Re: Moved to France
Warm Braw,
Brussels Central commune was the most expensive in the country. 6% income tax for your local taxes. When I started the process to get my residence permit they had a window especially for foreigners - staffed by a nice lady who spoke english, dutch, french, german, spanish... They moved her to a different window soon after, and had a french-only speaker on the international one after that. Which is a bit bloody rude to the flemish speakers!
I wasn't allowed to go to the rubbish/recycling window for my rubbishy needs - I had to go to etrangers for everything - as once you've got your ID card with foreigner stamped across your face, that's your lot in life.
Oh, and be preparered to sit and wait for your dinner or even your beer. Service isn't quick - even in most of the good places. Great food and beer though, so definitely worth waiting for. I didn't mind that whole slower pace of life thing - but I did object to some of the supermarkets where I literally had to take a book to read - as the queue for the checkouts was 20 minutes. Again, partly my fault for choosing to live in the centre, rather than nearer the office.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
