OK, here’s one for thought. Has the novelty of French life worn off yet?.
Are you beginning to find the poor food in restaurants, poor service in general, delapidated villages, not to mention paint tins you cannot open - and when you do they are half full (or half empty depending on how you are feeling on the day!)
Are you beginning to find French drivers somewhat irritating?.
Well after 13 years here, perhaps I am.
Don’t get me wrong - and please - don’t confuse these irritations as the comments of one who wants to return to the UK to live, because I don’t.
It is just that, running a b&b business here, I find it more & more difficult to enthuse to our visitors about every day life here - and almost impossible to recommend good restaurants which are likely to be open other than at weekends in the summer.
We have a good life here, and I would not expect it to be bettered anywhere else - but of course that depends on ones expectations. I remember a thread some time ago where people were saying which country is ‘the best’ to live in. I can’t remember the conclusion but suspect it is an impossible question.
Well back to the painting now - this tin opening saga was the straw leading to this post !
regardsto all
geoff
Ok to reply.
Food in our restaurants near us is fantastic. Especially the tea pot ploughman’s.
Dilapidated villages, our are pretty okay near us and lots of effort going into revitalising a local town.
Paint tins. Having been decorating a 4 bed house top to bottom I have never had a tin of paint from Bricomache that has been half full or hard to open.
French drivers, no more or no less irritating than English drivers. In fact i recently went back to England for a week and spent each day travelling by car cursing the traffic and the crap driving in England.
Its all down to your area I suppose. Sound like your area needs an injection of revitalising energy adding to the mix.
Enjoy the paining, im busy helping the scrap man load up all our metal scrap, currently on the 4th load of today.
Hi Geoff
" Has the novelty of French life worn off yet?"…Not for me no, but then as I don’t run a business maybe it’s different !
As for poor food in restaurants, there are some that are bad, but I am very lucky to have a great restaurant not so far away and its always full at lunchtimes. It’s off the beaten track but ‘word of mouth’ and some innovative plates and good prices have seen this place thrive.
Our village (pop around 700) is doing well, school still open, hairdressers, newly built bakers,general store that will be enlarged by the end of the year, nurse, library, technical info, lovely salle de fete with gardens. A mayor that has encouraged low cost housing for people with youngsters. A new build home that has places for 2
elderly people to live independant but within a family.
Mayor actively seeking tradespeople, a newly built site for business’ will be open at the end of year
Paint cans, no problems I use Leroy Merlin own brand …
French drivers have always been irritating 
Yes there are things that one does notice, I live rurally, and the lack of transport is a problem. As is the lack of doctors to replace those about to retire.
Not too many dilapitated villages here, but I have noticed some while travelling in over parts of France, it’s sad but whats the answer?
All in all my life is pretty good all round despite the hicups we all go through.
There aren’t too many British here, only tourists, so that suits me fine too.
Maybe when you are able to ‘retire’ Geoff you could find another area that might suit you better in France. I have also heard that Portugal is a good place to live and know of some people who are moving there…I love France and would like to stay here but if the cost of living is a lot cheaper in Portugal then who knows once I am on my own …
The grass isn’t any greener, just different!
hello Geoff and Bravo for the post
i have been in France for 53 years, the paint has been tarnished some of the time like anywhere else. i find the viillages are quaint and pretty as in Uk. i live n a small village for 45 years there are inconveniences having to get out the auto to go to the supermarket 15 km away… i wouldnt dream of moving and certainly not going to Uk i was 22 when i came to france and am 75 now.life is pretty good in france compared to other countries
Nice post Ann, having renovated and lived in The Alentajo, Portugal, if You ‘shift’, I can say, that’s a good area, handy for but not on the Algarve, which would not appeal to me. And yes, I love France, nothing negative to report!!! 
We’ve also been here 13 years (next month) and have been running our business for nigh on 11. To be honest it has nearly taken us that long to tweak things so that whilst we work hard we’re now not slaves to the job. We still get new enquiries every month and turn most of them down mostly due to the travelling which makes a huge difference to the viability of any work.
The house we have here is the biggest we’re ever likely to own so we feel lucky in that respect but there is a trade-off in that we have no close neighbours.
Restaurants are hit-and-miss here but we do have our favourites that we visit several times a year and IMO they all provide good value for money.
I do recognise the poor customer service comment but again after a while you tend to use shops and businesses that you develop a relationship with which in turn improves the service you receive.
Empty villages, yep with you there and it’s very sad but it’s not going to change only probably get worse. Ours is thriving but the location of the centre on a major departmental road definitely helps.
On balance we are healthier but poorer than we were in the UK however (and again being honest) we would still be classed as being ‘comfortably off’ here.
Finally (and I guess this could apply to many areas of the world so not really the fault of France) the weather is now so unpredictable that it is starting to affect our business and to a lesser degree our downtime so it could make us rethink what we do long term.
Why on earth wouldn’t you complain? Everything is not perfect in France, just because you have chosen to live here doesn’t mean the country suddenly morphs into Utopia (actually if you read Utopia it is a fairly dodgy place, but I digress).
Complain! French people do so why shouldn’t you.
Was that directed at me V’ ?
Goodness Bill, no it wasn’t, or at least not specifically so - it was an answer to Geoff, the original poster. 
Thanks Véronique, as I am a compulsive complainer, when given the opportunity, sadly they don’t occur much here! 
I’m not sure I/we were smitten to start with. We had got to a point in life where it was possible to move out of a big city, and we wanted to as city life was loosing its charm. And since we had as many friends in France as in the UK we could have gone anywhere, so it was a question of local details that tipped the balance. Like mountains, seasons, and being able to walk out of the front door into a forest. And the negatives are perhaps different from those we would have if we’d landed up in UK - bit nowhere is free of some negatives I imagine.
So this suits us fine right now, and we moved here knowing that we would have to move again at some point. Again could be france or UK - may merely depend on our physical state and available health services, but that’s the future.
Arriving here was a complete accident, I was on my way to Turkey from Ireland, was chased into Ile de Re by bad weather, by the time that past, it was getting a bit late in the year, so spent the winter in Les Sable’, went to Redon to refit in the spring and never got away, so never ‘smitten’, just found life very pleasant. 
I didnt come to France for the country or the life here but i found my husband here and that was the reason i moved over here and got married many years ago
Am I seeing things or has Carol L just replied to herself?
Possibly time to increase the medication?
Why, wott you on Tim ? 
I’ll forever feel that my unexpected and rather abrupt arrival in Brittany was guided by angels…namely my late father beyond the veil and my mom who is an angel incarnate on earth…am I smitten now I’m here…??? Most definitely…but I know I’d not be here without the love and support of my family and my partner in uk…I often feel that I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve their unswerving love and support given the many “dark times” we’ve navigated as a family…many times when I’ve not felt I was the perfect mother…or the perfect daughter or the perfect wife or the perfect partner…but I guess that somewhere along the line I must have done something right…??? x 
I like many got the 10 year itch, and 4 years later im ready for a move, perhaps not uk but another part of europe or France, ive known several people who have gone back around this time.
Some parts of france are lovely, visited the corezze last week, lovely countryside and villages, but dead.
In the charente and limousin very quiet, nice countryside but not beautifull like the alps or pyrenees ,And at times feel im wasted my life here, i think great for children and retired
people but when your in between and still want a life, it can be very quiet.
thats what I love the quiet.
While we have folks around, its peaceful.
Want a life? Please explain what that means. The things that I enjoy in life are all available in my part of France, that’s why I moved here.