The itinerary, admin & bureaucracy of our near enough full year in France now needs to be thought about.
It’s real, it’s happening, its exciting!
The 1st thing to sort out is the visa requirements for Louise.
I am writing this up in retrospective narrative so it’s relatively easy to précis the whole episode with some type of rational flow and perspective. The reality was far more involved & lengthy!
From our initial enquiries when we were originally considering sailing to France we determined that the timescales for getting a visa, otherwise known as a Carte de Sejour (CDS) was about 6 weeks and the optimum time to apply to the Consulate in Athens would be in January.
So with January in our sights we started to pull together the plethora of documentation required including but not exhaustively : Visa application form, UK passport, Greek Resident Card, Passport sized photos, Letter detailing purpose of stay, Letter explaining my European status, Irish passport, Marriage certificate (in French) Details of accommodation & travel, Proof of health insurance cover, Funds available to support us ………….
They required two files one with originals and one with copies. In all then 4 folders full. To be honest pulling stuff like this together was my bread and butter but it did involve printing probably just short of 100 PDF’s, not to mention applying for health cover, arranging French translations etc.
A presentation Touche Ross would be proud of
With the files well on the way to be completed we were only waiting on proof of address from Nicolas’ friend, but despite Nicolas’s best efforts explaining we needed an address, confirmation of dates etc. the guy still did not get in touch with us, despite saying numerous times that he would. We finally realised that nothing was likely to happen and would have to give up on this option or risk being left high & dry.
A bit disappointing really but now what would we do now?
In the end we booked two alternative locations from April – June and July – September to replace our house sit. It will be more expensive but you only live once. The second of these is in a French friend’s small house that they rent out in extensive gardens next to the grand main house. It looks really lovely and we wish we had thought of this at the start – we would probably have based ourselves there for the full duration . Hindsight is a great thing ?
Albert’s family’s home in Chappelle Blanche, Savoie – looks fabulous !
All of the documentation now in place we booked an appointment with, and flights to, the consulate in Athens in January for Louise.
So that was that – Louise would get a visa for a year’s duration, I have my Irish passport ……. jobs a good ‘un …………… Eh no ! LOL …………… see later
The remainder of December was now “ back to normal” on the build up to Christmas.
Sunny day in Vathi
Another in Pythagorio
The boat tidied up and prepared for her “long stay”
Our wedding anniversary aperitifs
A night out at the town hall piano recital by a local music teacher and her kids followed by a pizza at my wee pal’s pizzeria The owner’s wee boy has taken to buying me a beer when I pick up my Saturday night carry out.
Concert & Pizza. It was a sit in job tonight though.
Xmas Pythagorio
and Samos town square
When I say build up to Christmas, it’s always just a quiet affair with Lily the one who gets the presents which, after 5 minutes, she studiously ignores.
Christmas Day 2025
We have had a spell of wet weather and she has not been out for a wee while. She doesn’t like the wind and obviously the rain but at the 1st opportunity she was out warming herself in the sun at the bottom of the garden.
