Final score in the big Bureaucracy Showdown: Tracey&Andrew 2 d French Bureaucracy 1

After five and a half months here and following innumerable fruitless questions, wasted visits and ambiguous letters we have only three weeks left until we head home. Strange then that we should only now be the proud, exhausted possessors of valid visas to stay in France for the last 23 weeks and another three.

Foodivores outside the OFII in Grenoble, with valid visas

Keen followers of this titanic battle (us versus the monolithic French bureaucracy) will recall when the score reached 1-1. We won't lay out the worst of the details right now: we're just relieved.