Why do you stay in France?

[Hoddy]

I wrote this before I read Catalpa's contribution.

I've decided not to edit it anyway -

“I always thought the country side was for farming and that farmworkers also lived in the country.”

In the village I live in this is sadly no longer the case. To look at it is a lovely little village. Thatched cottages along the main street and a stream running alongside bordered by daffodils in the spring . About two-thirds of the houses are privately owned and the rest belong to the local authority. Even though the population is fewer than four hundred we are lucky to still have a pub and a school. Its a very pleasant place to live, but we don’t have a single farm left.

All the farming is done by contractors whose main aim is to get the job done as quickly as possible. In consequence the jobs which used to be done by full-time employed farm labourers in the quieter parts of year, hedging and ditching for example, don’t get done at all. The field immediately behind my house, being rather low lying for cultivation, is never touched and is gradually reverting to nature.

Don’t talk to me about Islington luvvies !

Hoddy

[cooperlola]

First let me apologise profusely for the artwork at the top of this page which in no way reflects the rest of the content, I promise.

http://www.lyricsandsongs.com/song/720851.html 

However, grit your teeth scroll down and read the lyrics of this song - very much on point, I think.

[Patf]

If you look on the insee.fr website, under agriculture, you will see that the same trend is happening in France. Figures given from 1955 to 2005 show an overall decrease in number of  farming units and small farms. Increase in number of large farms. Also I read in the local paper that the Young Farmers association now numbers about 50 members, down from 100+ 20 years ago. Pat.

[Logan]

I have never really understood the concept of integration. I mean at what point do you say to yourself, ‘I am finally integrated in France’?

We live out our lives as émigrés, go to work if we are unlucky, learn the language, are matey with the locals and make friends with some and avoid others. Go to some social gatherings and avoid others, read the local papers occasionally, watch French TV very occasionally, shrug, grunt and complain like everyone else. Does this mean we are integrated? I think it means you live a perfectly ordinary life as you would anywhere else. I hear all this talk about integration as if it’s a goal to achieve and unless you do misery and unhappiness results. I personally think its all tosh. In my experience French folks do not give a tinkers cuss if the Brits integrate. What they do expect are folks to behave in a polite, reasonable and lawful way. The concept of integration does not exist. To them you will always be ‘les Anglaise’.

[Beryl]

The family opposite me, used to farm a lot of land in our commune. However, the 'family' land ownership has been diluted with every death.

It is a wonder that any of these farming people can actually continue to farm any land at all and haven't been reduced to Medieval strip farming.

[Teamedup]

[quote user="Logan"]

I have never really understood the concept of integration. I mean at what point do you say to yourself, ‘I am finally integrated in France’?

We live out our lives as émigrés, go to work if we are unlucky, learn the language, are matey with the locals and make friends with some and avoid others. Go to some social gatherings and avoid others, read the local papers occasionally, watch French TV very occasionally, shrug, grunt and complain like everyone else. Does this mean we are integrated? I think it means you live a perfectly ordinary life as you would anywhere else. I hear all this talk about integration as if it’s a goal to achieve and unless you do misery and unhappiness results. I personally think its all tosh. In my experience French folks do not give a tinkers cuss if the Brits integrate. What they do expect are folks to behave in a polite, reasonable and lawful way. The concept of integration does not exist. To them you will always be ‘les Anglaise’.

[/quote]

 

But that is it Logan. You don't hang around with a little expat group who know next to nothing of France, who don't speak or speak little of the language and moan about the UK all the time. AND if all foreigners do so much as you described in any adopted country then the locals, I believe, will be well pleased, I think that they do mind.

There is no way I am expected to be the same. They know that, they accept my being different, but giving it a go and getting stuck in and showing up at things, is good, it is integrating and it isn't tosh. I think maybe there could be a better word, but I can't think of one, so integrated is what we will have to call it. It is being a member of one's community even if one is a little different and in my case eccentric.

[Mel Prett]

 "Total  commitment" I suppose might fit the bill as a better way of putting it.

Mel

[RumziGal]

While still remaining true to yourself, of course.  

[verviale]

I think a poor farmer in France must be a bad farmer,because round my way they look very comfortable indeed, I do not deny they work hard and in all weathers,but they seem to have lovely houses and new equipment.

[TWINKLE]

[quote user="Teamedup"]

 I think maybe there could be a better word[/quote]

Adapt?

I had to and I have and I stay here because this is where I have made my life.  Sometimes I love it sometimes I hate it.  I think it is easier all around if you make an effort to fit in - nobody forced us to come here after all.

My Carte de Séjour expires in October of this year and my husband keeps teasing me that Nicolas is going to send me back where I came from[:P]

[Teamedup]

Our local paysans well, I call them the 'faux pauvre'. Money is a bit like it was with Arkwright, something to have and cherish and not to go around spending on anything frivolas and the most important is to not let on you have any anyway.

The worst around here are the viticulteurs, every last drop gets sold one way or another.

[Logan]

[quote user="TWINKLE"][quote user="Teamedup"]

 I think maybe there could be a better word[/quote]

Adapt?

