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Archetype British ex pat.


Logan
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If one actually reads the article rather than instantly dismisses it because it's Clarkson, there is a lot of truth behind it. Every emigrant should be forced to read it - then make up their own minds if they actually want to go or if they are doing it for all the wrong reasons.
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Clarkson's right as always, and I've been saying on here for years that if you can't hack it at home, you're not going to make it abroad.  Moving to France or anywhere else because you're unhappy with the government, public services, schools, weather, food, commute, people next door or whatever is just a cop out.  You're just miserable.  And you're going to be just as miserable (possibly more so) wherever you move to once the novelty of the new place wears off.  

If you've got a steady job earning enough money, nice house, good social life, friends and family near by, don't mind the English weather then why leave? 

Those of us living abroad may like to think that everyone back home is totally fed up with life, longing to move anywhere and envying our life style like mad.  But that isn't always the case.  And talking of fed up people, I hope I never again meet anyone as desperately unhappy as the couple I came across in France last month.  Sold up in UK, completely disillusioned in France, can't face another winter, can't sell French house and even if they could afford to move back, move back to what?  Trapped between a rock and a hard place they so wished they had stayed.  And I bet they're not alone.

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I echo your sentiments about some people's motives in moving abroad, l'etrangere.  Very dangerous to move in order to escape something because chances are, you'll bring it with you.  A close family member of mine has moved house so many times I can't count (all in the UK, I have to say) for various reasons (neighbours, the area "going down", etc etc) and within months the new place becomes just as bad as the old one was!  Some people will never be happy, wherever they are.  Those who are happy here, I suspect, are those who love this country for what it really is, not an idealised view of it, and who have a sensible view of the country they left behind too - my do I get sick of the UK-bashing which is prevelant amongst some of the ex-pats around here (where I live, I mean, not the forum!)

I think Clarkson has had some personal experience of home-owning in France from what I remember.  I'm sure I read somewhere of his adventures in trying to get permission to build a conservatory or something....

Footnote : It also seems to be the UK-bashers who still don't pay taxes here, go home for medical treatment, don't learn the language, don't re-register their cars etc etc...  Or is that just my jaundiced view?

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I have met many ex-pat Brits over the years who would fit Clarkson's description. I think particulary the 'failure' tag is appropriate. I have often employed British people in various forms both in Spain and France. Almost without exception I have been disappointed. Their attitudes, focus and standard of work leave much to be desired. The logic being that before they emigrated they were probably just as hopeless in UK. I often wonder how on earth they expect to compete in the labour market against the French who are mostly very focused, hard working and with high standards. Unfortunately 'leopards rarely change their spots' even when they try and make a fresh start.

After the Chavs now come the egg & chip.

Egg and chips: swell-bellied expats who sit in cafés in Spain loudly telling anyone within earshot that they had to leave Britain because it's overrun with foreigners who don't make any effort to integrate with the local culture, even as they shout their order for fried breakfast to the waiter in English.

(The Telegraph 27.08.07)

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Cooperlola and Logan - you have to try my dinner party gambit.  So fed up am I of hearing people complaining about England, full of immigrants blah, blah, blah, that I now smile and say sweetly "Oh, I do understand, rather than live next door to an immigrant you find it SO much more fun to BE one."   Find it shuts them up a treat. 

We had nice home, cars, jobs etc in UK and guess what, we have nice home, cars, jobs etc here.   Neither place is paradise, ups and downs in both.  We were mostly happy in UK (and in answer to l'etrangere why leave - just for a bit of an adventure) and we are mostly happy here.  One of these days we'll move on to try pastures new, but it won't be because we failed or didn't like it, will just be a case of trying something different.

Yes - I reckon Clarkson has a point - often wondered why if many of my compatriots were so 'happy' that they spend so much time in the local bars.

 

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I just returned from one of my pilgrimages to UK a few days ago, and  I'm really torn between the two places. How ever long I live in France I won't get that feeling of belonging and history that I have in the UK. Missing family too but most of them are expats elsewhere. On the other hand the spaciousness and peaceful roads, nice country house etc here are also important to me. So how do you balance them out? If we could have done what JC did and emigrate to Oxfordshire or the wilds of Northumberland that would have solved it. But we're not as rich as him. So I don't see us as being like those expats he describes. I think he's just being his usual self, a grumpy old man - there have always been people who want the adventure of living in a different country.
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In my experience of British immigrants in France, Clarkson has not met

or understood much about the ones I know around where I live.  As one tiny

example among dozens, he really does not mention people who move to France to

enjoy living here, even though they are very much English or British, and no

doubt will return after a decade or two (like many immigrants from many

countries do).  He also seems to know nothing about mixed couples (where

one partner is French).  Most of the immigrants I know are here for quite

sound reasons (not necessarily the same ones), and not at all because they are

failures in any way.   

Clarkson says " Honestly, every single expat I’ve ever met is the same;

hunched at a bar in a stupid shirt, at 10 in the morning, desperately trying to

convince themselves that they are not alcoholics, that the barman really is

their friend and that it’s only 11 hours till bedtime."

I find that says a lot about Clarkson, and where he does his

"research", and not much about either bars or immigrants.  And I

can tell you, as usual, he tends to ignore women or simplify them.  He

certainly has not changed much over the years, and I do find it amazing he gets

paid for such superficial writing.  His "ideas" are more like

what you would hear in a bar after a few drinks, or maybe in his living room or

terrace after a few drinks.  Basically macho blather.  To be

charitable, it sounds like he knows a bit more about Spain than France.  Perhaps

he is accurate about certain costal areas of Spain, I would have no idea. 

