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rural poverty


Patf

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I got quite a shock the other day when I called at a neighbour's house to ask after the wife's health, as I'd heard she had been ill.

Never been to the house before - inside was so dark and basic, though it was warm from the stove. And it was apparently clean too, but so gloomy and cave-like.

They are a couple in their 80s so I suppose living on a very limited income. I know he sold some of his woodland recently to raise some money.

But it made me realise the huge gap in standard of living, between what we and they put up with. No wonder there's jealousy of the british, and they think we're all rich.

Is it the same in the towns?

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There is certainly very basic even 'insalubre' accommodation in towns alongside luxury flats and the HLM which have been modernised or built to a decent standard.

In my 'quartier ' there are places in multi-occupation with very rudimentary facilities, dodgy wiring,  rodent and pest infected, let out by 'marchands de sommeil ' to inadequate and impoverished 'marginaux'

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It is also perhaps the way they prefer to live .

I know guys who run their own business and are certainly not short of cash.. The kitchen in their houses are not "American " More like my parents in the 60,s . They will put a fitted one in for you but are happy to live with the one they have had for years .
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My neighbours are farmers. they are in their 60's and in UK would be the objects of Social Services attention. They both dress like Wurzel Gummage - clothes with patches on the patches, string instead of belts etc... They have to park their car facing downhill as it will not start on its own Their house is literally falling down around them - The windows are broken in the uppermost level, which is closed off from the rest of the house by a plywood board. The kitchen floor slopes alarmingly towards a large hole in the corner. A quick peek shows its open down to the cellar. The rotten floor beams are wedged up with logs and Acro props. If invited in for coffee, its a good idea to discreetly check the bottom of the cup before they pour incase there is mouseshit in it. The place is dark, damp and musty.

Its pretty much normal living standards around here. Farmers are either doing very well indeed or only just keeping heads above water, with many having to live in conditions that most brits would not keep a dog in.

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[quote user="Patf"]I got quite a shock the other day when I called at a neighbour's house to ask after the wife's health, as I'd heard she had been ill. Never been to the house before - inside was so dark and basic, though it was warm from the stove. And it was apparently clean too, but so gloomy and cave-like.

Is it the same in the towns? [/quote]

We live in an affluent seaside area 2 kms from the local town, the area is well-populated. Just by me there are luxurious houses adjacent to typical old Breton terraced houses. Some of these tiny houses have interiors as you have described and are occupied usually by lone elderly people. So poverty is not just in the town or the countryside, it is everywhere.

Sue

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I think many folks just live the same way that they've always lived and think nothing of it, and they are very very careful with their money.

We have some elderly farming neighbours who dress and live in a similar manner to Dave's neighbours, and work on their smallholding/take hay along the road to their two cows daily. They really appear very very poor, and, when we started using the washing machine that I'd brought here with us, I offered them the fairly new machine that had come with the house. They very politely declined it saying that their daughter took their washing, and suggested that I offer it to the locataires round the corner (which I did). However, then I heard that when they retired from farming a couple of years back they had sold the tumbledown farm and land along the road for 300K and also sold their farm land to other local farmers and various plots around the village for the newbuilds. They've bought a house in Toulouse for one daughter and another house in Dax for another (they've also bought the daughters a car each over the past couple of years). ...but they still look very poor, thin and chilly, so I sometimes take cake or home-made soup over to them...and they bring me pumpkins and eggs!

Also, when we were house hunting for a little cheap ruin many years ago, several of the old houses the agent showed us that had absolutely no mod cons, were still inhabited. We felt very rich in comparison with our 30K to play with...and quite humble.

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[quote user="zeb"]

Also, when we were house hunting for a little cheap ruin many years ago, several of the old houses the agent showed us that had absolutely no mod cons, were still inhabited. We felt very rich in comparison with our 30K to play with...and quite humble.

[/quote]

I've just remembered the same thing happened when we were first searching, several apparently abandoned houses were still lived in.

But as others have said, some farmers seem to be better off, and it's quite common to see a nice (?) modern bungalow next to a ruin.

edit - just seen your post, Norman. it seems urban poverty is more depressing than rural poverty. At least, in the country if you're poor you can still look at the scenery [blink]

Why don't you move down to the Gers?

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Hmm.  Not sure that a nice view helps at all to alleviate the problems of poverty, surely it just increases the sense of isolation?

