Jump to content

Did we do the right thing?


Recommended Posts

Many ex pat Brits, I'm sure, over the years have asked themselves if they did the right thing by shaking the dust of merry England (And , of course, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) off their boots and relocating to la belle France?

As things are now, well I can assure you that yes indeedy, you did the right thing!

Britain sadly, is in a right old two and eight: the once great NHS has all but collapsed, whereas from my own experience, the French system is alive and well. Education...Hm what "Education"? OK, I guess, if you want your little darling to grow up as a Mad Marxist and decide he is a she and alternatively she is a he; it is all very confusing.

The UK is on the path for a Winter of Discontent, with no son of York to bring bright summer. Indeed, the only sort of son of York we have is a duke headed for clink!

OK, in France, you have to suffer the idiocy of the little Rothschild shill, M. Le President Macaroni and his delightful grannie, however you do still have the food and the wine and the wonderful space: plus the right to boot your maire out if he is useless and not doing his best for your commune. (Naturally or her best; goes without saying).

On a more serious note, the state of the land was brought home to us and my wife and I, particularly, with the heinous murder of Sir David Amess, the MP for the constituency of Southend West which includes the historic old fishing village of Leigh-on-Sea, where my wife's late Dad's family were based; and where she and I lived for a number of years when we were first married.

Whilst in 2002 we had every intention of relocating to France, family health problems and then the effects of 2007-08 on the financial prevented such a move.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hiya Gluey, well, it depends where you are on the pile in UK, I guess but not having actually lived there for 25 years I am probably out of touch. If you have a decent disposable income, no debts, home in a decent area and, if appropriate, kids in a good school, then you are doin’ fine.

Many folks are not like that though.

Best tip is not to listen to the news or read the newspapers too often. Or is it that the Brits like to emphasise the bad, the media like to undermine national confidence for their own agenda. I dunno.

Return to UK for me? too complex as things stand.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I take Leigh-on-Sea as an example, Wools, what ruined it was a rush of Londoners with high disposable money, who sold their houses top of the market and migrated to Leigh, as the train service puts them in the dreaded City within 35 minutes. Temporarily, capital rich, they hoovered up houses and spent large amounts of dough, turning them into monstrosities.

The wonderful old shops have all gone and now it is endless bars and trendy eateries; but worst of all, drugs!

Plus oiks who travel down at weekends for the evening and create mayhem: the stabbings and gang fights are endless; plus of course they terrorise local residents, smash up peoples property, leave rubbish everywhere, urinate in front gardens and etc, etc.

County Lines drugs dealer are an increasing menace, too.

The police are pretty hopeless, too: more concerned with being woke and chasing imaginary "Hate Crimes".

Quote: "If you have a decent disposable income, no debts, home in a decent area and, if appropriate, kids in a good school, then you are doin’ fine.

Many folks are not like that though."

Few "nice areas" left: Sunak is now going to attack the savings and pensions of those nice disposable incomes!

A majority are far from well off. Except HGV drivers it would seem!!?

For most average Brits, until and unless the rapidly collapsing society touches them, then they are as happy as pigs in a mud bath. They accord to the Roman model: Pannem et circenses: (Bread and Circuses: keep the proles happy).

In this case it is mindless TV and soaps, football and etc, plus endless take away food; well, if it can be called food...

However, their wake up smell the coffee moment will be Winter: heating bills, awesome rises in the cost of everything, plus increased taxes to try to regain the chancellor's reckless spending. Plus increasing shortages, particularly of food, as the supply chains have all but broken.

For the record, I do not read newspapers and never listen to the radio (Except Nick Ferrari on LBC via Youtube when he is ripping idiots into little abject bits! Now that's fun!): my research is based upon talking to people and from selective news aggregators online.

Bear in mind I am a writer on socio-economies.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't sound a happy bunny at all! My son and his family all live in the U.K. and are perfectly happy with 'their lot'! Many of the things you are complaining about also exist in France. Just one example: Marseille is like a Wild West town on drugs!! Killings are fairly normal and the suburbs of Paris are almost a no go area for the Police. As for prices; well anyone here can tell that prices for everything is rocketing; from food, heating and petrol. Perhaps you should read the papers and listen to the news, particularly the French nows and you would realise that 'La belle France' like Britain is raising taxes and is having a tough time of it.

I still have many friends and family in Britain and your picture of a 'rapidly declining society' isn't shared by them. Most of the problems you  quote are as much a product of a 'tolerant' society as anything and the problems are as a result. That is a world wide thing too, not just Britain.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a complete load of tosh.

