A good analysis of the effects of Nice

[chessie]

Oh now that's rather silly....

It is the numbers surely that is the problem.   How many french schools have more than 60% British children on the roll ?   How many towns or villages have more than 60% British resident ?

Don't think selling baked beans and bacon to each other would provide much of a living either !!!

Come on now - after all the French have taken over a whole part of London, with their own schools, and boutiques, shops and petanque .... why not have a go at them.

Naughty, naughty.

[NormanH]

The behaviour of British immigrants certainly annoys me.

I have posted about it before and on the way that some call themselves 'ex-pats' while criticising immigration to the UK

That is certainly hypocrisy.

However I haven't seen many reports of Anglican terror attacks in France.

Whether such things as bombing Iraq ans Syria are regarded as a military campaign or as terrorism depends on the interpretation you put on them.

[alittlebitfrench]

Chessie wrote..

"Come on now - after all the French have taken over a whole part of London, with their own schools, and boutiques, shops and petanque .... why not have a go at them"

Exactly, it is the same thing/behaviour the world over. But if I read the news correctly in the UK, the French are cool and Polish are not ???? How does that work ?

True story this. A salesman came around selling windows one day to our little bit of mainstream France (sorry Betty). So he was doing his sales pitch but the conversation disgraced about his mums village in somewhere or other in rural France.

His mum said that the whole village had been overtaken by the 'British' who just work for each other and were not interested in the village or village life. French artisans were going out of business and the world in general was just falling apart. Anyway, the the locals of the viallage were not too impressed with their new EU friends.

He did sell us the windows and his mates did a good job.

[Russethouse]

[quote user="chessie"]Oh now that's rather silly....

It is the numbers surely that is the problem.   How many french schools have more than 60% British children on the roll ?   How many towns or villages have more than 60% British resident ?

Don't think selling baked beans and bacon to each other would provide much of a living either !!!

Come on now - after all the French have taken over a whole part of London, with their own schools, and boutiques, shops and petanque .... why not have a go at them.

Naughty, naughty.

[/quote]

There are certainly schools where English is not the native language of the majority of the children, and quite a few of them too.

[chessie]

alittlebit french - here's some info for you;

If the reference to English Cricket concerned Eymet - can I tactfully point out something please ?   Yes the Club may have been started years ago by the Brits, like a lot of other Cricket Clubs in France.

But nowadays there is a mix of French, English and Dutch playing on the team;  there is also a very thriving younger section, including many superb young French players - and some of the French players originate from France's colonial empire - in other words - coloured and non-coloured (can I say that ?);  - a multi-mix, a diverse cricket team.  Please - check out the club web-site - you might be pleasantly surprised.

As for the 'concentration' of Brits in certain pats - I blame the English speaking estate agents who targeted us all - get a number of Brits in one area - and then like ants more follow !!!

And other posters refer to behaviour of Brits - be careful because quite a few are actually non-resjdent;  they may spend months here, but more time back in UK means non-resident.

As for French 'cool' - I do not understand that, at all.   Much prefer Polish people to French - always think of their spirit and bravery during WW2 (from history lessons mind, and listening to my parents - not personal !!! - not that old !!)

Anyway, the sun's shining - we should all be out enjoying  the swim-pools - too nice to be on here, tidied up after lunch - now heading outdoors to swat the wasps....

[alittlebitfrench]

@ Chessie.

Yes....... Swimming pools...(yawn), that is why Brits move to France. Cheap land, cheap house, cheap Ryanair flight and a swimming pool. I guess everything else (the French bit) just gets in the way and makes life a bit tough.

Only rich immigrants/expats tend to have pools in France. We don't have one like most.

Enjoy your wasps.

P.S Are you from Eymet ? I have never met anyone from Eymet before. What is life like ? Spill the beans.

I believe since Brexit all those expats/immigrants/brits living in Eymet are now claiming French citizenship. The question is, are they now going to stop buying their food from Asda ?

[suein56]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]

Only rich immigrants/expats tend to have pools in France. [/quote]

Hereabouts I only know of 3 private swimming pools, 2 of the families are completely French ie both man and wife, the third couple are Swiss/English.

You seem to find it hard to accept anyone's view but your own at times, which skews your take on reality.

Which I find a shame as you talk a lot of commonsense at other times.

