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What is it like returning to the UK ?


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I don't know if there are many people who used to live in France and then returned to the UK still active on the Forum, but I would be interested in how people find things returning to the UK (in relation to the reasons they originally moved to France for).

I do find occasionally whilst living here I wonder about if and when I might move back to the UK (I am sure I will at some point, just enjoying myself too much here in France at the moment). However, whenever I visit the UK (normally Christmas), within a few minutes of driving off the ferry I am already thinking that "UK is not for me".

Ian

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I'm not quite in your situation; but am currently spending time in both countries, mostly in England. I have rather lost the attraction to France (if I ever had it as strongly as some in the first place) so it is no real big deal, though it is why I have taken a less active part in the forum over the past months. I don't have a problem with the UK - the arrangement does cause other difficulties though - so we are different in that when in UK you want to be in France, but I just love both countries. I feel that I could happily live in England though having lived full-time in France for a number of years I don't have the slightest desire to be there all the time. Or at least not all the time I have to work. In an ideal world I think I would split my time between the two, though that would be when I chose to do so rather than governed by work demands.
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After 14 years of being in France for 2-6 months a year, we sold up and moved here to become permanent residents four years ago. We return to UK 3-4 times a year and have just spent Christmas with our daughter in Bournemouth. After this last trip and following a few enquiries I believe if anyone decided to return to the UK the biggest shock they would encounter would be the increase in their monthly outgoings.  Add to that the decline in services, council/health/dentist and general state of the place.

When in the town centre we went for a "coffee" 7 staff all chinese serving some brown liquid in a paper cup with a bit of corrugated paper around it, a slice of stone cold cake served in a paper bag.!! Later we made the mistake of going into one major store's "Restaurant" for lunch,it was returned to the counter. As a workman used to living in some fairly sparse and rough conditions and even on site and having to rely on cafe's etc for meals I would say that I'm not hard to please. Last stop another large store where a lady was trying to teach a girl to use the till. The girl couldn't speak english and didn't know what a 50p coin was!Whilst you could say that at least this girl was working, it obviously reflects on the amount of young UKers not employed.

Bournemouth ,where I lived for approx 55years has had a tremendous amount of housing developement, with where once stood a single family home, you now have a block of 12-20 and some of 50+ flats.many of which have vey little parking space or garden etc.Multiply this by the hundreds that have been built in the last five years. This has greatly increased the income to the town from the payment of 20+ rates etc, plus the income to the exchequer as the utility bills all have VAT added. However in all the years I lived there I can only think of one "improvement" to the towns road infrastructure and they couldn't even complete that.

I think before long it will deteriorate to the wealthier having gated communities like they do in the states and s-d the rest.

We can afford to return,just about, not at the moment though.On that note I shall enjoy a cup of coffee with my wife and look around at the surroundings we can enjoy and afford.

Happy and Healthy New Year to all.

Regards. 5mins St.Malo

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[quote user="Gastines"]

I think before long it will deteriorate to the wealthier having gated communities like they do in the states and s-d the rest.

[/quote]

A frightening thing to say Gastines but I'm not for a moment saying you are wrong, it conjures up a very disturbing mental picture of the future of the UK. Especially when one has children + grandchildren there with little chance of getting out.   [:(]

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There have been times when we didn't return to the UK for a couple of years. And last year after being away for 25 years we were back for several months. We just fit in. We still have many friends there and there are some things I don't like and some things I do.

It won't be a problem for me moving back and I am bored stupid here now. I can go out and do things in the UK and it not cost me a fortune and I don't even have to take the car to do these things, there is public transport and I can walk. I admit that it would be far less boring for me to live in a town or better still a city in France, but I still reckon that getting out and doing things would still be costly. And anyway, I DO NOT want to live in a foreign country, juggling with a foreign language when I am old. I really cannot think of anything worse and I speak french, isn't as if I would be 'learning ', I just do not want to do it. 

Bills, well can't say that I find that much difference and I have been asking friends and family what they pay. And boy with a water meter I will really be able to get that bill down in the UK. I am very frugal with water and still have hefty bills here in France. Local taxes will hardly be any different.

 

And when I said we fit in. Well we fit in in both countries, just like that. It sort of amuses me how easily we live our lives in both countries.

 

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[quote user="Teamedup"]

Local taxes will hardly be any different.

[/quote]

Wehave a similar sized house in France to UK - both in terms of size and proximity to large towns and we estimate our local taxes in France are a quarter of what we pay in the UK.

We don't find the supermarket prices to be much different - but then we live in the North of England so can still get beer for less that £2 a pint.

In support of the comments above about the ridiculous price of 'eating out' in the UK - we paid £30+ for 5 very average hamburgers on our way home on New Years Eve.  By comparison, whilst travelling back on the French leg of the journey we had a four course meal including half a bottle of wine per person for just over a tenner a head.

