Moving to France : Another view ?

[Mpprh]

Hi

I came across this website : http://www.dontmovetofrance.org.uk

I certainly agree that lots of research is needed.

And crossing 23 miles of brown water doesn't guarantee arrival in paradise !

Peter

[Dick Smith]

Interesting, but a bit one-sided I felt (lots of detail on the negative side, brief and stereotyped on the positives, very little about any sort of cultural life).

But, in a way, sums up why I love owning property and staying in France, but why I don't want to live there full time. All the fun, very little of the responsibility.

[Teamedup]

What a good idea this site is. I hope that they have people logging on that have real stories to tell about real France. Although, they say 'good state education' and that as far as I am concerned that is not correct. I hate the education system here, I am only bitter about one thing it is putting my kids through such a system........... I never imagined it could be as it was for them.

[Val_2]

Just had a quick look and just reading the first page of the writer's experience gave me the distinct impression that he/she was very bitter about something. I will say though, that people thinking about relocating without any idea of what they may be in for should read sites like this and maybe it will give them a better idea that it won't be a smooth path sometimes. The section of Conscription is a bit out of date though isn't it?

[Isaacsnana]

[quote]Interesting, but a bit one-sided I felt (lots of detail on the negative side, brief and stereotyped on the positives, very little about any sort of cultural life).But, in a way, sums up why I love own...[/quote]

I agree.  Having lived here for nearly 4 years now, there are certain things we miss from Blighty. Me : Grandson,  being able to shop until we drop with my girls, and Indian takeaway.  Grant: Grandchildren ,Theatre, Bridge.

In hindsight, it would have been better to have kept one of our properties in the UK, and buy cheaper here.  How lovely to be able to flit back and fore when you feel like it.

Only thing, I wonder how we would manage with National Health matters?  Anyone done this yet? 

 

[Dick Smith]

I don't know precisely - I think you are both retired? If you live more in the UK than France you should be entitled to health insurance in both places - certainly in our visits (usually about a month) we rely on an E111. When we retire and have more freedom it may be longer. I have no doubt I shall now get flamed by Val...

We both don't want to move, as we like our friends/haunts/family too much - but a break is nice (and they can come and visit).

[Later]

Hello everyone

A newbie here.  My wife and I wrote the www.dontmovetofrance.org.uk website.  Thanks for your comments.  Sure it's a bit one sided, but then I'm a grumpy 43 year old and I have a license to be parochial and single minded   On a more serious note though, I think there is a lot of stuff out there about the positive aspects of French life and living in France and IMHO some people would benefit from being presented with the less attractive aspects.  We have received our fair share of invective about the site, so clearly it is an emotive issue for some people.  

Would welcome feedback as to where is it misleading or blatantly wrong (and we will make changes accordingly).  The intention is to provide helpful information to people planning a move to France, although I must say when I go back and re-read it, I see shades of a grumpy forty three year old coming through and obscuring the main message.

Am I bitter about something? No I don't think so, at least not overtly.  I am perhaps a little despondent about France not meeting our high expectations once we scratched beneath the surface.  Dream v reality etc etc, and of course the source of this problem is not France, but our unrealistic expectations.  I am a little cheesed off to still be in England ... but in a grumpy 43 yo sort of way, rather than some unhealthy simmering malcontent sort of way.  

Ciao for now you lot.

[Monika]

[quote]I don't know precisely - I think you are both retired? If you live more in the UK than France you should be entitled to health insurance in both places - certainly in our visits (usually about a month...[/quote]

I think we indeed have the best of both worlds, for me that change is just so good. I look forward to go to France to experience all the things there, but then it is nice to come back to England as well and then twice a year I go and see my mother in Switzerland. But each country has its plus and minuses, everybody thinks Switzerland is so perfect, it's not, they have very high unemployment especially the young can not find jobs or housing and are very disillusioned. There is lots of graffiti. Everything is very regimented. As a people they are quite difficult to get to know and are quite reserved. The Television is of very poor quality and I miss the tea and digestive biscuits.