About France I think he is deeply ignorant.  A shame he just mixes it all

up in one big pot "British ex-pats". 

His views about brain drains and immigrants to Britain are nearly as ignorant,

that is, not based on any kind of serious research, just a few snippets he heard

in, probably, a bar with his macho mates after a few pints.  While

discussing how big their carburettors spare tyres are.
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Jeremy Clarkson is just an entertainer and actually has very little knowledge outside of his 'scripted' performances.

You should check out his 'public' views on motorcycles. In real life (and I've met him) he shows very little similarity to his 'public' face.

Just laugh at the funny bits and ignore the rest.

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Never did like that Clarkson character but then I do realise that he says things just to be provocative.  We, who have moved here permanently, have made our choices.  And, as they say, "you takes your money and you makes your choice."  We moved in order to "expand" our lives and not "constrict" it in our retirement.  New life, new house, new culture, new language.....Are we swimming or drowning?  Time, no doubt, will tell!

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[quote user="Bugbear"]

Jeremy Clarkson is just an entertainer and actually has very little knowledge outside of his 'scripted' performances.

You should check out his 'public' views on motorcycles. In real life (and I've met him) he shows very little similarity to his 'public' face.

Just laugh at the funny bits and ignore the rest.

[/quote]

Actually, I have never warmed to that kind of barroom, macho, superficial humour and never laugh much at all when I hear it.  I mean, you can be funny and still talk about the real world.  You don't have to make up sillly things about subjects you know little about.  And yes, I am sure he knows lots about cars, but only in a pretty one dimensional way.  My father was in the business, could take apart a car and put it together, developed the Hemi in Detroit, and he doesn't treat people and cars like Jeremy does.  He's just a simplistic macho British male.  Not everyone finds them funny.  And some people do.  I only write so the view that he is awful might be expressed.  And certainly, having some experience from my own life and from reading, I find his views on immigrants pretty sad and truly ignorant.  Mind you, I AM envious that he gets paid big money for spouting such stuff.

Where might I find his public views on motorcycles?

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[quote user="Bugbear"]

Please note TV, that I said he was an entertainer, I did not say that he was entertaining.

[/quote]

Gotcha, sorry if I misunderstood.  He is clealry an entertainer, and while not so for me, entertaining for some.  He just winds me up.  I imagine he would not be still on TV if everyone agreed with me. 

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I guess this kind of statement from Jeremy makes me wonder why such a column or nonsense was posted on the list.  Although as an example of utter nonsense about France and immigrants to France it is a pretty good one.  Maybe that's why Logan posted it.  The third time through this column, looking for some saving grace for our Jeremy, I realised that he seems to mostly know about Australia and Spain, to the extent that he refers to anything real.  And maybe more like bars in Spain and beaches in Australia.

"The fact is, I’m afraid, that anyone who emigrates from Britain, no matter

where they end up, is a bit of a dimwit."  Duh.

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Whilst I don’t agree with JC on many things I do think he identifies a type of ex-pat you can find anywhere in the world. I also think he writes in an entertaining and amusing way. The ex pat he describes are more than likely a minority in comparison to the whole but they do exist and sadly in ever increasing numbers. The figures recently released of the number of Brits leaving the UK indicate some dissatisfaction, failure and even adventure seekers. I accept that folks leave for many reasons just as they go back for similar cause. What I find interesting is how people adapt to life in another country and how reluctant they seem to accept the differences of culture and the values they find. The subconscious seems not to allow any manoeuvres. Brits come to France and live, think, behave mostly as Brits. Then seem surprised when the inevitable disaster falls. Change as W.B. Yeats wrote, “change comes but dropping slow”. I would suggest the émigrés who successfully assimilate themselves to the culture are not to be found pontificating in bars and cafes or dinner parties on the woes of Britain. More likely hard at work making a living to pay their way.

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I missed the 'jeans' reference too.

The bit I would add to the pen portrait of the ex-pat in the bar at 10am is that this unfortunate is sure to be wearing shorts. One thing that British males over 35 should never do. Always a presentational disaster. Better to wear Jeans like Clarkson.

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[quote user="Renaud"]

I missed the 'jeans' reference too.

The bit I would add to the pen portrait of the ex-pat in the bar at 10am is that this unfortunate is sure to be wearing shorts. One thing that British males over 35 should never do. Always a presentational disaster. Better to wear Jeans like Clarkson.

[/quote]

Images of the late and lamented Eric Morcambe spring to mind. Have you also noticed how many men of a certain age have 'chicken legs.' Yes, shorts in public are a disaster. So are men without shirts. I notice Brits walking around village markets in summer baring all. In Spain even in restaurants, [+o(]yuk.

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[quote user="Logan"][quote user="Renaud"]

I missed the 'jeans' reference too.

The bit I would add to the pen portrait of the ex-pat in the bar at 10am is that this unfortunate is sure to be wearing shorts. One thing that British males over 35 should never do. Always a presentational disaster. Better to wear Jeans like Clarkson.

[/quote]

Images of the late and lamented Eric Morcambe spring to mind. Have you also noticed how many men of a certain age have 'chicken legs.' Yes, shorts in public are a disaster. So are men without shirts. I notice Brits walking around village markets in summer baring all. In Spain even in restaurants, [+o(]yuk.

[/quote]Aha, right on!  Only tennis and rugby players should wear shorts, IMHO!  The average guy should keep his bandy legs under wraps, thanks very much.  I agree, Logan, [+o(].  And don't they get the fact that their naked, lobster-coloured beer bellies should be worn under a shirt - not hanging over a belt?[:-))]
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