I went out for a walk quite late last night, around 11pm. It was very cold, like the middle of winter in fact, but I soon warmed up. The streets of Boulogne were very quiet and it was great time to be out, I almost had the streets to myself.

I saw a part of Boulogne which I had never seen before. Even now I’m not sure where I was. It’s amazing how different things look at night. I discovered some nice cafes and restaurants and another organic supermarket. I’m glad I found that because the one in the centre of Boulogne is small. This place looks quite large so I’m going to head over there today to see what they have. I’m especially looking for fresh organic fruit and vegetables and I’m yet to find a place around here where I can find that.

I think I was near Bois de Boulogne as I saw a huge gate, at least 4 metres high, with trees behind it. I can’t think what else that could have been. There was also a theatre which might be worth a second look. I’ll definitely head over there today and I’ll definitely go for a walk at that time again.

Someone recently asked me if Paris is a dangerous city. My answer was quite simply, extremely! Paris is full of landmines and bombs from above. What I call landmines others might refer to as merde or dog merde and the bombs are merde again but this time from above, from birds.

Everyone knows about the very unpleasant little packages left behind by Parisian dogs and their nasty owners who don’t clean up after them. I don’t know how the French accept this as a normal part of life. How can they think it’s acceptable to leave it there, ignoring the next poor sucker who comes along and steps in it. And you know people step in it, you see it all the time. It’s disgusting. Paris is a great city for sightseeing but you never get to see anything because you are forced to constantly look at the ground to be sure you don’t stand on a ‘landmine’.

The less talked about problem is from birds. Paris is renowned for it’s beautiful tree lined streets. I agree that from a distance they look beautiful but look closer you’ll see a mess of bird merde under almost every tree. So you need to be careful where you walk and from what’s coming from above.

Ferbent told me about an incident at his hotel the other day. A guy came in off the street asking to use the bathroom as he was unlucky enough to have a bird dropping land directly on his head. I don’t know what these birds eat or how big they are but they leave quite a mess. The poor guy had to have a shower in the hotel!

After having a shower leak a couple of weeks ago which resulted in some very upset neighbours below us, we now have another one. Naturally it’s the same neighbours complaining and I had the plumber here again today. It was the same plumber as last time and he seemed thorough, he seemed to do a good job last time.

After having a good look around he said it’s not the same problem as last time and it looks like the water is coming from either the neighbour next to us or above us. So we won’t be having our shower ripped out and I can have as many shower as I like (hot water permitting), yay!

Speaking of hot water, is it just me or are the hot water systems in France useless? Or maybe it’s just apartments in general. I don’t know but every place I’ve rented here (which is only 3 so it’s not much of a sample) has had a very small water tank which doesn’t reheat very often. After 2 showers and washing the dishes that’s about it for the hot water. It seems to reheat twice a day but it’s not enough. I wish I knew how to change that but I can’t figure it out. So it’s short showers for me or cold showers.

The last big job on my to do list is to apply for a carte de sejour. I haven’t applied yet because I had to wait for Ferbent to get a job. Now that he has and he’s completed the probation period I can go ahead. I’ve been a bit worried about it because technically I am living in the black here. I think if someone stopped and asked to see my passport I could say I arrived yesterday but there’s a stamp in my passport to say otherwise. They almost never stamp passports these days but just when I didn’t want one they did. It was when I flew from Ireland to Paris. It’s not likely that anyone would stop me but I do see others getting stopped by police on quite a regular basis. Of course, they are usually men and of Arab origin but that’s another story.

I’ve already asked the Prefecture what I need to do and it’s the usual book of documents. I need a copy of Ferbent’s passport, a copy of my passport, 2 photos of each of us, a copy of our marriage certificate (translated in French of course), proof of medical insurance (which I don’t have) and a copy of his work contract. That’s just for starters, I’m sure they’ll come up with some other things I’ll need to do later.

Once they approve it, which I’m sure they eventually will, I’ll get permission to live and work in France for 10 years. Thankfully I won’t have to worry about it again until then.

To get the electricity connected in France you have no choice but to call them or have someone who speaks French call them for you. My real estate agent offered to call them for me, knowing my French wasn’t particularly good at that time. I thought this was so nice of him until 2 months later my electricity was disconnected because he never did it. Thanks to him I spent 3 days in the middle of winter with no electricity. Thankfully I was in Montpellier and it wasn’t that cold, but still. I spoke to him a number of times after that and even though he is very friendly, he’s a bit vague, a bit of a bimbo, so it’s not surprising he forgot such an important thing.

So the moral of the story, if you want something done properly then do it yourself. Especially when real estate agents are involved.

Here’s what you need to connect the electricity:

1. The phone number of EDF (the French electricity company). I think this is different for different regions but in Paris it’s 0810 30 23 45 or try the EDF website.

2. The current reading on your electricity meter. There are usually 2 numbers.

3. The previous tenant or owner’s name of the apartment/house.

4. Your RIB (your bank account number).

They will ask you about your electricity usage such as if you have a washing machine, microwave, electric heating etc, as well as the size of the apartment. They will work out roughly how much you will pay each month and this will be paid by direct debit. They will then work out the difference when they take a reading in 6 months or so.