 

Gluestick, Brits can afford themselves a lifestyle in France that many in France can only dream of. So your thoughts are total nonsense.

 

Don't you think that for one minute all the same problems you mention exist in France ? They are probably much worse to fair in France. 

 

Crime and violence is out of control. Politics is in a mess. Many millions are in poverty. And yes, there is also an HGV driver shortage.

 

Inflation is going through the roof and 12 million (as reported the other day) can't afford their heating bills.

 

May I suggest you go and live in the suburbs of Paris or Lyon or Marseille or wherever where most French people have to live to get a better understanding of France.

 

Read a few French newspapers perhaps.

Bring up kids here. That will turn your hair grey. Or greyer. I am mean now, not 15 - 20 years ago. 

If Brits moved to 'real France' (as I put it it) rather than some rural SW nonsense they would be back to Leigh on Sea before they could say baguette. 

 

Enough said.

 

 

Edited by alittlebitfrench
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did I really just reset my password specifically so I could agree with ALBF? Apparently I did. What is the world coming to?

But yes I agree it is tosh, very blinkered tosh.

The UK has problems, France has problems, the EU has problems, every country has problems. It is stupid (IMHO) to move to another country thinking you will avoid problems because a problem-free country does not exist.  Some of the problems will be different and some will be the same, they may be more or less acutely problematic at this moment in time but this will fluctuate as solutions are thought up and tried out and situations evolve. Five years down the line it could be a very different picture and what will that person do then, move back to where they came from? try a different country?  There is an infinite number of valid (IMHO) reasons for choosing to live in a particular country, but shaking the dust of a different country off your boots,as you put it, is the very worst reason of all. There are bad things about the UK but there are also good things, ditto France, ditto every other country. For me it's about personal preferences and priorities - what is most important to me and what are my "red lines", where can I find the things that I'm looking for without crossing any red lines. Important things aren't the stuff that flips and flops as governments and policies change, it's things that don't change quickly like the culture, the mindset, the way society is built, the language, the countryside. Priorities and red lines will be different from one person to the next. For some it's France, for some it's the UK, for some it's Spain, and so on. France isn't necessarily the right choice for everybody. And if it's the right choice for a person, it's because France's priorities match their priorities; it has nothing to do with how well or how badly things happen to going in a different country right now. If France doesn't suit a person, they won't be happy there however much the UK implodes. If France does happen suit them, they'll be happy there even if the UK becomes the promised land of milk and honey and worldbeating in every respect.

Also to pick up on a detail, you say that if you move to France you have 'the right to boot your maire out if he is useless' - well as a Brit immigrant, no you don't because unless you've taken French nationality or hold another EU citizenship, you don't have the right to vote.

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Gluestick said:

So if life in France is so awful, then move back to the supposed utopia of Britain!

Which was the core ethos of my first post.

 

Do you always see everything in blackest of black or the whitest of white, with no shades in between, or are you just going through a tetchy patch right now that's  making you irrational?

Just because a thing isn't perfect, doesn't mean it is awful.

Britain is not utopia. France is not utopia. Nowhere is utopia. Sensible people recognise this and choose the non-utopia that they feel the closest affinity with, that best suits them, their needs, their cultural outlook, their emotional preferences.

If there are a lot of things about a country that you love, you will forgive it many faults. Like people. Would you never choose a partner if you could not find a perfect person with no faults at all? 

May also be pointing out that France and Britain are not the only two countries in the world to which one can move?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, Gluestick said:

So if life in France is so awful, then move back to the supposed utopia of Britain!

 

 

 

I bet myself a euro this morning that you would come back with a response like that. LOL. I owe myself a euro. 

 

It is a standard response by someone who has no idea about the country they are living in or trying to justify to themselves why they are living here.

 

In terms of moving back or elsewhere else, we will (French OH included) move 'back' or somewhere but France when the kids have finished education. Life is to short for France.

 

I was on the Caen boat a month or so back (I am trying to go to the UK as much as I can at the moment) and there was this dumb witt Brit bloke taking to a French woman with her kids who was going back to the UK where she lived with her husband. 

I was earwigging this conversation. He was boring her to death about how much he loves France. The food, the wine the culture and all the rest of the cliches. (Insert being sick yellow thing).

 

 

Anyway, the bloke who boring the French woman to death wants to move to France with his kids.

