was my post dismissed?
Well yes an outburst!
What sort of meal do you get at 9.00 pounds!
2 meals in a pub....cooked to order....I presume!
Who is 'most people' ?
Dismissed - What do you mean Barbara?
I'll take a picture today for you all .... can we post photograpsh here ADMIN ??
Be my guest Ted
Hi Ted, how was lunch? Still waiting on those photos ;)
Hi Admin I did not get out for lunch today as I was too busy. I am hoping to go for "the lunch" tomorrow.
Hahaha Ted this is satire isn't it, very funny, you had me pretty much believing you in spite of illiteracy, crucifixion, socialism etc right up until the bit about marrying into a poor family!
Feel free to call me James, we're quite a friendly bunch on SFN.
He was asked for his personal point of view and he gave it.
There's no 'out of order'.
I have had an overwhelming majority of positive experiences since I moved to France in 1978, and I feel sorry for Ted. After reading about all his negative experiences I can understand his 'outburst', as it must have been awful for him if it took him to the point of deciding to leave.
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5 million Brits living abroad leave plenty of room for a mere 1.5 million Frenchmen moving to the UK.
http://uk.businessinsider.com/british-expats-most-population-destinations-2015-9
one of my postings was lost in space James!
But my point was addressed.
When posters comment upon the great cheap meals which they get in UK.....I always
stress that we get what we pay for. We all have different idea as to what constitutes a good
or delicious meal. Sorry but I am more fussy than most !
' we get what we pay for '
I live in Reims, but work in Bar-sur-Seine on Mondays and Tuesdays.
In Bar-sur-Seine I get a very good 3-course meal for 13.50€
The same meal in Epernay or Reims would cost upwards of 18€
So we get what we pay for where we get it :-)
I suspect, Ted Coltrane, that if you could vote in the US election you'd be a Trump supporter. That aside, I am truly sorry you've had a bad experience. Bon courage.
to answer James' original questions:
1. Yes
2. With the benefit of hindsight, we would have bought a pile of rubble that needed a bit less work than the one we did buy :-) We also would probably be IN a town instead of Several kilometres away so we could use the car less often. We would not take the advice of an architect we didn't know when he recommended a surveyor who turned out to have missed a crucial problem with the structure of our property.
3.If you're not a DIYer and/or you don't have much money to spend don't buy something that needs a new roof. Have a good inspection by someone who knows French buildings. Try not to let your heart rule your head. Have a pile of emergency savings over and above your renovation money - you will need it at some point. Everything here costs more than you thought it would (as in most places). Learn to speak French. My husband was already fluent when we arrived four years ago and even he sometimes has difficulty, but his language skills have saved us a few times now. My skills are far less good but I do some French every day and it gets better all the time....be determined to learn or you will find yourself frustrated by the smallest things when you're trying to make yourself understood. Finally, you can research for years, as we did, and still be surprised by some things so do be prepared to change your mind.
I'll never know if it was the right thing to do. I did it in hope and desperation. Hope to change my life for the better, despair because to stay meant I would lose my home through the loss of my career. I did my homework but nothing could have prepared me for the hell-hole I ended up in. Trapped in a web of emotional and financial abuse by a boss protected by his wife who ran the whole institution. I couldn't leave because to do that meant being evicted from France. After years of living in a rotting bedsit (rented from my abusive boss) and a change of head of the organisation I was given a temporary job but have lived under the sword of Damocles ever since. I simply don't fit into Napoleon's rigid system. I have never been back home as I have no money to do so, though I don't miss it. I've never even been to England though I'd love to. So many things I'd love to have done but couldn't justify spending any precious money in case I am evicted. I've lived with utter uncertainty for coming up to 6 years and may be evicted this year before my naturalisation decision is made next year. I love many aspects of France and would like to stay but to do that I'd need a steady job (which I've never had anywhere). To be sent home means I'd have nowhere to live (I can't afford to live in my mortgaged and rented-out house which is deteriorating) and no chance of employment at my age (I've been trying for 9 solid years to get work in NZ without one interview and expats get a chilly reception back home). Six years of trying in France. If I keep my old house rented I won't be able to get unemployment benefit. Now the government is considering bringing in a yearly land tax (due to their gross mismanagement) on any non-resident who has property in NZ, including expat kiwis. What on earth does one do? I know I'd have serious culture shock going back to NZ, it's now a rather mean place thanks to the government, with what was once an enviable social fabric being rapidly unravelled by politicians and greedy corporates. Poverty, pollution.
