Why a family are glad to be back in Britain

[Jazzer]

I supply this link with no comment! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1217037/Au-revoir-After-years-France-family-tell-theyre-glad-Britain.html

[Russethouse]

The comments are interesting !

[YCCMB]

I think it was probably discussed to death at the time it was published: two years ago!

[pachapapa]

 

I have book-marked your inactive link and will read it whilst watching TV tonite.

But I did read the first comment which extols the virtues of for example Total France as arbiter of correct "little englander" politically correct received knowledge.

At the time the Jones's left there was a vibrant exchange of views on the relative merits of Melanie's premises which made interesting, thought provoking and informative reading.

When the hulabaloo had died down the threads were almost universally culled from the "little englander" expatriate forums as they must, I presume, have seriously affected the respective moderators illusions of a true "representation" of living in rural france.

P.S. Monsieur Jazzer check the Jones-in-france threads. Nothing there! Oh Dear!Silly me!

[woolybanana]

Nothing new in any of this.

[YCCMB]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

 

P.S. Monsieur Jazzer check the Jones-in-france threads. Nothing there! Oh Dear!Silly me![/quote]

But if you try "jonesenfrance" you may have more luck

[pachapapa]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="pachapapa"]

 

P.S. Monsieur Jazzer check the Jones-in-france threads. Nothing there! Oh Dear!Silly me![/quote]

But if you try "jonesenfrance" you may have more luck
[/quote]

Not really much pertinent information!

Have you actually tried, for example at:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=jonesenfrance&f=&u=

or are you inadvertently making me unintentionally appear like geariatric in his 70's.[:P]

[Val_2]

Old news done to death before. Just shows how stupid some people are by just upping sticks and doing no investigations into what they are buying or where they will be living.

Each to their own and for me,I would not be glad to be back in Britain from what the family tells me these days is happening over there and this is in leafy countryside Bucks not an inner city.

[Russethouse]

Val, one thing Brits like doing is knocking their own country, when time passes and feel like it, you should try a trip back.....leafy Bucks is still pretty leafy, Ok HW is not the most attractive town  and everywhere has a less apealing area but it may not be as bad as you think.

[idun]

Val2 it really is OK. I went from rural France to a town, which is what I wanted and everything is fine. Oh I hear my Dad, who reads the Mail and will moan and moan about lots of things, but most of those things happen in France too, french style but the same. I have so much more here, even with the cuts than I did in my french village and maybe more than I would have if I had moved to a similar sized town in France.

For me it is a relief not to even have to think about inheritence issues any more. Some of it is fair, but if we had stayed and my eldest had stayed with his evil girlfriend, then I would have been very worried about our futures.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"][quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="pachapapa"]

 

P.S. Monsieur Jazzer check the Jones-in-france threads. Nothing there! Oh Dear!Silly me![/quote]

But if you try "jonesenfrance" you may have more luck
[/quote]

Not really much pertinent information!

Have you actually tried, for example at:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=jonesenfrance&f=&u=

or are you inadvertently making me unintentionally appear like geariatric in his 70's.[:P]

[/quote]

Having trouble magicking up the following thread on TF. Can you help,please?

Lisleoise Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 2462 Location: NW Dordogne

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:12 am Post subject: Jonesinfrance? Is this you then?. Whether it's you or not, these people clearly didn't prepare or research the area for their life in France. And a lot of what is said is utter tosh.

[Val_2]

Val, one thing Brits like doing is knocking their own country, when time passes and feel like it, you should try a trip back.....leafy Bucks is still pretty leafy, Ok HW is not the most attractive town  and everywhere has a less apealing area but it may not be as bad as you think.

When your Dad who has lived in the same house for 58 years in the same village is afraid to go outside during the day because of the workshy yobboes who hang around, is afraid to answer the phone because every second call is a scam to part him from his money and keeps all the doors and windows locked 24/7. Most of the houses in his quiet cul de sac have been robbed during daylight, his neighbours are also scared and the local bobby on the beat who lives five mins away is never around. Tell me why I should not knock it because it makes me sick that people are so afraid these days

[pachapapa]

[quote user="pachapapa"][quote user="pachapapa"][quote user="You can call me Betty"][quote user="pachapapa"]

 

P.S. Monsieur Jazzer check the Jones-in-france threads. Nothing there! Oh Dear!Silly me![/quote]

But if you try "jonesenfrance" you may have more luck
[/quote]

Not really much pertinent information!

Have you actually tried, for example at:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=jonesenfrance&f=&u=

or are you inadvertently making me unintentionally appear like geariatric in his 70's.[:P]

[/quote]

Having trouble magicking up the following thread on TF. Can you help,please?

Lisleoise Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 2462 Location: NW Dordogne

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 6:12 am Post subject: Jonesinfrance? Is this you then?. Whether it's you or not, these people clearly didn't prepare or research the area for their life in France. And a lot of what is said is utter tosh.

[/quote]

There are/were 5 very interesting pages in the thread.

Have you had any success in finding it.

