Why we are getting out of the UK to join you....

[Panick]

If you want to read a book that will confirm how wise you are escaping from UK PLC, can we recommend 'Perverting the Course of Justice:The Hilarious and Shocking Inside Story of British Policing ' by Inspector Gadget. Reviews are at http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/product/1906308047/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending 

Just as a matter of interest, is there a similar book about French policing??

66 Pay Packets to go

 

[Jonzjob]

Just read your signature Panick.

Do you get payed monthly or anually [6][6][6]?

We dodn't need the policing to make up our mind to move I must admit!! Best thing we did too![8-|]

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Panick"]

If you want to read a book that will confirm how wise you are escaping from UK PLC, can we recommend 'Perverting the Course of Justice:The Hilarious and Shocking Inside Story of British Policing ' by Inspector Gadget. Reviews are at http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/product/1906308047/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending 

Just as a matter of interest, is there a similar book about French policing??

66 Pay Packets to go[/quote]

I assume you think it is better in France ?

[Panick]

Johnzjob - Monthly, or this is some new retirement plan!! I would be 114 Years old. Mrs Panick would be 116 Years old, and we don't think that we will be up to much by then. Glad to hear from others of a similar view, and glad to to know you are enjoying your new life.

Russethouse - From what we have seen so far - Yes. France and other foreign climes are awash with retired coppers escaping from the UK, and helping the immigration v emigration figures. Any country where the waiter gets called Sir is fine by us. Here they just suck their teeth at you!! Politeness means a lot to us as a rule. PS. We are now being enlightened over Quimper Pottery..... Merci.

 

 

[YCCMB]

[quote user="Panick"]

France and other foreign climes are awash with retired coppers escaping from the UK, and helping the immigration v emigration figures.

[/quote]

?????????????????????????????

So, when you do move to France, a move with which I wish you well, are you hoping to simply be an emigrant? And what will you be when you arrive in France?

[Panick]

Call me Betty, Thank you for your wishes. We wish to be intigrationist, to mix, to belong, to join. We do not want to be 'stand alone' citizens. It will not be simple, we know that. And finally, we regret the state that this country has got into. Do we know this? The answer is YES, and it is based on an awful lot of personal experience. If you want to realise it, read this book. It enlightens you on more than policing, as it deals with real life experiences that we have had to deal with as well on a daily basis. Result - We will be emigrating, pure and simple as that. Rant over. Love you xxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S. We know that we will be immigrants (not emigrants) when we arrive, but as we are all part of Europe, C'Est La Vie.

[5-element]

Panick, I found your posts most entertaining.. 114 pay packets to go, then you learn all there is to know in order to be able to integrate into France. How do you think that will work?

Just out of interest, I wonder what is your fantasy about WHO do you think populate this forum.

Do people here know anything, have they experienced anything of value, or perhaps you would like to tell us all what there is to know?

Who do you think you will be joining? The French people, in an uncorrupted French state?

"Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride".

[Jotty]

I posted this in another thread but it might have some relevance here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2008/sep/16/michael.rosen

On a rather more serious note, I have remarked that many  people give either negative reasons for moving here, such as various problems in the UK, or they give materialistic ones such as being able to afford a bigger/better house, or being able to live a rural idyll.

Very few people cite positive things about France itself, such as the fact it is a Republic, that it has retained a belief in its culture,or   that it has a more just system of social security (although most are happy to be part of it when it come to Health care).

Sometimes I even have the impression that posters would prefer that everything was done the British way and in English.

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="Jotty"]I posted this in another thread but it might have some relevance here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2008/sep/16/michael.rosen

On a rather more serious note, I have remarked that many  people give either negative reasons for moving here, such as various problems in the UK, or they give materialistic ones such as being able to afford a bigger/better house, or being able to live a rural idyll.
Very few people cite positive things about France itself, such as the fact it is a Republic, that it has retained a belief in its culture,or   that it has a more just system of social security (although most are happy to be part of it when it come to Health care).

Sometimes I even have the impression that posters would prefer that everything was done the British way and in English.


[/quote]

I would like to correct at least ONE of your observations Jotty. I think that your last remark is a long way off the mark and should read "Some posters would prefer that everything was done the British way and in English." If I wanted all the things in English then I would not be here...

Please don't tar us with the same brush and remember that generalisations are always wrong [8-)][:D]

As a matter of interest what is so great about a republic? There are a lot of French people who would like to go back to a monarchy.

[YCCMB]

[quote user="Panick"]P.S. We know that we will be immigrants (not emigrants) when we arrive, but as we are all part of Europe, C'Est La Vie.[/quote]

Much the same as a  significant percentage of the people coming into the UK, then. And you clearly aren't too enamoured of them. Presumably you're assuming that as an immigrant to another country you won't be treated with the same contempt?

[Jotty]

I think that a republic is important to symbolise the fact that what you achieve is up to what you do, and is not just determined by who your parents are.

Any French or American person could in theory become President. No British person can expect to be the next King or Queen, except those in the Royal Family.

Straightaway that installs  the principle of inherited privilege.

I agree that I should have written some posters. That is in fact what I meant.

[Dick Smith]

Simple enough - if you don't like the politics of your own country (what a bunch of numpties the voting public must be) - leave. If you don't like the immigrants - become one! If you don't get what you want every time - run off shouting over your shoulder! Always refer to Britain and its politicians in clichés (UK PLC - really...) Read the Sun to confirm all your prejudices, never think for yourself.

Yeah. Right...

I live most of the time in the UK, and as I often say, I just don't see this strife-torn dystopia that so many of you are running away from. Really don't, and if it was really there I would have been working in the middle of it for the last 35 years.