Kathie

 

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Some very good replies!Just wish we had the muns to have a holiday retreat in UK!We settle very easy both sides,but find life somewhat boring this side of the Channel in France,in that outside of August,it is difficult to find many things to do, away from supermarkets,or attractions that are open.Unless the highlite of someones existance circles around a somewhat cheaper lunch meal with mediocre wine, we still find life on the boring side.Love the space ,hate the town graffitti,and drab suburbia,like the pace of life,although it is very difficult to form French friends due to their tight familly comittments,but dont want to be continually in the early day aperatif club.Still here after 4 years,but still havent made our minds as to permanence!Any slight savings re cost of living.council taxes etc are more than lost visiting offspring and grandchildren and the ferry costs.All food for thought!The rural living is not as peacefull as we imagined due to,outside kennelled dogs by the million,cockerells in almost every garden,large volumes of tractors etc,and the daily chain saw massacres of anything  looking like a tree.Must laff and retire for a coffee.looking forward to the government regulated Soldes,but wont buy anything as the quality of  most clothes etc is extremely poor.,Appy New Year to all,     Maude
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I think that many of us who have been here even like us ,for only 4 years as residents, might be out of touch of all the Exchequers extra's that have been brought in, all of which need taking into consideration if thinking of returning to UK. I watched a property programme that gave the average price of a family house in Bournemouth as nearing the £300.000. When buying you are now in the extra stamp duty bracket and Council taxes etc are now linked to property prices. The utility charges have rocketed and of course you have the standing charges + VAT. If you are working ,the actual cost of commuting any distance is now astronomical, without adding the stress of the journey. The overall UK system seems designed to help those that don't/won't work at the expense of those who have tried to play it straight.

Regarding the reply about how boring it is here,it must depend to a large degree on your age and what you did with your spare time in UK. We find there is plenty to do in our area,if you want to. Must also depend on your home life and if you are quite satisfied to enjoy your home/garden/ surroundings and partners/friends company.

My New Year resolution is to TRY to be more tolerant.Even when dealing with UK In/Rev.

Regards. 5 Mins St.Malo

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Hastobe, comparisons are hard with regards to local taxes. It is true that nul part in rural France people can pay next to nothing. And yet, many french people pay high local taxes, that is probably because most of the population lives in towns/cities and their banilieu.

We have always paid a lot, so moving back won't be a big extra bill for us and comparible.

 

Yes in the NE of England it is quite easy to still get a pint at under £2 and we can still pay around £1.30 in one particular place we frequent. Hence we can manage a fairly cheap night out over there and have them regularly.

EDIT

Gastines, re being bored. I have good friends in France and I know an awful lot of people, but there are unwritten rules about when and where one meets. I would pop in on people  far more often than I do now, but I know that it isn't appreciated. Actitivies all cost around here. Some of the associations are expensive to join and there is no social life associated with them either, ie when we have finished what ever we do together, no popping to the pub afterwards etc, just a social gathering once or if lucky twice a year. My husband and I get along well, since we have been here, due to the nature of his work we have spent a lot of time together, but the truth is that we both have our own interests too and mine certainly are not being fulfilled here at the moment.

In some ways the only thing that has changed is the kids leaving home, but I never did the stupid thing of thinking about the reality of being tied to the house with the kids, I had expected it and just got on with it. I can't sit in now and watch tv or read or paint or be on here now and not be aware that my life is very very restricted and if I want more I have to not only drive to it, but spend a lot of money doing it. I would truly hate to be a young adult in this village, they still meet at the car park in mid winter as there is no where to go and nothing to do,even when it is well below zero they meet up....... what a life!

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I am in total agreement with TeamedUp on this one.

In fact I am shocked by the negative approach of most of the English in France to their original home country. If they look a bit deeper they will find many of the malaises of which they talk exist in France too, though perhaps not all quite as highly developed. I suppose when they manifest themselves a bit more strongly, these people will have to move on again - to Bulgaria? And with English shops everywhere, English-run bars, the fish and chip van, etc, France doesn't always look much different today.

Both countries have a lot going for them, don't get me wrong.

As far as eating out is concerned we can get two perfectly decent pub lunches for under a tenner in my English home town, and eat well in pubs in the evenings for much the same as we would pay in a half-decent local resto in France. Of course, you can pay much more but you don't need to. And this isn't some cheap undesirable declining area. It's in the heart of the south east, in the town recently nominated as second best place to live in England.

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Where is that, Will?  Mrs Kitten and I had a jolly nice lunch today for about £15 a head - more expensive than France, but a pleasant dining experience. The town centre was OK, rather too many youths, it still being school holidays, and some clearly up to no good, but hardly Megacity One.

