Living in France.

[caroljoyce]

More and more I hear of English people moving to live in France. Why? ... what's better about there than here?
Do they have a better way of life?

The odd times I've been there I found the people arrogant ... Surely it must be hard to intigrate with the locals.
I'd really like to know the attraction. Do you have any ideas?

[Rowan]

It does seem to be a more rural way of life - very peaceful. However, I have found that English people whomove to another country try to make another little England there, which obviously the locals object to and this might be why they appear arrogant - may be more of a defence.

I'd love to live a more rural lifestyle but the state of my health demands that we live near towns/cities/hospitals etc.

[Victors Mate]

Good Lord caroljoyce that is a sweeping statement a whole nation everyone of them arrogant.

I agree with Evie a more restful peaceful and slower pace of life can be enjoyed in the warmer climes: France is good, Italy is better. Never found meeting people in France or Italy and enjoying their company a problem.

[ciderman_nz]

From this distance, based only on a couple of trips back to Europe in the last 2 years. There seems a tendancy amongst English holiday makers to want "Blackpool with a better climate". Fish and chip shops do well as do sports bars if they pop up where the English go.
Please realise that I was once English too, so I speak not solely as a 'Kiwi'. When I was a child, I was fortunate that my parents were in the minority in that they wanted to live, as far as was practical, the way the locals lived, wherever we happened to be in the world. We were the family that made friends with the black Bermudians, the Chinese, when it wasn't the done thing. There was a tendency in those days of just post 'Empire' , that if the local did not understand you then speak louder! Don't eat any of that foreign muck. Beef and yorkshire pudding followed by plum duff.
To me, whatever the local culture is, makes life more interesting and part of what is often called 'life's rich tapestry'.

[caroljoyce]

Good Lord caroljoyce that is a sweeping statement a whole nation everyone of them arrogant.

Yes it is a sweeping statement. I should have said a lot of the ones I've encounted have been arrogant. Mostly people in the service industry.. I have been kept waiting in shops, given rotten goods, overcharged, snubbed when trying to ask directions.... All on different ocassions.
In one hotel in Brittany the cleaner burst into the room one morning and started cleaning while we were in bed. She didn't seem to understand we wanted a bit of privacy while we got dressed etc... She took some getting rid of!!

Partly my own fault I guess for not speaking their language but we dont treat tourists like that in our country.

[Jann]

My daughter's married friends who sold up in the UK four year ago to manage gites for a relative ...cost them a fortune to include their cats,tried to understand the local accents etc,all to no avail,they are back almost penniless,in their opinion don't do it unless you have a lot of money,in their words there's nowhere like the old Albion

[Dragon Lady]

I have never been to France, but the south of France sounds a pleasing prospect. I have friends who have a villa there and another in Italy. They both are university lecturers in French and Italian, so they are fluent in the languages. It seems that is what the locals appreciate. We are lazy in this country and expect everyone to speak English in whatever country we may be.

These friends have made many friends amongst the locals and visit them whenever they have their long stays in the localities.

It used to be strange, when they lived in our village (they have moved on now) when at their house and the phone rang. One of them would lift the receiver and say hello and then you would hear them launch into fluent French or Italian.

[Victors Mate]

I have friends who live and work in Paris, renting an apartment in Paree St Germaine, they are also renovating their own place in Chateaudun. They have many many friends in Paris and the village people in Chateaudun couldn't have been more welcoming, helpful and supportive. I doubt they would recognise the unwelcoming attitudes conveyed by some on this thread.

Personally Gina and I found that a smile works really well in any language.

[Rowan]

Yes and a little effort to learn even a few words in their language.

[Victors Mate]

A short tale of an experience my darling Gina and I had on a French holiday.

[align=center]The fishermen at Trinite sur Mer[/align]

One quiet Sunday morning whilst camping in Carnac on the Brittany coast we, in an uncharacteristic fit of energy, decided to cycle along the coast road to La Trinite sur Mer. This area of Brittany is memorable for it’s menhirs, which march across this region like a stone army, and the way the pine tree clad sandy shore and sea alternate in and out like the teeth of a comb. We set out quite early, well just before lunch time actually, and by the time we reached our destination we were thirsty and hungry. We passed several bars who’s sole aim in life was seemingly to cater for the holidaymaker, not what we were looking for. We settled for what appeared to be, judging by the array of battered pick up trucks parked outside, the local’s local.

Inside it was plain and simple. Scrubbed tables, creaky wooden chairs, plain wooden floor and about a dozen work dressed fisherman. We had not got a clue about the various drinks on offer so we decided on a cunning plan which we put into action. We waited a while and when one of the fisherman approached the bar I followed and after he had been served I simply said “encore” and gesticulated to the white wine the man had ordered. We sat with our drink and enjoyed the fresh light wine that we had been served. To our surprise the next fisherman when he ordered brought us two more glasses of wine which we thanked him for. After this had been repeated several times we were invited to join them in a communal sea food platter I bought a round of drinks and a very convivial afternoon was whiled away. They told us with a little English, my schoolboy French and much miming that they were “fruits de mer” fisherman and owned the oyster beds on the other side of the large bridge that spans the inlet.

We never got round to exploring La Trinite sur Mer that day and two very unsteady cyclists weaved their way back to the campsite. We could always explore another day. I wonder what the French for mañana is.

More proof, if proof were needed, that places make the people and the people make the places.

[rocky]

More proof, if proof were needed, that places make the people and the people make the places.

[font=Microsoft Sans Serif]Beautifully put, VM.

It was mentioned that people tend to settle where there is an enclave of English speakers. That's true here as well. Mexico. Costa Rica ( gorgeous! ). There are enclaves of retired and/or expatriate Americans. I suppose that's easier, but why move at all in that case?[/font]

[ciderman_nz]

You're right VM! My experience in France is very limited but when we were in Turkey last year I had a 15 minute 'conversation' with a boy about 13 years old who was fishing off a bridge. Neither of us knew what the other was on about but we had much arm waving and smiling and we parted friends.

[Anya]

My family was expat and during most of my childhood we lived in various countries, France, Italy, Austria ... and a couple more. I have many friends from those days, who keep me in touch with the way of life, changes and events there.

Summers are often long and predictable (I still miss that), some aspects of life are better, some are not. They don't seem to have the binge drinking and carnage in city centres that we have here, even small cities but the unregulated noise and traffic madness can be hard to bear.

Continental people prefer to live in cities, in elegant apartments, cheek to jowl, they have been abandoning their countryside for many decades and the vacuum is being filled by Brits, Scandinavians, Germans ... who love countryside living.

[mazzy]

Not in another country but.......some years ago we had a holiday in York. We went into a back street pub, just for one drink, as it was a hot day and we were tired.
It was a very ordinary little place. We got talking to some of the locals, and time flew by.
As we were leaving ( afetr about 3 hours and too many drinks) one of them said something along the lines of 'you're alright you are -- we thought all southerners were pratts'!!

Not a patch on your story VM, but brought back this memory.