[It makes me mad]

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.

[moving to sw france]

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 !

[Buying a vineyard]

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 :-)

[What problems have you had/ expect to have when buying ?]

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/).

[Bad Back - Am I doing the right thing in moving? PLEASE HELP!]

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

[Sandre??]

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 !

[moving to sw france]

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.

[What problems have you had/ expect to have when buying ?]

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.

[moving to sw france]

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.

[ANY REGRETS????????????]

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

...

[ANY 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 ?

[Buying a vineyard]

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.

[Buying a vineyard]

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.