It was in the chatterbox section if I remember correctly, cant be too sure though geriatrics in their 70s do have memory lapses.[:(]

[idun]

[quote user="Val_2"]Val, one thing Brits like doing is knocking their own country, when time passes and feel like it, you should try a trip back.....leafy Bucks is still pretty leafy, Ok HW is not the most attractive town  and everywhere has a less apealing area but it may not be as bad as you think. When your Dad who has lived in the same house for 58 years in the same village is afraid to go outside during the day because of the workshy yobboes who hang around, is afraid to answer the phone because every second call is a scam to part him from his money and keeps all the doors and windows locked 24/7. Most of the houses in his quiet cul de sac have been robbed during daylight, his neighbours are also scared and the local bobby on the beat who lives five mins away is never around. Tell me why I should not knock it because it makes me sick that people are so afraid these days[/quote]

 

That is sad Val but a bad example, not everywhere is like that by any means. Truth is I live in a bit of a rough town, or so I'm told by people who don't live here and in a way it is. But what the heck, it suits me and I walk around at night and day without fear..... which maybe a state of mind too.

Still places change and I do believe in moving on. 58 years ago your Dad's needs for his family were quite different to his needs now. My Dad is now in a one bed flat and very very happy. He didn't need a big family home, not the maintenance or the heating bills.

[Russethouse]

[quote user="Val_2"]Val, one thing Brits like doing is knocking their own country, when time passes and feel like it, you should try a trip back.....leafy Bucks is still pretty leafy, Ok HW is not the most attractive town  and everywhere has a less apealing area but it may not be as bad as you think. When your Dad who has lived in the same house for 58 years in the same village is afraid to go outside during the day because of the workshy yobboes who hang around, is afraid to answer the phone because every second call is a scam to part him from his money and keeps all the doors and windows locked 24/7. Most of the houses in his quiet cul de sac have been robbed during daylight, his neighbours are also scared and the local bobby on the beat who lives five mins away is never around. Tell me why I should not knock it because it makes me sick that people are so afraid these days[/quote]

I get the same with the phone and I suspect they are the same type of calls, currently for PPI claims/solar power or microsoft scams - . You could sign him up for http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html which should help. As for not wanting to go out at  because of yobs, that could happen anywhere, just like an abusive neighbour.

My mother lives in quiet cul de sac in a village and the crime rate is very low but you can look up the area crime rate here: http://www.upmystreet.com/

Everywhere is different .......where I live we have an active neighbourhood watch supported by CPO's and all our valuables can be protected by a gel that has some sort of identyfying tag in it and this is advertised on lamp posts etc. If your father doesn't have that then his community should agitate to get more help or in the case of neighbourhood watch, guidance

[Gardengirl]

[quote user="Val_2"] When your Dad who has lived in the same house for 58 years in the same village is afraid to go outside during the day because of the workshy yobboes who hang around, is afraid to answer the phone because every second call is a scam to part him from his money and keeps all the doors and windows locked 24/7. Most of the houses in his quiet cul de sac have been robbed during daylight, his neighbours are also scared and the local bobby on the beat who lives five mins away is never around. Tell me why I should not knock it because it makes me sick that people are so afraid these days[/quote]

Val, that is so sad. My elderly parents and in-laws were lucky; despite living in fairly rough areas, they didn't have problems like that. Is it possible that he would consider sheltered housing? Still with his own front door and independence, but with facilities and staff around. My mother-in-law moved in to council sheltered housing after she had been widowed for a few years in her mid-eighties, never having moved from the area before. She settled in really well, and found most of the other residents and all the staff were very easy to get on with and helpful. There were facilities for coffees, teas and meals if they were wanted , plus a social area, weekly hairdresser etc and as much or as little contact with others as she wanted. Charges were very reasonable too.

[AnOther]

Bloody idiots who deserved all that befell them is my twopence worth, starting from "Robert's answer is a resounding 'No'. But after a campaign of persuasion" - and going inexorably downhill from there on.

We were in UK for about a week last month, a semi forced annual visit for ongoing medical reasons, and it would be a lie if I said that we didn't enjoy it at least in part. Shopping for some things we wanted or needed and knew we couldn't get in France for instance (no, not Marmite and Baked Beans and my OH will never say she doesn't enjoy a trip to Waitrose), visiting a few friends, a couple of pleasant pub lunches with more than a few pints of Guinness, and last but not least, collecting a car I had bought and was trailing back, but did we hanker to stay, not on your nellie. After about 3 days we'd pretty well had our fill and couldn't wait to get on the road and back home.

Saying we will never return is rash as you can never know what is around the corner so I'll say that we have neither a desire nor an intention to and leave it at that.

[Chancer]

Well poor Robert probably didnt get to spend much time in France to see for his-self the things which his femme entretenue found so annoying  and disruptive to her leisure regime, he was too busy working longer and longer hours to pay for it.

In his shoes I would have been itching to get back to work in the UK.

Reminds me a lot of the Frith Powell articles.

[Quillan]

[quote user="AnOther"]Saying we will never return is rash as you can never know what is around the corner so I'll say that we have neither a desire nor an intention to and leave it at that.
[/quote]

That's exactly how we feel, you should never say never as they say but we can't think of any reason at the moment and in the foreseeable future to return to the UK. Likewise who's to say it's France where we pop our clogs. There is still a whole world out there as they say.

[Gardengirl]

A chap we know recently said the thing that made him consider returning to England was the thought of being old and bed-bound and having to call out for a bedpan in French! I don't think he'd thought about returning until then.

One big reason a lot of people think about returning is when a husband or wife dies. We heard that somebody we know in France died last week while recuperating in England; a couple of people have mentioned in emails that they found themselves mentally putting themselves in the husband's shoes.

[Mac]

I was talking to an English neighbour the other day and they were thinking about putting their house up for sale and returning to the UK. When I asked them why they said-'We don't want to die in France away from our family'