Most people don't experience the difficulties I've experienced and I never imagined I would either. Life's not all about effort, it needs luck too but I'm not sure if coming to France was lucky. I created that opportunity through effort and determination or it would never have happened. I'm still here for the same reasons. I don't belong anywhere now. What my heart and soul want doesn't count. There's no safe haven because the economics and especially the politics control everything.
It's a good but uncomfortable question, this. If others feel angy or bitter I do understand but all I feel right now is high anxiety and depression and the prospect of an extremely hard future despite a lifetime of effot and 8 years of tertiary education. I'd love to make a positive diffeence somewhere but without the opportunities it ain't going to happen. The hundreds of CVs sent out to both hemispheres, the thousands of hours wasted in applying for jobs that will never reply. I know it's hard for many people - I don't want to be amongst them. The grass was not greener but it was interesting. It's a high price to pay, being in France. What else could I have done that would have given me more security? I have no idea - we each have our paths to tread and the more time passes the more convinced I am that we are allowed certain things or we are NOT. Who decides? Not me.
System "D" update ..... Tried to get a Carte Gris for my MP3 ie 400 scooter d'occassion . Went to Feu Vert ,asked the Garage selling it to us and armed with all the necessary paperwork sent off to the Prefecture with a pr-paid Registered envelope included . Papaers returned ,kept our prepaid envelope for personal use, and told us we needed a copy of the previous owners identity card, and a Control Technique certificate . Note we bought from a registered garage ,and CT for Scooters are not legal requirement, in fact no facilities exist to do this in France, to our knowledge ,and 40,000 motards en colore . So , you have to go to a registered processer of Carte Gris ...Feu Vert for us ...present the original documents ...stay schtum ..pay 31 euros ...and... "Roberts' your Mothers' Brother" . Vive la corruption and State robbery and system "D". Open the pastis to celebrate our hollow victory and on y vas .
Biggest mistake we ever made. Bought ten years ago after returning to Europe from extended period working in the Southern Hemisphere. With family in UK figured it would be good as close enough to watch aged parents etc. Spoke virtually fluent French so language not a barrier. Just found that in the past ten years to get anything done was a nightmare - 8 years to mend telephone lines, 2 years to get a builder to do a 1 week job properly. Medical a total utter joke unless you are in a major city. Being treated as a second classe citizen because I wasn't French and made to wait 9 hours in emergency caused massive problems (despite having private insurance!) then due to useless after care (physio) etc I am permanently disabled in one foot - (in the USA I could have sued - no I am not American) Three operations in three countries and it cannot be corrected due to old fashioned techniques applied in a French town hospital. The price of food has sky rocketed in the past six years so now it is cheaper to buy food in Munich than it is in France!!!! Property investment was also a massive mistake. The market has continually dropped during the past 10 years and shows no sign of recovering and we didn't buy at the peak! The lack of work ethic and constant strikes in France are beyond a joke... Yep we gave up and left to live and work in Germany where whilst there may be some challanges, as a general rule the country works efficiently, effectively even when there is a strike. Also the Germans are far more friendly than the French. The French generally in Aquitaine don't invite you into their homes, regardless of how many times you may have hosted them in yours. Strange. Running one's own business in France as an entrepreneur is fraught with complications and is far easier in Germany. Social taxes are about the same but one can claim more expenses here than in France. We had hoped to retire to France but we clearly chose the wrong area to live which has put us off totally. We moved to the Aquitaine. Sadly having not lived in the northern hemisphere for so long we were unaware that much of it is more English than French and the idea of fish and chip vans and quiz nights was just completely crazy to us. Why live in France if you still yearn for a British way of life? We did a lot of homework before our move. I had spent considerable time in France in my younger years and before our move we made ten visits to different parts of the country to check out what it was like. So we didn't go in 'cold'. But from the French markets which we found expensive and poor quality to the insane way everything happens only during 6 weeks in summer and for the rest of the time the place 'shuts down' just made it an impossible for lifestyle for us. Everyone has their own opinion and I respect those who are happy and love what they have in France but for us no. A very, very costly mistake in all senses of the word.
