You only live ones!

Last year when I started this blog, I was a freshly new motorcycle driver!

It has been a year since I has been waiting to be able to afford the buying of a moto but also the insurance, the gas, the renting of a car park place, etc. as I did not have any fixed job or salary.

Right now, even if I have been working as a temp salesperson, which means that I do not have a important salary, I have helps to pay the rent of my apartment but also live so I decided to please myself and buy a motorcycle! As we say "one only lives ones!".

It may be hard to live comfortably for the next few months but I have been used to that already and do not spend money of silly things, do not go out or buy lost of extra besides paying the bills and go to the supermarket and eat well. So let's do it!

This past weekend, I made some calculus between what I earn in total and what I spend each month and what will cost the moto with all the spendings aside.
- I have enough money to buy a nice a secondhand moto (my maximum budget is 4000 euros).

- My mom will offer me the first year of insurance (approximatly 1000 euros, I have made online quotations and will now call two of them to have more details and chose of of the two).

- As I live downtown, I do not have any room to park a vehicule so I have looked online for a car park place to rent ( a private garage is too expensive!) and will finally take a subcription in one of the nearest public car park of where I live (it is 5 min away on foot, is closed at night and only people who registered and have an electronic key can have access to the car park and thus their vehicule, it costs 45 euros a month for a moto and is cheaper than what I found through private renting).

- Then I will just need to buy a second helmet for any person who would want to ride with me, a anti-theft device and be ready to wait half a day at the Préfecture with a good book - like last year - to have my first carte grise (car registration document).

I am so excited, happy and scared! It is a lot of money but I want to do this, I do not go on vacation anymore since I have not had a fixed job, so this spring/summer, my vacation will be on my moto, riding the road of the neighborhood and the region. I am like a child who is about to have her first doll, her first makeup vanity, her first puppy or any FIRST great thing she has been expecting wisely for so long.

This Friday, is Friday 13 again, I will buy a loterie ticket, any more lucky money would be welcome! Please, please, moto fairy, come to me!

French Post Office

This morning, coming back from the Hypermarket, I had to post a package and stopped by one of La Poste facilities there are in the neighborhood.

I'm not the kind of person that queue for this kind of purpose so I went to the automatic machine, waited for 2 minutes and when the guy just before me left with a strange face, I understood why... the machine had suddenly decided to stop working, what a chance! I looked at the people queuing - waiting for 15min just to stick a postage stamp - and I thought "not today". The woman behind me who also wanted to use machine, also decided that it was not the day.

Now, I'm asking:

* why on earth, when there are so many people waiting, don't they open other desks? Especially when there only 2 or 3 opened, and one is for special operations.

* what are all the employees occupied with? why don't they hire people and everybody is happy?

* is it the same thing abroad?

P.S. no no, French people do not always moan... indeed, that's not a French touch, that's just mine!

Patience...

Yesterday morning was kind of a non productive morning.

I had a 9:30am meeting at the ANPE to meet a job adviser as I registered again as a “job seeker” as soon as I stopped working as a temp salesperson last January. I know that these meetings are mostly useless for people who have diplomas, it’s just not the right place but I have to attend these appointments to stay registered.

Here is how it went:

- The woman asked me about my professional background

- I told her I had already been registered as a job seeker in June but forgot to actualize my situation as I was abroad for a summer job and not used to doing this thing, that I had been working as a salesperson and now I was back on the track to find a better job

- She asked if I had any leads

- I replied that I was waiting for some answers so far

- Then she proposed to see if there was any interesting job offer on the ANPE Website as Marketing Assistant

(… the lady was very nice but can’t I do that from home, as I’m used to do regularly?...)

We finally selected three job offers that she printed for me and type down conclusions of the interviewsto let my next month’s job adviser know about it.

I, then, drove to the Sous-Préfecture ( du Raincy to go and get my new license (as I passed the moto license last February). Six years ago when I went to the main Préfecture to get my driving license, I had waited for about an hour and I thought it was quite long.

I arrived at 10:49 when I took the little ticket where was marked 447. And 410 was announced on the little red screen. OH-MY-GOSH!! After 5 people had been called, I did a little calculus and arrived at the conclusion that my turn will arrive in about 1h30 (what?!?!). Fortunately, I had thought about bringing a book* I started there.

There were about fifteen rows of chairs all oriented towards the little desks like a public waiting for a representation that was never beginning…

People were reading, sleeping, chitchatting, almost dying waiting, being on the phone, cell phones ringing (about a dozen times, I had wisely thought about putting mine on the vibrating ring), going to the bathroom, going outside, coming back, arriving, getting up to have a drink at the coffee machines (I had NOT thought about having some change to get me something to drink while waiting).

I chose a quiet place near the large window at the back of the rows and began to read my book. The two little screens began to change numbers (one for the driving license and one for the car registration papers). It strangely appeared to me that the 2^nd one was changing numbers quite quickly compared to the 1^st one that still had not change since I sat. The numbers would keep on changing with the little bip while the driving license screen would very slowly change numbers. I tried to reach from sight the desks and I suddenly understood! There were 7 car registration desks and ONLY 3 for the driving license! How lucky!

An hour passed and I decided to make a break, go to the bathroom, have a hot drink (that’s when I realized I had not enough coins), sat back where I was, sent some text messages, called my mom to let her know that I wouldn’t be home early as I thought and went back to my reading.

Another hour passed! I was now beyond the delay I had calculated. And began to find that waiting very long. People would continue to arrive, be called at the car registration desks and leave. Whereas the driving license numbers had not changed much. I was now thirsty, hungry and my backside was kind of fed up of being on this uncomfortable chair.

About 2h30, the screen was now approaching the 447 ticket the little machine had awarded me. Suddenly, I looked up and it was announcing 446, YES, my time was about to come! And it did, 447 appeared on the little red screen, indicating just below which desk to go to. I packed my stuff and triumphantly left the soon-to-die waiting rows to approach desk #9. It took the lady about 5mns to prepare my brand new driving license.

As I was leaving with my brand new little red paper, looking at the more good looking picture (the former one dated back from 1998 when I was in highschool) and the new printed date beside the motorcycle drawing. I was as excited as 6 years ago, this time I was officially allowed to drive a moto. Now, I’m just eager to be able to buy one!

*Petite Anglaise (from Catherine Sanderson, go and see her very nice blog)