Il y a beaucoup de martinets à Lyon

I think I’ve said this before but I mean, there are loads of them, everywhere you go.

Formation civique? Pas encore

This morning I went for another appointment at the OFII – Office Francaise l’immigration et de l’integration. I thought it was my first of four appointments for my formation civique. But no. This was my pre-formation civique appointment.

So I found myself back in Rue de Quivogne, where we had our medicals, at 8 o’clock in the morning for a demi- journée of training along with une douzaine of others.

We had to check in. I heard the woman asking everyone: “Vous comprenez le Francais?” as they were signing in and everyone replied Un peu. Alors, when it was my turn I went for: Je me debrouille.

Then it was into la salle de classe with a 20-minute test of our written French.

It was quite straightforward although I didn’t know what un travail en tension was. It was multiple choice so I worked out it was either an oversubscribed profession or an undersubscribed one. And I went for the wrong one. It means jobs that not many people want to do.

Throughout the test there were two eyes bearing down on us.

Then, papers collected in, it was time to wait for the oral test. One by one we were called out. Was the order best to worst? I hope not because before I knew it there were only four of us left. Then it was my turn.

No need to worry. I was told my French was at level B1.

In order to apply for a residency for 10 years your French must be at A2 level and for nationality at B1 level.

I now have to do FOUR days of formation civique – to learn how to be a good citizen in France. At least I can do the first two online.

It is one more step on the road to being allowed to stay here a bit longer – so I treated myself to a nice coffee afterwards.

How to survive a scorching day in Lyon

Saw this man paddle boarding down the Rhone in his trunks. Had the river to himself – what a legend.

Limonest – picture postcard with garlic

This weekend’s day out was to the village of Limonest just outside Lyon. It is a picture postcard village with a gorgeous town hall and church and amazing views.

We stumbled upon a man who had a lot of garlic on his hands.

And then on to a cheese shop where we were spoilt for choice.

I am happy to report it was delicious.

Il fait vraiment chaud et là clime ne marche pas

What a week we’ve got ahead of us in Lyon. The temperatures are rising and in the old folk’s home the air conditioning is broken.

For all the elderly residents – but also our flat on the top floor -it is very hot. I hope they fix it soon.

A lovely colleague departs

One of the nicest people I have met so far during my time at Euronews has left the company.

My HR colleague has been a massive help to me – both in terms of making me welcome but also dealing with some difficult issues.

And making me laugh which is of course very important.

I know we’ll stay in touch but Friday was a sad day. Au revoir Chloe.

She was sent off with some gifts including these lovely pivoines

Le dossier celebre

Cath and I went to the immobilier today to start our search for a more permanent home.

We went to the Expat Agency – recommended by Euronews – and talked about what sort of flat we were looking for.

And of course we discussed Le dossier – the folder of documents you have to put together for potential landlords.

It includes: work contract, residency contract, last two years of tax bills in England for both of us, utility bill for house in London, passport, visas, marriage certificate, three French payslips and my P45. I think that’s it. Oh and our French bank details.

Amazingly I think we had it all so the next day we sent it off in the hope it satisfies the requirements and the house hunt can begin.

Apprendre le Francais est dur

Mais Duolingo ça c’est insupportable.

House-hunting preparation continued

Today we went to see a few other areas worthy of consideration for our future home. A colleague had mentioned how the area at the top of La Croix Rousse was worth a visit. She said it had a nice village community feel to it so off we went to see for ourselves.

Un peu d’histoire. La Croix Rousse is a hill in Lyon famous as the home of the city’s silk workers – known as les canuts.

They endured poor working conditions and in 1831 staged a revolt against the price of silk. The canuts came down into the city from les pentes- the slopes of La Croix Rousse – where they had their workshops and captured the town hall

There were further revolts but the area still has a bohemian feel to it. It is littered with traboules – which les canuts used to transport their silk under cover from the rain and prying eyes.

My colleague was right – it is a nice part of Lyon with nice bars – even if they insist on speaking to us in English!

Next stop was the Monte d’Or – further out of town and very quiet and quite posh. We went to St Cyr au Monte d’Or.

With Lyon – and Fourviere visible in the distance

And then on to St Didier – another village on the Monte d’Or.

We saw some lovely looking houses and one with a huge swimming pool! Might be out of our price range but also feels a bit too far out of Lyon for us.

At least we can give the immobilier some options.

House-hunting preparation

As we begin to start looking at more permanent homes, we went to have a look around a town, on the hillside opposite Euronews, called Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon.

It was a very nice suburb and was very quiet. But it has some great views of Lyon – you could even see the green cube.

St Foy – or St Faith – was murdered by the Romans for refusing to carry out pagan sacrifices in around 287BC in Aquitaine. She was tortured to death with a red hot brazier. But if you can look past that, the neighbourhood seemed quite nice.

We then drove down into the centre of Lyon. It took about five minutes until we were right in the heart of the city.