Another Reason to Appreciate French Trains

I love the romance of train stations, the rush of people dashing for departing cars, the embraces on arrival. I like the lofty iron canopies of the old stations and the sleek glass walls of the new ones. But in winter and during the holidays with everyone on the move, standing in crowds and drafts? Not so much. So I was happy to find this very nifty site put up by SNCF, Gare en Mouvement, a virtual station that lets you check on possible delays before you head for the station. There's all kinds of useful info.  You can check arrivals and departures, whether the station has WiFi, the location of parking around the station, train connections -- and you can do it for stations all over the country in five languages.  (Drawing from the charming Paris Sketchbook of British animation artist Matt Jones)

Auto-Entrepreneur, One Year Later

The French may have given us the word "entrepreneur" but for years they were one of the least favorable nations in Western Europe for start-up companies and talented people with big ideas wanting to start new businesses.  French companies complained of being burdened with expensive red tape imposed by a government hostile to business and tax laws that created insurmountable hurdles to success.  As young people fled to seek opportunities abroad, London came to be called France's fourth largest city.

Despite widespread dislike for French President Nicholas Sarkozy and consistently his low ratings in national polls, since Sarko was elected the French parliament did fulfill his campaign promise to "modernize the economy" by sweeping away many restrictions and encouraging greater entrepreneurship through a program of "auto-entrepreneur" and "auto-entreprises." The creation of the new fiscal status -- which allowed business to not have to pay taxes until they started making money -- unleashed a torrent of small business activity. Between the start of this year when the law took effect and the end of September, nearly 425,000 new businesses had been created throughout France. September 2009 saw a record high of 57,548 new businesses created in France, an increase of 36.8% over the previous month and more than half of these were auto-enterprise.  The trend continued in October.

Students, salaried employees, retired people, just about anyone can simply fill out a declaration, wait and start working.  They must make sure their earnings don't exceed a certain amount.  None of this is simple to understand, even if your French is pretty good. but a number of people are available to help sort it out.   Last March, someone names Allison Morton -- who I've never met -- did a commendable job of translating the whole darned law, all 43 pages of which are available here.   If you are serious about working in France, it's worth the paper and ink to print it out and keep it on file.

Jean Taquet, a Frenchman who is married to an American and who lived in LA for several years, has published a terrific, inexpensive book of practical tips for expatriates and can advise on the lastest changes to the law.  And I ran across this Web site set up by a French woman who saw a business in helping people set up new businesses -- how entrepreneurial!   I cannot vouch for her, but if you Google on auto-entrepreneur, you'll undoubtedly find many sources of information on your own.  One thing is clear.  Over the past year, and despite the recession, for expats living in France, setting up a small business has never been easier.

Christmas Pumpkin

It's only a few weeks before Christmas and some lucky lady in the United States won this today at auction.  I don't know if she's keeping it or giving it as a gift, but it is a gift just getting to look at it online. Who knew there were so many colors in orange or that a pumpkin could be so sexy?