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Is it worth moving to France?


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Erns, first you tell me that I'm sleeping my life away and then you tell me I have been breathing polluted air in South Wales for years.  So......what's the third unpleasant thing you're going to tell me today?

Oh, come on, let's get it over with!

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

Erns, first you tell me that I'm sleeping my life away and then you tell me I have been breathing polluted air in South Wales for years.  So......what's the third unpleasant thing you're going to tell me today?

Oh, come on, let's get it over with!

[/quote]I've just heard that the school bus is being diverted by your house [6]

 

 

 

Sorry, didn't mean to depress you [kiss][kiss]

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Ah, but the school bus wouldn't worry me.  I actually quite like small children (especially in small doses); animals likewise.

I think animals and small children are just so transparent and relatively simple to understand (not unlike men actually).  I was going to add they are so "endearing", but that wouldn't apply to men, so I had to start a separate sentence in order to say that![:P]

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Well, thanks for (almost) all the many responses!  We are definitely going to stay in France for a while as have booked crossing and son & partner are ready to move into our UK house (rent cheaper than they are currently paying and we will have someone reliable there + to look after the cat till we return to fetch him and more stuff in 2-3 months).  We can't have an extended stay in our UK house as it's too small.  I'm looking forward to volunteering in the local mediateque setting up a foreign language book section.  No grandchildren to miss tho I feel guilty about leaving my mother who is nearly 92.

A major factor is finance, I reckon it's probably cheaper to live in the UK now, with free health care and bus pass.   My husband's pension will be modest, mine tiny. In 5 years' time his state pension will make us better off.  Apart from the actual price rises, for British people everything in France has gone up by 17.5% since last year because of the strong euro (or is it weak pound?) and there has been mention of £1= 1 euro before long. This rise would include health insurance. I also think electricity and water are more expensive in France.

Yes, it's lovely to spend time reading and/or listening to music with the log fire. But that's when it's a contrast to work. It can get cold and misty in winter - Easter this year was freezing and everytime we forced ourselves to go for a walk it rained. 

Thanks for advice on brightening up the place.  We have a living/dining room with low ceiling and small window in 2 foot thick wall to one side at the front.  We needs lights on most of the time. But nice and cool and shady in summer.  The back is underground!  We have painted the plaster wall white but will not paint the 2 stone ones.  A velux wouldn't improve downstairs and the 2 bedrooms are reasonably bright.  Veluxes are (officially) not allowed in our plus beau village and can't be hidden + the new mayor is our next door neighbour's brother! 

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[quote]not allowed in our plus beau village[Llantony][/quote]

We have quite a few official "plus beaux villages" near us (our own village is "protected" by a ring of tin-roofed bergeries and so protected both from official status and, equally, from hordes of tourists, not least because we're on a road which goes nowhere other than here) and we avoid them like the plague during the summer months, restricting our visits to the autumn-winter-spring period.

Have you lived in your village during previous summers? How did you cope? Surely you must have had many tourists peering through your windows or even banging on your door.

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No!   Our village isn't that beau really.  We get a few people walking past and we are right on the street (no traffic).  We did once find someone who'd come through our side gate and was trying to get up the narrow steps to our terrace, thinking they could get to the village centre.  We give directions when asked and haven't had any problems.

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