groslard

As for colour be careful with the darker ones as they can be VERY dark. I tend to use chataigne claire ('claire means light, not clear) so light chestnut..

[quote user="powerdesal"][ At 36600 income compared to a commune average of 11156 I would suggest that "pretty well off" is very mild. They are Bl**dy well off by any standards. How many Forum members are living on a lot less than that, come on be honest!!! [/quote] It's only just over £27000 a year, which doesn't seem very high to me with their committments. I would imagine that a good many working Forum members who have two incomes in the family have more than that, and the ones who are retired will probably have lower expenditure..

If you look at the bottom of the page of the site I posted it tells you how it is calculated. Or as is quoted in the article "Avec leurs deux salaires, la prime de Noël de Pascal, les allocations familiales et la prestation concernant le mode de garde, le couple, qui n'est pas imposable, gagne près de 3 050 euros par mois"

Even now  I have visitors who ask me 'Can ou drink the water?'

And the average salary is even less: http://www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/chifcle_fiche.asp?ref_id=NATSEF04143&tab_id=617

[quote user="Cendrillon"] Do a search on here as there was lots of discussion a while back on closing up houses for the winter. [/quote] Has  anybody tried winterlets?

[quote user="J.R."]One collection a week in my village, two a week in the adjoining town that all my neighbours say that our taxes foncieres (ordures) pays for. [/quote] Once a day in my quartier, but we need it more often, as even then the bins are overflowing

Is it "lasure" ? it's supposed to treat and finish. You can find it in places like Castorama Bricoman etc..

[quote user="woolybananasbrother"]Le Petomane was French after all.[/quote] Didn't he come to a sticky end when he foolishly went on stage one day when his tummy was upset?

My son wasn't educated here, but did live and work here for four years after age 18. One of my jobs was also to prepare French young people aged 18-30 for working in an English speaking country , usually the UK but inceasingly Ireland and Canada, which has obvious appeal because of Québec. I hate large generalisations about 'the French/English' etc, so I will limit myself to impressions. Some of the tendencies I found  were these: The French education system tends to put academic knowledge before practical application,  so in languages there is a lot of learning about rather than using, and more emphasis on reading and writing than on speaking and listening, and in Music there is a lot of study of 'solfège' rather than playing the instrument for fun. This also tends to stifle discussion, because the students have to learn a lot of second-hand information. I used to joke that a French child had to learn the names of all the parts of a bike and then got a certificate in cycling before he went away to fall off  when he tried to ride it. At the same time, perhaps because of this, a lot of emphasis is put on how many years of study have been completed, and the value of a job is measured in Bac+2/3/4/5 etc. They are also obsessed with the marks they got which they assume will ensure a job for life. This is why there are students at 25+ and not only on courses like medecine. The problem with all this is that a young person coming out of the system at 25 is ill equipped for the world of work, or anyworld outside the narrow academic one where their value is measured by 'notes'. French students are much less likely than UK ones to have taken a GAP year ot to have travelled. They often expect to find a job in their home town and are less willing to move to find work. The system also seems to be aimed at preparing students for a life in the 'fonction publique'. The brightest are encouraged to go the 'Grandes Ecoles' , and others encouraged to take the 'concours'. I sometimes think that the system wants to turn out teachers of History and Geography. The "aggrégation" examination for this is fiendishly difficult, and carries enormous kudos in France. There is very little emphasis on starting a business, (not surpising given the complications) and very little ideas of relationship between what is studied, and whether it could possibly lead to a job. The 'profs' have something to answer for here, because they don't want to lose good students, so they give utopian advice about what to study, without reference to the world of work. I dealt with a graduate in Arts Administration who could barely type, and had  a very individual grasp of English ,  but wanted to work in London at one of the Museums. We managed to find her a job selling postcards in a Museum shop.. On the positive side I found many students who were used to working enormously hard and for long hours, who were knowlegeable, polite, and had good IT skills. My students weren't typical, because they were trying to do something about the lack of jobs in France by going abroad; and my son is not typical in that after 4 years in France and several years travelling round the world and working for quite long periods in places like Israel and South America he finally settled back in the UK with a foreign wife. I think the answer lies in being flexible, being prepared to travel, and not to expect a job to fall from the skies.

