alittlebitfrench

Idun Wrote: "I know that some love new builds, but not 'everyone' does, I know enough young people who want somewhere older to put their own mark on it, AND they can afford the older places too, as often they are cheaper" If you watch French TV (I am sure you do) most programmes portray the same image of 'French living' ....modern houses/flats, modern lifestyle, large 'pièce à vivre' modern kitchen, nice terrace entertaining guests...blah blah blah....but it is all modern. Even in the days of 'une gars un fille' it was the same. This is France. For some reason the British media think French living is living in old stoney houses, quaint villages, cookng on poeles, and keeping chickens. Living in France is not like that at all. I don't know anyone who wants to live like that. They want modern houses offering that idealistic lifestyle. Even my elderly inlaws and other relatives who grew up in sleepy hamlets do not want to live like that. If you go to that said hamlet now, there are plenty of old stone houses up for sale because everyone is building new houses. To create a modern lifestyle in a old house requires a lot of money and the skills of an architect. At whatever level of budget you have it is still far better to do it from scratch. Going back to the other point, it is better to live with your kids in a 60 sq metre modern flat close to your work and amenities in a town/city than a 250 sq metre house with a 50 minute commute everyday from some village. Both cost the same. Some people do it of course, but most don't.

Just some points Betty. You pay a lot less Nortaires fees on a new build and heating costs will be lower. For a young family a new build is much more affordable than a drafty old house that will probably need modernising. You will probably get better loan deals as well. In the cities listed in the article the price per sq metre for houses is about 3000 - 4000 euros. So a small (probably run down) 100sq metre family home is going cost about 300,000 - 400,000 euros. The reason it is so high is because of lack of space and high demand. I dare say 400,000 will buy you a nice place in the Dordogne. Not a lot in real France. Your suggestion that people should commute further is wrong. Common to popular expat belief, France is very congested and commuting into cities like Lyon, Marseille or wherever from remote villages will be a nightmare. Lastly, the biggest proportion of buyers in the marketplace are families with children. Children need to be picked up from school and on Wednesdays at 11:30. A lot of people need to live near their families so they can look after them. Other than that you live near your place of work and school. Don't look at France with your expat glasses on. It is really tough out there for families.

I do sarcasm but not bullying. My apologies if it comes across like. It is all about intonation I suppose. I thought Betty was Bentley ??? Or have I got that wrong again. LOL. Not like me. Anyway, I am too young for forums. Toodle pip.

http://www.gedimat.fr/culotte-pvc-d-evacuation-d-eau-usee-nicoll-male-femelle-double-parallele-diam-100mm-angle-87-30-coloris-gris-nicoll,227541,8,53,223.htm

Quick google I found that... http://www.tousergo.com/antiderapant-douche-bain/247-caillebotis-de-douche-antiderapant-d-angle-8026463002735.html It is 4cm's smaller. Is that the type of thing you mean ?

If you heat them up they could lose their magnetic field. A soldering iron might do it.

There......you.....go....again.... ...thinking you can debate with me.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]I got lost in Selsdon once.[/quote] That was a bit foolish "you can call me Bentley". You getting lost ? C'est pas vrai ! ?????

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]See, there you go. I have a different experience. Your 20-odd years in France plays my nearly 40-odd years of living between France and the UK...Who's right? Who cares. It's a question of differing experiences and so on. Like saying "The French" is a bit misleading, because whilst I agree and recognise an underlying culture and characteristics, "The French" are as varied and disparate a bunch as "The English" As a tiny example, contrast two close friends of mine in the same rural part of SW France One is a family who have rarely moved from their roots, farmers whose large extended family all still live within about 10Km The other is a family where the mother divorced her husband years ago, debunked to the Greek Islands with her five children, ended up marrying a Brit and moving back to France. Her children now live everywhere from Vietnam and Bali to Greece via La Rochelle and Lille, but the extended family (often nearly 30 in number) all return to the mother's home over summer from all corners of the globe. All are incredibly well travelled, fluent English speakers with a world view developed from living abroad, but they're all, still, very French. Both families often engage me in French bashing conversations. Or indulge in French bashing when I'm around. It's just not a topic for sweeping generalisations or "one size fits all".[/quote] I am not sure the point you are trying to make. There is never going to be a "one size fits all". How can there possibly be. Maybe perhaps it is just a question of manners. I personally would not write negative things about France or the French on an open forum or negative remarks about any country for that matter. Don't see the point. Certainly things that could been seen as having a racial connotation. You know there are habitual posters who do post a lot of negative remarks about France. A lot of them used to live in France and now it seems in the UK. I don't see the problem of taking them to task or certainly opening up a debate on why such a comment is made. You see, my kids are half French or mostly French on a day to day basis. They actually do think they are French and don't really understand the 'UK' bit yet. I think it is unkind for people to constantly say French tv is crap, French food is crap, French driving is crap, French paint is crap, French artisans are crap, Paris is full of black workers or working on the black. Dont buy French stuff, bring it over from the UK because everything in France is crap. At a personal level, I do find it rude towards my children who are at the end of the day French. The trouble is that when you try and debate the issues with these people they either call you a troll or report you. You can't win.

