It`s starting down here....

[le bouffon]

Yeah,we are 20 mins from the spanish bit of catalonia.I have always said I do not care much for the french way of things,just that I speak french and not much spanish.The people that are now coming down here and buying up the houses for the most part do not speak french and rely on the the ready made services of the brit"service" providers,As to what  Alan Zoff wrote that is my night mare.

[Opalienne]

It's even happening in the north.   There are now four English families in our village and two of them complain constantly about lack of facilities for English speakers etc etc.   It's particularly galling because they only came because property prices were lower and they could still work for UK companies......

[le bouffon]

We were the only english familiy living in our village full time when we bought here,there are 4 houses owned by brits all bar one are holiday homes,the people who live here now do not speak french ,they used to attend the local fetes(stood in a corner speaking to no-one),they do change overs for seconed home owners and do not mix with the locals,o well,not for me.

[Debra]

[quote user="le bouffon"]they do change overs for seconed home owners....[/quote] We thought it was really funny that when we first got the keys to our house, a leaflet came through the door offering this service; to look after the garden while we weren't there; to open up the house, put the heating on and get a bit of shopping in ready for our "arrivals"..... we commented "ah well - the local French might not think much of our arrival either way but the local Brits seem to see us as a business opportunity!"  They'll probably be disappointed when we move in permanently and it becomes obvious we don't present such an opportunity after all!

[KathyC]

On the subject of Brit enclaves- we were in a restaurant in Aubeterre last summer and were sitting next to two British couples discussing life in France. At one point someone said "yes we've got one of those in our village". Being nosey, we started listening in and were amazed to find that the "one of them" they were referring to was a French family! It certainly made us go away and do some soul searching about moving to France, although we finally decided to move and avoid these kind of Brit expats.

[Owens88]

>It's even happening in the north.   There are now four English families in our village and two of them complain constantly about lack of facilities for English speakers etc etc.  

Oh Mairde !!

I cannot claim to have been a long term francophile, or even an expert in the language and culture. But I find it appalling that people will become immigrants and not try to blend. Anywhere.

Having said that I wouldn't object if there were the occasional place in 66 that one could buy a decent pint ! (smile)

[Dormouse]

Here in the Loire, I have a good friend who is an (honest) English speaking Immobilier. He is finding it difficult to deal with French vendors who, having approached several immobiliers, will not accept my friend's guide price because other French immobiliers have said that they could sell it for more.

I don't think we can blame "the Brits"

[Alan Zoff]

Most people selling a place in England would expect their agent to try to get the best possible price - rather than try to do the locals a favour. It's then down to supply and demand and is the same everywhere in a free market economy.

If agents ask too much, they get no buyers so no commission.  Equally, if their valuations are too low, they will get no new instructions - so again no commission. The idea that agents dictate prices is a bit of a myth. The market sets the price.

Blame capitalism if you like. But if we didn't have that, I don't think too many of us would be buying properties abroad.

 

[le bouffon]

All well and good,but when the immo`s are aiming at a brit market and selling houses where there are many brits and the immo`s know that there is an "enclave"full of services for the brits that want to live down here who is their target market,thus increasing the amount of brits in that same area,and anyone buying then need not speak or understand french so further the expansion of the "enclave".

[Gastines]

Strikes me that Le Buffoun may do well to cash in on the Brit maeket  and move! It is always a problem if you discover your Utopia. Should you keep it to yourself or let others share the pleasure?

Regards.By St Malo. Apart from the weather at the moment,our Utopia.

[hastobe]

Personally - everytime an immo pointed out the number of Brits living

in the vicinity of a particular property it just put us off

buying.  Why move to France if you just want to live amongst Brits

and create a little England overseas?  Seems totally pointless to

me.

Hastobe

[le bouffon]

It used to,not anymore,I like France(most of the time)and so do a lot of people.We live down here and have done for nearly three years,but spent many years living around the med,and what strikes me is the amount of people that rely on other brits when they come down here to "help them"out.Once again we have one other couple in our village,he does not speak even basic french she does speak very little to the point that they do not attend the local salle du fete incase someone talks to them in french,but they have a van which they use to do change overs,linen service key holding etc,and after 2 years of living here still have a brit reg`d car.We will only speak to them in french,so we do not have a lot to say,maybe it it me but...........