I come to France because I like it here. But I like it in England, too. Apart from bruddy officious coppers. Except for my neighbour, him with the OBE for services to the community, ex-Marines, ex-diplomatic protection, ex-child protection, ex-community officer. You know, him who's integrated into the community and runs the Remembrance Day parade and so on. He seems to like it in the UK. Ooops. Maybe I was stereotyping there a bit. Do you think that happens a lot?

[Russethouse]

 I agree Dick, when I read about the UK sometimes I wonder how I survive.

Not long ago an English lady who lives in France told me she was nervous to come back and visit family because of all the knifing - I live here, and have never seen a knife crime, and I doubt if I'm alone. 

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Russethouse"]

 ..........................................................because of all the knifing - I live here, and have never seen a knife crime, and I doubt if I'm alone. 

[/quote]

That's not to say it doesn't happen though RH, or are the government massaging the figures, surely not.

Its all about perception really.

I like it here and I still like to visit the UK, each to his/her own..................

[Russethouse]

Of course it happens and it is a problem but if you read the UK papers you could get the impression there are attacks on literally every corner - that every child is a problem - that gangs roam the streets, everywhere.

I don't find that to be the case.

 

[Bugsy]

As I said RH,  its all about an individuals perception.

[Clarkkent]

As I said RH,  its all about an individuals perception.

I'm afraid I don't understand what point you are trying to make.

Like Russethouse, I do not encounter knife crime in my everyday life. I did hear (or read - I can't provide a reference) that UK knife crime is significantly lower than similar offences in France. What is different between the two countries appears to be the agenda of newspapers - in Britain knife crime is the stuff of headlines, in France it is ignored. It appears to me that such crimes are a problem within specific urban subcultures. I wonder whether British immigrants to France, having moved to Petit-Cochon-dans-la-Merde are totally ignorant of conditions in the banlieu?

Like Dick Smith, I enjoy my life in Britain and do not recognise the strange pictures that some posters (including the OP for this thread) draw. I have known France for 40 years and have owned a maison secondaire for 15 years. France provides me with experiences that I enjoy and value, but they show me that France is a little different, not better - or worse - than Britain.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Clarkkent"]

As I said RH,  its all about an individuals perception.

I'm afraid I don't understand what point you are trying to make.

[/quote]

Sorry, I thought everyone knew what perception meant.

Here you go

[Panda]

[quote user="Panick"]

 Any country where the waiter gets called Sir is fine by us. Here they just suck their teeth at you!! Politeness means a lot to us as a rule.

[/quote]

If politeness is important to you I think you should chose again!  French shop staff, restaurant staff  not to mention the airport staff  wouldn't know customer service if it came up and bit them!  After 5 years here I am still amazed about the general attitude to customers, the UK has it's faults but if you compare service levels between the countries, sorry the UK wins hands down for me. 

[5-element]

I would confirm Panda's post word for word.[:D]

I keep hoping that my experience of French rudeness is down to regional variations, and that if I was just to jump on a TGV and go to, say, Nantes, or Lille, or Strasbourg, or Boujan-sur-Libron or Ax-les-Thermes, then I would encounter this French politeness that some people praise so much!

 

[Clarkkent]

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="Clarkkent"]

As I said RH,  its all about an individuals perception.

I'm afraid I don't understand what point you are trying to make.

[/quote]

Sorry, I thought everyone knew what perception meant.

Here you go

[/quote]

Had you have been more perceptive you would have realised that I was concerned with the context of your statement not its content.

[Gastines]

On a quieter note, may I add that having bought our first holiday wreck and enjoyed the pain,pleasure and hard work of turning it ,and the following 3 into habitable homes,we didn't consider the crime element of UK as a reason for leaving. Having enjoyed the pleasures of this area of Brittany on extended holidays,and shared them with friends and family for 13 years,we decided to make the permanent move 6 years ago so we could enjoy life while still having the health and finances to do so. Having lived in Bournemouth most of our lives we avoided the crime city's often mentioned in the Daily Mail and the Times andTelegraph but note the decline of the area and peoples general quality of life whenever we return. Never read the Sun believe it or not so can't comment on their views. Being realists we do know that France has it's fair share of problem areas but chose not to move to one of them   As we are still UKers.although now classed as Europeans I believe that it is a fairly normal thought process to compare your old life with your percieved new choice?  The main grouse is that the UKers now seem to be paying a hell of a lot more for a great deal less of everything, the only increase seems to be in the rules,regs and enforcement side and the armies   employed to enforce them, with any complaint from the tax payers being swept aside. The Government seem to have lost contact with the plight of the working class,coming out with anything to make headlines as if they are actually dealing with the problems we are all concerned with.

.Mr Darlings latest utternace is quite good about looking into the role of the FSA. Bit late comes to mind.

Regards.

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="Clarkkent"]

As I said RH,  its all about an individuals perception.

I'm afraid I don't understand what point you are trying to make.

[/quote]

Sorry, I thought everyone knew what perception meant.

Here you go

[/quote]

Oh, how we laughed...

[Russethouse]

A post has been removed from this thread.

Please keep to the Code of Conduct when replying to comments

Thankyou.

[plod]

It still amazes me that people want to "escape" the horror of the UK. What do they expect to find in France? It is true that there isn't any crime in this rural part of France where we live, oh, unless you include the theft of my solar lamps, but that's not really crime, is it? Like many others we are here because we like it and it's an adventure living abroad. The longer I'm here the less different France seems to England.

The one real difference we are aware of, and it saddens me to say so, is that you can be out in a French city late in the evening and be very unlikely to come across drunken youths vomiting and fighting in the street.