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Not considering entering a new career as a slave but...


PJ
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I'm toying with the idea of spending a couple of years floating around the European mainland starting in France. I'm in my mid 50's and have spent the past couple of decades renovating & converting properties in the UK. Rather than sit around outside cafés drinking wine and oggling girls a fraction of  my age I'd rather find somethig to keep myself entertained.  I'd be interested in finding  someone who wants a hand renovating a French property. I'm not offering to build them a house from scratch and if they want a brick wall built around their estate, every flat surface in the house plastered or a fosse dug by hand I suggest they find a builder. I used to hire people to do that sort of stuff. However, I've plenty of experience making windows & doors appear in blank walls, lofts turn into en-suit bathrooms and have even made the odd staircase. I've still got a van full of tools for tiling, plumbing, carpentry, electrics & whatever going rusty & can vaguely remeber how to use most of them. What I don't want is a job. If I needed to earn a living, I'd stay here and spend my days stuck in a traffic jam on the Euston Road. I wouldn't mind a roof over my head to keep off the rain & sun & the chance to improve my French from the standard that failed my o-level. (Offers of unlimited wine & loose women would of course be considered but I prefer my own cooking.). The less overheads I've got the longer I can spend shirking my responsibilities. As for where, well somewhere warmer would  be nice & I can't see much point in spending 6 months gazing at the White Cliffs of Dover from the front side. Access to broadband or at least somewhere where a 3G connection works would be a help as  I do write on this interweb thingy occasionally.

I've got some things to sort out before leaving but a few weeks should see me shoving the car on the ferry & trying to remember which side of the road to drive on. I'd be grateful if anyone had any ideas or suggestions. Apart from the obvious ones that is.....

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I agree with you tony, however this guy sounds like he just wants the romance of it all. My advice is do what you feel good with, my recommendation is ' fill yer boots ' as they say up my way. Enjoy your wee trip touring about.

I suppose i shall get pelters for egging you on but sometimes its best to just go with the flow, so to all who want to have a go at me i'll say just this......wind yer necks in  [:P]

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I love your post, sharkhunter, to the point with no messing about.  And why not, sometimes we just complicate matters for ourselves and for others.

I don't see any harm in having a bit of an adventure.  It's not as though the OP wants a proper job or anything like that.  He should make some lovely friends and should be able to dine out on his experiences for months afterwards!

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Hi PJ,

If you're passing, we are in between Le Mans and Orleans, just off the A28 in a little village called Montaille. I say we, but what i mean is my hubby Chris who is working on our house whilst i continue to teach here in the UK. The house is warm and dry and there are lots of 'little jobs' to do. It is not the Ritz, far from it, but we love it and it will be lush.

We havn't got internet there yet, but there is a nice little Mediateque in the village. As we are not very far down, you may not want to stay too long as it's not that warm yet, but you are welcome to 'bed down' for a bit, eat some food and lend a hand.

Bonne Courage a toi.....

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Tony, What's the week long course you mention and do you think it will figure in me and my brothers and a couple of  mates going down to spend three weeks replacing my roof prior to getting a French artisan to fibro tile them? No money changing hands at all except for the French Guy
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  • 2 weeks later...
[quote user="sweet 17"]

You sound a nice, interesting, useful person to have around.  Just want to respond to your first post and to wish you all the best with finding a "position". 

All the best [:)]

[/quote]

Sweet 17, your assessment and response to the OP was very nice and, welcoming !

......................then "Tony the policeman" comes along.

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I think that all works undertaken by family and friends, free gratis, always carries an element of risk to life and limb. As for being registered to help out a friend it's a slightly grey area for me, having a mates weekend and painting/decorating and barbie and beer to follow would i think be deemed sound however any serious building works could incur the wrath of French beaurocrats somewhere.

There could be several elements to take into consideration like insurance and medical care etc should anything happen, that said there are many who have help from friends putting up a shed or laying a concrete base for a garage ??? and not all British.

In my opinion, can't see any harm in it nor the need to inform Chm de Met, what would they say if you did ' pop in ' and mention it....Gallic shrug with a who gives a ..... look on their faces.

A matter of personal choice i think and a good risk assessment prior to starting

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It is perfectly legal and OK for your family and friends to help you renovate your house so long as you don't pay them.  You can even add a clause to your house insurance which is called something like 'aide benevole' or 'travail benevole' (explain what you want to do and they'll ensure you are covered).  I'm all for people being legal - but some of the posts on this forum on the subject are plain daft.  My French neighbour has just built his entire house with help from family and friends - nothing secret or illegal in that.
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Well said Cerise, this is exactly the type of posting that is required, concise and exact with no if's and buts. My posting was an opinion, a grey area i said, and i was asked a question directly in which i tried to answer correctly to the best of my knowledge.

If only you had noticed the posting earlier then you could have saved all the unnecessary postings/ daft comments [:)]

Hugh.

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