[Owens88]

[quote user="le bouffon"].....Once again we have one other couple in our village,he does not speak even basic french she does speak very little to the point that they do not attend the local salle du fete incase someone talks to them in french,but they have a van which they use to do change overs,linen service key holding etc,and after 2 years of living here still have a brit reg`d car............[/quote]

Just the sort of thing that gives immigrants a bad name. Fuel to the french equivalent of the BNP.

[Opalienne]

And just the same in our village except that I accompanied the wife to the salle des fetes for the ceremonie des voeux and was asked to give a simultaneous translation of  all the speeches!  After two years she hardly understands anything, and her husband nothing at all.  We are heartily fed up with the constant phone calls asking for help on everything under the sun.  They belong to one of those 'we can help you' organisations but seem to feel the need to double check everything with us (probably just as well as often the advice they have been given is incorrect).   Sorry, I know I have moaned about this before but it's really getting too much now.   If they weren't English we probably wouldn't even have met them.......

[Teamedup]

Dump 'em Opalienne. They are users and obviously have no intention of learning french or of being other than users and you their laquais.

Next time they ring, tell them you haven't got time for all this and put the phone down. I have been there with dreading the phone ringing, my heart used to sink every single time it rang, and that was with some french people I know. I felt physically sick when I said something along those lines to them. And the funny thing is that they didn't fall out with us about it. We see them rarely these days and they never phone, but they will go out of their way to come over and chat to us when we are some do or other. And it is all very amicale and pleasant, which is how it should be really.  If they had fallen out with us, then it wouldn't have mattered really, we have plenty of other friends anyway.

 

[Debra]

 .

[SaligoBay]

[quote user="Owens88"]

Fuel to the french equivalent of the BNP.

[/quote]

They're called le Front National, currently led by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

http://www.frontnational.com/accueil.php

It looks like there's a not-so-white person there, but it's not clear whether she's one of Them or not, and I can't be bothered reading it!

If anyone can find references to chucking Brits out, I think it would be of general interest here. 

[le bouffon]

Yawn,here we go again,99.9% of brits in france do not live in french "council homes"or in the middle of inner cities,I have not heard or read anything from the FN about kicking out the brits,only a lot of grumbling about the enclavization of some villages by brit second home owners,and how they do not mix with the local french.Down here I know that there are services provided by brits for the brits,there is even a website that will provide translation bill payment find a brit builder plumber etc service, british estate agents.That to me could well triger ill feeling towards the brits down here (us as well)re the reason for the topic,the young couple who live in ceret that cannot afford to buy in the area which we spoke to last week.

[Debra]

Hence not bringing any prosperity to their area (except in the way of taxes upon the services provided) by supposedly spending their money there - if it's all been kept 'within the family' ie within the Brits.   Makes sense that that sort of scenario will cause resentment, wherever its happening.

[Logan]

I wonder, reading these posts from all you good folks trying to merge into the local French culture and customs. Did you do the same in the UK? Did you go regulary to the UK equivalent of the salle de fete? Did you attend the memorial parades and wreath laying ceremonies in your old home towns? Did you integrate into UK life in the same way as you recommend here. The reason I ask is because I smell ever so slightly in these posts the wiff of inverted social snobbery but I could be mistaken. The truth is that some folks simply do not want to integrate for their own reasons. Where is it written in stone that in order to live a contented happy life in another country you MUST integrate, you must learn the language et al. These things are personal choices and lifestyle decisions. They may work for you but not others. I agree that to be rid of social pests is a desirable thing. It's simple, just say NO! Nothing difficult about that is there?

[Quillan]

Logan - I agree with you 100%. I was bought up in a village community and enjoy village life and I like to get involved. In the UK we seem to want privacy and people just don't get involved a lot of the time. I have always helped a Fete's in my village in the UK and do not see any harm in offering my help here. Being ex military I always attend Rememberance Day where ever I am in the world as a mark of respect. I live in Fance so I do the same as I would anywhere else.

