Why Oh Why?

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote] Might she have been winding you up? Mark you I have known a fair few round the places I've been who sound similar. Some survive. Most don't [/quote]

Two retired British couples in our village:

one pair lived in Spain but found the heat down South too much, so moved here

and the other got lost on the way to Spain, spent the night in the South

Vendée, liked it so much they decided to stay.

Neither of these couples spoke a word of

French and speak precious little now.

But they bedded in very well and have been

here over three years now. I think they get on so well BECAUSE their

expectations of integration were so limited.

Two couples with children who did all their

homework, learnt a fair bit of French and had high hopes of integrating in

short order lasted less than two years and moved back to the UK.

I’m not drawing any firm conclusions from this, but

the observation, I think, is interesting.

[mint]

Hi, Riff-Raff, haven't seen you on the forum for a while.  Trust you're OK!

I, too, find your observation interesting.

I know a couple (whose experience I have cited before on the forum) living not a million miles from us.  They came to France in a camper van with another couple (in another camper van) for a holiday.  Decided to look in the estate agents' windows (as one does), other couple found a house they liked but couldn't afford.  "My" couple then literally moved in, having bought it.

Interestingly, these people do not particularly like anything French, do not speak the language and do not want to learn it, do not like any French cuisine and definitely do not like French restaurants and most damning of all (to my eyes anyway) do not drink wine!

They have been here now for nearly 4 years.  All of their above dislikes are still firmly in place.  They have lovely French neighbours (I have met them) and they seem most accommodating and welcoming to this couple.  Of course, their car, camper van, etc are still on Brit plates.  They go "back" 3 or 4 times a year for the GP though he(the man, not the GP) has had his hip replaced thanks to the French health service and the top-up they bought one month before the operation.

They watch UK TV exclusively and, of course, there is nothing to pay as they have a Sky box they brought with them and, what do you think, they do not fill in French or British tax forms.

On the other hand, I know of 2 or 3 couples who have all tried with varying degrees of success to learn French and make friends of the locals and who have been here about 4 years and are looking to sell up to go back to the UK.

As you say, Riff-Raff, who is to say that integration, speaking the language, any of that is necessary for a happy life in France?[:P]

[Georgina]

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"][quote] Might she have been winding you up? Mark you I have known a fair few round the places I've been who sound similar. Some survive. Most don't [/quote]

Two retired British couples in our village: one pair lived in Spain but found the heat down South too much, so moved here and the other got lost on the way to Spain, spent the night in the South Vendée, liked it so much they decided to stay.

Neither of these couples spoke a word of French and speak precious little now.

But they bedded in very well and have been here over three years now. I think they get on so well BECAUSE their expectations of integration were so limited.

Two couples with children who did all their homework, learnt a fair bit of French and had high hopes of integrating in short order lasted less than two years and moved back to the UK.

I’m not drawing any firm conclusions from this, but the observation, I think, is interesting.

[/quote]

 

Yeah don't learn French, ignorance is bliss!!![:D]

 

Georgina

[Georgina]

[quote user="The Riff-Raff Element"][quote] Might she have been winding you up? Mark you I have known a fair few round the places I've been who sound similar. Some survive. Most don't [/quote]

Two retired British couples in our village: one pair lived in Spain but found the heat down South too much, so moved here and the other got lost on the way to Spain, spent the night in the South Vendée, liked it so much they decided to stay.

Neither of these couples spoke a word of French and speak precious little now.

But they bedded in very well and have been here over three years now. I think they get on so well BECAUSE their expectations of integration were so limited.

Two couples with children who did all their homework, learnt a fair bit of French and had high hopes of integrating in short order lasted less than two years and moved back to the UK.

I’m not drawing any firm conclusions from this, but the observation, I think, is interesting.

[/quote]

 

Yeah don't learn French, ignorance is bliss!!![:D]

 

Georgina

[Boiling a frog]

Perhaps the people who have tried to integrate had the pink specs on and read too many forums. Learn French,do research and everything will just fall into place,the local French will be charming ,you will be invited out to your neighbours for aperitifs,you will make hundreds of French friends going to the village do,s,the maire will greet you as a long lost friend,the food will be wonderful.All you have to do to attain this paradise is to speak French and smile ,say bonjour to everyone and you will integrate because you need people around you .

On the other side of the coin ,you are fairly self sufficient,you really do not want to go to village fetes, sip aperitives r have hundreds of friendly popping in,and you only try basic French.

Both types however never meet the alleged charming local french because they are a myth,do not get invited for apperitives,the maire turns out to be a bit anti brit,and the food is found to be pretty crap.

