Memories: Brits leaving!

[anotherbanana]

Brits leaving

Here in my tranquil part of France, with its country sounds of motor mowers, revving bike engines, barking dogs, double ringing church bells and pop music blaring out from the monthly concert in the chateau, I am beginning to feel a sense of worthy isolation, of one who stayed and made it, at least for the present, as so many Brits around me scuttle off home. Loaded white vans everywhere in the village markets and vide greniers, huge volumes of household and garden kit being sold off at give away prices and eager French buyers knowledgeable buying up everything for a song with a delightful "I told you so" look and a happy smile or sympathy.

There is Sid the Builder (well he calls himself Sid W****** but the post addressed to him house was never in that name!) who never finished a job in his life, made the materials for one house last for at least ten and who had a special back entrance built to his property so he could escape irate Brits trying to get their cash back. Until someone parked a JCB there, so he legged it across the thorn hedge. But to be fair, he always had a bottle in hand a hearty tale to tell. I will miss the thieving little git who had the cheek to try to sell me my missing lawnmower from his van last week, then gave in with a smile when I showed him my name engraved on it. Why he gave my address to the gendarmes I'll never know, but they regularly turn up with a proces for him to reply to. I know they think he is stashed in the loft or the cellar. But we were somewhat put out at having to feed and eventually find takers for his dogs and cats, and a ferret, and a goat or two and ........

Then there is Mick, dear Mick, the retired teacher, still living in the '60s, down to the smelliest Afghan coat I have ever had the privilege to be near, but whose supplies of weed were the best around, and who was famous for his midnight walks through the farmers crops with his little bags of seedlings. How he remembered what was planted where I will never know. There was the famous night when he sprained his ankle and couldn't walk, and we were all roped in to help get the crops in before the farmer did his own bit of harvesting. And we all threw ourselves flat when a blue flashing light appeared above the crop. I shall miss the visits from the gendarmes trying to find him and their scepticism about his forwarding address in Laponia. He left in the night.

And Marvin Mitchell-Marnum who drove big cars and screwed old folks out of their savings then ran away, to Italy some say, having probably left a little bunnette in the oven of the daughter of the farmer in the next village, though we think it was a passing traveller. I shall miss her father appearing in the night with a shotgun and the queues of old folks, frightened and desperate, calling at my door because he had given my address, the basta......

Oh, now the Dutch and Belgians are arriving, with slightly deeper pockets but beadier eyes.

Plus ça change.....

[AnOther]

Are Brits really 'scuttling home' from France in noticeable or significant numbers?

The same is alleged here in Spain but I see very little actual evidence of it.

[anotherbanana]

Most of my memories are a composite of what I have seen or observed over 24 years, ernie, but are mainly, I hope still relevant.

Here in the Pas de Calais there has been a steady drain whilst in the Vendée there were some night flights leaving homes abandoned.

I have been mainly interested in the weird and wonderful characters that have washed up in France, often after cheap property or trying to rip off folks as phoney builders/ advisers/ estate agents and the rest.

[Ken]

Fortunately I know of no other Brit, indeed no other foreigners, living around here (Pays Basque) Not to say there Aren't any, I feel sure there must be but I don't know of any.

Your memories seem more reminiscent of the east end of London rather than France!!!! Perhaps a re-location to the Pays Basque would be desirable; NO!!! wait a minute! I think I prefer that Brits stay away, nothing personal!!!

[anotherbanana]

Apart from forum people I know no other Brits in this area, Ken. When I first came to France 24 years ago there were loads of Brits living under the radar, working on the black and definitely not paying taxes.

They made a living in the well known ways and often left suddenly. As times have changed, most of those have gone, s9me back to Blighty? and others perhaps to Spain whilst some have become legal.

[idun]

We were the only brits  in the village and that is why we lived there. There were plenty in the region in general, and some enclaves, and I steered clear of them. The nature of the area meant that there were many international business things going on, along with the universities, so there were germans, brits  as well as an odd mix of many other nationalities.

Doubt I would have spoken french if I had had brits nearby, it would have been too easy.

I knew cowboy artisans, but where I lived were strictly french as there is no need of a specific nationality to be a cowboy artisan.

