the Fluffines Shaved Thread: what they dont tell you.

[mint]

[quote user="J.R gone native"]Other than not doing my homework as i have always acted on gut feeling and find it makes for a more exciting and enjoyable life, I am the complete opposite to what you list above and I have been very very shunned.....................

 

 

 

 

 

By the British ex-pats and relocatees [:D]

[/quote]

Lucky old you!

[Owens88]

....will totally drop the word "plumber" or "builder" or "carpenter" or "bricklayer" from your vocabulary because the word "artisan" sounds so much more rustic and professional

 

 Perhaps you are right. But also I cannot remember the terms for the myriad of sub-trades (mason anybody ?) and also some trades overlap. For example my French plumber is the village electrician (qualified to do both trades !) and is a star. To be honest I am not sure why everything has to be anglicised. Is it more correct to keep your watch on UK time then make a mental calculation to get to French time, or to adjust to where you are ?

As it happens I have a good plumber where I live in the UK as well. I am neither defending nor attacking, just commenting in a thread.

[Quillan]

Exactly Owen, we have used, and still do when required, French artisans, why because it seems the right thing to do, they know how to do things in France, have always been reliable etc, etc. In the UK we had good builders etc but likewise we know of others who had terrible problems. One thing I notice that many Brits do in France is take the first quote that comes along, its as if they are grateful to find somebody to do the work. When you point out that if they were back in the UK they would get at least three quotes and see some of the builders work before they choose they look at you with a blank face. Sometimes you wonder if they leave there common sense at Dover.

For every plus theres a plus and for every negative theres a negative. The shops may close twelve till two which can be a pain but now I eat French style instead (light breakfast, lunch at midday and a meal in the evening) of snacking and have lost about 30kg in the last 6 years. I take my time eating instead of wolfing it down at lunchtime. I get out more and do the things I like, I enjoy going to watch rugby and can normally watch a live game every weekend. Of course this comes at a price, I earn only 20% of my last salary in the UK which means the expensive holidays to exotic places now comprise of visits to my photo album. What you gain in one hand you must part with from the other. Its about checks and balances.

Whatever idiosynchronies there are in France you can always match it with something equally as stupid in the UK or the other way round. Its a different life and its what you make of it. As I said before the only thing I can't come to terms with in France is customer service, some places are good but others, the majority, are pretty dyer but once you know how to 'work' the system its not that bad.

I think if you emigrate to another part of the world its natural, initially, to try and compare to where you have come from. One thing for sure is that there is nowhere that is perfect.

Don't post at the same time as me Cat it will only enforce Wills paranoia that theres a conspiracy between the moderators [;-)]

[Will]

[quote user="Quillan"]

Don't post at the same time as me Cat it will only enforce Wills paranoia that theres a conspiracy between the moderators [;-)]

[/quote]

Drat, I was always under the impression that you had a private bit of the forum where you talked to each other... [:P]

As long as people are happy, what does it all matter? I think many people's happiest times in France were when they were new to it all and still had so much to find out. Those with longer service didn't have forums like this to educate and/or disillusion them, we got on with it and the finding out was a rewarding and memorable experience.

That won't apply to everybody of course, a lot like to be led by the hand, but we are all different. As long as we can have a giggle, without being snide or pompous, or taking things too seriously, in forum topics like this...

Personally I count myself as very fortunate to be able to split my time between two great countries, and regions.

[YCCMB]

[quote user="Owens88"]

....will totally drop the word "plumber" or "builder" or "carpenter" or "bricklayer" from your vocabulary because the word "artisan" sounds so much more rustic and professional

 

 Perhaps you are right. But also I cannot remember the terms for the myriad of sub-trades (mason anybody ?) and also some trades overlap. For example my French plumber is the village electrician (qualified to do both trades !) and is a star. To be honest I am not sure why everything has to be anglicised. Is it more correct to keep your watch on UK time then make a mental calculation to get to French time, or to adjust to where you are ?

As it happens I have a good plumber where I live in the UK as well. I am neither defending nor attacking, just commenting in a thread.

[/quote]

Sorry. Owens, not really what I was inferring. I'm not sure stuff HAS to be "anglicised" all the time, but I get the impression that lots of people find the word "artisan" somehow confers a superior knowledge or ability on the "artisan" being discussed. People used to be proud to be "tradesmen", now it seems they have to be "artisans" because it sounds somehow superior. And it's confusing. If people mean "brickie" why not say so. After all, the "artisan" who builds your wall is just that. And I'm not defending or attacking, either...just observing.[;-)]

[Benjamin]

We didn't get a bread oven with our recently built house. Just how disappointed can someone be?  [:'(]

[mint]

What, no bread oven?  You've been done, my son!

Only joking, Benjamin, our house is so anglicised, there are no shutters!  How un-French is that?

I'd have some shutters put in tomorrow if it weren't for the fact that the quote I have had says in excess of

€5000.

Mind you, with banks collapsing around everywhere, shutters mightn't be a bad investment at all.