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Bureaucracy gone mad?

Yesterday I went to the Marie, the insurance office, Lidl and it was only when I went to the ladies in Le Clerc supermarket that I noticed my jacket was inside out.

At the Mairie I needed the Maire to sign a paper proving that I was still alive.  This is for the pension service in the UK.

I wanted to change my car and house insurance from the useless company I had been using.  I answered thousands of questions, was in the insurance office for 4 hours and had to sign or initial 80 pieces of paper.  It was dark when I left and I had lost the will to live.

At Le Clerc I wanted to buy a sim card for my mobile phone.  I had to produce my passport, prove my date of birth, my address  and that I have the right to live in the country.  What?  No blood?

Happy days ahead in the States with a split government.  Either Trump will become even more deranged or gridlock will happen.

What is this new habit in the UK for people to start every sentence with 'so'?  It is really irritating and MPs, professors, doctors, etc are all doing it.

There is talk of moving the national protest in France from the 17th to the 18th.  This would be a Sunday which means disruption would be meaningless because nothing opens on a Sunday anyway.  

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