The people who have tried to integrate,speak French are miserable while the others are happy as they have a life exactly as they  hoped for

[Meg]

[quote user="Jill"]An English woman spoke to me in a supermarket in the Dordogne today.  She said they had retired to France and bought a house here, to which they moved 4 days ago.  She said they are vegetarian and speak no French and all they had eaten in the last 4 days was cheese, cheese and more cheese.  She was clearly fed up of cheese!  I suggested they might cook something with chick peas.  I'm not vegetarian, but I could certainly think of plenty of vegetarian things to eat that don't involve cheese or Quorn.  They said the only cooking they had done was to heat up a tin of vegetable soup.  I didn't think to ask her whether they had ever visited France previously or whether they knew anything about French cuisine.  We just can't understand why anyone in their circumstances would move to France.  I mean, if they had visited France, then surely they should know what to expect foodwise (although I expect that given time they will find food for vegetarians - if they can learn some French).  But then, surely, as vegetarians, they should know something about vegetarian cuisine and be able to sort themselves out foodwise regardless.  I find it difficult to believe that anyone could move to France and know so little.  They might as well have moved to the Moon.  I realise all people have different reasons for wanting to move to France and I certainly have many reasons for wanting to have a home in France - even though it will probably never happen.  But even though I have spent a lot of time in France, with French families, in gites and camping, I do feel there is still a lot more research to be done.  I daresay I will come in for some flac from people who have moved to France knowing nothing about France, but - oh well, we were just astonished.[/quote]

Poor woman!!! She only arrived 4 days ago (maybe she doesn't even have a kitchen) and is now the subject of a 'brits in france' debate!!  We moved over here after never holidaying here and with very limited language, and it took a few weeks to find our feet and work out what to buy, from where and what it was called in french etc, but who cares, it was our choice to do it that way. Research is all well and good, but for some folks they rather just say let's just do it, and dive in at the deep end, otherwise they never get any further than research and talking about it. Depends on your circumstances/character etc, doesn't make one right and one wrong. Some sink some swim, that's life. Good on anyone prepared to take the odd risk in life to achieve their goals.

Wonder if she's reading this?! Can't be many British retired ladies in the dordogne, that were talking to a lady in a supermarket yesterday, and who only moved over 4 days ago...........[Www]

Either that or she was after a free meal from you Jill!

[:)]

[Llantony]

I don't eat meat but I sometimes give in and eat fish as otherwise it would be hard to eat in many French cafes.  They usually try to be helpful if you ask.  They do often put ham in things.

This story does sound a bit of an exaggeration!  They could eat pasta, omelettes, pizzas (ready made), veggies stews etc.  If they haven't got a cooker there's always salad and sandwiches. 

It can be hard not eating meat in France.  I had a problem in our local restaurant whereby the manager insisted frogs' legs aren't meat.  Maybe true, but I like frogs and don't want to eat them.  I don't drink coffee either - but I am partial to wine so not completely a lost cause.

 

[suze]

powerdesal i was talking france not uk. or did i miss something?

[Russethouse]

Irony ? [:)]

[tegwini]

Crumbs- moaning about food in France! And moaning about the lack of vegetarian food too...

I get by - pastas, pizza, omlettes with a variety of fillings,  veg curry,  veg cottage pie,  & we now find some veg pies eg tarte au poireau (leeks) initially thought of  as pears.  And we have found so many treats that we take back to the UK - creamed spinach (much much cheaper); jam (better quality); Atlantic salmon (much cheaper) for OH;  larger choice of fruit and vegetables  and so on ...

Not so many vegetarians in France so you have to cook & not expect stuff in a box.

Regards

Tegwini

  

 

[suze]

I knew i had missed something....am having blonde day!!!!!!!!

yes tegwini, hate pizza but love leek tart, 3 cheese, mushroom tourte etc but so much fresh veg available you dont need to buy ready made.

 I have been told off cause i eat sea food, so cant be vegetarian!? we do have a shop that sells it all but i prefer at this time of year to make for myself.

[Russethouse]

Piscetarians really exist - they are people who are mainly vegetarian but eat fish, not meat. I could be one quite easily - I love fish !

[Tony F Dordogne]

[quote user="tegwini"]

Crumbs- moaning about food in France! And moaning about the lack of vegetarian food too...

Not so many vegetarians in France so you have to cook & not expect stuff in a box.