French bashing is a national sport for the French but you got to remember the French are very patriotic and very sensitive. They won't like to see outsiders bashing France on cultural matters. If French people are having a negative conversation about France I just keep quiet.

That is my little froglais. I am a 'he' BTW.

Chancer, I have no idea. Everything I say about me is true. I have not made anything up, I don't pretend to be anything more than what I am. I was sent to Paris to work by the company I worked for 20 odd years ago and have not really been home since. Worked in the rat race until I had a heart attack. Decided to change life and renovate a farmhouse....like you do. Did that for six years, and now have finished another house where I live now. Spent half my time in France living in a city and half my time in rural world. I am going to do one last renovation and that will be a flat in Paris. I will burn all my tools and do something else. Like I said on the other thread, before joining a forum two years ago I really had no idea of the extent of the British expat community in France. Really no idea. Never heard of places like Eymet, or tescos shopping vans, fish and chips and all that. I knew it happened in Spain but not in France. So I did actually find in quite interesting and funny. Maybe people think I am a troll because I am so nieve. The 'big guns' on a forum like to think they are right about everything and OK I do like taking them down a peg or two when given the opportunity because in most cases they are just spouting nonsense. They think their own sad little 'expat world' is France. They get upset because they can't debate it, throw their toys out the pram and next minute I am banned. Yawn. One of these big guns actually thinks I am on some kind of Portugal forum or something. These big guns are suffering from paranoia. Just wanted to say, thanks for always sticking up for me.

I am not a facebook person so I don't really see how it would work in the same way as a forum. How do you ask a renovation type question. I belong to two other 'French' forums which are there basically to help people. Some of whom are quite desperate. There are only few people answering questions but they all know France and there stuff and seem very nice people. I like to help if I can. That leaves these types of forums (the other one included) which operate differently. They are very cliquey places for newcommers to be fair which I suspect scares people off from joining. Maybe not here but there is a secret network behind the scenes. I tried in most cases to avoid using the PM system as you feel like you are being groomed and sucked into a secret network. Yuk. Having just read Théiére post (which kinda confirms my suspicions) I kinda feel better for all the effort I have put in LOL.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]http://www.gagner-argent.org/travailler-au-black-pour-se-faire-plus-dargent-comment-faire Nope, nobody in France has ever heard of it. Much.[/quote] To be really honest, I have never heard on the phrase 'working on the black' until I started reading French forums. I had no idea there was such a phrase in English. Then again I never new (hand on heart) there were so many British people living (or had lived) in France until two years ago. I honestly thought I was one of only handful people living and working in France. I have honestly only met about 5-10 British people living in France in 20 years....and they were all employed here in offices and such places. MY OH has only met 1 in a working environment. But to be fair I must be the only English person never to have been to SW France or the Dordogne or whatever. Nobody talks about large communities of English people on the news or on current affairs programs on TV. So how would I know ? Nobody talks about it in French circles. Sorry to be nieve. It is like loads of people moved to France in 2003 and all moved back again. All under my nose. I missed all the fun on forums. That is why I like reading forums.....I am catching up. I don't like the French bashing mind you especially by people who choose to live a British life in France (which is fine if you like that kind of thing) but bash France at every opportunity because they don't understand the customs and culture..These people need to get out more.

Google 'centre equestre saumur' or 'saumur ecuries'. In the results it brings up, click on any given 'ecuries' and navigate to 'Pensions'. Some give the costs some don't. That should give you an idea. For example.... http://www.equitation-saumur.fr/index.php?page=pension Or use pages Jaune... http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/annuaire/chercherlespros?quoiqui=ecurie&ou=Saumur+%2849400%29&idOu=L04932800&proximite=0

[quote user="Pommier"]I think any rational person would say that there is a world of difference between the two titles! [/quote] Please explain rational person.