[quote user="artsole"]in summer, I sit at bar terraces and talk with friends all day long..............and watch the builders struggling in the heat!!!!!!!! [/quote] So now  it is obvious why you enjoy the Languedoc, as opposed to the poor blighters who have to try to find work here.. It's one of the poorest regions in France, but as long as you can sit on your terrace and let the builders struggle, all's well with the World! http://www.midi-life.com/News/8Feb2004.htm

I have read the Wikipedia article. I think we are at cross-purposes. I have quoted examples from the local press it's true, largely because people who read boards like the Creme de Languedoc accuse me of being negative, and I wanted to give some external evidence, rather than relying on my own anecdotes which people seem to think I have invented, but  I am well aware of the agenda which lie behind media coverage. I have also quoted a site where French people give their opinions of the towns in which they live, and where statistics on things like unemployment, average wage, and details of demography are available. Anyone can also check these things on Insée or Quid. I agree with Will that the two countries have more in common than is generally stated: in particular the reasons often cited for leaving the UK are often things which are equally present here,but less obvious to British people who have a shaky grasp of the language, and aren't fully at home with the culture, so don't always see what is going on. To give one more link from today's paper: One poster ironised pleasantly about the rise in rural crime in his départment (the Aude), citing such things as traffic infractions. I wonder if he read the account of 250 police arresting a ring of 30 drug dealers in the same idyllic area cited here: http://www.midilibre.com/articles/2008/02/10/20080210-REGION-Aude-250-policiers-sur-la-piste-d-39-un-vaste-trafic-de-stupefiants-Trente-interpellations-hier-principalement-a-Castelnaudary.php5 I don't see this as moral panic. It's just a counter to the idea that Rural France is Crime free...

To get a better idea of the real price of a property it's best to approach the seller directly. Estate agents in France have only recently gained ground in the market, and it used to be common to deal directly with the seller, and just go to the Notaire. Something of this mentality remains, and unless the seller has unwisely signed an exclusivité you can simple look at the plan cadastral, ask for the owner's address, and contact them. Obviously you can't do this if you have been shown round by an agent, but I am assuming you have identifed the property either from photos or from a 'à Vendre' sign I have done this with two properties, and in both cases the owner was quite happy to deal direct. On one occasion I saw something advertised at 225000 and when I telephoned the seller he said he wanted 150000. I offered 140000, and got it. On the second I saw something at 160000, was told by the nosy neighbour that it was damp, and she had offered 80,000 so I put in a direct offer at 110000 and got it, and the neighbour didn't mind because I   put in a separation wall that solved both our problems. This doesn't harm your relations with anybody except the Agents But those prices were in Francs..

Bon jour is like saying hello, except it adds the idea of 'bon' which is nice The second time you should say 'rébonjour' to show that you remember that you have already met them and that it registered. If you say 'Bon jour' again they will think you didn't notice the first time. 'Salut ' is young and familiar a bit like 'Hi' 'Bonne journée' is because 'journée' refers to a period of time: so you are really wishing them well for the rest of the day, or evening in the case of Bonne soirée. If it's really late you might also get 'bonne fin de soirée' which I am sure you can work out! '

[quote user="artsole"]raindog and groslard, You obviously didn't read my post, history has already taught us that newspapers distort and enlarge social problems". And as I said, I live in a red light district, with drinkers and SDF! I definately don't live in mayleland..........as you call it. Actually, I probably think you never leave your house because you actually believe what the papers say...........and never go out. a bit sad really.[:P] [/quote] I read your post but don't see what socio-babble " history has already taught us that newspapers distort and enlarge social problems" has to do with experience. If I was going to enter an academic debate about this I would ask 'which history?' 'is this always the case, even in totaliarian societies which suppress bad news?" "How do you measure whether newspapers 'enlarge' social problems? How do you compare,and what is the tool of measurement you are using ?""How did you establish the reality as you claim it to be? etc etc" But this is not an academic forum, and simply I quote reports from our local papers of events which have taken place. In the case of the badly beaten man who was assaulted in his own flat while he was in bed, I had a chat with him yesterday morning in the shop where I was buying a rabbit and saw his bruises; and as for the block of flats opposite mine that were torched by a gypsy drug dealer because he hadn't been paid I didn't even need to leave my house except to take some coffee over to the pompiers at 4 am when it was all over. As for the 'drinker' who stabbed his drinking companion to death and came into the restaurant covered in blood mumbling that they needed an ambulance, that is hearsay; I was told it by the owner the next lunchtime. But I suppose I shouldn't believe my own experience: these events were reported in the newspapers, so according to you they are 'distorted' Living among SDFs and drinkers in a redlight area  isn't that wild you know; it's even quite colourful if you are insulated from them by money, but it's not reality.

