Monthly Archives: July 2013

A Taxing Situation in France

We still ache for France — we cannot lie about that. And when people here ask us why in the world we returned to Australia, we tell them quite honestly that we were unwilling to throw away any chance of EVER retiring in 20 years simply because the French government wanted 53% of our income in taxes. And so we are back.

The situation is apparently even worse now and we’ve only been gone a few months! This article in The Local from France shares the latest tax rate being imposed on the population — a whopping 56.61%!!! But we had barely finished gasping at that number as I read it aloud to Mark when I added the information about the planned increase in 2014.

How in the name of all that is sensible and reasonable can people survive on less than 44% of their income??? The current French policies are ruining the future of their country. And reading this article today has simply reaffirmed to us that we have made the correct decision for our future.

Yes, we miss our former French life and yes, we might eventually purchase a small house back there for our retirement years, but no, we will most certainly NOT be paying such a huge whopping chunk of our income to President Hollande and his cronies. It’s a personal opinion, but I think the future of France is being washed away as more and more young people leave France as soon as their education is complete and more and more older expats choose to opt for France as their country of residency if and only if they are retired. These trends are sad, chilling, and quite counterproductive for a place that we love so dearly.

Time For The Tour de France

It’s that time again — the 3 weeks of each year when my husband’s concentration is fixed on the Tour de France. Unfortunately we aren’t in France this year — we’re back in Melbourne, Australia.

Mark saw the Tour live in Normandy in 2011 when we were living there — and then he saw the Tour live again last year in the South of France when we lived in the Midi-Pyrenees. Ah well — television coverage will have to do for this year.

But you DO know that your sweetie is a ‘cycling tragic’ (fanatic) when he decorates his hard hat from work with Polka Dot Jersey red dots!

An homage to the Polka Dot Jersey in the Tour de France on Mark’s hardhat

Back soon!

Temporarily Out Of Action

Sorry for the lack of posts, folks — I’m being forced to take a medically advised break — trying to NOT end up back in the hospital on tubes and drips. It’s boring — so we won’t discuss it any further.

Hopefully I will be back next week!

Stacked Up On Swanston in Melbourne, Australia

Photo of the day…

Stacked up trams on Swanston Street in the heart of Melbourne, Australia. I had just gotten off of one of these and when I turned around I noticed how many different lines run down Swanston Street and then branch off to different locations. This is one of the coolest things about resettling here — being able to get around with NO car if I choose that option!

A row of trams in Melbourne, Australia waiting for passengers to jump on and off

Moving Masses At Melbourne Central

Decided to take a break from unpacking boxes and listing things on Ebay today. First stop — the tram stop RIGHT outside our front door!

Blue tram travelling down St. Kilda Road

Down to the shopping precincts on Bourke Street Mall and Melbourne Central to try on clothes amongst the (literally!) thousands of other people milling around. Mixed success, but after living in rural France, Melbourne can be a bit of a jolt to the senses when there are so MANY people swirling around!

Moving masses of people at Melbourne Central shopping centre

More soon!

Happily Going Down, Down, Down

No travel stories or photos today — just a short and very personal update.

The Paleo Program rocks!

I’ve just done a total-up of the inches that I’ve lost in 6 months (with NO exercise other than walking several kilometers a week) and it comes to OVER 20 inches (54 cms) off my waist, hips, chest, arms, and legs! We don’t even own a scale to stand on, but the last time I checked I was down by well over 30 pounds.

Mark rather happily keeps mentioning how much my silhouette has changed and how I look smaller every week. He looks leaner and fitter than he has in the last almost-20 years, too. Good! And none of this has felt stressful or deprived.

Thank heavens we gave this a chance after that ‘Michelin Man Moment’ back in January when I realised that eating fabbo French cheese, bread, and pastries had made me just plain fat. Our diet now revolves around quality protein in the form of meat, fish, and eggs along with brightly coloured vegetables and fruit — NO grains, NO dairy other than a drop of milk in our coffee and butter on our sweet potatoes, NO legumes, NO corn. But we are awash in wonderful food choices and we no longer have blood sugar ups-and-downs.

The first thing I noticed was that my joints and bones didn’t ache any more, then that I slept more deeply and insomnia has practically disappeared, and THEN the inches started to drop off.

Clothing for Ebay sales or donations

There is a happy, happy woman here typing this and I decided today to finally share just how much progress I have made. I’m purging in another way. As you can see from the pictures above of a SMALL sample of the stacks of things I am working my way through, 90% or more of my wardrobe is going away right now. And even clothes we bought 6 weeks ago in the USA are now getting too big. This is a lifestyle change that we have joyously embraced!