Home Again.

We’re home.  It’s strange to think we have been away for four whole months, as it feels now as though we only left yesterday.  Everything here is as we left it and we have slotted back in seamlessly.  I can honestly say that it is lovely to be home, back with good friends, the family and the warm comfort of familiarity.  However, before slotting straight back in to where we were before we left on our adventure, it is important to look at and review the whole exercise.  What lessons have we learnt and what is going to change?

For a start, anxiety levels rise to unexpected levels when facing new challenges as one ages.  You think back to how casually one launched oneself into new and exciting ventures in the past and yearn for that same carefree spirit.  However, that was the joy, and perhaps innocence, of youth, without the experience of what can, and sometimes does, go wrong.  Achieving success with the French Visas was a great confidence booster, but took its toll at the time.  I was equally determined to achieve success with the European Pet Passports for the dogs.  This certainly caused me a certain amount of stress at the time, but the satisfaction of arriving in Calais and, armed with their new blue Passports, checking the dogs in without a hitch made it all worth while.  This was made even more satisfying having watched two people ahead of us being turned away, as they did not have the required paperwork.  They were having to find vets in Calais, wait 24 hours following the tapeworm treatment, and rebook all their travel arrangements.  I’m not sure how one can control anxiety.  Maybe just being aware that half the anxiety is a symptom of the ageing process and not of incompetence(?!), might remind one to take it slowly and steadily, and not be too frustrated by setbacks - which are almost inevitable from our experience!

Having a completely blank page in the diary was for us both an exciting experience.  The pattern of every day developed naturally, led by the weather and the need to exercise ourselves and the dogs.  Around those two criteria we were able to build in other things, shopping, exploring new places or getting stuck into some reading, writing, drawing, or just ‘thinking’, with a freedom dependent on how we felt on a particular day.  This cannot happen in normal life as so much in the diary involves other people and a timetable.  Those activities are very important.   However, it should be possible to regularly set aside days, or even half days, when what you decide to do is NOT going to be interrupted or postponed!  I’m going to try.

We both agreed that understanding, and being pretty comfortable with, modern technology made a big difference to our stay.  Most importantly, keeping in regular close communication with family and friends, particularly when there were health issues or any other sort of problem, gave us a peace of mind which would have not been possible if we felt out of touch.  Gathering information and problem solving were all made easier with the use of IT.  

We have loved being in each other’s company 24/7, enjoyed hours of walking and talking together, and really valued the opportunity to have the time to do this.  We often reflected on the fact that at home we are inclined to be like ships that pass in the night, me rushing out the door to be somewhere on time, as he returns home from some other activity, eventually meeting for an evening meal at the end of the day, not really feeling like ‘deep and meaningful’ conversation.  There’s not much one can do about that in a full and happy life.  Perhaps being aware and also doing most of the dog walks together goes some way to solving this. 

I would say we both feel reenergised and rejuvenated by our experience.  Yes, there remains still the concern in the back of one’s mind that just around the corner everything could change, but that is almost entirely out of our control and frankly applies at any age to a degree. New experiences are not just for the young!  Plans should be tempered by awareness of one’s limitations, and vulnerabilities of age taken into account.  But the advantages of stepping off the merry-go-round for a time are huge and totally positive. We’d do it again in a heartbeat - in fact we’re already planning!

The EU Pet Passport Saga Continues

Believe it or not, I’ve just paid yet another visit to the Vet!  The euphoria of being handed EU Pet Passports for both dogs and sending the registration form to I-Cad to complete the business, plus a cheque drawn on a French bank account, began to wear a bit thin when we hadn’t heard anything from I-Cad after a month (see a previous Blog)!  I had had a niggling worry in the back of my mind which began to grow with each passing day.  Should we have sent the Passports together with the Registration Form?  The only way to get an answer to this question and appropriate advice if we had got it wrong, would be to speak to Dr Mougin.  The dogs’ UK Animal Health Certificates as a fall back expire on the 12th May and time was running out!  I decided to shortcut an attempt to consult with Dr Mougin and turned to AI and ChatGPT.  I asked the question ‘how do you get an EU Pet Passport when living in France?’  The answer flashed back instantly with very clear instructions.  We had done everything perfectly, but ChatGPT did imply that the Passports should be sent with the Registration Forms!  My heart sank. Rather than attempt a complicated conversation with Dr Mougin, I decide to send him an email in French (courtesy of Google Translate) asking for clear answers to a number of questions, but, above all, should we be changing our travel plans?  Forty eight hours later I receive an answering email which reads:-

‘Le Dr Mougin est absent jusqu’au 30 avril.  Merci de télèphoner au cabinet pour avoir un rendez vous.    Bien cordialement.’