When we were house hunting we looked at one place where the husband had just died.  The widow was going to be moved by her kids into a home.  It was a depressing place with the kids arguing over whether the stock of wood was included in the price of the house, and a pile of dead chickens in the driveway which they had just bumped off as they didn't want them any more.  The house was dank and depressing but the three children who were there when we were looking around all had virtually brand new cars.  I hope that the idea that you have to live on the edge of poverty but leave your kids in clover will die out in the future.  I'd give/have given my parents hell if they lived like that and still left money for me when they popped their clogs.  I have always told my parents to spend the lot and leave me nothing - it's not up to them to support me.

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Big sloppy banana-kisses all over my dear. By the way, I just got contact from some of the South American family who are, it so happens Peruvian musicians called...................................................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................................................

BANANALLAMA

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[quote user="cooperlola"][quote user="woolybanana"]We bananas believe that we should try to pass on as much as possible to the 'ikkle babanas[/quote]You bananas are just too soppy and sentimental for your own good![/quote]

Do "ikkle` bananas go 1st class to Vagas and play the slots ?

 

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I was going to comment on the OP's posting that a dark, basic, gloomy and cave like home does not to me suggest poverty, the fact that it was warm tells me that it is the way it is through choice. I have seen many places like that, in fact it seems par for the course for the older generation around here, one look at the vast amount of expenive food, wine, oysters, foie gras etc that is consumed in these housholds over Noel et nouvel an has certainly made me redefine poverty.

I live on just about half the published seuil de pauvreté for a single person yet I am anything but poor, howeer all the income in the world for many retired couples is not going to change a basic gloomy cave like home.

I think Cooperlola's posting about sums it up.

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[quote user="woolybanana"] I just got contact from some of the South American family who are, it so happens Peruvian musicians called...................................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................................BANANALLAMA

[/quote]

They sound like a right hackneyed . . . bunch[Www]

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[quote user="Chancer"]

I was going to comment on the OP's posting that a dark, basic, gloomy and cave like home does not to me suggest poverty, the fact that it was warm tells me that it is the way it is through choice. I have seen many places like that, in fact it seems par for the course for the older generation around here, one look at the vast amount of expenive food, wine, oysters, foie gras etc that is consumed in these housholds over Noel et nouvel an has certainly made me redefine poverty.

I live on just about half the published seuil de pauvreté for a single person yet I am anything but poor, howeer all the income in the world for many retired couples is not going to change a basic gloomy cave like home.

I think Cooperlola's posting about sums it up.

[/quote]

One man's meat....

I consume oysters with a glass or two of white wine most Saturdays on out local producers' market.

Cost €4 on average

Does that make me rich?

I do not smoke, and do not run a car.

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Is poverty something that is often mostly in the eye of the beholder? Or does it often reflect a lifestyle choice? While it is true that some people (especially in rural settings) appear to be on the edge of mere subsistence while they have terrains and maybe even property, there are also many who are barely existing, depending on food parcels from Banque Alimentaire, Restos du Coeur, Secours Catholique, Secours Populaire, Croix Rouge, etc...

The couple described by PatF is not at all unusual, especially in isolated rural settings where people subsist in all sorts of ways,  especially elderly people; they may never have seen an assistante sociale, and because they are not as visible as in an urban setting,  it is much easier to ignore their existence.

The number of those truly poor and in need of such assistance, is on the increase every year. But maybe it gives the rest of us a better conscience to dispute their number and the reality of their plight, and instead we prefer to believe that most poor are "fake poor", people sitting on their assets. An attempt to gather information from any of the above-named charities would go a long way to showing the real picture. Every year, charities are more and more submerged and less able to cope with the sheer numbers.

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[quote user="5-element"]

The number of those truly poor and in need of such assistance, is on the increase every year. But maybe it gives the rest of us a better conscience to dispute their number and the reality of their plight, and instead we prefer to believe that most poor are "fake poor", people sitting on their assets. An attempt to gather information from any of the above-named charities would go a long way to showing the real picture. Every year, charities are more and more submerged and less able to cope with the sheer numbers.

[/quote]

But it would be unfair to single out just France, this is a EU problem. Perhaps the EU should be using the money they are about to give to the Irish banks (because Ireland's public have been living beyond their means for too long and can't pay their debts yet live in houses worth over 1M Euros) to those who really deserve it.

 

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