4th June 2017

My patience is wearing very thin. Transport and bank problems. First: whether to sell the car Him indoors prizes. Decision: yes, as future problems of driving, insuring, registering and selling a left-hand drive vehicle in the UK are numerous. So, how to get there with a mutinous Him indoors and 2 old dogs? No, you can't hire a car in France and drop off in the UK. Eurostar doesn't take dogs. By air then? No. Cargo costs £1500 + expensive new lockable dog crates + harnesses + even more regs. Step in Folkestone Taxis. The only service offering one-way pet transport through the tunnel from the Calais end. Just need to hire a car from Albi to Calais then. Just catching a breath when in comes our English bank. They're going to freeze all our accounts from 16 June, held with them for 50 years(!), unless we walk in to a branch with our passports. Can you extend the deadline to 3 July? I asked. No, because of new money-laundering rules. Can I send a copy? No, must be the original. How to pay final balance for new house from a frozen account? Help. Must be thousands of weary British expats in this position, confronted by inflexible banks. And, this whole sorry saga was forced on us by Brexit - for which many expats weren't even allowed to vote, and if they had, there wouldn't be a Brexit! Very tired....