Repetitipus is a stunning neologism, @Norman_Clark, all it needs is a neologistic definition. Otherwise it deserves a place in the Oxford University Dictionary, it’s far too beautiful to just be tossed aside like an old glove. Why an old glove, I often ask myself? Why not an old sock or an old toothbrush, collar stud or pencil stub?
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You sound like you’ve had a drink…just saying. Maybe you should leave your comments till tomorrow!!
How dare you. I posted that mid morning yesterday
Well you didn’t have to post what you did sitting where you are…hardly ‘surviving France’ are you?
@Gilly2 please can you try to be less aggressive
Thanks
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I didn’t reply last night,because I had had a drink (unlike Wednesday morning) for those of you who are concerned that I am not’ Surviving in France,’can I point out what I am surviving
Not being able to get to France as I cannot afford to quarantine on return for two weeks
Working full time throughout lockdown
Not having had a proper break since September
Losing a good friend / colleague to C19
Seeing another colleague in ICU
Having a friend who isn’t recovering well and may have long term complications
Living in an area that may go back on restrictions
Having at least two conditions that put me more at risk if I were to catch it
I have seen two of my family for a few hours since March the rest not at all
This is not a pity me post but a reminder to others that we none of us know what others are going through, and perhaps in these strange days we should be a little more considerate
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Wishing you all the very best and I hope that you get to come to France soon for a very well deserved break!
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De gustibus non est disputatum. I suggest that you take a deep breath, perhaps, as others have suggested, take a holiday abroad (but, quickly before French residents are shut out from other countries completely) to reboot, and consider that others certainly view foreigners in their midst with the same reservations as you express about the French. If it is not their arrogance and pedantry, it may be their Trump or their Johnson. In conclusion, I am encouraged by the number of respondents that have managed to find a middle ground, take the good with the bad, and profit fully from the many great things that this country has to offer. BTW I have even heard a variation on the joke France is great, too bad for the French from Belgiums.
Thanks for posting Eddie and reminding us all that we do not know others’ circumstances.
I too wish you all the best and hope that you are able to be here again soon.
Also, I find it strange some people living here get so “proprietorial” about France. I think it’s lovely that we have people participating in this community around the world. Not least, when the discussions broaden out into shared experience it makes it so much richer. Who would wish that this site became a “Little Britain in France”?
I would have wished to have found something like this BEFORE we moved to France 12 years ago - it might have helped us avoid some of our early pitfalls.
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You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone Eddie. Especially not to those who have nothing better to do than judge and criticize others.
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I’m sorry to hear about your struggles Eddie. We all have things we are dealing with and it’s easy to be judgemental without thinking.
I hope you can get to France soon for, what sounds like, a well-earned break. I too had a trip planned that was cancelled because of the pandemic and I’m missing terribly the people I was due to visit.
Take care
Izzy x
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Careful Therese that could be regarded as an aggressive comment against those who hold a different opinion?
Then again, I am an ‘old Fuddy-Duddy Troublemaker’ apparently, which doesn’t seem to qualify as at all ‘personal’
Funny old world?
Norman how do you manage to have two accounts I thought that wasn’t allowed by management
@Norman_Clark is this account also yours Norman?
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Hi Therese
No I didn’t come here 30 years ago - I left the UK 30 years ago. I came here just 4 years ago. In the intervening years I lived in Belgium and Spain and worked for extended periods pretty much everywhere between Brazil and Beijing. So after 4 years I can’t be Frenched-Out.
Mais - I seem to be!
My little ones are young (the oldest is only 12 years old) and so having spent massive time overseas working, I pretty much want to stay here and enjoy my kiddies growing-up, and also benefitting from having a father close-by.
Even though my French is fluent, I have absolutely no desire to work with or for any French company as I have seen how they run, and in all truth they simply don’t appeal. That whole jobsworthiness seems to permeate every company that I have come across here over the years - and I HAVE indeed worked here with French companies, so I sort of know what I am talking about.
