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May 21st
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Community - A Fresh Expression

Ian Callen
Community - A Fresh Expression

You could call it a gentle heartbeat! You could say it's a quiet revolution without guns! You may even go as far to say that a community is slowly building! Where is this happening I hear you yell? In Lorgues, central Var, a group of people are meeting on a regular basis. I am told that they help one another, listen to one another and laugh with one another. Regularly.

That means more than once every six months. In a western world where community is on its backside, this news is a welcome whoopie cushion. I paid a visit to this group back in November 2008 and before I tell you about it can I have a little rant on community?

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La Rentrée, or, Back-to School à la Française

Stephanie Brown
La Rentrée, or, Back-to School à la Française

Every child in France went back to school the first week of September.  The French call it la rentrée—literally, the return—and it means more than the return to school.

It’s the time when vacations end, everyone goes back to work, and shops and businesses which may have been closed during the long summer holidays return to their normal schedules.  Here on the Côte d’Azur, the summer visitors go home.  The lines at the grocery store are shorter, and it’s easier to park.  The villages have a feeling of settling back into routines.  And the schools reopen their doors.

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State will pay for French lessons

EXPATS can get 200 hours of free French lessons, worth more than €3,000, following an anti-discrimination ruling.

France’s top equality watchdog La Halde has ruled against regulations barring EU citizens from a national government-subsidised programme of lessons for immigrants. This followed an application to La Halde from an unemployed Irishwoman.

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How to apply for dual nationality

If you are an American, over 18 years of age, residing and working in France for over five years, you may be eligible to apply for French naturalization. Americans, along with the British and Australians, are allowed dual citizenship. You do not have to relinquish your American passport to become a French citizen, and therefore a member of the European Community.

There are no history or cultural tests; you do not even have to be able to sing La Marseillaise - just weather the French bureaucracy. The most commonly travelled roads to French citizenship are via family relations, having a French parent or spouse, and by residency - making the leap from carte de residént to citizenship. Family related applications go through your local small claims court or Tribunal d’Instance and usually take about a year to process if there are no major complications.

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Obligatory Lead Report for Rental Contracts

From 12th August 2008, a report on the risk of exposure to lead must be annexed to all new or renewed rental contracts concerning property for which the planning permit was issued prior to 1st January 1949.  This is in addition to the natural and technological risks report which became obligatory from 1st June 2006 and the energy performance report which came into force on 1st July 2007.

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From our archives

 

Villa Le Rêve

For the past ten years Villa Le Rêve has been used as an artists’ house where art, cultural and creative activities, health and well-being courses are held throughout the year. As part of our research on Matisse and his life here on the Côte d'Azur, we contacted Joëlle Audry, Villa Le Rêve’s charming caretaker, and asked if we could visit his old home. Much to our delight she accepted and we arranged our visit.

 

Notre Dame de la Garoupe

If you’ve ever visited the Grimaldi Museum in Antibes and strolled along the narrow Promenade Amiral de Grasse that hugs the contours of the coastline down to Saint-André bastion and its archaeological museum, it’s a safe bet you would have noticed the verdant Cap d’Antibes peninsula - and one of France’s most powerful lighthouses (with a range of 70 kms for boats and 200 kms for planes) perched on top of La Garoupe Hill: Phare de La Garoupe.

 

They really do say 'oh la la'

It is in the nature of neighbours to squabble, and notwithstanding the official cordiality of the past 100 years, Anglo-French relations have been known to suffer sporadic minor ruptures. These are rather stimulating occasions, traditionally marked by name-calling and foot-stamping on both sides of the channel.