In 2009, when we arrived to live in France, it seemed that the country was in denial about the impending recession. Even in 2012 President Hollande brought in measures to allow long serving workers to retire at 60 – just at the same time as other European governments were making us work longer for our pensions. In this context, Damien Saez wrote the song “J’accuse” in 2010 – reflecting more the mood of the people than the optimism of the politicians. I only found out about this controversial artist from a colleague at work. Here is an extract of his lyrics, which end with the surprising suggestion that medical help could be sought in England.
Il parait qu’il faut virer les profs, It seems we should sack the teachers,
Et puis les travailleurs sociaux, And then the social workers,
Les fonctionnaires qui servent à rien, the civil servants who are good for nothing
Les infirmières à 1000 euros, nurses on a salary of 1000 euros
Faut qu’ça rapporte aux actionnaires, the shareholders have to be paid
La santé et les hopitaux, health and hospitals
Va t'faire soigner en Angleterre, go and get looked after in England.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqaiH8iBZ5g&feature=kp
Popular culture may have highlighted the malaise in France but now we have had time to look back over the past five years. We came to the conclusion that life in this rural backwater has certainly been changing but in general, the quality of life in Mouzon has been in decline. This subject is examined in more detail in my blog “Our fifth anniversary”.