can see the lights in his window at night...that close.
Chris opened the door to his work in progress, which is delightful...or will be! and we stood around in the kitchen nibbling while Daughter made dinner. He current beau was helping out (he speaks excellent English, having been to the USA a couple of years in a row) and we enjoyed his perspective, during the evening.
The dinner was almost secondary to the companionship and the laughter. We havent larfed that hard for a very long time. Great company, good food and wine and that was before the cheese and chocolates. All excellent, and much appreciated.

So, the Wazster is already snoring on the sofa...if his brain is as whacked as mine it, Im not long out of bed either.

Night night!