She was basically saying to him (apart from please go away) that she would rather stick pins in her eyes than live in France.

She goes once a year to meet her family and that is enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by alittlebitfrench
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, alittlebitfrench said:

Anyway, the bloke who boring the French woman to death wants to move to France with his kids.

She was basically saying to him (apart from please go away) that she would rather stick pins in her eyes than live in France.

She goes once a year to meet her family and that is enough. 

 

 

 

 

 

On this, I would say that neither is right and neither is wrong. The stupidity is that each of them seems to think that what is right for them, must be right for everybody.

Although in this case since the bloke has no experience of living in France, he shouldn't be talking about what living in France is like in the first place.

Me, I seem to be in a phase of yo-yo-ing back and forth. I lived last year in the UK, I lived this year in France, and next year who knows. I love them both in different ways and for different reasons, I am happy in both places but equally I can see things wrong with both places and there are things about both places that get on my wires. I certainly don't get any Schadenfreude from looking across to the UK from France and seeing problems. Why would I, one person's problems don't make my life better. I find it very unattractive when people seem only able to measure their success by another country's/person's failure, and unfortunately there was a lot of this in UK media during Brexit, people seemed more gleeful at the prospect of Brexit doing damage to the EU than the prospect of Brexit being good for the UK. Let's not turn it round now, and big up France because of problems in the UK. Success shouldn't be about how well you are doing relative to the rest, it is about how well you are doing in absolute terms. If one kid gets 4 out of 10 in a maths test, the fact that nobody else got more than 2 out of ten does not mean that the first kid did well; any more than if he gets eight out of ten and everybody else gets nine or ten, that means he did badly. The best way for everyone to climb higher is by helping each other and giving each other a leg up when you can, not by trampling on everyone else and trying to kick them down to the bottom.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, EuroTr@sh said:

On this, I would say that neither is right and neither is wrong. The stupidity is that each of them seems to think that what is right for them, must be right for everybody.

 

I agree on that point.

 

But if I see another post on a French forum dissing the UK I will personally take up arms. LOL.?

 

I mean seriously. France is a dump as much as the UK.

 

France is more of a dump IMHO...but that is my opinion.                   

 

Talking of which, my kids and I spent the night in a family room in the posh IBIS hotel in the centre of Caen before cathing the boat. It was a very nice hotel.....from the outside.

 

However, the room looked liked something from Prisoner Cell block H. One person could only stand at a time in the room. The walls were toilled de verred in orange...and there was no soap. It was horrendous. 

 

It cost 100 euros per night.

When we arrived in the UK we stayed at a travel lodge on the A303. Right on the A303. 

It was like 5 stars compared to Caen. It was clean, comfortable, big beds, coffee machine and all the rest. The staff were so so nice as well.

It cost 59 pounds. 

 

I am wafferling of course.

But don't give me any of this 'France' is best business. 

 

OK....?

 

Edited by alittlebitfrench
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, EuroTr@sh said:

The UK has problems, France has problems, the EU has problems, every country has problems. It is stupid (IMHO) to move to another country thinking you will avoid problems because a problem-free country does not exist.  Some of the problems will be different and some will be the same, they may be more or less acutely problematic at this moment in time but this will fluctuate as solutions are thought up and tried out and situations evolve. Five years down the line it could be a very different picture and what will that person do then, move back to where they came from? try a different country?  There is an infinite number of valid (IMHO) reasons for choosing to live in a particular country, but shaking the dust of a different country off your boots,as you put it, is the very worst reason of all. There are bad things about the UK but there are also good things, ditto France, ditto every other country. For me it's about personal preferences and priorities - what is most important to me and what are my "red lines", where can I find the things that I'm looking for without crossing any red lines. Important things aren't the stuff that flips and flops as governments and policies change, it's things that don't change quickly like the culture, the mindset, the way society is built, the language, the countryside. Priorities and red lines will be different from one person to the next. For some it's France, for some it's the UK, for some it's Spain, and so on. France isn't necessarily the right choice for everybody. And if it's the right choice for a person, it's because France's priorities match their priorities; it has nothing to do with how well or how badly things happen to going in a different country right now. If France doesn't suit a person, they won't be happy there however much the UK implodes. If France does happen suit them, they'll be happy there even if the UK becomes the promised land of milk and honey and worldbeating in every respect.

Also to pick up on a detail, you say that if you move to France you have 'the right to boot your maire out if he is useless' - well as a Brit immigrant, no you don't because unless you've taken French nationality or hold another EU citizenship, you don't have the right to vote.

