We refuse plastic bags whenever we can and funnily enough one of the main ones is Decathlon. Must admit a lot of the shop assistants look at you as if you are daft when you refuse the bags. But that is a personal choice.
Just reading your post, Mark and realised we wouldn't make it in time to the hardware shop! Unless of course we drove there Grand Prix style. I don't know how it is organised here in France but in my country, the charge for plastic bags was introduced back on 2002 as a tax, therefore if you wanted a plastic bag, you had to pay.
But Carolyn this is off the topic. Its about habits not anything else.
Carolyn - can you re-post your comment please? You seem to have been cut off in your prime.
Mmmm i can see there are few answers on here that are the typical .I have a House in France.............. and look down there noses at you!!!! Well we are proud to be 10 year Novices as you put it Angela........... Rose tinted glasses i dont think so!!!!
I think my OH and I have found having a social life much easier here. In the UK with her being a 'continental' and having children, plus the difference in our ages not enough or the right doors were open to us. Here we have a full social life within a fairly large group in which we are the only non-French, where children are part of it, all ages mix together and there are no so called class issues. So the big change for us is being in the habit of socialising.
I am not especially Francophile but have got used to doing what other people do, so like others my pallate and stomach by and large do not want or make British food.
Agreed Angela. Things are not great in my country but we left and came to France because we wanted the experience of living in a very different country. To fully appreciate this new life, we make efforts to integrate as well as we can, including earning a living here, and paying taxes - this of course means dealing with organisations such as URSSAF and RSI, but many of our French friends have far worse to say about them than we do! I would not like to go back to my country now, simply because we have made a better life here than we could have done back "home".
Planning when to leave the house to go shopping and planning (very carefully) the night before what I'll need. This leads to a very green lifestyle as I drive much less.
I shop more locally and at smaller places. I have found supermarkets to be rubbish in France. Added to the obligatory search for a 1 euro piece (they don't all take plastic tokens) and the lack of free plastic bags (even at Decathlon after spending 350 euros on some clothes) makes me very unreceptive to their penny pinching ways disguised as green measures.
This leads to the next habit of ordering as much as I can online.
Spending more time thinking about recipes.
Drinking much less alcohol - well with no pub culture and no buying rounds of drinks......
Watching hardly any TV
Less nights out, less parties with friends etc....
So I have my French girlfriend and our lovely daughters but socialising outside the family circle is rare....
Driving is a much calmer affair than in the UK, fast and fluid - the French don't dilly, dally....... Apart from the near blind ones in 500cc cars that is..
Having been educated in France and also my three grandsons now at school here, I couldn't agree more and your analogy of the way things are taught here are spot on. It's amazing that it's still the same now as it was 55 years ago! Plus ca change ........
Horrible UK - sounds like a case of rose coloured spectacles again. Why can't people on this forum just accept that there is good and bad in both countries - 10 years in France - a mere novice! There are many, many amazing things about the UK,albeit very different from life
in France (and I speak from 40 + years experience of living in both countries). I have met many Brits in my time in France who have burnt their boats by buying over here and not retaining property in Britain and can no longer afford to return and therefore seem to enjoy being a 'Brit Basher'. If you're totally happy over here then great stuff, wonderful, but just keep your nasty thoughts about Britain to yourself. As I mentioned yesterday, London is France's 6th city (French nationals) and as most French people are quite choosy as to where they live and work, it can't be that bad. We have the most amazing countryside and coastline, I'm biased because I have a house in Dorset. We also have, on the whole, a nation of caring people. When it comes to charitable organisations and volunteers Britain comes out on top and we are envied by many French charities. Good luck Hilary in your new life back in Blighty, you'll enjoy returning to France for holidays.
Sad to see some of you going back to blighty, but I can understand we all have reasons for wanting to live somewhere or to move on. We have only been here in the Tarn et Garonne for 3 years and love it here. We left our 16yr old with family to finish GCSEs and go on to University and after the initial resentment from her it has worked out well for all. Our 10yr old arrived here with no French at all and was launched into French school. It is amazing what she has achieved in such a short space of time and is now almost fluent, but does draw the line at using the phone unless pushed! She passed her year end exam with 85% and was 5th in the class, which was a huge achievement and I am very proud. She is now off to college, which will be another steep learning curve for us all, but as she now has so many friends I am sure I am the one worrying more than she is!
