Missy Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 On an other thread someone is asking what will happen on Bastille day in her area. As she only quoted the name of her village and no Département, Région or nearest town, most of you will be unable to help this lady.On another thread a gentleman wanted to know if his local rugby club is worth joining and would he be able to play with them. May I stress to all of you settling in France that the local newpapers, the notice board outside the Mairie, the local bibliothèque, the local shopkeepers are ALL vital sources of information for anything you may need. Local papers are just about everywhere and are daily one :La Montagne for the Auvergne/Clermont-Fd areaLa Nouvelle République for the Tours/Poitiers/Niort/Angers areaLe Courrier de l'Ouest for the Charentes/Gironde areato name but a fewThey will all have a section for your little town/village with the latest sport comments on the local teams, any fêtes being held etc...as well as news on the world at large. They also are a good source of material to get your French going albeit with a small dictionary at hand. You may find points of conversations with your neighbours if you dry out when you see them...The notice board outside the Mairie will have all the public notices in the commune. From the hosepipe restrictions, who is the chemist/doctor on duty at the weekend, who is getting married to whom, who is building a house and where... etc...Also sometime do frequent the local cafés if your busy schedule allows it. Sunday mornings are the best for that. All the men are out to place a bet at the PMU and are all catching up on the latest goss. Do your shopping once in a while in the local market. The women are out and exchanging their woes! with husbands, children and the outlaws !...etc... BE MORE GREGARIOUS!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 I agree with you about the local papers but be more 'gregarious' ? We are not gregarious in the UK - I'm not counting on having a mid channel personality change! We are happy as we are thanks - everyone is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 As funerals are usually carried out here within 24hrs of death,you need to buy the local paper daily to find out these facts just as your neighbours do or else you wouldn't know anything until it is too late. and especially if you wanted to really pay your last respects.I can read Le Telegramme or Ouest France online but not the details as they now require you to pay monthly. Everything is printed in the local press, I know as I had no end of reporters and interviews when I was elected to council and my kids have been in it so many times with their interests that we have a scrapbook with all our cuttings in. There are local correspondents in most villages here so its easy to get them to do an article for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 They can be a great source of local info, but sometimes they just lack bite.I phoned ours once to try and get them to run an article about a local problem, that could have become a regional problem. They ummed and ahhed and didn't think that it was something they should be getting involved with. They passed me from person to person and in the end I knew it was going to be the tea lady or the boss. It was the boss and with some cajoling from me, he said he would send out a journalist and a photographer, where did I live. Sorry TU had to say I'll give you the details of the person running the campaign, who had been pussing footing around until then too. And voila our local rag for once gave a fericious bite. The article was picked up by Le Monde too and I would hope that for once they felt like journalists. I didn't realise how it all worked though then and these things aren' t quite what I would call newspapers. The president of our association gave an article and photo to be printed about our club to the papers representative in a local town, and not the representative in our village. The paper's representative in our village went to the gendarmerie and did a porte plainte against him for not using them. When this law started I don't know, smells 'old' to me. And I wondered later if they could come after me for going directly to head office about the other matter, fortunately there was no follow up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tourangelle Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 Regional journalism is strong in France I know, but I am not a fan of my local paper, I personally find it really boring! I think it is because of living in a big place most of what is reported seems fairly distant anyway. To keep up on what is going on I prefer to read the magazine sent out by the mairie, or the local free papers, we have three that you can pick up five days a week, metro, 20 minutes and Lyon plus (which incidently is published by the local paper!). These give me all the local news I need. I think newspapers are really expensive in France compared to the UK.I don't think I have ever met gregarious French person, I must go to the wrong places! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 I have a good friend who lives in France and the topic of conversation often turns to what British immigrants expect from their moves.The friendly neighbour 'bit' always amuses my friend, who after a period of nodding and waving at her neighbours invited them for a meal, apparently they clearly thought she was being rather forward even though they had been neighbours EIGHT YEARS !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letrangere Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 Couldn't agree with you more, local newspapers in France, UK, anywhere are a mine of invaluable information. The answers to many of the questions often raised on this Forum (crime, health, education, etc.) can invariably be found by picking up the local journal. But I don't think it is quite so simple as being more gregarious. To read any French newspaper requires more than a rudimentary understanding of written French. And that's not something that all that many Brits have, at least when they first arrive. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P> Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 Oh, I absolutely love my local paper here in the UK, I love reading the titbits, the 'entrefilets', the bits about someone setting fire to some grass or this particular burglar doing houses wearing a fluo yellow safety jacket (drunk presumably), the anglers' news, the cops' rounds, the micro news, etc. it is what defines life anywhere, not always rosy but 100 % LOCAL ! For other issues, there are other papers.As for British gregariousness, I always thought that the Brits were far more gregarious than the French (who are thought to be more individualistic) but, as many things, it is not as simple... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 I read the daily paper but I have stopped buying the weekly "Plöermelais". The commune do a "Flash" on a Friday which is always full of information.They do a page in the Plöermelais full of newly born babies. You would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh your socks off. They are all gorgeous..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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