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I think eating out in the U.K. is as cheap or expensive as you want to make it as there is such a choice and whilst I am the first one to be a fan of french food, I have had some disasters in France over the years.What a fab avatar fluffy is.Is it new year new avatar.
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[quote user="Fluffy Kitten"]Where is that, Will?  [/quote]

Horsham, West Sussex (Winchester was the best place). You'll be pleased to know it is a very kitten-friendly place. It housed the national HQ of both Cats Protection and RSPCA for many years; both have now expanded into the nearby countryside.

To redress the balance a bit Mrs Will and I had a nice lunch in Fougeres which came to just under 20€ each - could have found one a lot cheaper but not the same quality. Plenty of youths with motos there, but generally well behaved (as are the vast majority in Britain despite what the tabloids may say).

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[quote user="Fluffy Kitten"]Where is that, Will?  [/quote]

Horsham, West Sussex (Winchester was the best place). You'll be pleased to know it is a very kitten-friendly place. It housed the national HQ of both Cats Protection and RSPCA for many years; both have now expanded into the nearby countryside.

To redress the balance a bit Mrs Will and I had a nice lunch in Fougeres which came to just under 20€ each - could have found one a lot cheaper but not the same quality. Plenty of youths with motos there, but generally well behaved (as are the vast majority in Britain despite what the tabloids may say).

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I am pleased that Horsham is feline-friendly.

The worst you could say of most of the youths in Sutton was that they were a bit shouty and riding round a pedestrian area on bikes (but then so were the 'grownups'). There is a worrying trend for youths to be seen with aggressive dogs, though.

Perhaps the difference is their behaviour when they have been drinking, and the fact that the local police seem to turn a blind eye to blatant on-street drug dealing.

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sorry but i moved to france to get away from shootings drug dealing burglaries hoodies chavs drunken fights in town centres and the general yobbery of  the uk .

I live in a country where everyone i meet is polite. people take a pride in their jobs even where in the uk they would be thought of as very lowly. the education system is so good compared to the uk and family values still mean something here.

after over two years here i still cant believe how the people of our commune and our neighbours have been so friendly and helpful, i have lived all over the uk and NEVER been made as welcome as i have been made in this a foreign country.

Please believe me ; every time i return to the uk the things that strike me are the amount of traffic .the crap service in shops.the number of young girls pushing prams. the half naked young women walking round the shops. the abusive language used by everybody  especially kids.the amount of litter everywhere.

oh yes and a lack of pride generally!!!!

As my wife said to some yob sarcastically, people like you are the reason why i am proud to be british.

dont get me wrong i am proud to be english, but am not ashamed to admit that even if i hated it here(which i dont) i would stay because it is such a better country to bring up children in.

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I'm with TU et al, for a number of reasons.

1. I enjoy working in a "real" job, so I'm quite happy doing that in England right now.   I did go down the route of menial work in France, on the grounds that it was better than nothing, but the novelty soon wore off.    Minimum wage work is no fun in any country.

2. Cost of living.  To my shock, I've found that house prices here in Hampshire aren't so different from those in Montpellier.  Certainly same ball park.   Yes, property taxes are a bit higher, but we pay almost 1500 euros a year in Montpellier, so again, we're jogging onto the same ball park.

3. Social life.  So much easier in England.  People are more willing to go out in the evenings, and it's nice to have pubs to meet in, rather than having to cook for people if you want to spend time with them.    There are pubs with free music sessions, there are dances for me to play at.     

4. Food.  You eat what you want, wherever you are.  If I want to eat lettuce, I'll buy it from the supermarket here.   You don't have to buy processed food, even here.   As for eating out, again it comes down to money.   For me, it's the going out that counts, and I'd rather be able to afford to go out for an Indian than not afford to go out for 3 courses of lettuce and duck and creme brulee.

5. Social problems.   Pretty much the same in both countries.  Our village tabac has had an armed hold up, there are burned out cars, blah blah blah.   Traffic?    Yes, outside the towns it's bad, but again, Montpellier is heading in the same direction at huge speed.   The desire to fill up every little space with houses and flats is something else that the two places have in common.   Someone mentioned secure houses - in our French village the new housing estate is full of 2-metre high walls and big gates, and in Baillargues there's one estate that gets locked at night.  So yes, secure housing already exists in France.

Disadvantages of Englandshire?   Skies are often grey, but hey, there's beer here!   And Hungarian wine!   The Daily Mail is a Very Bad Thing, but you don't have to read it.  If one lives like many Brits live in France, in blissful ignorance of local matters, one doesn't feel nearly so bad.  

