siellis

[quote user="5-element"] Happyali - all you saw on the lovely video (designed to attract tourists, holidaymakers, and potential buyers, remember?) is exactly as shown. But everything that Groslard said is also true, and he provided some evidence. There is a lot going on beyond any tourist brochure. For instance, there is a lovely video about my own little town, where we have a very progressive mayor. Naturally, on that video, you don't get to see the alcoholics sprawled on public benches day in and day out, you don't get to see the queues of poor people waiting for food distribution at Restos du Coeur or Banque Alimentaire. You don't get to see the beautiful river banks strewn with rubbish, or the fights at night between the local gypsies and Maghrebins. I am sure nobody would ever describe all this in great detail in the "Creme du Languedoc" - the name itself being self-explanatory. Now, if you feel you can live with the contradictions, and depending also on which particular area you choose to settle, you might be happy in Languedoc. But don't kid yourself that there will not be racism, drugs, very high council tax (taxe fonciere here - mine is over 1,000 euros p.a. for a very ordinary place without land), and as for "the peasant types" that so appeal to you for chatting, many of them are deeply suspicious of strangers - exactly like in Cornwall. You caould also remember that Paris and Nancy are quite a long way off. When I go to N.E. France by train, it takes between 10-12 hours, much less to Paris admittedly. If by "happy forum posts" you mean  where none of those issues is ever acknowledged or even mentioned, if you want to live in a fantasy world, well, perhaps you can manage that... if you have enough capital and if you are determined to keep your eyes and mind firmly closed when the environment does not live up to the tourist brochures. I have British friends here who do just that, they have not a clue of what happens around their area, or much idea about the rest of France and the French either.   I was hoping to persuade my wife to move with our 2 girls aged 9 & 12. We plan on looking around the area of Baillurgues due to the bilingual school being there.   Do you think you have given the Languedoc an unfair image?   I plan to move from Liverpool were Gun crime is rife,drugs are everywhere,evening news bulletins constantly carry stories of murders,robberies,knifings etc etc etc. There is a total lack of respect by the youth, Booze culture is defiantly a problem with the young, and the violence in town centres at the weekend is horrible.   Now.... i could go into all the other issues like 360 days of rain , rip off petrol prices,taxes,high house prices,Euro 2800.00 council taxes p.a., car owner targeting for increase revenues etc etc etc.   surely the Languedoc would be an improvement on all this???[/quote]

I was hoping to persuade my wife to move with our 2 girls aged 9 & 12. We plan on looking around the area of Baillurgues due to the bilingual school being there.   Do you think you have given the Languedoc an unfair image?   I plan to move from Liverpool were Gun crime is rife,drugs are everywhere,evening news bulletins constantly carry stories of murders,robberies,knifings etc etc etc. There is a total lack of respect by the youth, Booze culture is defiantly a problem with the young, and the violence in town centres at the weekend is horrible.   Now.... i could go into all the other issues like 360 days of rain , rip off petrol prices,taxes,high house prices,Euro 2800.00 council taxes p.a., car owner targeting for increase revenues etc etc etc.   surely the Languedoc would be an improvement on all this???