"2 in 5 English people would like to have been born in France." Really?

[Dick Smith]

Wallington County Grammar School for Boys. Local authority school pretending like mad it's Tom Brown's Rugby.

Expelled = being naughty, being lazy, being working class = being sent to Secondary Modern to do Carpentry.

Outcome = meeting inspirational teacher = no carpentry (swizz) = 'grammar stream' = learned something.

More Carshalton:

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/dick_at_aulton/DSC_0032-1.jpg[/IMG]

[Russethouse]

I agree Dick, maybe we lead a quiet life but I often fail to recognise the UK people on here sometimes discuss, neither do I buy into this business of 'escaping the keeping up with Jones attitude'. No one has to buy into that mentality, just don't do it, dare to be different !

Our local problem estate is more than 400 yards away but even that is improving after some local effort.

I love France but have no ambition to be French !

 

[Chauffour]

just wondering how many (if any) English would have liked to be born in Italy.... [8-)]

[Pads]

I would like to be one of those 2 in five, and be born in france  not because of any political reasons , or because i want to escape where i live Cornwall is loverly and the people are great. Although the badness is creeping in. But I would of loved a good education where now i would be speaking french and english . Some thing i never had the oppertunity to have here. My school was rubbish wasnt given the oppertunity to learn german until the 3rd year at high school because they couldnt get the teachers!! and the ones we had didnt stay long. plus i would of loved to of grown up some where warm in the summers. Excuse my spelling just spent the afternoon with Jay Jay  and Pip having a bit of a booey lunch . 

[hastobe]

I agree with Eskenazi - it all depends where you live.  I have given examples before on this forum but our latest - a month ago my sons' 12 year old friend was shot through the head and killed...by a 13 year old.  The shooting happened just five doors away from us in a quiet suburban area.  My sons had already been threatened by the boy concerned but, thank God, had had the good sense to give him a very wide berth.

I don't wish I had been born French though - I have no desire to be French, I was born English.  I am just saddened at what has become of the country I grew up in.

Kathie

[hoverfrog]

why are all these people who want to live in France not wanting to be french? Why else do they want to live in France?

Why else want to live anywhere else without buying into the entire culture/beliefs/polytics/thing?

Surely we don't want to take the quality of life and the style of life without realising why and where it comes from???

Me, personally, I was brought up by parents who were 1/2 french / 1/2 Belgian, and I would far rather the french/belgain half was the greater half :)

I like it when I'm mistaken for a french woman in the street/on the phone/whatever. Acually I feel flattered.

I chose to live here, and want to be accepted by the 'natives' as a 'native'. I've accepted their way of living, polytics (OK, only sortof!), values, etc.

The mairie was astounded when I went to register for voting over here - "why do you want to vote? Don't you want to vote in the UK?" "No", we answered, "we live here now - they can do what they want, but we live here and here is what interests us and affects us".

I'm definitely not proud to be British these days - in fact I am really proud of the fact that when we go for days out my voisine no longer refers to me as "la voisine anglaise" and says to people that I'm just "Marie" :):)

YMMV, but in the end it's up to you :)

[Tresco]

[quote user="hoverfrog"]YMMV, but in the end it's up to you :)[/quote]

What on earth does YMMV mean? That's just for starters.[:D]

 

[hastobe]

[quote user="hoverfrog"]why are all these people who want to live in France not wanting to be french? Why else do they want to live in France?

Why else want to live anywhere else without buying into the entire culture/beliefs/polytics/thing? [/quote]

Living in France gives us a several of things, a quiet pleasant environment, a sense of community but also an ability to release capital from our home whilst still maintaining a good standard of living.  Although, when we retire, our base will be France, we hope to be able to have the opportunity to travel more and plan to be abroad (aka outside France) for at least 4 months of the year.  I am not French, I never can or will be French - and my French neighbours will never see me as French.  Parisiens who moved in years ago are still not locals!!!! I may be buying a property and so into the 'lifestyle' but my beliefs and politics won't change because I move country!

