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Trouble abroad


Val_2
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Without starting a troublesome thread on this subject, I have to say I watched the second final part of this series last night and thought it much more true to life than last week's offerings. This week it seemed to be showing another side of the nightmare,many people find themselves in mostly caused by the way of the world and nothing they have done.The Florida family had got it right,but then the economic crash came and eating out is usually the first thing that people do without when things get tight and again the same in Spain where you could see also the amount of the dedication and hardwork the café owner had put in but to no avail because again, customers have been hit in the pocket and the ripple effect begins. Have to say though, what a horrendous place and as the café worker said, its like living on a british housing estate here and hence probably the only type of clientele.

As for the wine maker, sorry but he seemed very very amateur to me and with no backup plan if things went wrong which they did when they lost most of their crop due to the weather but again,they tried and it seemed to be costing them money left,right and centre to get rid of their wine. One thing at least, it may save many folks from making the same mistakes and losing everything by watching the programme and seeing just how the grass is not greener elsewhere, just different!

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€4.95 for two courses incl. wine. And she was paying about six staff off that. And she said she'd done - what - 82 covers? It may not have been a place I'd necessarily want to eat, but clearly Spain's employment laws and social contributions model would be something France might learn from if they will allow someone the flexibility to charge those sort of prices and make money.

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Val 2 summed it up about right (imho).

I felt really sorry for the Florida couple as some years ago I was in a similar position, not wanting to open mail and fearing the next phone call from my bank manager.

At that time the only one I was able to count on was my OH, luckily mine had a level head and we were able to come through it, although those memories will stay with me for ever. 

http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/trouble-abroad 

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Too late to catch it now Norman although I daresay it will be repeated in the fullness of time and most certainly on one of the satelite channels. It shows just how fragile a business in a foreign country can be,even several years after you have been raking in the money and are settled when practically overnight, your clientele dries up and nothing you can will tempt them back again.All the people were grafters, I'll give them that and had paid their dues although the wine man didn't let on too much about his personal circumstances and fancy buying a dead vineyard,well I suppose at least he has some land but it didn't look too healthy situation and needs years of nurturing before anything resembling a grape grows there again.
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I had little sympathy for the Brit winemaker, as he knew that the Languedoc suffered from a serious problem with over production of wine and that other vineyards in the region were dropping like nine pins, looking for naive Brits to buy them out before they went bust!

As for the USA, unless you have a US citizen as immediate family who can sponsor you, or marry one, permanent immigration to the USA is all but impossible these days for a Brit, unless you are a rocket scientist or well know actor. However, there is a non immigration business visa issued by the US State Department to those who buy a qualifying business in the USA and employ a minimum required number of US citizens, and this restricts the individual granted the visa to only working for the business concerned, although their partner is allowed to find other employment. The big problem with this visa is that it is impossible to convert to a Green Card and permanent US residence no matter how long you are in the USA, is subject to renewal every three years and as soon as you sell the business, it goes bust, or employs less than the minimum required number of US citizens the visa is cancelled and you have to leave the US. Also when your children reach 21 they are no longer covered by their parents business visa and have to leave the country. This was demonstrated last week by the Florida couple who were put on the plane back to the UK and I would imagine the couple shown this week are facing the same fate.

Therefore, both Brit couples knew like other Brits in Florida who mostly use this route, that they would have to leave the USA one day, as all attempts by Brit expat groups in the USA to get the authorities to offer the ability to convert to a Green Card if their businesses are successful over a period of time, have been given short thrift by the immigration authorities.

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One thing for sure is these types of programs show that forums like ours are a very important resource. Personally I found this forum extremely useful before and after I came to France. Without all the help I had from here I might well have ended up as one of the people in this program.

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It is one of the great French films in my opinion

If you don't mind watching it in 7 chunks it is available on Daily Motion

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8cg7m_jean-de-florette-1_shortfilms

After that you should watch the sequel Manon des Sources (available on the same site)  with the scrumptious Emmanuelle Béart in the title rôle

Worth a look just for her [6]

In fact I think the moral isn't just simply 'don't trust your neighbour', but for those of us who arrive from any distance away   'They know where the water is bet they won't tell you' ...or even will go out of their way to hide it!

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

   But, Norman, have you seen any pictures of Gérard Dépardieu lately?  NOT a pretty sight...[:(]  The Russians are welcome to him![:D]

[/quote]

He is a slimmer handsomer version of yours truly so watch what you say ..

Getting back to the programme which I have now seen, the bar owner in Spain didn't really seem to be abroad at all.

As one of her friends said it was like a council estate in Essex, so I hardly think that it counts as an example of the perils of running a business in another country.

The family in America were victim of their ignorance of the facts about the  issues outlined above, and an incredible  stupidity (when he said they... a Family .. had no health insurance I was amazed.)

The couple in France were the most interesting to me partly because it was in France, partly because it was in my region (I posted a link about that wine area just a couple of weeks ago  in another thread), but mainly because they typified the failings of many British people who come over here.

1) There is an underlying sense of superiority 'these poor French aren't capable of making this work, but if only they did things our way..

2) An ignorance of the métier, and an arrogance that they can jump in and do it, and an appalling amateurism in the execution of what they do when they finally do it (embarrassingly poor wine tastings

3) Naivety vis à vis the French (did they really think there was no reason for the low price of the vineyard?)

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 IF the lady in Spain had say charged 15€ for two meals and wine, I reckon that she still would have got the customers in and maybe made some money.

Re the people in Florida, well, we don't know where their business was or how 'good' it was, as obviously some cafes and restos are doing OK, as she worked in one.

Re the wine growers. It isn't hard to confuse me, but these people certainly have. I'll start with the picnic, which I would have thought that they would have charged at least 12€ pp or more, for a good picnic and wine, so they should have made some money. Then those 3000 bottles of wine, 3000? A hobby? playing at being viticulteurs? Certainly pas serieux.

I lived where the vin de savoies come from. And in my village most of the farmers were also viticulteurs, the land on much of the mountain sides, good for vines, but little else to be honest. All poor as church mice, apparently. The faux pauvre as I liked to think of them, as they were not poor at all...... all the local wine was always sold, a part of it sans etiquette, not legal, but that was the way it was and the rest was sold quite legally. A friend's Dad retired and rented his vines out, and his payment was 20.000 bottles per year, of which he would get around £1 per bottle, which would top up his pension nicely. We knew the bloke who leased the vines and he also did very nicely out of them. And it wasn't as if this was a huge vineyard, it wasn't, but  produced a nice little Apremont.  And that was a part time job for the bloke who leased the vineyard for most of the year. He also had a full time job.

 

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