Bizarre or what

[Georgina]

I had a knock on the door yesterday and an elderly woman spoke very fast French to me, the gist of which I could understand was "les Anglais" "amis" and grand maison la bas" "relation". I asked her to speak slowly but she just carried on and when I said "ok you know some English who I might be related to - want relations with???" [:@]what the heck was she on about.  She was still babbling on very fast but said she could write it down, so I said come in and gave her a pen.  She proceeded to write down the details of her house in great depth. Pushing so hard I thought the details might actually be inscribed now on my kitchen table.

Basically she thought I would have relations who wanted to buy her house.    She was somewhat surprised when i said I really did not know anyone who would want to buy her house as there are lots of houses for sale. So I said there are some agencies in the centre. Ahh but agencies are expensive she says and continues to point out when she would like to sell and how much etc etc. how many rooms. I don't think she could understand why we would not give her the cash there and then.  Feeling that she may stay until I agreed to buy, I started to feed the dog and point her in the direction of the local cybercafe who might post her an advert somewhere. Jeepers, I have never seen this woman in my life, she lives on the other side of town.  She would not listen to what I was saying.  Well it makes you think.   She was not a mad woman or anything or wanting company,  I just wonder what else the town knows about us.  I think as big as this town is, everyone knows where Les Anglais reside. Time to move. 

Georgina

[:)]

[Tresco]

Every visitor we have had here from England has been asked  'are you buying a house?', and also had to repeat over and over again that they are not, sometimes with a full explanation as to why not.

My brother speaks excellent French, and he had several conversations like this with different people, going in depth about children and job resonsibilities etc etc.  One woman cried  'but if you love france, and you speak excellent french, why stay in Sweden'? I later thought that this must have been more in the spirit of provocative debate, because when I heard about the conversation I recalled the same woman saying to me 'you English are all mad, to come here'.

Or maybe she just said 'you're mad.....'

I've never been doorstepped though.

 

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Its happened to us a couple of times of late. Even the lady who popped

around to census us seemed interested as to whether we might know any

more English who would like to buy in the village...

Changing direction slightly (but, I hope, within acceptable bounds)

there does seem to be a degree of anxiousness in the air, around here

at least, that the supply of Brits with cases full of readies is drying

up. I'm not sure in my own mind how many of the houses in this commune

are on offer, but it is not less than 20 out of 300-or-so, 3 of which

are themselves British owned, and nothing has shifted since last

summer. It has really been a sudden stop too - househunters were a

staple of a couple of the B&Bs here last winter, but they've had

very little this year. Fortunately the summer was very good for them...

We had a lot of purchases last year by French moving out of towns and

back to the idyll, but that seems to have halted too, which, if I am

honest, surprises me given the amount of crockery that was broken in

the urbs / burbs last Novemeber.

[Georgina]

[quote user="jond"]Its happened to us a couple of times of late. Even the lady who popped around to census us seemed interested as to whether we might know any more English who would like to buy in the village...

Changing direction slightly (but, I hope, within acceptable bounds) there does seem to be a degree of anxiousness in the air, around here at least, that the supply of Brits with cases full of readies is drying up.......................................[/quote]

 

Well there have been 3 houses for sale near us (when I say near, I mean up the street and down the road) and all sold within a year, but no, this woman wanted to save agency fees and thought she could cut out the middle man, I am sure she does not think her house would be difficult to sell.  There are not many English families living here and I am still a novelty I think (although we are not in the middle of nowhere). I am still walking around like I am painted brilliant green or something.

 

Georgina

[Richard-R]

We have had these conversations a few times. The locals like to sell to overseas buyers because we pay cash and want to sign the contracts asap.

[Tag]

Always happening as jond says (also in Vendée). They owners want the higher price and to save fees, but then they spend their time moaning about the number of expats/Brits in the area, saying there are not enough houses for the locals and working out schemes to restrict the number of foreign incomers.

[Georgina]

[quote user="Rdkr"]We have had these conversations a few times. The locals like to sell to overseas buyers because we pay cash and want to sign the contracts asap.[/quote]

This we know, but someone coming from the other end of town just to knock on Les Anglais' door takes the biscuit.[:)].  I just hope there aren't going to be any others.

Georgina

[Opalienne]

The most bizarre door-knocking experience we ever had was a stranger who had come to ask if we could help his 16 year old daughter get a termination in England because he had heard that it could be performed later there.   When he came round the first time (it was a Sunday morning) he asked my husband for 'a minute of your time'.   Of course, husband assumed that he was a Jehovah's Witness and said no, shutting the door firmly.   He came back an hour or so later and told us straight off what he wanted.   We felt absolutely terrible - it must have been bad enough for the poor chap to come and explain his problems to total strangers (and foreigners to boot) without having the door shut in his face!

[vervialle]

Well funny as it may be , my parents who have a house in the same village as me received a letter before christmas asking them to find an english buyer for her friends house in the same village, having been told in no uncertain terms by other villagers that although we were an exception as they liked us, they really did not want anymore of la anglais.We did have to smile and kept her request a secret, but it does go to show that the french now see there houses as a way to make money and who can blame them, we have  done that for years in the U.K.But equally so they should not ,moan about it.Incidently they did sell to English nobody we knew or reccomended, that is more than we dared to do, in actual fact we feel sick every time an english person buys near us as we get another load of comments from the neighbours.We have even found ourselves sympathising, what else can we do, we have happily lived there for fifteen years and been accepeted and all of a sudden we are becoomming black sheep.Any suggestions on how to deal with it diplomatically.

[Richard-R]

Jehovah's 'WITLESS' There's an English couple who have knocked on my door at least 6 times now. I've never let them in. Told them I'm a Papist, fobbed them off to other local Brits and they still keeping coming back. TIme to get a rabid dog.

[PeterG]

Richard,

You are taking the wrong attitude. Ask them in, sit them down, offer them a cup of tea and a piece of cake. When they are settled, ask them what they would like to talk about. They will be dumb founded as they will have never have got that far before !!!!!!

[Tag]

Maybe you should try the local supermarket. I have been asked to find house buyers, give English classes, even arrange exchanges.

[Opalienne]

We too have arranged`exchanges, but have drawn the line at doing so for complete strangers!   But finding house buyers hasn't happened yet.  Shopping advice for Dover and Canterbury is the favourite where we live, but since we never go there we aren't really the best people to ask.  Amother subject about which we know very little but are always asked is the British Royal Family......

[Christine Animal]

... and I always used to get, when my accent was discovered, "et comment va Madame Tatchère?"

(I didn't know any more than them!)

 

[Opalienne]

I d forgotten Madame Tatchere and used to say that she was one of the reasons for coming to France (ditto the Royal Family)

[Cerise]

We have B & B and everyone assumes that ALL our customers are house hunting.  As we actually have very few house hunters, I end up hiding in the village from people who I know have horrific old family houses for sale.  Yes complete strangers have knocked on the door asking us to sell their houses, and estate agents have rung up asking if they can leave bumph for the clients.  It is irritating but probably an occupational hazard.  I was once unwise enough when asked my opinion on Royal Family to say I couldn't care less and that Princess Diana (the subject under discussion) was - in my opinion - one of the least attractive and dimmest members of a dim bunch.  Not a wise move, almost lynched by enraged mob of village ladies all springing to defense of the "angel"[^o)].  Funny the overwhelming interest that they have.

Maggi

 

 

[Christine Animal]

... maybe it's because they don't have one, so have to focus their interest on others' royal families, Monaco, etc.  Otherwise all they've got to idolise is Claude François !