OK so I could not get out to lunch yesterday. My apologies, but I run a building supply firm so it's not always easy what with staff sickness and maternity leave and people intentionally tripping over to claim compensation.
So here are my photographs of a typical pub menu that does a lunchtime deal. I try and get out for lunch once a week if I can but it's not easy as I am taxed to death paying for the retired expats who live in France's UK television license ( free ) and winter heating allowance ( £250) which they do not actually need in France as it's all so warm. Plus a lot of expats are renting out their house to keep their sky subscription going and not declaring it to the FISC. Go on - we all know ! Less piousness please.
On the fixed menu ( a la carte also available ) you will see a nice choice of battered mushrooms, minestrone soup or home fried nachos. I've always had the mushrooms or chips, as soup can make me feel a bit sloshy after especially with a couple of points. At the moment, Bombardier Beer is on special at £3.20 a pint ( that's 568ml to you expats, not un demi 250ml for €2.50 )
The mains are self explanatory being chicken, macaroni Beer Battered Whiting and Chippy chips and peas, and ham egg and chips and Pulled Beef Pie. It's not difficult to get fish and chips in paris, as it is a favourite dish. But I have heard other people starting up vans and the like and a man started a fish and chips in 2007 in the VAR in Draguignan. On reading the BA News, it is still a roaring success and attracts an international clientele, though the founder according to his website, was forced out by thuggery such as we had.
So.......... two cracking courses, for 6.99 and today as I do not feel well, being on penicillin, I just had the one at 4.99 plus some pints to help the kidneys as I have to drinnk lots of fluids.
- Photo 1 shows the menu, 2 the excellent fillets of whiting, which is a very nice fish and just as good as cod I think, and 3 is the results of my yummy lunch. I have left a few chips for you dear readers. Picture 5 shows the banner outside the pub. Two courses, albeit in the evening, for £8.99 and according to the menu three is £10.99
I have to say that due to competition in the high street, many pubs and chains are offering 2 for ones and of course we also have the tastecard which also does 2-for-1. Tastecard in France? Don't make me laugh. there'd be Riots, Strikes and Malicious Damage. On reflection, infact..... there is already enough of that in France.
Will someone please show me such value in France - P L E A S E.
- Finally, I'd just like to say that it is interesting to see some of the comments from the indignant. Some of you have already turned French !
I gave a point of view that may or may not be yours, and someone rightly said this was just. I have neither insulted anyone on this forum nor the founder but have received abuse from "self proclaimed worthies". I did not start the topic, the ADMIN did.
I get the distinct impression that a lot of you are there for the health care and I certainly meet a lot of English around us in Marseille area who were trying to get stuff done on the French system. It;s why they moved out there to escape the queues, they want the cheap boozer, and cheaper fags. It's not surprising you won't bite the hand that feeds you. French people are easily indignant and you will see the expression "Indignez-vous!" from time to time if you follow anything glued to your local lampost or phone pole. The difference between Brits and the French is that we are less indignant, and don't shout or use our fists or shovels from videos I have seen int he past - but just write letters to the Council and the Times and hope someone takes notice.
Photos
The euro equivalents to the GBP you cited, at today's exchange rate, are 6.41, 8.98, 11.55, and 14.12. Most restaurants in our area serve homemade food ( not from frozen) with healthy salad and cheese, for 8 - 13 euros for 2 or 3 courses. I don't think that's far off what you've posted.
In any case, we didn't come to France just for the food. And just a quick note on the winter fuel allowance...it is no longer available to British expats in France. I think you have done a disservice to your fellow Brits by categorising them the way you have. As far as I can see, no one here has 'abused' you but some have challenged you. There's a big difference.