I have been ruminating on some of the contributions here (excepting the Norman junk that is totally off topic) and I think that I simply have to admit that I am becoming a GOM - much to my misfortune! I guess I will simply have to work on myself some more and become a little more tolerant, as indeed all countries have their foibles.
Cheers
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I don’t know if there is an equivalent of Relate for relationships that have broken down with the place you live in, but perhaps taking the same approach might help you?
So being more curious about France, and learning about some of the positive aspects - maybe challenge yourself to try a different cheese every week? That will keep you going for many years. Have you been to every single museum in your area?
Do you know the history of your area? I live roughly on the demarkation line in WWII, close to Switzerland, so it was a area with a lot of resistance activity and many sad tales of refugees trying to escape. So we have slowly been visiting and photographing the many, many memorials to executions and to resistance heros and heroines, planning walks with the dog that lead us to one. The names are often names I recognise locally as families are still here, and the young ages are staggering. It’s given me an appreciation of the mountain people here, and I understand better why they are as they are.
Love affairs can ne rekindled, even with grumpy old men. Give it a go?
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@Eddie
So grim, bon courage, we are living in strange times indeed 
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Well, difficult to know where to start. You’re obviously stuck here for the long haul. Is it really that bad? We don’t know how old you are, where you are in France, your line of work, or whether you still need to work at all. But even if you stop working the problem remains I suppose.
Maybe Jane is right about trying to re-kindle your relationship. At least then, there is still the possibility of being able to re-locate all together. Staying here à contre cœur will not do your blood pressure any good.
You haven’t even done the teenage years yet…You do know those adorable little kiddies don’t stay like that!
Yes very sorry
Therese
Many questions in such brief message. Bravo for the succinctness. I often think about how much more succinct the English language is relative to French…
So, answers…
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Is France really that bad? Mais bien our que non, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if it were. As I said above, all countries have their annoyances. Its just that some have more than others…
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How old? 58
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Where am I? In Ardeche - the south of it. Closest main city would be Nimes - about one and a half hour drive. Its really beautiful here and we moved here with a location-specific project in mind, but then situations changed.
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My line of work? Well, I’m what is known as an Executive Producer and I specialise in staging very big shows such as Opening Ceremonies and the like. And yes, we all need to keep working, but my location has no relevance at all to where I work, however the event sector was the first sector to get chopped at the start of the pandemic, and will be the very last to get up on its’ feet as what I/we do relies on a travelling public, so until the public is free (and willing) to travel, no events! Its grim out there in my industry, but that has nothing to do with my sentiments towards France - or the French, to be more specific.
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As to relationship rekindling… we are WAY passed the point of no return!!
No, despite having had major emergency cardiac surgery less than 2 years ago, I have remained remarkably positive in general in my outlook. Being in recovery mode, it certainly helps to be positive. My grumble here pre-dates that. Remember, I have been living in a French family for nearly 30 years now, so even if I haven’t been here, I have been included in the various communities, and have witnessed a lot of what is Frenchness from the inside, as it were.
One little story to end with which sort of underlined for me the different outlook way back in 1994
At the time I had a meeting with the head project manager of the Eurotunnel construction team on the French side. A typical Engineer des Ponts et Chaussees - if you know what that is. If you don’t then it is pretty much the top of everything here in France and marks one out for life as being in the leadership track. A bit like having PPE from Oxford, although the French one is much more practical and geared to the highest levels of the administration and industry. So I was dealing with a very heavy hitter. He was telling me of the problems they were overcoming in the project, and suggested that I drive down from London, before the whole space is officially opened - and cross over the tunnel in a test train.
Bloody hell! I wasn’t going to give top that chance, and so I drove the route that probably most of you are very familiar with.
What struck me most - which floored my French counterpart - was my initial reflection. You drive down the M20, slide off to the left at the exit, take a straight line through the checkouts etc, chuck a right to the feeder route, and then voila! you’re in a train.
You get out at the other end - and this place is performing the very same function - and you go to a roundabout, which then leads to a winding road that leads to another, and then another. The place is simply un-navigable, and they have made something that COULD have been so simple, into a pain in the arse!
And truthfully - that says it all!