daniel

I'm french and I must say that reading this thread was great fun ! A few things : nobody cares about the académie française here. It takes them 50 years to go through the dictionnary from A to Z so that when they come back to A, the language has changed so much that the next run will last a century. But they are part of the paysage, just like the garde républicaine, the 14 juillet and the pétanque. There are a few people who master the whole academic french. Maybe two or three ! But these are professionals who practice everyday for the "dictée de Pivot" competition. We don't even know if the English we (try to) use is English, American or Martian, and just as for the académie : who cares. It would be fun to see a Brit speaking perfect canadian french but I have little hope. Don't bother, just make sure you can order a pastis at the bar and you'll be happy with your englishish french.

Wen, Have you tried to talk to the parents of these boys ? You need to know if the problem comes from the relationship between your son and his would-be friends or from their parents. Be aware that french people usually know nothing about your way of life. We tend to see the Brits as hypocrite and to be wary at first. This can be overcome in 83% of the cases (remember : le Pen obtained 17 % in 2002). If your son really feels excluded, you should talk to the principal, conseiller principal d'education and/or professeur principal at the college. btw : where are you in France ? My daughter is 13 too and she likes english ... and boys !

I never learned English at school. Just went to London for two years and learned from scratch. I'm still bad but who cares ? I' can't stand lessons anyway ... Find a job, watch TV, play football or bridge, read newspapers, go to the café (first pernod helps, the following ones don't). Maybe buy a book about gramar. Don't be inhibited and ask the french people to correct your mistakes. It is discouraging and exhausting at first but it does work. Well ... at least you can see by yourself how it worked for me :-)

I would not build because it is slow, complex, stressful and often more expensive than buying. As for the notaire, I meant your own (french) notaire, not the same as the seller's. There may even be a third notaire involved when they act as estate agents (http://www.immonot.com/).

From a french perspective, charente is not seen as dry nor really warm ! I was there for Christmas and I found it cold and wet. But I leave in Montpellier (Hérault) and British or Irish people may have a diferent view. In my place it is dry when cold and warm when wet ... but it can be really cold (-10°C at night) OR really wet (200 mm/sqm/day = floodings). If money is not an issue, I would rather advise the Pays basque, the Roussillon or the Cote d'azur. Hope this helps

Sandres are more like perch than like Pike. They originate from the Danube region and are quite common in calm rivers, large ponds and lakes all over France. People raise them in Brackish lagunas in the Camargue region. C'est très bon cuit au four avec du vin blanc et des oignons !

This is true. French kids easily visit/invite each other for an afternoon or the whole week end but are rarely allowed to wander in the streets.

There are a lot of things which can go wrong when buying here in France. I'm am in the process of buying a forest and there many problems with several people claiming property for the same piece of land, legal papers which suddenly "disappear" from the Mairie, etc. My first advice if you are not used to our system is to avoid buying on auction. I would also avoid buying a plot and building a new house or buying in Corsica. And don't rush. Maybe rent for a year or two before byuing so that you can learn to know the area. In my place for instance (Hérault), you would have to be carefull with floodings and this is not so easy. Another good reason to wait is that in some places, the prices are starting to go down. From experience, I would say that the key point when buying is to have your own Notaire. Never ever go sign with the seller's notaire alone. The trick is that if you come with your notaire and the seller with his own, the fees will not be higher : The Notaires will simply share the fees. The tradition is that it is the Buyer's Notaire who will do most of the work and you will eventually sign in his office. And do not ask your notaire to negociate or find your house : Your own notaire should not have any interest in the transaction and the always help you and only you. Even so, Notaires often make mistakes and having two of them checking each other is safer. And if you are not happy with your notaire, just make it clear that you may consider go find another. Once you have a Notaire you can trust, you can approach a seller in the following way : visit the house several times but never show him you really like his house. Talk a lot with him about every possible subject so that you start knowing and (hopefully) trusting each other (I would talk for days !). Then, make a writen offer with a short term ( maybe 3 days) and with a "chèque de banque" to YOUR Notaire (3000 to 10000 euros) and ask for a writen reply. This way of doing sounds respectful and serious to the "traditional" french. there are so many ways for the buyer to breack a compromis de vente before the final transction and this is a waste of time and money (surveys have a limited validity) for the seller. This is why he would possibly accept a lower offer from a serious/trustful buyer. He may refuse and return the chèque to you, accept the offer (in which case his is legaly engaged), or make and counter offer. An estate agents would do this for you. Sometimes they really help you lowering the price, sometimes it is your interest to try to bypass them. A few are entirely trustfull but this is not the rule. Always ask for their fees and try not to pay more than 7% ( I paied 10% for our new house last month but I was VERY happy with the final price). Do not base your offer on the seller's price but on your own estimate. If the price tag is too high, don't even make an offer and do not hesitate to look upset or take it as a joke (Looking upset is the french national sport after all and there is a lot of theatre in this business). For a House in decent shape, don't bother making an offer less than 2/3 of the seller's price. A few tricks about the "Frais de Notaire". These are not only the actual Notaire fees but also, and mainly, taxes. A first way to reduce them is to pay part of the price "au noir" = "sous la table" (I don't know how to translate this and I'm not suggesting you to go that way). Don't do that if this is not going to be your main house and you expect to resel before 15 years : you would pay another tax called "sur les plus value". Another way if an estate agent is involved is to make sure you pay his fees (not the seller). You will be requested to sign a mandat with the agent and the official price will be exclusive of his fees. Last trick : you don't have to pay any frais de notaires for the furniture left in the house such as the cuisine equipement. In other words, whatever you buy, the furniture of the cuisine is always 10000 euros worth as the taxman will never come check it ;-). Hope this helps (sorry but there are tricks I won't write !). Daniel.

No problem for long term rental if you have a decent financial income. As for your daughter, the cultural shock might be OK but the Aulnay/ St Jean d'Angely area is rural and if you come from London or some other big city, she could get bored. I suggest you visit the school with her and trust her feeling.

Yes, but feeling home-sick is understandable. I used to live in London and I found myself praying for a saucisson. Be honest : how about a good pint of bitter ? Not from a can or from "the gaz pipe", I mean the real stuff ... you know what I'm talking about, don't you ? Now the bad news : these things are addictive and if you leave France, you will miss the saucisson just as much as I miss the bitter. Regrets ...

My parents live in the Poitou and lots of british bought houses there over the past few years. From our (french) view, those who learn the French and try to get involved in the community seem happy. But we are not optimistic for those who can't communicate in french after two years or try to recreate some sort og mini-UK (from the pub to the church, school). En résumé : you don't need to forget cricket to learn playing pétanque, do you ?

Hey Quillan, if your idea about vineyards in France is really that they should be sold as building plots, may I suggest that you keep moving southward : sell your property and buy some other place. My suggestion woul be somewhere in the Sahara or the antarctics.

Why not having your own vineyard if not too large ? I don't think you will earn much money with it but you can enjoy running it and keep our country alive. Yes you should be cuting now, at least this is what my neighboors do here (Hérault). It is hard work and you need to learn how to do it. Ask the neighboors to see if they would teach you. If they don't, watch them with binoculars while they are cuting, follow them to the café and use british humor until they get very angry... or start smiling. If you really want to get seriously involved, you can follow proper training at the local Lycée agricole or some other place. Ask the chambre d'agriculture for more information. Hope this helps. Daniel.