Moving to France... Things you WISH you'd put on the removal lorry

Rosemary - that’s great advice. we intend to change all the plugs - but like you say probably not all on day one! i’ll bring a selection…

Thanks Christian… the husband has just finished re-wiring our sussex cottage, including putting in a 5-amp circuit for all my lamps, so I figure a changing the plugs won’t hurt! great advice…

Rosemary is right… electrics are not to be messed about with too much…

We went through the opposite, many years ago…
Move from France to the UK, to a new house, still being finished.
So rather than cut off all the molded 2-pin plugs of our appliances and other equipment… I just bought a batch of French 2-pin wall sockets, took them over before the move and asked the electrician to put them in strategic places around the house.
I still wonder what the buyer of the house (when we returned to France) made of this somewhat weird feature…

As an engineer, I would suggest you replace all your plugs with French ones, and, as Rosemary said, WATCH the Amps! And if that doesn’t ring a bell, either employ a qualified electrician, or read up on the subject. An electric fire is no joke…

CJ

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Hi Teresa
just a word on the UK-French adaptors: we’ve just burnt one out because DH didn’t read what my sadly now departed Dad had written in large black letters - the maximum ampage! And then we plugged the washing machine AND the dryer into it. . .
You can get adaptors at various ratings, so I’d get a selection if you think you won’t have time to change all the plugs at the beginning. (And then read the instructions! ;))
Rosemary

Good one - pots are very expensive here. We’ve still got most of ours seven years on but as they gradually get broken are hard to replace.

brilliant Marianne - great tip… the pots are getting packed! thanks for the curry advice too… i’m really looking forward to exploring toulouse - we’ve been a couple of times and had good experiences
thanks for the luck!
Tx

great tip, thank you Marianne, will save their www right now! :o) Haven’t been to Toulouse yet so good to know. They’re certainly few and far between!

I only ever go for the prix choc when it def represents a worthwhile saving - the french may not question prices but, like you say, we do! :slight_smile:

DON’T go for the “prix choc” … Usually it’s packs of things combined at a price MORE expensive per kilo than if you buy them separately!! A favourite trick over here. The french don’t question prices like we do. They just pay what they are asked!

“Hear hear” to the british worker thing. The artisans here are a very unfunny joke!

If you put Expat British Food Suppliers France…you will get a huge list of suppliers…my first thought was Thank Goodness…no idea why…I am not a fussy eater…try new things every day…but whenever I go abroad I need to have a bacon sarnie within a week!..also there is a master butcher called John Price (you can google him…) and he does all things British food wise…including port pies!
There are also individuals who have gone into food prep since arriving…several very good food suppliers who cure their own bacon. Clothes I found really difficult here…size wise as I am very tall, am better provided by the USA clothes suppliers…but also taste…I dont actually like many of the fashions…and the cost…and shoes…take plenty…the ones we have here in the Dordogne…seem to start around 80 euros a pair!

thanks Carol… We’re heading to Revel in the Tarn- so I think Brits and hopefully Irish too.

I’m prepped these days… I moved to (southern) Ireland a few years back, merrily thinking it would “be the same”. God, how wrong I was - slang for everything, different words entirely for lots - “get the delft from the press” !?, swear words as a substitute for most things - never mind the history. Laughing, apologising and TRYING is my fall-back position…

thanks for the great tips - the husband will be please sausages are within a 4 hour drive
xt

keep laughing Teresa…and you are right…it is a big culture shock…I found it all amazingly ‘foreign’ for want of a better word…despite holidaying here since the 80’s…I think the cost of living here is the biggest shock now…it is quite a bit more expensive than the UK…I missed what part of the country you are moving to? you do find if there are brits around…you will have more brit goods in the shops…I can buy cheddar and bacon, cumberland sausages and even white sliced UK bread here in Eymet! If you reckon on driving back once or twice a year and have friends visiting…you can usually manage to get your fix of everything you want.

laughing… god it’s going to be a culture shock ! here’s me thinking PRIX CHOC is all about cheap chocolate - thank god for google translate… we’re near horsham (and crawley) in west sussex, so our friends come if they’re flying out early from Gatwick.
Thanks, I’m on to the stationary thing, and printer carts is a great idea

I can manage “slightly finer than caster sugar” with mine - but still saves on having to buy that! Another thing I do is watch out when the supermarches have their “prix choc” things - cos some really are v good - & bulk buy whatever it is that’s going. Whereabouts in Sussex are u at present? I know bits as used 2 live in Tun Wells. Strange isn’t it how people can manage to travel thru France for a visit when (in our case) they didn’t make it to Norwich! xx & bon voyage

  • just had a thought - spare printer cartridges if u have a printer - & stationery - envelopes etc. My prob was that in Norwich we had a 99p Store where u could get so much stuff like that cheap (e.g 200 perfectly good window envelopes for 99p) so was a bit spoilt!

i’m on to the sherry and things for baking - plus visitors are primed too - i’m hoping the delights of the midi-pyrenees will entice them more than sussex… We are bringing EVERYTHING,… plus any seeds eft over from last year!

just a tip - if you’re really stuck and you have a food processor / blender you can make a passable icing-sugar. probably not good enough for a wedding cake - but ok for iced buns…
Tx

It’s the IRISH husband into the back of the truck… he’s a builder, carpenter, plumber and with the crash course he got in electrics for his Christmas present he’s the first thing i’ll be packing!



(great advice about keeping packets of pills etc… )

merci!

thanks so much - lime cordial - brilliant - we’ll need that too. Notelets - do you mean thank you card type things? A few people have mentioned birthday cards etc - I can see a little business opp here!

Underwear IS going to be a challenge. The Husband has grand visions of lacy, frilly “French Knickers” - while I’m contemplating a whole box of M&S specials - of increasing sizes…

Grant that’s fabulous advice for me - and others on here too. thanks so much - i just watch the telly - it’s the husbands job to make it all happen - so no doubt he’ll be chuffed with all your help!