 

[Will]

I've already commented about the site in the 'useful links' section. I think people who use this forum are used to an honest, unbiased view that gives the downsides of French life as well as the dream that seems to prevail on the TV and on some other sites. It's useful to have the less favourable aspects listed in one place (apart from this forum of course), and I'm sure the users of this forum will be only too pleased to point out the errors.

[Later]

I'll brace myself then

[Weedon]

So France is or is'nt for you then?

All the things for and against are probably right but where do you go to find paradise. I bet if you found it you'd probably end up living near to some right pain in the rear.

I can only speak from the corner of the retired person and I am more content here than I was back in my East Sussex village but there I ran a small business for 30 years and it was b***y hard going so I find living here a doddle. For the working family, without a good  knowledge of the language, frankly its a none starter. 

I did a little research before coming here but not much and I was only taught french at school for 6months when I was 14 years old so my grasp of the language was and still is very bad.  But I came here not expecting anything other than what I have found. Perhaps there is too much on television about so called super stars living idyllic lives and too many stories in glossy magazines which are giving people an unrealistic idea of what their lives could be like.  You only have to look at that new talent show on saturday night tv to see that people are just looking for that one chance to turn their lives into something fantastic. Sadly for all of them it "aint gonna happen".

For 99.9% of you look at the life you already have and be aware that it does not get any better.  Luckily for me I found that it did, maybe its not much but its all mine and I am content with it.

Weedon (53)

[Later]

Hello Weedon

Are you saying that France has met your expectations (as a retired person - I hope I can reture by the time I'm 53 ), but it's a non starter for a working family with a poor grasp of French? 

If so, then in my humble opinion that makes sense. 

In answer to your question (So France is or is'nt for you then?), I think that France probably isn't for me/us right now, but it might be when we are at your stage.

We have to work to earn a living (I run my own business and work from home).  My wife is unwell and undergoing treatment for cancer.  We have two small children (and two dogs and a cat). 

[zeb]

Hi Later - as a self-employed person in France (2 cats and no kids) I tend to agree with nearly everything you have said.

However, I think that if you had actually lived in France you may find that you could've expanded your list of positives to a point far outweighing the list of negatives (sorry - late at night - does that make sense?).

We have lived here for over two years, have been through the cost/bureacracy of buying and renovating old cottage, starting up a small entreprise, paying the horrific cotisations, experienced the health system, living in very rural hamlet with very elderly neighbours, etc.etc but I have to say compared to our previous lives working to live in the UK, this is a doddle!

I drive everyday across countryside constantly changing with the seasons, there is hardly ever a bitterly, cold wind or grey, dull days, I actually know and chat with ALL my neighbours, the only crime in this hamlet that is still talked about was a burglary about 15 years ago and I could go on and on but you would be bored.

OK - we have had a few grim times - like being skint for a few weeks after paying said cotisations at a time when I was unable to work through ill health (and at the same time my works van was costing a small fortune in repairs); like being far from fluent and sometimes really struggling to put a sentence together; like being just me and him living and working together - great most of the time but sometimes we could do with some space!

We didn't do much research before we moved here - so little in fact that we thought we were the only Brits in the Charente for about three months!! By heck, though - I wouldn't change it for anything and I do hope you get your chance one day.

regards......helen

[Boghound]

[quote]Hello Weedon Are you saying that France has met your expectations (as a retired person - I hope I can reture by the time I'm 53 ), but it's a non starter for a working family with a poor grasp of F...[/quote]

I think your site has some very good points but, unfortunately, it still, will not stop the "deadbeats" from coming here. Judge them by the quality of the stupid questions and replies that are posted. How the Hell they manage to live anywhere "beggars belief"!

As far as the "quality of life" theory that comes up all the time. This all depends on what you are use to back in the UK and is a personal conception.

 

[Val_2]

[quote]I don't know precisely - I think you are both retired? If you live more in the UK than France you should be entitled to health insurance in both places - certainly in our visits (usually about a month...[/quote]

Dick, why should I want to "flame" you. You've been around on here long enough to know whats what and what suits your needs and the E111 is sufficient for your visits anyway. I've no problem with people who at least recognise they need some sort of health cover, it's those who couldn't care less or buck the system and then expect to be bailed out that get me cross. I've just opened the post and our mutuelle costs have gone up yet again, seems every few months they increase them and we havn't used it for a while either.