Facebook ???? Nooooo methinks not. What other forces are at work here ?

This site/forum (and others) was so alive in the mid 2003-2012 period. What happened ? I have read with so much interest the old posts. Where has everyone gone ? Back home ? Still in France ?

[quote user="JSKS"]ALBF said: 'Paris is a dump and full of blacks' was the title of the thread. Actually the title was: 'It's Official Paris is a dump and full of black Workers'' You have either purposely or accidentally misquoted the title to suggest that the article's title was a reference to race rather than unregistered workers.[/quote] Accidentally BTW (does not really change much though) ........but I gave you (re-read the thread) an explanation as to why the OP may have been mistaken in thinking they were working on the black. But like I said, it does not change much. P.S...I refuse to accept that Paris is a dump. I love Paris. Even the suburbs.

Nick P. .....I got banned for being ALBF....why I don't no. I came back as Fripon (name of the kids ex cat) because I can't use my original name....ALBF. I got banned again and came back as 'styleanglais' because I can't use ALBF or Fripon. I got banned again. I came back as 'Ecully' because I could not use, ALBF, Fripon (my ex cat), styleanglais. I am NOT a TROLL. There are darker forces at work here. I am going to start a new thread.

Thanks everyone who thinks ALBF is not a troll. Much appreciated. 'Paris is a dump and full of blacks' was the title of the thread. Sorry hoddy (luv the name..big thumbs up) just need to clarify that point in this debate. Promise not to cross reference forum to forum again. ('Blackball' are the rules of 'pool hendrixfans in France. LOL Same in Scotland. Google it....someone tell him. I used to work in the Paris suburbs. It was as close to living France as you will ever get.....IMHO If you attack France on a French forum it is OK. If you attack the person who is attacking France on a French forum....you are a troll. Reading through the 10 years + of posts on this forum(and I have), I am glad to see that this forum does not have the same policy. P.S CR...join this forum.

Intentional or not Chancer it was very badly worded. I know my brother in law (who suffers racism in France) would have taken it the wrong way. Maybe it is a generational thing. I am sure that the OP did not mean it like that but to my generation it would have been perceived as being racist. Remember, not many people have heard of the phrase 'working on the black'. Certainly French people would not have got it. Furthermore, the OP was so glad to have 'given' his new friends 50 euros. If it was a warehouse, it is actually 'customary' in Paris to tip warehouse staff for loading and unloading. Our guys use to 'try and get tips'. So I doubt that they were working on the black and in which case saw the OP coming. LOL. The thing is mods are so quick to expel people for being so called 'trolls' yet allow a thread like that to stand. I was watching that thread all day just to see if was going to be taken down. But no. Other French bashing threads are allowed stand as well. I don't get it. Back to earlier comment in this thread of me being a troll. I am not a troll. I have been in France for 20 odd years and I am only 43. I see life differently to retired folk because I have pretty much grown up here if you like and worked like normal people. I do belong to another 'French forum' (more of a I need help/in trouble French forum) and I am even more out spoken but I have never been banned because I try to help people. But that forum is more international and is moderated correctly and they get my humour. Lastly, I NOT A MEMBER of any Portugal forum/holiday home or whatever forum or any other forum not related to France. If you are reading this Mysty or please somebody tell him before he goes mad. Where on earth did that come from ? LISTEN, I DON'T HAVE A HOLIDAY HOME IN PORTUGAL. WHOEVER IS ANNOYING YOU ON WHATEVER FORUM IT IS.....IT IS NOT ME. You paranoid butch of nutters. Whenever I pop up on the grid I will tell you if it is me. Mimis.

Oh...nothing special. Bit of a bust up on another forum with just fecin racist idiots that seem to have contempt towards France and everything French. Even those who run the 'Anglo/French' site are just anti France. How does that work ? Chancer your views are wasted on that idiot site.

Are Brits living in France generally raciest towards the French and anything thing that is not 'anglo saxon'. Today for the first time in twenty years I felt totally embarrassed to be 'Anglais'.

Location, location, location.....your story is a lesson to everyone looking to open up such a business in France. How far from a motorway junction are you Chancer ? We have a 'gîte/chambre d'hote' type business a couple of streets away. Every time I pass they seem to have customers. The local hotel is always packed to. There is an architect house advertised on AirB&B you can rent out at 325 euros a night at the top of the road. Whilst my area is a nice place to live, no one would come to this urban noisy sprawl for a holiday. LOL. Mind you, Gîte owners in the Dordogne could only dream of the custom you could have here.