Habits............urrm Siesta! We have found in the time we have been here that the afternoon siesta (which we thought was impossible for us) is now an important part of our daily ritual. With the early mornings, heat, long lunches (with a local tipple or two) it is a necessary evil to get us through the day and long evenings working on the new gite. I am sure we would find it hard not to take a quick 40 winks in the afternoon if we went back to the UK!
As far as moving things backwards and forwards are concerned, we recently had a Fergie tractor shipped here from the UK. The transport guy we used to move us here makes up loads to and from France with his lorry or will do full removals. He is always looking for part loads or bits and pieces that people want moving from country to country and is regularly in the Toulouse area. He charged us £450 to bring the tractor, 3 double beds and other household effects and the all important paint and £250 to take a neighbours car back. I think that is pretty reasonable when you take in to account the fuel, tolls and ferry charges. If anyone wants his details let me know.
Probably a bad habit, but we have a superb boulangerie, who also delivers a couple of times a week, so now eat far too much bread and cakes. Never used to touch either very much in the UK. But at least I exercise more here, so my excuse is that I work it off :)
Glad to hear that someone else has experienced the problem of 'that vital bit of paper that you didn't think would be important' - join the club!
What a great topic Hilary.
I'd say for me, me stomach has become French and taken on certain French habits. I start to know its bang on midday without having to know the time.
I no longer mix drinks as I would have in the UK. My mrs could never get the hang of the fact that I could start on beer, have a couple of Ricards, wine or beer with a meal and then perhaps another ricard or some other that I would now only consider aperitifs.
I always try to use local specialist shops rather than the supermarket ie bread at the boulangerie, cakes at the patisserie and meat from the boucherie.
I also hope I have a much more relaxed attitude about life.
Sad to see you go, but please do stick around on SFN.
Oooo no the thought of moving back to the UK!!! never.............................. the reason to come here was for a great new life!!! and that is exactly what we have................ so far 10 years and still love it!!! no going back to the horrible UK for us!!! :)
I don't think I'll be cycling, but I am looking forward to swimming on a regular basis and lots of visits to the seaside - really missed not being able to go to the seaside for the day!
I was surprised at the cost comparison. Only taking a minimum of stuff back.
My daughter has chosen to start Year 10 so that she can do the same number of GCSEs as her peers. She wants to do music but the difference between the syllabuses is incredible - reflecting my general observation that in France Kids are taught what to think and in the UK how to think! Will have to wait and see!!
Definately!! I am looking forward to getting on my bike more - need to get some good waterproofs though! We spent a year in the Falklands where we tried to cycle, took us 10 mins to get to school and over an hour to get back due to the wind!!! Didn't try again ;-). I would love to find a job that I can cycle to, but planning to cycle into Shrewsbury market at the weekend, just like I planned to here, but we don't really have a good local one!! So that would be a thing that I would have liked to have done here that I will take home!!!!
Didnlt know about the removal firm - will look into them, but will have to do it twice anyway!. I found a self drive in Shrewsbury which does European cover much more cheaply than anyone else I could find, so will give them a go. Then it will be a full car and roof box every time we go back! What will your daughter do in the UK, will she go into year11 and take her GCSE's or go back to year 10 and do the 2 years? That was our problem with our oldest but we took him out 2 months into troisieme so that he could start near the beginning of GCSE's, he has coped, but have to admit there was lots he had to catch up on.
( except in French of course - his teacher is enjoying conversations with him, although she has a scottish french accent and his is southwest french - I am surprised they can understand each other!)
Thanks June - I worked out the cost of hiring 2 vans - one to Dover, then one to Cheshire - so we won't be too far away in the UK!! In the end I found it was cheaper to pay for a part load from David Dale Removals (hope it's okay to mention them - found them via SFN). My daughter's just finished her Brevet and done very well, but hasn't been happy here for a long time and is looking forward to moving back.