I had to and I have and I stay here because this is where I have made my life.  Sometimes I love it sometimes I hate it.  I think it is easier all around if you make an effort to fit in - nobody forced us to come here after all.

My Carte de Séjour expires in October of this year and my husband keeps teasing me that Nicolas is going to send me back where I came from[:P]

[/quote]

Yes Twinkle I like that word 'adapt' whilst as Rumzigal almost says 'to thine own self be true'. Amen to that. Adapt means you evolve to the prevailing circumstances around you, not seeking an unobtainable state of being French. I hail from the Yorkshire Dales and spent a working life in London. That was 'adapt' writ large. As we pass through life wherever we are, whatever we do, 'adapt' is needed in shovel loads. That was my point really. Moving and living in France really is no different.

[blossom]

I got as far as page three then gave up exhausted.

If I let myself get carried away with this thread then most people would have done enough to put me off.

But really, is the situation worse that the uk?  how many of you have actually forgotten how bad things are in britain?

Fine for all of your forty soemthing who got on the housing ladder over ten years ago, but me and my faily are stuffed.  Our mortgage strips us of all our income- we honestly worked out that we have 4.72 pence after we have paid the mortgage, council tax , escalating fuel costs etc and 'luxuries' such as sky and a gym membership.

Its not as though we live anywhere nice either - just a plain old  terrace in an 'ok'area (found a home made bong at the bottom of our garden last week and the tenants in the house next door regularly wake us as they vomit on the steps on a saturday night).

I'm skint now due to the ridiculous house prices and council tax in the UK.  And the tax situation in the UK isnt getting any better for the likes of me either...Before long I will have to hand over 'cash per mile'more simply to drive my second hand battered car to the seaside.

If I move to france, i will also be skint, but with a little cottage, half an acre, snowy winters, slightly warmer summers (okay not everywhere), then being skint seems a little more palatable.

Dont get me wrong- It might seem like my move is to get away from the UK.  Actually I love france and the french countryside, my folks live there, I speak the language very well.  The french vary from place to place, just like the UK.  Some regions seem friendlier than others, just like the UK.

It's hard not to feel apprehensive after reading all these posts, but life isnt a bed of roses here either so im willing to give it a shot.

[mint]

blossom

don't be put off.  we are about to move over very soon (if our uk house gets sold at long last; this is the 5th "definite" offer that has gone through surveys, solicitors, etc).  you won't ever know if it'll suit you without trying it out for yourself

i have had quite a few problems along the way, since we first decided to move over there about 4 years ago.  we have gradually and in very small stages, got our heads round what the move will involve.

i am sure there will be many, many more surprises; some quite nice and others less than pleasant.  but, i'll tell you what, i am going to give it my best shot and i am going to take along, besides my husband and my dog, my very best and most positive attitude.

so, good luck. don't forget, some things need action to get them out of your system.  it sounds to me like you have more advantages than many people in your favour.  you know france and you know the language and you have family there.  as the Nike advert says, "JUST DO IT!"

[Will]

Look upon a move as someting different and a new set of challenges rather than a solution to problems. Remember that problems are likely to follow you, wherever you may go.

[Keni]

I know the feeling

as I have said before, if it gives my OH and I some time together before we pop our clogs and that time is spent doing a little of what we want, albeit skint, then I will be happy.

good luck to you - at present we are in Worcs. hoping to relocate some time to the Haute Vienne, but until then we keep an eye on this forum to remind us how life can be.

Keni & Chris

[Teamedup]

[quote user="blossom"]I got as far as page three then gave up exhausted.

If I let myself get carried away with this thread then most people would have done enough to put me off.

But really, is the situation worse that the uk?  how many of you have actually forgotten how bad things are in britain?

Fine for all of your forty soemthing who got on the housing ladder over ten years ago, but me and my faily are stuffed.  Our mortgage strips us of all our income- we honestly worked out that we have 4.72 pence after we have paid the mortgage, council tax , escalating fuel costs etc and 'luxuries' such as sky and a gym membership.

Its not as though we live anywhere nice either - just a plain old  terrace in an 'ok'area (found a home made bong at the bottom of our garden last week and the tenants in the house next door regularly wake us as they vomit on the steps on a saturday night).

I'm skint now due to the ridiculous house prices and council tax in the UK.  And the tax situation in the UK isnt getting any better for the likes of me either...Before long I will have to hand over 'cash per mile'more simply to drive my second hand battered car to the seaside.

If I move to france, i will also be skint, but with a little cottage, half an acre, snowy winters, slightly warmer summers (okay not everywhere), then being skint seems a little more palatable.

Dont get me wrong- It might seem like my move is to get away from the UK.  Actually I love france and the french countryside, my folks live there, I speak the language very well.  The french vary from place to place, just like the UK.  Some regions seem friendlier than others, just like the UK.

It's hard not to feel apprehensive after reading all these posts, but life isnt a bed of roses here either so im willing to give it a shot.


[/quote]

 

 

Going on about England like that, yes I know what England and a lot of France is like. They aren't dissimilar. Well nul part may be, but I don't live there. And watch where you buy, local taxes can be expensive in France too.

Ofcourse there is the thing about making a living in France. Being skint is one thing, but you still have to live here and it isn't that cheap these days.