"Freedom of movement" vs "intégration"

We have chamois, rather than mouflon…don’t look very tasty to me tho’. A bit bony and tough looking.

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Oh. I thought you were talking about Humans until I got to the ‘sausage’ bit.

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Everyone lives their lives differently, we run two vehicles, like a holiday, going out and don’t want to watch every penny, others may see some of these as luxuries but that’s fine with me.

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I love them, there are plum orchards below the vineyards on my hill and they congregate there, I have seen groups* of up to 40 individuals, to eat the fallen plums. They also come chez moi for the same thing plus apples & pears and especially nashi which they seem to love. Ialso have a badger sett in my garden so I feel very privileged to see these retiring creatures so frquently.

  • made up of 3 or 4 family groups, matriarch +daughters+babies
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Are we talking about Buddhist here? They also live in the woods and have halos which can be seen by the pure-in-heart, I hear.

I prefer mine with just a touch of karma, lots of metta, and fresh upekkha as seasoning. :hugs:

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My biggest problem about moving to France - apart from quite likely now having to do it as a non-EU citizen is where to source some of the things I’m used to living in the UK.

I already order my Oolong and Keemun tea in bulk from Yorkshire - £100 worth at a time - and that will end up getting £30 or so postage and who knows how much duty slapped on.
Tea in France appears to be supermarket teabags, or “boutique” in tiny packets.
Actually I’m pretty sure horrible supermarket green tea costs more than I would pay for decent stuff.

I also have an Indian deli where I can buy tahini by the kilo.

Brest has a Chinese supermarket, but I don’t think that will help me.

Thankfully soy milk is available everywhere now.

There is great tea here!

If you want to go posh, then:

https://www.mariagefreres.com/FR/accueil.html

https://www.dammann.fr/fr/

But just about everywhere you will find a biocoop, or similar, with decent tea.

And stuff like tahini is easy to find. Look for halal butchers, as often have an integral epicerie with these sorts of things, like this one:

We use Bahadourian in Lyon, as we like Lebanese wine. It does mail order amd has a huge range of stuff. Brilliant to visit too if ever nearby.
https://www.bahadourian.com

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One thing we’ve noticed is supermarkets definitely reflect any local populations - our local Carrefours have very limited “foreign” sections - 45 minutes away a town with a large Turkish population has a selection of “Turkish” ingredients that’d do London proud.

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He’d be better off as sausages…at least he’d serve some useful purpose.

Mouflon is excellent Jane…like no other meat I’ve tried.
I’m no big eater of meat, but detest waste, & to be offered something that was perfectly edible, & would have ended up “for the dogs”, because he couldn’t be bothered…too good to turn down

I have recently come to realise that the Oolong I buy from Yorkshire isn’t the best quality, but it’s very cheap and works for someone raised on typhoo loose leaf. I buy 3.5 kilos at a time so only pay about 3p per gramme. :slight_smile:
There’s far too much “bio” in France for my taste. (And wallet)

Edit:
Actually that’s only twice what I pay and it’s probably better quality… I wonder if they would do bulk …

I buy halloumi from the Turkish shop in Macon.

It’s the one thing that I have never been able to get here - have found it on the occasional trip to Bordeaux but nothing close by!

Make it! One of the easier ones to do.

And for Jeremy, look out for a shop called Noz in your patch. That might suit your desire for good value.

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Visited our local Noz for the first time the other day. It’s bizarre but good

looks a bit like Primark …
Clothes aren’t a problem - I reckon I have 20 years’ worth o black tee shirts :smiley:

To turn briefly from the grosser corporeal and consumerist aspects of the move to France from abroad (and they do matter), a few personal comments on integration.

I echo what others have said, namely that it can’t be rushed, and one’s necessary efforts at getting to know people, and be known, is not as straightforward as it sometimes suggested. The ability to make oneself understood and to understand others is crucial, so basic French must be a priority, but it isn’t enough in the medium term or long run. There has to be enough by way of mutual meetings of minds, interest and concerns for any level of friendship to take root.

I think that genuine human concern for, and interest in, ones neighbours’ daily lives is also crucial. One needs to judge the proper balance of concern and interest against the risk of being intrusive, especially as the French tend to be more private, I think, than the British or other northern Europeans.

We’ve been here for 4 years in October, and live in a small but well-designated corner of a small town, it used to be the coin de la gare, and busy with local commerces, but is now quiet yet retains its local significance, and well-established and ‘rooted’ residents, mainly elderly but with some youngish newcomers doing-up old dwellings. We are the only British householders in the locality.

I think integration is an aim, and perhaps a star to steer by, not a destination. The criteria are in the judgement of various others, and are always open to modification. Perhaps it as well not to pay too much attention to one’s progress towards integration, and let it evolve as it may.

With very few exceptions, we have not found any local Brits appealing, as too many seem ‘needy’ in a variety of disconcerting ways. One feels always under scrutiny in their company, with the unspoken question hanging in the air, “Whose side are you on?”. It’s hard to shake off. We were told by the young Australian fellow who sold us our house, “Don’t trust the anglais!” (hé spoke with bitterness because he loved France but failed to make a living here, not speaking French).

We live quietly, tend our garden, put out our poubelles and clean our windows. We have lovely, affectionate and discreet neighbours. We are slowly settling in, and life is as it should be. It has not been easy, ever. It has tested our powers of adaptation and willingness to face up to mistakes and false assumptions. But the challenge has refreshed us and energised us in our Twilight years. May yours serve you as well as well in your own future.

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Tahini you can find either in Maghrebi shops or else in the Biocoop/La Vie Claire etc it is easy to find as it is Middle Eastern.
Tea you can get from specialist shops, forget the supermarket.

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No don’t bother about clothes…they have an eclectic and ever changing stock of foodstuffs. Usually v good value and completely weird things. One day we found adnams tomato ketchup, another boxes of sourdough crackers…both very good, not things that are commonly on sale in France. They don’t sell out of date or damaged goods, but you have to be prepared to hunt around. Other times it’s full of plastic junk. Pot luck.

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How do you do that? Recipe please?