‘Bien cordialement’ indeed! 

The rendez vous referred to was in answer to my request in the email for an appropriately timed visit with both dogs, for the final health check and tick treatment, which has to be done not less than 24 hours and not more than 5 days before crossing back into the UK.  I make the phone call and book the rendez vous, timed for our departure date of choice, the one when we have two legitimate EU Pet Passports. There’s nothing more we can do now until the Doctor returns after the weekend, 5 days later!

At this point Richard decides all is lost and sends a couple of emails (fortunately only a couple) informing friends of our earlier return.  He also begins looking into changing our bookings on the Shuttle and the hotel overnights, but I manage to persuade him to leave it another 24 hours before doing anything.. We told each other one week earlier is hardly the end of the world. I’m disappointed that it looks as though I’ve failed in this challenge, but the big disappointment would be not seeing Tom and the family who had planned to come and spend our last weekend with us here.  We feel we should warn Tom in case and his response is a subdued “oh poo”.

Then I get an email from Dr Mougin, presumably just back from his week away, saying tomorrow he will check if ICad have registered the dogs, and will keep us in touch.  We hold our breath!

The following morning I get another email from the Doctor with the Cartes d’Identification for each dog, ready to print. Joy and relief lasts about 10 minutes.  On reading the cards we see that Annie is registered as a non-sterilised male dog!!  Laddie is also registered incorrectly as non-sterilised.  Feeling very sorry for Doctor Mougin, he gets another email from me pointing out the mistakes.  I could almost hear his sigh of exasperation from here, but he soothingly responds that this can be easily changed and it isn’t a problem.  A day later he asks me to bring all the documents referring to the dogs into the office on Monday morning.

So…………

On Monday morning I find myself once more sitting in the rather unwelcoming waiting room with an assortment of dogs, one cat and their owners.  The usual wait was quite pleasant this time as there was conversation amongst us.  There was also entertainment provided by a large, cheerful, oversized Labrador cross, who was determined to get a black spaniel Laddie lookalike  to play.  The Spaniel was equally determined to rebuff all approaches and had a nice line in high pitched snappy barks if the Lab came too near.  It takes a lot to discourage a large, cheerful, oversized Labrador cross!  When I’m eventually called in, Doctor Mougin goes through the papers I have, grumbling about the inefficiency of the employees at I-Cad.  He has a chuckle that anyone could be so foolish as to think a dog named Annie could be a male dog!  I agreed.  He then summoned his rather dim looking assistant and sent her off with clear instructions as to how to get all the details corrected.  I return to the waiting room to await the next move.

One cat and a black Spaniel later, enter the Doctor triumphantly waving two pieces of paper with the revised EU Cards printed on them. We “à bientǒt” each other smilingly and I leave to join Richard in the car.  As I approach the car I cast my eye over the card details and instantly spot that Laddie is now described as female!  Richard, the ‘cross-every-T-and-dot-every-I’ specialist, double checks that all the other details are correct and then I return once more to the dreary waiting room to surprise the beleaguered Doctor..  I reckon Dr Mougin deserves a medal for his good natured patience (or is he a very good actor?).  Having recovered from the horror of seeing me back again, he calmly takes the offending piece of paper and assures me he’ll be back “toute suite”.  I only have time for a short conversation with an over friendly Weimaraner and its owner before the good Doctor reappears with the corrected piece of paper.  This time I run my eye over all the details before leaving the premises!  All is as it should be, and I leave for the final time, trusting that I have in fact successfully fulfilled this particular challenge at last.

I do have one more visit to Doctor Mougin’s premises in the diary for next week, when the dogs have their final health check and tape worm treatment.  What could possibly go wrong??