Sue

[alittlebitfrench]

@ Sue in 56

It is just tongue & cheek humour. Just the way I am.

My neighbour has a pool and well as three others along our street.

Today it is too hot for them to go in the pool (orange canicule alert) and most other days it is too cold or raining. Welcome to France.

Tee Hee

[suein56]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]

My neighbour has a pool and well as three others along our street. [/quote]

This has reminded me of another couple (French/Welsh) who bought what had been a typical sprawling Breton holiday home with a superb view of the Golfe de Morbihan. The first thing the couple did was fill in the swimming pool and create instead a sitting/eating area which takes advantage of the glorious views.

Sue

[alittlebitfrench]

Hmmm...

My street in French suburbia which would be comparable to a street in Redhill or Crawley...or something like that.

No views, but the land (just the land) adjacent to us was sold for 250 k ish. Just the land. The house and pool to build cost a million +++++

Different world to the Dordogne.

[NormanH]

And a ready supply of mustard...

[alittlebitfrench]

[quote user="NormanH"]And a ready supply of mustard...

[/quote]

Must be that.

Sometimes even ALBF does not get it.

These people could have built their palaces with pools overlooking the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Mediterranean/Atlantic and have 500 k in change over what they have spent. When I say we are talking suburbia I mean Suburbia. Nice houses mixed with not so nice houses, social housing and the noise of a main junction of the A10 (less than one minute) and the noise of a Ryanair jet taking off every now and again towards somewhere you don't want to go.

Different France different priorities.

[mint]

Off for an evening walk soon with my friends and neighbours (ALL French incidentally) but no frontale needed tonight (ref: thread on "useful expressions" and l'oiseau's explanation), same again tomorrow night (ALL French again) and still no frontale as I don't possess one!

Albf, do you think that all the Brits are sipping G and T's by their pools instead of coming out for a walk?  I wouldn't know as I don't have one and do not see the point of having a domestic pool.  If I had a pool, it would have to be of a size that I could have a good swim in like er....Olympic size![:D]

Being an exercise addict, I would need to be able to do lengths and try out different strokes and have no wish to sit astride inflatable swans, frogs, flamingoes.

Also, I wish you wouldn't go on about the Dordogne when, by your own admission, you have only been to Sarlat for a single weekend.  The Dordogne is a very large département and is not homogeneous and is not synonymous with Sarlat or Eymet or wherever it is that you drove to and, from your single 2-day visit, you somehow managed to have all your pre-conceived ideas about the Dordogne confirmed.

I know a fair number of Parisiens (REAL ones as in 2nd or 3rd generation) who have bought houses here for retirement or who have family homes that they come back to, either for part or all of the year.  I always grin and say ah vous etes rentrés au bercail?  And they happily agree and tell me that there is no place like it..........so there you go!

[Chancer]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Hmmm... My street in French suburbia which would be comparable to a street in Redhill or Crawley...or something like that. [/quote]

 

I was born in Crawley and still own a house in a sought after village nearby, if you were talking 250K Euros then a plot of land in my village is that price now if not more, Redhill even higher.

 

Not that anyone would put a million Euro or pound house on it as there is an upper limit to each street which the French don't seem to realise but then good for them, if they get the house they want in a location they can afford then why not.

 

In my part of the UK the plot is about a 3rd of the value of the value of the best house that could be built on it, the building cost another third, the profit the other third, in general terms, of course anyone buying a new build like that gets screwed because there is a lot of money spent thereafter on finishing, fixtures, landscaping etc.

 

As a consequence of the 3rd, 3rd, 3rd economics, when I successfully defended myself in the public enquiry against a prohibition order for converting outbuildings to a dwelling without permission, what had previously just been a larger than average garden which would not have increased the property value then became a legal dwelling on its own plot with a value of 1/3 of a family house, probably £150k in todays market. All I wanted was a place to sleep on my rare visits and I continue to use it for that purpose today, the planning department instead of trying to make me bulldoze my pied à terre now want me to put in plans for, - in their words - "something more in keeping" which I will not be doing anytime in the foreseeable future.

 

Had I done the same thing in France I would never have had the successfull outcome, either I would have lived there happily for life without being bothered (which was all I wanted) or had I been denounced by the wrong person my dwelling would have been knocked down, in the UK the person that denounced me did me the greatest favour of all time although it wasn't their intention.