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Languedoc-Roussillon - home of the poor?


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Well I have been trumpeting this for ages....

But I don't understand the reasoning behind a little phrase in the report

"ces chiffres doivent être considérés avec précaution car ils n'intègrent pas les prestations sociales"

In my quartier almost all the income comes from this...

If these payments aren't included you would have a very skewed sample.

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[quote user="NormanH"]But I don't understand the reasoning behind a little phrase in the report

"ces chiffres doivent être considérés avec précaution car ils n'intègrent pas les prestations sociales"

In my quartier almost all the income comes from this...

If these payments aren't included you would have a very skewed sample.

[/quote]

Yes: I wondered about that. Also, the income quoted is PER PERSON, whereas in France it is normally the household that is the unit.

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I must live a life of VERY modest expectation because if the "revenu moyen annuel" is 13K plus and that's only per PERSON, that seems like riches to me?

Also, prestations NOT counted?

Unless of course the figures include newly rich Russian billionaires who own chateaux and whose wealth has bumped up the average figures?[8-)]

I am not making head or tail of these chiffres. 

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Yes but you own your château...

A basic rent here would be 350+ for a studio flat per month.

Someone working on the basic wage (SMIC) would have 13k  year

The figures in this report don't quite tally with Insée which would suggest that sum as for a household.

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I like it [:D][:D][:D][:D]

Nice 1, Wooly  [B]

Is it my imagination .......but do some posters on Forum dislike France, the French and the customs and way of life in France ( eg recent article on Forum which suggests bureauocracy is  maddening ?  I find it so very French---and that's why we came here : for everything French ( except their bikes which are not as efficient as in Iberia  [:D][:D]

[quote user="woolybanana"]The Portuguese and Spanish working in Germany seem to have managed it, but then maybe they have better bicycles.[/quote]

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[quote user="Ron Bolus"]

I like it [:D][:D][:D][:D]

Nice 1, Wooly  [B]

Is it my imagination .......but do some posters on Forum dislike France, the French and the customs and way of life in France ( eg recent article on Forum which suggests bureauocracy is  maddening ?  I find it so very French---and that's why we came here : for everything French ( except their bikes which are not as efficient as in Iberia  [:D][:D]

[quote user="woolybanana"]The Portuguese and Spanish working in Germany seem to have managed it, but then maybe they have better bicycles.[/quote]

[/quote]

The bureaucracy is maddening, because sometimes things are very very important and when you end up knocking your head against a brick wall, it can drive you to near madness and say awful things. And yet it is France and once one has weathered that particular storm, then it is good anecdotal stuff. And as I said, I reckon that the fonctionnaires are far better than they used to be,  chronic when I first moved to France.

But really who would want 'everything' french???? I would not. And what is 'everything' french anyway?????? I know paysans and BCBG and even an old noble family (I've stayed in their chateau) and all these people would not consider themselves in anyway alike...... so.......... fraternité mon oeil!

As we lived in our 'english' home in France, then we could sort of cherry pick, because the good is very good and I would always avoid the bad if I could, but I do that everywhere.

People on here used to think I didn't like France, but if I had hated it I would have moved. I just know that there is the good, bad and ugly in France and isn't that 'life' and anywhere really, nowhere is perfect and I am far too interested in where I am and like to see 'life' in all it's colours.

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I'm always very impressed with anyone who knows an old noble family, especially if they have stayed at his chateau.Wow that is wonderful.

I am not saying everything French is Utopian. I'm just saying that , in order to live here, one must surely favour the country, people and way of life far more highly than anywhere else in the world. I fell in love with all things French as soon as I had my first visit as an exchange student for a month during A Levels.

My wife and I , though holidaying in many places around the world, have always been "dragged" back to France and , having become thoroughly disenchanted with our overpopulated and declining little island, could only choose one place in the world to buy our dream home : that was 4 years ago and we have never looked back, especially across the Channel [:)]  I can't see that changing , even when we become OAPs : life here is too good. Happiness is based on far more important things than location, but where one lives is a factor amongst others.

