Oh dear - here I go again with

l'administration française.

I was talking with someone today about the need to get Gwilym's certificat de scolarité before the start of term to get his tram season ticket set up. She said "I have the same problem - I need the certificate to get the start of term allowance".

"Oh ! Do you get that ?"

"Well yes, you should phone the family allowance people."

Well by the time I had got the codes needed it was too late to ring them (they shut at 4) so I looked on the website. It's all very clever. You used to have to declare your income to the tax people AND to the allowance people - on two different forms that don't seem to correspond at all. However a couple of years ago the tax people started to send your details to the allowance people and they automatically pay you what you're due.

Except that according to the website the allowance people have no idea of our income.

Clever system. But is it working ? Hmmm.

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