Kathie

[Patmobile]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]If he was 150m south-east he would have been more or less on the spot I am typing this...  No2 son has just moved to Mill Lane, 100m north, and within 50m of where my grandparents lived and my father was born - the pub we all went to this week was the Lord Palmerston.

[/quote]

My son, Christian, and his mother (we were divorced), lived just beyond the trees on the far side of the pond (North?).

He might have delivered your papers 20 years ago!  Now, if you need a good offshore lawyer for international litigation, he practises in Guernsey.  Not too far off the Normandy coast, so we're thinking of buying a boat

You're right about the Luftwaffe's contribution to what became the post-war policy of slum clearance, and that it seemed proper to rehouse the people affected in what seemed, at the time, like decent estates in good areas.  Just too little investment since the sixties, probably, along with other unexpected social changes.

 

Patrick

[hoverfrog]

YMMV = your mileage may vary

:)

[hastobe]

[quote user="Patmobile"]

You're right about the Luftwaffe's contribution to what became the post-war policy of slum clearance, and that it seemed proper to rehouse the people affected in what seemed, at the time, like decent estates in good areas.  Just too little investment since the sixties, probably, along with other unexpected social changes.

[/quote]

I think the problem in our area has been the eviction of 'undesirables' from council estates.  These people have simply moved into private rented accommodation and continued the same behaviour patterns as before.  When they were in council accommodation there was pressure on the local authorities to deal with the problem, once they moved elsewhere the matter came a police / landlord problem.  As the landlords are invariably absent / uncontactable and there is a dearth of police, the behaviour goes unchecked.  Families move out of the area, their houses are bought up by landlords (no one else wnat to buy them) and before you know it you have a slum.  We have many of these 'slums' and in areas that wouldn't necessarily be thought of as inner city.  We also have the problem that individuals from these areas don't confine their activities to their own locality.  Over the last six months we have had 8 windows put through.....with house bricks and rocks by groups of youths travelling into the area by car. When we reported the matter to the police we have have been threatened with repeat visits.  We now have security alarms, infra red detectors and cctv with night vision and continuous monitoring which is visible from most rooms in the house.

The cul-de-sac where my sister lived (in her own home) fell victim to this eviction from the council estates.  When she bought the house all the properties were privately owned.  By the time she left only a handful were - and these by elderly people who didn't have the option to move out.  The house across the street was used by prostitutes and was raided several times (the tenant regularly tried to encourage local girls as young as 14 to 'make a bit on the side').  The tenant next door was a dealer - again the house was raided a number of times, armed police, squad cars, doors kicked in etc.  There was a constant stream of visitors....he was eventually sent to prison for a number of years for dealing, burglary etc etc. I often saw three and four year olds wandering about  at 11 or 12 at night while older siblings got drunk on the street corner on alcohol bought illegally at the corner shop.  One 10 year old living in the street was hospitalised twice with alcohol poisoning.  A favourite game of the older lads in the cul-de-sac was to knock on the door of one elderly (and recently bereaved) gentlemen who had had to have his leg amputated and then time how long he took to open the front door.  They started this sick 'game' while his wife was dying of cancer in the rear bedroom of the house. They also used to emty refuse bins over the back wall into his beloved garden and then taunt him when he got upset and angry. 

This is the environment I don't particularly wish to spend my retirement years in.  Just as an aside we looked at a number of countries before deciding on France - we viewed property in Canada, Greece, Carribean to name a few.  The final decision was based on a number of factors - lifestyle, weather, cost of living, cost of housing (i.e. ability to release capital), health care system and ease of visiting family back in the UK. 

Several people seem to have this notion that leaving the UK because you are no longer happy there is 'running away'.   I find that quite  bizarre.  If I changed career because I no longer enjoyed the area I was working in - would that be running away?  Life is short  - why persevere with something you are unhappy with when you can choose something else?

Kathie