Without going into great details,we had the unfortunate experience of getting "lumbered" this year with what I can only describe as a person two sandwiches short of a picnic mentally.She lives alone in a derelict ruin with no glass in the rear windows, no sanitation of any description and just one cold tap in the disgusting filthy kitchen and no money to spend on renovation works. This person bought her pregnant underage daughter over here a year or so back and the commune ended up paying all the hospital bills when the baby arrived prematurely and the mother had not a grain of health cover.The family then cleared off back to the UK for over a year and then the woman came back earlier this year. This is just the sort of situation which does upset many people of sheer negligence and stupidity where living in France is concerned.

[Dick Smith]

Sorry, Val, just joshing after the way you went after the people who were moving over permanently on one.

Actually, I am also covered for a lot of health care through my LloydsTSB Platinum account- it's well worth checking, as several of these accounts have similar features, and we never read the little booklets properly, do we? (Well, I didn't anyway).

I agree that in your case expecting the commune to cough up when you haven't contributed anything is a bit towards the thick end of the stick. We had a couple near here who were living in a bread oven - but he was fully and properly employed.

[Miki]

Actually, I am also covered for a lot of health care through my LloydsTSB Platinum account-

Platinum Dick, no more talk of poorly paid teachers anymore then please, we haven't reached Visa Tin card status yet !

We had a couple near here who were living in a bread oven

Bread oven.............sheer luxury, we had to live in a box............................ (haven't we been there recently? !

 

 

[Dick Smith]

Banks aren't really all that clever, so if you get a little legacy, whack it in the current account and upgrade. Easy!

[Miki]

Do you mean, you then get out the bread oven and upgrade to a porcherie or was it a card explanation?

Banks not clever Dick ! They have been clever enough to rip me off (and plenty of others ) for donkeys years on both sides of the channel

 

[Dick Smith]

Perhaps I should have said imaginative? They certainly didn't imagine that the whole lot would fly out again a few weeks later...

[letrangere]

Val, any idea why this woman wants to live in such conditions?  It can't surely be financially motivated otherwise why not stay at home in Britain where at least the government would ensure a roof over her head (and inside loo)?  It amazes me that so many British people are prepared to live in squalor in France. 

Dick: you're right about banks.  Someone else told me that trick.

M

[Val_2]

[quote]Val, any idea why this woman wants to live in such conditions? It can't surely be financially motivated otherwise why not stay at home in Britain where at least the government would ensure a roof ove...[/quote]

Margaret. As I said, I think she has been in some sort of mental institution or had a breadown of some kind. Why, she even went back to the UK and left her horses to fend for themselves for months and months until they were took away by the police and SPA. It was my friend who was first put on to her to try and help with the daughter situation but now, she is just existing on what, I don't know. When we went there the one time, we were horrified at the state of the place and her "cleanliness". Food stood around everywhere and absolutely no toilet or bathroom, not even a septic tank yet. No wonder the locals want rid of her from all accounts we have heard. She thinks too she will be able to work in France as some sort of counsillor but she can hardly say two words of french, hence us and our friend getting involved - sadly another case of the grass is green on the other side of the channel I think.

[Boghound]

[quote]Actually, I am also covered for a lot of health care through my LloydsTSB Platinum account- Platinum Dick, no more talk of poorly paid teachers anymore then please, we haven't reached Visa Tin car...[/quote]

The operative phrase Miki was "Lloyds TSB Platinum" not American Express Platinum. The difference? Well. One you pay for and have to have an income above $80,000 and the other, they hand out like "toffee apples".

Like you. I thought teachers were very badly done to!

[Dick Smith]

Correct - there is an income qualification but it's quite low, I believe. Mostly it's about keeping a certain sum (£3k?) in credit in the current account. You pay if you fall below this.

[Teamedup]

Gold cards in France have income restictions on them.
And they cost a lot to get.