What I don't like seeing, and it is happening more and more, is English communities that are self seficient i.e. they don't need help from the natives of the country in which they live and can't even be bothered to say hello even. We have this at rugby, there is a certain crowd of English that always group together, the French don't speak to them and they don't speak to the French. If there is a French person around they will make no effort to include the French person by speaking French. This has nothing to do with intigrating it's more to do with plain rudeness. It's rather funny but those that do this sort of thing are the ones that can be often heard knocking the UK and talking about all the (you must pardon the next view comments) black, yids, packies etc that have taken over the UK and here they are in France doing the same thing.

There is the other group that I guess you are talking about which do get involved and sort of muscle in to things. They constantly invite French people round to their house, go out of their way at Boulle games by saying they will only play with the French Of course when speaking to fellow Brits their stock phrase is "some of my best friends are French" as if to proove to somebody something. The rest of us get involved in what we want to, speak to whom we want and just get on with life and be respectful to those around us be them English, French green or brown or whatever, all we really want is to get along and enjoy life.

[opas]

An enclave of Brits in France seems to push house prices up.......that is the general concensus of this forum and of course certain broadsheets.

I lived on the outskits of an enclave(non Brits) in the UK and the house prices spiraled very quickly downwards.

I wonder which analyst amongst us could interpret the facts?

Mrs O

[Debra]

lol nice one!  OK - I'll have a go!  It's the Brits that DO cause the market to spiral or downturn. ie those Brits who have the money to choose where they buy to live in both situations.  They choose to live with other Brits in both circumstances.  On the one hand  not wanting to buy where there are no Brits, or to move (sell up) from areas where lots of non-Brits are moving in, causing the market in those areas to downturn (buyer's market for those who don't mind living in those areas). On the other hand wanting to live where there are Brits, buying in certain areas (seller's market in those areas) and causing the market in those areas to upturn.

Is this a class thing?  Years ago it would have been considered as such because only the middle or upper classes would be in the position to be choosy.  In the UK/France situation it isn't, due to the rising house prices in Britain and the fairly steady prices in France in comparison, people who wouldn't normally be classed as 'middle' or 'upper' class can afford to be choosy in this way.

The moral for bargain hunters?  Buy in non-Brit areas or areas where lots of non-Brits are buying as it will be cheaper and the market in those areas will be on a downturn!

Mind you, there is a Dutch enclave near us where we were advised not to buy by the French estate agent unless we were prepared to learn Dutch as well as French - and live in isolation during the school term times!

[le bouffon]

I do agree with quillan in as far there are two extreams,we always went to the service on remembrance sunday in the uk,the salle du fete  thing was new to us as we lived in a very large town in the UK.Thing being now we live in France and not the UK,and left the UK to live in France,not UK sur Mer.

[Viv]

[quote user="Logan"]I wonder, reading these posts from all you good folks trying to merge into the local French culture and customs. Did you do the same in the UK? Did you go regulary to the UK equivalent of the salle de fete? Did you attend the memorial parades and wreath laying ceremonies in your old home towns? Did you integrate into UK life in the same way as you recommend here. The reason I ask is because I smell ever so slightly in these posts the wiff of inverted social snobbery but I could be mistaken. The truth is that some folks simply do not want to integrate for their own reasons. Where is it written in stone that in order to live a contented happy life in another country you MUST integrate, you must learn the language et al. These things are personal choices and lifestyle decisions. They may work for you but not others. I agree that to be rid of social pests is a desirable thing. It's simple, just say NO! Nothing difficult about that is there?[/quote]

We mix as much as we want, as I have said before committees and the like are not my thing, and I am not going to change who/ what I am because I am in France. That said, I don't need Brits around me just because they are Brits and I certainly don't want to live in a total Brit enclave because I want to enjoy France, but  I cannot see how anyone can cope without some knowledge of the language.