 

 

I don't normally post on threads involving the UK as I am American.  However, the above quote falls directly in line with the way I feel.  We are very happy in France.  We see the changes that have taken place over the years.  Some good, many not good.  We're still happier here than we were in the U.S.A.  EuroT summed it up quite well for us.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well pardon me for breathing!

I'm definitely happier here than I was in the UK. We arrived in 2004 and live in a country village. It's all very well to highlight troubles in Marseilles or Paris, but I don't live there, and I didn't live in London previously, so whilst I can't give an accurate comparison that covers all instances, I'm very happy with my lot, thank you. I picked where I live for a reason, peace and quiet.

I've got a friend currently waiting 3 months in UK for the results of a scan and cardio exam; she had a recurrence of her problem this weekend and had to wait 8 hours for an ambulance (but her husband took her the 7 miles by car) and then spent 8 hours on a trolley in the A&E corridor, before being sent home because the hospital pharmacy had closed. Does that happen here ? Not in my experience. My wife was treated for breast cancer in 2015 and I can't praise the staff and treatment highly enough.

We watch the French news in the mornings followed by the BBC News a little later. All I see at the moment is a bunch of spivs running the UK who wouldn't know the truth if it smacked them in the face. Our UK family with university-age children have lost the chance to easily spend a year in Europe doing modern languages. The country is on its knees from where I'm sitting.

Those who miss "good ole Blighty" can always pack up and go back.

I find the benefits far outweigh the disadvantage and we're here for the duration.

Amen

 

Edited by sid
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The UK is definitely going to rack & ruin !

Our DIL has just messaged to say that the turkey that they wanted to order from M & S is ‘out of stock’.  Turkey panic buying!

I’ve offered to bring one from here when we come over at Christmas, but we’d probably get rumbled by the Border Police.  Does a dead turkey represent a health threat?  If it’s a French turkey, it probably does in the eyes of the authorities.

Actually, this could be an opportunity for a ‘poulet de bresse’ - often wondered whether they’re worth the money.

Mark you, this could all be academic.  How long before France declares the UK as dodgy and stops travel except for ‘essential purposes’?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well after nearly 25 years of living in France since my mid twenties.. A French wife and three French kids.

All I can say that when I go back to the UK, I think it is wonderful. It is a delight to go and visit.

To live I dunno, back it can't be worse than France.

 

You retired folk have no idea what France is like. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, that is of course rowlocks ALBF, as I’m sure you well know.

As has been said by ET & others, there are loads of really nice places in both France and the UK ...... and equally, loads of really horrible places in both countries.  Same applies to any country that you’d choose to mention.

Retirees to France would generally tend not to choose the really horrible places to buy a place !   That doesn’t mean that they don’t recognise that they exist.

Unless you’re doing a wind-up, (and that would be ‘form’ for you), even you would accept that most buying and choosing to live over here have done a teeny bit of research before taking the plunge.

Of course, you don’t always get it right, but mostly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, anotherbanana said:

Well done Gluey, that woke up the Forum!

Which was rather the idea, Wools.

I just wanted to check if it had all but died, or like the Phoenix was waiting to arise from the ashes...

My OP was made very much tongue in cheek and was intended to be quasi-humerous.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Ken said:

Just one example: Marseille  is like a Wild West town on drugs!! Killings are fairly normal and the suburbs of Paris are almost a no go area for the Police.

Now this is plain silly!

Marseilles Population 2021 1,500,000 est. (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Population just 23,000.)

It is the HQ of the Union Corse, a major port with links to Africa, a main point of import for the European proscribed drugs crime gangs etc. Not a sensible exemplar, therefore.

Paris is now a tip in parts; with much to still commend it outside the problem Arrondisements.

London more of a tip with little to commend itself, thanks to its Muslim mayor, wokeness and determination to destroy London's earlier cultural heritage.

Only a few years back, Leigh-on-Sea was tipped as a most wonderful and peaceful place to live...

https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/property-news/where-to-move-in-2019-leighonsea-named-as-the-happiest-place-to-live-in-britain-a126741.html

Before he was so sadly murdered, Sir David Amess made the following comments:

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/19352480.sir-david-amess-says-war-crime-isnt-working-stabbing/

Stabbings (Please note plural) and recently, a young man was murdered by stabbing.

A wee bit unusual I would suggest in a population of just 23,000: no?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...