This is one for ablf

[NormanH]

If she bothers to read it..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/living-dream-year-provence-ended-divorce/

[Théière]

I recognise that life story from someone who used to be on some of the forums, maybe this one as well but certainly FE

[alittlebitfrench]

I can only read the first bit and then it wants some of my dosh to display the full article. I might wait for the DVD.

Are there any juicy bits ?

I am guessing a couple moved to France and one liked it and the other not so much and it ended in divorce ???

I have read loads of stories like that on forums.

It takes a very special person to cope with France (likewise with the UK). The probability of having two people in the same relationship that can both cope with living in France !!! eek.

Interesting debate.

[BritinBretagne]

No money required. It’s a predictable story about how they were gazumped when buying their dream house, ended up buying a dump in a holiday area that was dead out of season then could not sell their house when it all fell apart.

The positive points are;

1.The journalist who was hunting for a French disaster story as soon as Peter Mayle’s death was announced on various expat forums found one.

2. The poor woman has had some free publicity for the book she wrote about the experience. I’m sure that that will go down well with Telegraph readers so we can expect her name on the Brst Sellers list very soon.

[Patf]

The same sad story as our previous english neighbours.

The house is to be reposessed soon.

There are many lessons to be learned - the first one, bankruptcy in France is not treated as kindly as in England.

If the price at auction doesn't cover their debts, the french authorities can pursue the debtor in the UK for their assets there.

www.completefrance.com/...france/how-repossession-works-in-fra...T

[AnOther]

Is it the closing chapter in this predictable tale ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8351968/Why-this-expat-said-au-revoir-to-the-French-dream.html

[alittlebitfrench]

Oh yes Brit, I saw that thread on the (can you please upload a picture of yourself ) funny face forum. You on that forum Brit ?. I got banned for being too good looking.

So yes, some Telegraph journalist was looking for a story weren't they ?.

ET gave them a hard. That made me laugh.

So they found their story.

Why don't the telegraph find stories about French couples who have moved to the UK and split up ? There must be many. I can think of some.

[BritinBretagne]

No need to post a picture, I look very like the photo of Peter Mayle that is staring at me on this page. The only real differences are that I wear darker framed glasses and he smiles.

[Patf]

As opposed to the above negative reports, we've spent 17 wonderful years in rural France, but have decided to return for other reasons. We don't want to leave.

Whether you settle here depends on so many things, apparently time of life, and language skills.

Don't be too ambitious about the standard of living you want to achieve.

[mint]

But, Ano, all that she complains about could have been totally foreseen[:P]

Seeing that her husband works in the media, TV and whatever else, did they not know enough to do some proper research before upping sticks to come to France?

Plus, if they'd researched the West Country, they could just as easily have moved there without detouring via France?

Shaking my head in disbelief...................

[Théière]

[quote user="AnOther"]Is it the closing chapter in this predictable tale ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8351968/Why-this-expat-said-au-revoir-to-the-French-dream.html

[/quote]

Yes that's Mel, was on FE and blogs quite a bit. Helped her with a pool pump issue. Actually a nice person, witty too.

"So if the expat life doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to move on, or move

back. We have no regrets about going to France, or leaving, and we’ve

found everything we were looking for... just much closer to home".

[alittlebitfrench]

They clearly went for the Brit stereotypical moving to rural France thing. STOOOOOOP !!!!

What WERE THEY F****ing EXPECTING ?

ALBF gets in the neck all the time by telling folk not to do it like this. France offers a good life, but not how it is sold in British magazines and on UK telly. THIS CLICHE LIFE DOES NOT EXIST !!! It is make believe.

Sorry Leven....carry on selling your barns. LOL

[BritinBretagne]

[quote user="Théière"][quote user="AnOther"]Is it the closing chapter in this predictable tale ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8351968/Why-this-expat-said-au-revoir-to-the-French-dream.html

[/quote]

Yes that's Mel, was on FE and blogs quite a bit. Helped her with a pool pump issue. Actually a nice person, witty too.

"So if the expat life doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to move on, or move

back. We have no regrets about going to France, or leaving, and we’ve

found everything we were looking for... just much closer to home".[/quote]

Closer to home? I live in my home.

[Chancer]

Yes, bit of a give away that phrase isn't it!

[idun]

And I would say that similar things could happen to people in retirement who can no longer drive.

What do they do, if well off, get a taxi all the time. Or simply stay at at home.