Your reference to people on Forum thinking at one time that you hated France is . of course , answered by your own remark that you'd have just left if you felt dislike of France. But one's perceptions of others' feelings are often affected by whether those "others" are constantly whingeing, criticising and giving the impression of being dissatisfied, don't you think ?

Thank you for explaining your feeling about France. It has also given me the germ of an idea for a thread about whether Forum Brits are happy with their location choice or not------now where can I find a place to start such a thread : perhaps tomorrow, as it's a bit late now. Good Night idun.......R

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I reckon it takes from 5-7 years for reality to hit, but it can be longer for those whose French is limited.

I know you have made great strides so I don't count you, but I do hear some Anglophone residents in the place where I holiday talking absolute rubbish about various French systems  and totally misunderstanding what is being said to them.

Even people running businesses have little idea sometimes. Just a couple of days ago I had to sort out a couple of problems for someone who was running a café but had no idea of the details of what her licence did and didn't allow her to do, and didn't realise that someone on her staff should either have done a food hygiene course, or have one of the professional qualifications that they do at Lycée.

Nor had she understood why her machine for taking card payments wouldn't work. (it was designed to work with a fixed FT line not with  a VOIP line)

In these cases I can't really see how people can judge what is the French lifestyle , given that they understand so little of what is going on.

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[quote user="NormanH"]
................. Even people running businesses have little idea sometimes. Just a couple of days ago I had to sort out a couple of problems for someone who was running a café but had no idea of the details of what her licence did and didn't allow her to do, and didn't realise that someone on her staff should either have done a food hygiene course, or have one of the professional qualifications that they do at Lycée.....................[/quote]

 

Not here but Spain. The female half of a British couple, who had done some sub contracting work for us, rang us frantically one morning - 

"We have tax inspectors here, and they want to see all our invoices since we started the business. How stupid can the Spanish be, they think we're going to keep all those papers for years and years!"

She was trying to call everyone who they had ever dealt with. We were of course, as a business, able to oblige, don't know about private customers. Maybe they were all on the black[:D]

 

 

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Ron Bolus, I nearly fell off my chair when I read this:-

by whether those "others" are constantly

whingeing, criticising and giving the impression of being dissatisfied,

don't you think ?

And that is exactly what every french friend and acquaintance of mine does. Every last one. They can have a good laugh and enjoy things, but when push comes to shove, they love a really good moan and we call it a chat or discussion[:D]. And frankly there has always been a lot to moan about, government corruption, wages, prices, and the weather, they can go on about that too. I'm a very good listener.

Impressed by 'noble' families? Hmmm, not being an expert, I found that the ones I know are just people, they have rows, get divorced, go to the toilet like everyone else.  My best friend is basically a cleaning lady/ aide old folks, in France. It doesn't matter to me, she is quite well off too, but I do know poor folks too, unavoidable when living en plein campagne in France.

I don't know whether it is 'me', but people talk to me IRL and always have, even when my french was very poor. The consequence of this is that I hear about lives and life. But that leads to many things including seeing France, warts and all. I doubt I could love anywhere or anyone with rose coloured specs on, wouldn't feel right to me.

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Hm...thinking about your answers...

I think I have had an easy ride for a number of reasons:

We haven't had to earn our living here.

Our income, whilst modest, does allow some margins, such as being able to withstand the drastic fall in the exchange rate and UK interest rate cuts to virtually nil.

We have lived in small communities where we have been seen more as objects of curiosity than of threat (ie not here to take anyone's job or buy houses which would be better sold to locals)

We came with the express purpose of learning the language and the culture.

We didn't come with unrealistic expectations

and lastly...

I think we are VERY easily satisfied!!!

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My remarks about moaning minnies was directed at the "professional whingers " who have no other string to their bow, no sense of humour , who are not debating, merely constantly sniping. They exist, as you know, and I find them an aggravation to the spirit------and very sad. And they are so depressing and so boring : so best avoided at all costs.

As for my saying I was impressed by aristocracy-------it was what we know as "mild irony" rather than the dreaded sarcasm [:D]. I have to say that those I have met are just as you say : the same mixture and blends of all homo sapiens.  But ain't it a shame they've never been in a fish n chip shop or eaten the meal from a newspaper ?[:(]

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