GoneOffShore
GoneOffShore's JournalGood news for Mrs GoS and me this week!
We are now full residents in France. Picked up our 10 year Titre de Sejour, which allows us to work here(Though we are retired). And we don't have to apply every year. This is a saving of $500 per year.
And the other good news is that in addition to my US Social Security, I will be receiving a UK pension. They also gave me all of last year in a lump sum! The amount per month isn't enormous, but it will cover at least three lunches out or a couple of cartons of wine. Found money is fun!
I lived and worked there in the 70s and hadn't thought about applying until a friend mentioned that I might be eligible.
Overseas pensions and US taxes
I'm living in France, and have been since 2018. I received US Social Security directly into my French bank account.
I file US and French taxes.
I have just discovered that I am eligible to receive a UK State Pension from when I lived in the UK in the 70s. When I do start receiving it, it will be paid directly into my French account, with no notification to the IRS. France does not tax pension income. What I'm wondering is whether the IRS will be informed about payments that the UK government makes to a US citizen living abroad.
My US accountant is not sure at this point, and I have yet to find relevant tax code references.
We all need this song - Isn't This World Enough?
?si=Ai27_dXzZ3kFOzlPIrish educational priorities.....
An Irishman goes to a building site in London and asks the foreman if he can have a job. Are you Irish?, said the foreman.
Well sor, that I am, replied the Irishman.
Well, said the foreman,I dont want any more Irish on this site, because they dont know nuffink. Last week we have one here who didnt even know the difference between a girder and a joist. Can you tell me the difference between girder and joist?
The Irishman thought for a little while, and then replied, Well sor, I tink that Joyce wrote Ulysses and Goethe wrote Faust.
"In the Shadow of the Holocaust" by Masha Gessen - New Yorker 9 December
A thought provoking piece from the excellent Masha Gessen.
Berlin never stops reminding you of what happened there. Several museums examine totalitarianism and the Holocaust; the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe takes up an entire city block. In a sense, though, these larger structures are the least of it. The memorials that sneak up on youthe monument to burned books, which is literally underground, and the thousands of Stolpersteine, or stumbling stones, built into sidewalks to commemorate individual Jews, Sinti, Roma, homosexuals, mentally ill people, and others murdered by the Nazisreveal the pervasiveness of the evils once committed in this place. In early November, when I was walking to a friends house in the city, I happened upon the information stand that marks the site of Hitlers bunker. I had done so many times before. It looks like a neighborhood bulletin board, but it tells the story of the Führers final days.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/in-the-shadow-of-the-holocaust
Anybody else polishing their tap shoes today?
What with Kissinger being unalive and all.
Asking for a friend.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on stupidity and what we're up against.
?si=ZrkCe3Vc7zah5ze6Trump Claims Buyer Beware Clause' Makes Fraud - Satire/Parody
From my friend John DiDomenico - The best Drumpf impersonator out there -
Note to Mods - If not appropriate, I'll repost in the Lounge.
Neil Innes wrote a song for Magats -
?si=FkyY2_8elKjsDd935 years in France
Last night, 4 sept 2018, at 5:55 EDT we left Boston Logan Airport on TAP 218 bound for Lisbon and then on to Marseille Airport. Earlier, we had arrived on a Jet Blue flight from Philadelphia.
Before boarding, we fortified ourselves with gin Martinis and Legal Seafoods clam chowder.
A couple of nights before we had been stuck in an elevator in Center City, Philadelphia, and waited for the firefighters to get us out. At that time, we worried that something else would delay or derail our plans, But, boarding the Air Portugal plane and winging away across Massachusetts Bay, we knew we were finally on our way.
We left behind a 5X5 storage unit and our Philadelphia friends. It was bittersweet, but after a summer of farewell dinners, living out of suitcases, a recalcitrant teen, scary rabbits, and various doctors appointments, we were relieved to be on our way to our new life in France.
Today, is our fifth anniversary of arriving and living full time in France. We have Carte Vitales, French driving licences, and, probably most importantly, a cat.
Were grateful and fortunate to be here, and will remain here.
Of course there have been adjustments to our lives, but we know we made the absolute right choice in coming to France.
Profile Information
Name: SamGender: Male
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Current location: Aix-en-Provence
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 17,342