Regards

Tegwini

[/quote]

We more than get by and I really can't see what the problem is for UK vegetarians in France.  It comes with the vegetarian lifestyle that you have to cook for yourself and I've got a huge range of vegetarian cookery books - part of the fun for me is finding the recipes.

Leith's Vegetarian Bible, any one of the north African cookery books from Books for Cooks, Jack Santa Anna's books on Curry/Asian food, there's loads of ideas around and here we seem to get the ingredients much easier, like north African spices and mixes.  We do eat fish which helps when we're eating out and J will eat chicken and I don't drink wine or aperos when we eat out, nothing wrong with water.  And if I fancy a pizza or whatever which may have meat on it, I just ask for the topping without the meat, easy really.

And for the recent arrival from the supermarket, if she's reading this, here are places in the Dordogne that serve vegetarian dishes, 4 days just isn't enough time to have found them tho if she'd done enough research before coming here, she would have realised that it's a self-sufficiency thing here that helps, which she's not had time to get into.  

[dave21478]

I dont get this....its not as if they arrived in France 4 days ago and suddenly decided to be vegetarians too! If that was the case, then yes, I could undestand their predicament, but assuming they were vegetarians before moving, then they MUST know how to cook pasta, eggs, vegetables, rice....there are hundreds of basic foodstuffs that can be combined into millions of dishes without ever using meat. Is Auchan really that different from Tesco`s? its not as if the French pack everything into plain tins and write a label on the front, the packaging for most foods here is the same as back in UK. If they cant find stuff like pasta or eggs in a supermarket, then I have to wonder about their observation skills.

I suspect its more a case of them being lazy and/or really bad cooks, and were expecting to find a range of Findus style pre-cooked stuff that just needs heated up. Even that exists here (in quite large quantities) and a little bit of common sense looking at the packaging (even if you cant understand the writing) would help to identify if there was meat in them.

 

 

[suze]

Russet house Sorry didnt know that word! but then. i am definitley one of those, cant spell it, wthout looking above. but believe me i get so much s^&* am i allowed to say that? by vegatarians because i admit i eat, sorry, not fish but sea food. i never used to enjoy eating meat as a child but was forced too . then i ate for many years as i thought was normal and neccasary. now , freedom. 

[Danny]

[quote user="Llantony"]

I don't eat meat but I sometimes give in and eat fish...  ...I am partial to wine so not completely a lost cause.

[/quote]

Of course, wine is not normally a product suitable for vegetarians but I am sure you all know that

EDIT http://www.smithfieldwine.com/acatalog/our-wines.html

Danny

[woolybananasbrother]

What the heck is wrong with wine? It is the ultimate vegetarian food. After all even our Lord drank it often and deeply

[Danny]

I am sure your Lord never signed up to the Vegetarian Society... Loaves and fishes etc

Danny

[Tony F Dordogne]

Nothing wrong with wine at all, if you like it.

And who's this Lord bloke, thought the French had sorted that little crowd of crony politicians out in 1789.    May be your Lord but many of us choose not to be ruled by something/somebody we have no control (real or imagined) over.

[Gardian]

[quote user="sweet 17"]They came to France in a camper van with another couple (in another camper van) for a holiday.

Of course, their car, camper van, etc are still on Brit plates.  [/quote]

Extremely dodgy people.

I just hate camper vans, especially the 'Rapido' ones.  Anything less 'rapido' is hard to imagine.

Gordon Brown is probably in one on his hols just now.  

[mint]

Me too, Gardian.  But I don't want to say so too vociferously on the open forum for fear of being hounded by owners of these mobile toilets.  It's the thought of one's "waste" sloshing about and not more than a few feet from where one eats that puts me right off the damn things.

[Wendy]

Camper vans/motor homes - don't you love the way they park horizontally across several parking spaces [:@] and then set up their silly little tables and chairs outside [:@][:@]

[Sunday Driver]

[quote user="sweet 17"]But I don't want to say so too vociferously on the open forum for fear of being hounded by owners of these mobile toilets.  [/quote]

Useful things our mobile toilets - saves us having to use all those disgusting public ones like the rest of you poor car drivers.

The loser's queue starts over there.....[:D]

 

[IMG]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w4/r850r/MOBILETOILET.jpg[/IMG]

 

[Llantony]

Why oh why do I keep getting emails about this topic in my in box when I have unticked the box that says 'email me replies to this post'?

I keep thinking I'm getting emails from people I want to hear from and it's this wretched thread again - in which I have now lost interest!

[Clair]

When you write "I have unticked the box that says 'email me replies to this post", do you mean in your profile or at the top of the page of this thread (notify button)?