 For those less well off, is it to put on others? Those that say, 'just say the word and I will do X Y and Z for you!, but that is rather like a friend just staying a couple of nights on the couch, when it turns into a week or a month.........wears thin, and gets award.

 And what about possible hospital visits, get the secu to pay for transport for very long journeys. AND no, I don't believe that having an S1 the old E121 was it, should be to cover someone's whim. (And I do look on this rather differently for someone who has lived a full life in an area, because that is really chez eux).  So for long distances, medical treatment is one thing, paying for someone's transport who chose to live far from the madding crowd is quite another. 

[NormanH]

Which is one of the reasons why I from the beginning I decided to live in a sizeable town where all services and in particular medical ones are available  by bus.

One can criticise Béziers for many things, and I often do, but it is extremely convenient for all the everyday  needs of someone like me who is rather handicapped or someone else who is getting older.

From the start of my life in France I decided to live somewhere where there is no need for a car.

There is a similar issue when people buy a flat. A a Parisian friend of mine who is a sprightly  musician of 65 years old has just bought a flat here for her retirement, although at the moment she comes just for the holidays. But it is on the fourth floor without a lift[:-))] She is fine at it for now, but all it needs is a problem at the hip or knee, or a minor stroke which makes walking difficult, and the lovely views of the countryside which he has at the moment won't compensate for the practical difficulties.

[BritinBretagne]

It’s not a simple as town v countryside. I live in a rural location but a friend who lives in a large town. My supermarket, baker, doctor and dentist are all nearer to my home than his are to him. He does have the benefit of a bus service operating in the town but that does not necessarily make the journeys any easier.

[andyh4]

idun wrote the following post at 22/01/2018 11:43:

AND no, I don't believe that having an S1 the old E121 was it, should be to cover someone's whim. (And I do look on this rather differently for someone who has lived a full life in an area, because that is really chez eux). So for long distances, medical treatment is one thing, paying for someone's transport who chose to live far from the madding crowd is quite another.

While I understand where you are coming from Idun, doesn't the same apply to the French who also decide (on a whim) to move to the country?

And if so then you are dooming France to ALBF's dream where everyone lives in a city and no one in the country as local people move to the towns and cities to get jobs and services.

At least if we have to rely on secu transport to get to a hospital this gets charged back to the UK so the journey costs France nothing but our presence in the country helps to maintain local economies and possibly helps the argue to increase local services. Our local hospital - which has previously not been much more than a convalescence home/old age pensioners retreat is being considerably expanded and some additional services provided, so making it a bit more like a hospital as we might understand the term.

[idun]

I have been thinking and wondering if I know of anyone who has done just that in France, and I do not.

Even one friend who seemed to be moving to a remote village in the mountains, is only 12k from a big hospital and has a bus stop to the city more or less at the end of his drive that actually runs fairly regularly.

Other people seem to want to move to towns or cities, if they are going to move at all.

For those who are nulle part and have always lived there, then I have no problem with any of it.

Also, most, if not all french pensioners cop for deductions on their pensions, call these payments what you want, they are on top of their income tax and pay towards such things as health care. Plus ofcourse, they need their mutuelle too.

And here is the rub for me, as I simply believe that anyone moving to France as a retiree, finding that lovely place far from the madding crowd has a responsibility for their own lives.

We hear so much about the young and complaints about how 'entitled' they seem to feel, well, feels to me that pensioners, ie people like me[Www], feel that they can do as they please and that the system HAS to pick up the cost of their whims.......feels to me that too many people feel like they should be treat like Princes' or Princesses, their 'right'! But why anyone else should pick up the bill for their choices is beyond me.

And then the old old argument, I paid all my life blah di blah!, and as I said, most french pensioners continue paying.

The health care system is there for one's care, IF someone as an adult chooses to retire to somewhere remote, then apart from an emergency, then I truly believe that they are responsible for getting to and from their own treatment, with certain exceptions, ie being linked to some sort of 'machine' for use at home.

We always made our own way too and from hospital in France. We would not have dreamt of 'using' the system in any other fashion. Also, we were well aware that our money was financing it and it had financial problems. And over the years we saw certain things/services being reduced and it is far worse now, a good friend keeps me up to date with it, regularly.

We live in NE England now. There are some hospital centres where there are specialist hospital services, as there are in France. And example is that some patients have to travel from Carlisle to Newcastle for treatment. So people have to travel big distances here too. And many do just that.