[quote user="LEO"]s.   Do any other forum members go away for the winter? [/quote] Don't really need to, as we have just had a week with blue skies and 24°...

Yes I suppose people only want to hear what they want to believe, because they are afraid. It takes courage to see what is around you, and decide to live with it, rather than in a sort of pretence... I am quite adjusted to life in the Languedoc, but the OP was looking for somewhere like Chichester...

Taxe d'habitation is payable for the year by whoever lives in the place on the Ist January, but the dustbin is often payable by the Landlord or included in the charges. It is part of the Taxe Foncier payable by the owner.

[quote user="Btuckey"]Crime has gone through the roof in our part of LR.   [/quote] Presumably your French is good enough to read Midilibre and see the account today of the man attacked in his own house by three robbers who stole three rifles, or THIS REPORT on  a couple who fled to Montpellier after attacking a policeman... Or to read this account of the way the centre of one town (Béziers) is becoming a ghetto of poverty (35% on the dole) http://storage.canalblog.com/07/11/350386/21678230.pdf

No it wasn't a "wind up."  It's a collection of some of the reasons I have seen on the various fora for leaving the UK. I wanted to make the point that here the British are the immigrants, and that the similarity of their patterns of behaviour here to those seen by other nationalities in the UK should make people pause and think.

[quote user="Tresco"][ Sorry Groslard...I know your post was serious but I'm having trouble with that part of it, (about religion), in particular. [/quote] I think you underestimate the separation between Church and State in France, which goes back to the Revolution in its roots, and to the law of the 9th of December, 1905. Many of my French friends would be unhappy to speak of religion in a definition of what is French. Obviously with the established Church in the UK, British people here often have difficulty in understanding that, asking for example why there is no carol service at the local school, or wondering why sometimes Easter isn't at the centre of the holidays. These are a trivial examples, but no French person politician would say "God save la France" or "God save the Président"..and it shocks them to hear GWB say "God save America" or talk of praying. In short I think that Anglophones tend to bring a different attitude to religion, which is much closer to that of Islam that that of the French.

I have seen these problems in France: Excessive immigration into France by people who have no wish to integrate, who don't bother to learn the language before they arrive, and who set up ghettos where they mix only with others who speak their language. A refusal to accept the French principal of laïcité, and attempts to impose an alien religion and observances on their communities in their own language Attempts at the destruction of the French identity by people who don't know about French history, don't understand how things are done here, and try to insist that it would be better if it were more like in the country of their origin. Excessive house prices caused by excessive immigration, meaning that young French people can no longer buy houses in their own communities. These are the Brits abroad.

[quote user="LyndaandRichard"]Is that 11% on what you receive, or what you actually make (after insurance, rates and other outgoings etc) are taken off? [/quote] depends whether you are on Micro-foncier or not... If you are under €15000 you can be on Micro-foncier The most important thing is to consult a) a good French source, in this case for example: http://www.seloger.com/s_bas/206870/estext_actu.htm where you will see that the charges are applied on the income received , but with  30% taken off across the board as a standard % which means that it won't be 11% of income. b) Don't listen to the 'man in the bar' that can be found on these sort of boards. If you can't understand the French, ask someone who has been doing it for a few years.

Well your answer was fuller and more detailed so took longer to type [:)]

This changes very little surely. People already paying in were never affected, and I think it only concerns British people. Let's hope that there will now be a revision of the levels of payment to bring them to a realistic level, and help pay for the care of those who really need the CMU; those on the CMU complementaire.