I got a quaint reminder of the 19th century this morning. I needed to renew my work card (titre de sejour — sort of my greencard).
It cost 269 euros now!
But I’m not allowed to just pay for it. Non… I first had to go to another line so that I could use my credit card to buy two €90 revenue stamps, two €30 stamps, two €10 stamps, an €8 stamp and a €1 stamp. Then I went to another line and gave them to the lady as payment for my work card. She dumped them into an envelope and moved on.
What possible use can this quaint custom be these days?