For my part, we have needed some hospital treatment since being back, and in spite of my actually considering that on one occasion we required an ambulance, were asked to get to hospital under our own steam. We always do, and as I am due for surgery soon, and have some distance to go to the hospital, shall ask if they would take me and bring me home and how many people feel 'entitled' to such transportation, even if they could sort out their own transport!  For some it would be essential, but others should not be so selfish.

Yes, that is the word I have been searching for, 'selfish' that is exactly how this feels to me, and I do not like it.

Others will give other arguments, but that is just how I feel, and shall not change my mind on this.

[idun]

And before anyone jumps on me for my post.

Often I hear on here about the suggestion that someone has had a little too much 'pop' etc.

Me, never smoked, hardly drink, about a unit a week, if that, and always been the same. Never taken any illegal drugs either and never had an STD either[:D]

I shall not complain about anyone who has such vices that affect their health. Drinking a lot, drugs and clops are not for me, but I very easily accept that humans are humans and these things can be part of their lives, for good or bad.

So I am not against people getting any treatment at all, shall never moan about it. It is how they get to their treatment that riles.

And I wouldn't want everyone to live in towns, just if they chose to live away from services, then accept that is down to them to get to and fro. No one makes any of us do anything, including move to France.

[alittlebitfrench]

Domme in the Dordogne has a hospital which is quite useful being out in the middle of nowhere !!!

Having said that, the most exciting thing to do in Domme is to go to hospital. LOL. Or travel on that little train.

I think Andy, the French who move rural tend to have a support network with friends and family. Not really the same as a British couple that wind themselves up in the middle of nowhere not knowing anyone and with limited French.

Hence I guess why accessing UK TV is the number one topic on forums.

I personally would not recommend it. You will (not yourselves but generally speaking) have to move again. Then you have the problem of selling your house.

It is just not a good idea. We live in a very large town and it takes me 10-15 mins by bike to be in rural countryside. Hospital 10 mins away. Funeral parlour 15 mins. Dying here would not be a problem.

[BritinBretagne]

Two responses to your rant;

1. You obviously took no notice of my post re the reality of the situation.

2. Your very right of centre attitude is at odds with the French point of view.

[alittlebitfrench]

You talking to me Brit (imagine a Robert De Niro accent there) you talking to me ???

Or Idun ?

[andyh4]

Again I understand where you are coming from, but I feel that at least part of what you rail against is actually differences is the social systems and payments levels in different countries.

"Entitlement" then stems from the expectation of what has been promised under those systems - but like you we have never had a problem driving to the hospital for operations, scans etc..

To give example; I am in receipt of both UK and German state pensions. For 29,5 years UK contributions I get a state pension that at current exchange rates is worth about the same per payment as 8,5years contributions to the German system. The UK wins by virtue of 13 payments per year versus 12.

The UK payments are derisory - and this is why tax credits are required to bring many UK pensioners up to a living level of income. But UK pensioners make no contribution to the health system via NI payments. I think that completely fair regarding that derisory state pension, however I think there is a debate to be had about whether additional incomes for pensioners should be considered for NI payments.

In contrast the German payments seem very generous, but if I were not under UK care for my health, I would be paying around 13% of gross income for German Healthcare - provided by the French of course.

I do not therefore consider it selfish if UK pensioners expect to get their 70%of French healthcare for free, since it is provided for by the UK authorities under the UK rules.

I very much dislike this idea of social engineering that says if you aren't local you cannot live in the country because that would be selfish.

In 1920 the population of our village was around 850 souls. By 2000 it had dropped to something a little over 200. Moves were then made to try to encourage and attract people to stay in the village (not overly successful since for any further education the young adults are forced to move away and then stay away to work) and for outsiders to come to the village. That has been somewhat successful and the population has risen by over 10% since 2000 - mostly French, but some Belgians and 2 Brits. There are more businesses and more opportunities for jobs within the village as a consequence. There is more money in the village and services can then improve. There is probably a long way to go, but the corner has been turned.

If villages are not revitalised with new blood, they die a slow death. La Poste had decided to pull out and the village shop and garage closed. The local shop has re-opened and has a La Poste counter at the back.

As a final point I have just read a book about what the railways did for us. 300 odd pages of closely researched arguments. The final, almost throw away paragraph makes the point that the mobility that railways brought to the population as a whole contributed greatly to the end of the village idiot. Your proposals would lead to a return in the smaller more remote French villages where inbreeding would become a certainty again.

[BritinBretagne]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]You talking to me Brit (imagine a Robert De Niro accent there) you talking to me ???

Or Idun ?[/quote]

Did you rant? I missed that.

You were posting as I was typing so it wasn’t you.