Haven't had contact with schools, but children seem to have a much wider and more varied experience than French children, what with brass bands, school orchestras, practical things in school like cookery and woodwork, school trips (including to France!) and so on, none of which my son has ever had in French school.

In short, after a  month, I feel okay in England, and I don't think there's anything I miss from France for the moment, except obviously my family.  There's just a wider range of things to do here, and there isn't the same need to conform that there is in France.  People are definitely freer to be themselves here.

Maybe after a couple more months (my contract runs till June) I'll be desperate to get back to France?   We shall see.   It'll be nice to see the dog again!  [:D]

Happy New Year to you all.  xxxxxxx   

 

  

       

 

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Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel - and who am I to argue with Samuel Johnson ? I am neither proud nor ashamed of having been born in England, it was an event over which I had no control. Changing to another nationality is an option but apathy rules, at least until Le Pen looks like winning.

We returned to N Essex for 10 days in early November and nothing happened to convince me that I was wrong to move to France. A smallish village near Colchester has been replaced by an 8 house hamlet about 2 km from a similar sized village that has all the shops, businesses etc that we need and many that we don't. The levels of graffiti, litter, traffic, noise, people, light pollution are lower here and this suits US. If any of my children, or Di's, asked my advice about whether they should move over here I truly do not know what I would say. But luckily a bridge cannot be crossed until you get to it.

John

not

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We returned to SE England for a week over Christmas.  First time back in a year.

The journey over was horrible - air travel never was much fun, but now ............  Seeing family and friends was just as good as you'd expect.   SIL's home town was depressingly hostile: traffic lights / speed cameras every 200m, gloomy faces everywhere.  My first pint of English bitter for over a year was like heaven.  More shelf space for 'prepared' foods in the supermarket, than for fresh meat (and at staggering prices).  Return journey equally hellish.

We breathed a big sigh of relief to get back.  Only two months till Spring.  Enough said. 

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Oh yes, and it's also nice to have lively, enthusiastic people round about me, people who think things could be better.   Such a change from the fatalistic Gallic life-is-shit shrug and the accompanying "kesstuveux".

Whatever the faces in each country look like, I find that British people have a higher level of happiness and optimism than French people.  Probably just because they're financially more comfortable.   The news is the same in both countries, full of conniving politicians and people being nasty to each other.

I drove in to work this morning, and the fields and trees were as lovely as anything in France.   The traffic was the same.   And you know, I've seen more animals in the last 4 weeks here than in the last 4 years in France.   There are real cows, and I like cows!   There are sheep!   There are free-range chooks!!  There are badgers and foxes and deer, and there are donkeys that gambol!  

And I've got a social life again that doesn't revolve around drinking cheap French plonk!  

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Well done RG, I'm pleased that you seem to have found true happiness at last. I suspect that you did not like living in France so you may have approached the return to Hampshire in a different frame of mind to the way I viewed going back to Essex.

John

not

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[quote user="RumziGal"]

I drove in to work this morning, and the fields and trees were as lovely as anything in France.   The traffic was the same.   And you know, I've seen more animals in the last 4 weeks here than in the last 4 years in France.   There are real cows, and I like cows!   There are sheep!   There are free-range chooks!!  There are badgers and foxes and deer, and there are donkeys that gambol!  

And I've got a social life again that doesn't revolve around drinking cheap French plonk!  

[/quote]

I'm not saying you're one of them SB but a lot of people on this forum have had a dig at us lot "oop north" and ask why we bothered to come to France if we don't get the advantage of your scorching summers and cheap plonk.  Weeell I think you've just answered it.  You see I never saw badgers, foxes or deer in the UK but here I ignore them now because they're just an everyday occurence.  And cows, well there are many more cows here than people, and I LOVE cows (not so keen on the flies they bring with them, but that's another story).  Our neighbour has three delightful donkeys but I can't say I've ever seen them gambol!  As for the cheap plonk...... I'd still rather buy a decent bottle.  Even a sancerre at 7.50€ is half the price I would pay in the UK [:D] 

I have to say, my OH recently worked in Nimes for a couple of weeks and he said that it wasn't a France he recognised until he was about 2 hours into the TGV journey north when at last the landscape turned to green trees and fields with animals in them.  Perhaps we have the best of both worlds but been here almost 4 years now and clearly still wearing rose coloured glasses [;-)]

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What is is like on returning to the UK - I have just returned from my Christmas holiday in the south of France - where did I get my first impression of why I hate returning to London - on the return Eurostar from Lille - crowded, inconsiderate - to be followed by the first push and shove and complete rudeness as I tried to get off the train.

For me, I am afraid that is what England has become - an unpleasant place to live, people who are inconsiderate, and in many cases, people who do not speak the language.  At least in France I know it is foreign country, where I am beginning to feel more and more at home!

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