[BritinBretagne]

I find the term going home strange. My home is here in France where I live. I emigrated from the U.K. over 35 years ago and have never thought of it as home since the day I left.

[anotherbanana]

Maybe, bib that is the difference between an expatriate and an immigrant?

[Ken]

I suppose it's possible to be both an immigrant and an ex pat! personally I hate the term 'ex-pat' I'm not too sure I like being called an immigrant either!!! Not sure what I would like to be called as long as I'm never called 'Late'!!!

I also think it odd that brits come to a country and quite often end up in an enclave of fellow Brits. I remember some years ago a village somewhere, perhaps it was in the Dordogne, where the local French citizens were demonstrating against the number of brits changing their village into a 'little England'! They certainly had my sympathy!

We came to France 22 years ago and I didn't speak a word of French. Fortunately my wife was fluent, being edumacated!! I, on the other hand, a cockney from the East end hand to flog it like mad to make a start at learning the language.

I have managed to get a grip of it but still find it amusing when, as happened yesterday when we crossed the frontier back into France from doing some shopping in Spain, the Gendarme who stopped me to check papers, asked me if I would prefer to speak English!!! That was after I had simply said "bonjour"!! Obviously my cockney accent is still pretty strong!!!

[alittlebitfrench]

What shocks me most is that the British want to live with other British in France or where ever.

But that is no different to other nationalities or race/religion.

I don't want to move to the UK and live in a village where everyone is French.

[idun]

When you moved Ken, there was the internet, not quite like it is today, but information was very  easily available never the less.

When I moved, it was quite different, and because my husband worked in an international place, there were a few other brits, and lots of other europeans too.

Moving near other brits who had been there longer was an easy option for so many, it was all so different and getting information very hard. So people did move near other brits or join the church or one of the anglo/french groups and in consequence for many, they lived little British Isles lives in France.

I couldn't see any point in doing that, it was a bit of an adventure for us, no french and knew nothing of France, got a job, upped sticks and off we went. If we had wanted english speakers, well we would have moved back to England.

As I said, we didn't speak french either of us when we moved, me five words, him a couple more. He picked it up quickly and without an accent.  I didn't, I keep trying to work out how long it took me. I know that I had a row in the bank in 1983 in french, so that was two years. But my french was not good, I blundered along.

Must have been a couple of years or so later, that I realised how far I had come when we saw Yves Mourousi yabbering on for ten minutes one lunch time on the news, and I said to my husband, he hasn't said a thing, just went on and on, and I realised that my understanding was there.

That I knew all the words, did not mean that I could actually use them myself, but comprehension was my goal, and then doing my best to communicate.

So I speak like a vache espagnole, heavy northern english accent, which has been mistaken for being from Provence by parisiens, and irish by canadians, both french and english speakers.......  although strangely in Quebec,  the odd person thought I was french which says a lot about the quebecois. I try, but I will never sound french! But I can do everything in french, speak or chat to anyone and make phone calls and that I do not believe should take anyone more than five years, or why be there.

Bib, home is where I am. I live my life the best I can where ever I am. We never emigrated, we knew we would move back to England for our dotage,and we did.

[Ken]

Yes, there was the internet back then when we came to live in France and we had just bought our first computer a week before we moved! All information about living in France we gleaned from books. When we arrived we didn't even know that the yellow boxes were the ones you put outgoing mail in!!

Our neighbours were, and still are, fantastic. They even told us which post box to use!!! We really knew nothing but needing to live we had to find out pretty quick!

Not a soul spoke English ( I'm glad to say!) and the learning curve was very steep indeed., great fun though and every day was an adventure. All the mundane and common things in the U.K. were of course similar here, the major difference, quite obviously is the language. I once spent ten minutes in a shop trying to explain that I wanted an electrical screwdriver, It would have made a great Monty Python sketch!!

My wife died ten years ago and friends fully expected me to go back to the U.K. Natural I suppose to think like that but we had made this our home and I will certainly see out my life here. A wonderful country.

[AnOther]

"and others perhaps to Spain".

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I wonder what makes you think that, I've neither seen nor heard of any such migration and post Brexshite it's no easier to live under the radar here than it is in France.

[anotherbanana]

Just speculating, Ernie, just speculating. But I have known one or two who have moved on to Spain.