British Invasion - a positive French view

[letrangere]

Under the title, "Nos villages francais, sauves par les anglais?", very interesting and most positive piece in last week's Paris Match.  (Am I alone around here in reading this magazine?)  Talking about how we're all coming whether we're young or old, rich or poor, executives, craftsmen, businessmen and artists, we're heading for just about everywhere.  We're "rolling up our sleeves in dying parts of the country and giving the French a good lesson in initiative" apparently.  PM reckon there's barely a corner in France without any Brits and interviews the editor of Perigueux based French News, which has a circulation of 50,000(?), who confirms the only departement in which her English language newspaper does not have a subscriber is that of the Doubs.  Isn't that in the Vosges?  Clearly the place to head for if you want to avoid your fellow Brits. 

Article says that the first British club, le Cercle Anglais, was formed in Pau in 1828.  (The place didn't surprise me but the date did.)  Another interesting stat, Abbey National France say they saw a 94% increase in the number of Brits applying for mortgages between 2000 and 2002!

Finally, and I won't translate as I'm sure everyone can get the gist of it:  "Allons, Messieurs les Francais, soyez beaux jouers and sachez saluer le merite et le courage des Anglo-Saxons.  Ce sont peut-etre eux qui sauveront notre cher patrimoine.  Un peu de fair-play!"

M

 

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

There's a half-hour long prog on Brits in France in 45 minutes on TF1. But you know M, there are plenty of articles, progs and testimonies out there rejoicing of British presence in France, I hear a lot of positive comments when I go to Normandy or the Loire Valley. But as usual, the negative, sensationalist comments/progs linger in people's memories far longer.

[Christine Animal]

Thanks for that Vraititi.  We just watched it, but I wouldn't have known it was on if you had not let us know.

I wish I had seen that article MWJ.  This week's dossier in Le Nouvel Observateur is "Faut-il en finir avec la Psychanalyse?", mais là les anglais ne sont pas concernés.  Eux, ils ont la tête bien sur les épaules !  

[SaligoBay]

"Faut-il en finir avec la Psychanalyse?",

Is that a follow-on from "est-ce qu'on attend trop des psys?"?    Or maybe that was L'Express, all those pseudo-intellectual soul-searching things look the same to me!

[Miki]

Well I watched it, short as it was ! It really skipped over the programme subject (very English !!) and of course, only the "happy" immigrants were chosen. Some interesting folks though and the couple with the vineyard were very integrated as all appeared to be, in varying degrees.

The Bretagne part showed a couple with a shop and the famous saying was aired once more "they were NEVER going back" I have no idea about how well British shops might fare but does having that kind of shop, anywhere here, do that well ? It wasn't supermarket size nor even mini market, just quite small ? But in their case it was allied to a bar, so.......

Mind you, in the early 90's a couple in the Dordogne did a few weekly markets selling British foods and spices etc and seemed to do OK but if I remember correctly, they did receive assistance of some kind, can't remember the aid they were given but it helped them in their early "career"

Sorry to all those here in retirement and "doing up" your dream properties but I felt for this retired couple in the Creuse who were doing up a wreck and thought back to our early days when we were younger and quite fit and how hard it was for us at our age. The poor lady was knocking up muck and labouring for her hubbie and I thought "they call this a dream !!" She even said it was hard to find a house like theirs (a total restoration still to do !), as too many Brits had already bought in the area !!

I know of several places around here, where the couples have simply given up as the work proved a) too flipping hard b) the language and beaurocracy (sp) too difficult to overcome or c) too costly and the places are either back on the market or are left to deteriorate further, with the obligatory caravan on site also delapidating badly every year.

Glad I saw it though, as it did show us that many French do enjoy seeing their communes come back to life and for those folks that do happily spend a few years living a completely different style of life to the one they had in the UK whilst renovating, they were shown to be made very welcome by the locals.

[Teamedup]

Les anglais seem to be the flavour of the month around here too. Nothing to do with immigrants as this isn't one of those areas that get that. The only cloud, if it was, was from one close friend who made some derogitory comments the other week, a thing she isn't prone to do actually. Everyone else has been saying very nice things and much to my surprise sometimes rather admiring. Daresay it won't last but it is something that I haven't known before.

[pinkfluff<P>Big Wet Drops and Lots of Them, Are a Sure Sign of Rain!<P>]

Excellent I have felt quite guilty about buying a house here We need a bit of positive PR for the brits. 

 

[Christine Animal]

I have never heard any French person say anything bad about the English here, bien au contraire.  It was good to see in that programme the wonderful things, as Miki says, that some are doing, beautiful renovations, complete integration, and making a damn good job of their businesses, with the French joining in.  J'ai bien aimé.

I particularly liked the schrewd little smile and the twinkle in the eye of the farmer showing his house to some very enthusiastic visitors, as he showed them down the cellar and to the bread oven saying "Come, come".  He said he was seeing English people every day!  One agent immobilier said they sold 250 houses to British people last year.  There were English, Scottish and Welsh in one little "parlez-vous" with their French neighbours.

Saligo, no I don't think it's a follow-up in that magazine.  Last week it was the Immobilier as the main dossier.  The "Psys" is probably a new "thread" they're all on at the same time.

Pinkfluff, you can put your feet up, enjoy your maison and let yourself go!  

[letrangere]

One agent immobilier said they sold 250 houses to British people last year. 

In the PM article an agent in the Limousin said he had "found his personal eldorado" when he discovered the web sites where British house hunters look and began advertising there.  80% of the properties he sold were to Brits.

Miki makes an interesting observation, do you really want to spend your retirement doing a massive restoration job?  Most people enjoy a bit of decorating but if it really is a big scale project - as many are - and you haven't got previous experience or local contacts in the building trade, it must be bit of a nightmare as well as exhausting.  Add in the fact that you're living cooped up in a caravan at best or else camped out in the one habitable room.  I think it's amazing that so many couples want to do it but good on 'em if they enjoy it.

M