And conversely many shops and businesses that we would expect to be open all day (with workers adjusting their lunch breaks) simply close from 12-2. Can be a bit annoying if you don’t check first. Doesn’t happen in the US.
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so what 
I’m pleased to find that many French businesses care about certain things that matter to me too … one being food/mealtimes. 
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Anyplace that isn’t serving food or part of a big supermarket or hardware store chain is very likely to be closed 12:00 - 14:00.
Big supermarkets are only open 9:00 - 12:00 on Sundays. All other stores are usually shut. Small family run businesses that open on Saturday might be closed on Mondays. The two villages stores nearest to me have an arrangement where one is shut on Monday, but the other is open and vice versa on Thursday.
If I’m going on a shopping trip to the nearest big town, I get the shopping that doesn’t mind sitting in my car on a hot day done in the morning, have lunch and do the grocery shopping later.
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I think we may have been too pushy with Brokencipher and she’s run off.
Yes there are lots of cultural differences, but the question is whether one has any experience of navigating them? BC obviously has the desire to do so, which will go a long way, but the aptitude? It is something to reflect on,
Having mover to Normandy I have found that there are huddles of British people sticking firmly to British culture.
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Indeed. I got used to it, just info for someone who is gathering information without visiting, evidently.
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Ah, fair enough.
There’s several enclaves of Brit ex-pats in my bit of SE 47 and you do meet the “Why can’t France be Britain with better weather?” crowd occasionally.
Apparently saying “If you hate it here so much, why don’t you go back?” is considered rude.
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Why is it considered rude, do you know?
Because it is! It’s quite possible to live in France and grump at stuff and still enjoy living here. France is not paradise (much as our friends who come here for a week each year expect us to think it is).
As we’ve just been warning the retired ICU RN, life in France can be tough and if people find sanctuary by remaining in a group of Brits, so be-it. My experience of living in London in a shared flat in the late sixites, the two nurses, Australian, New Zealander, spent their entire social life with other friends from the Antipodes. The Poles who came to London after the war (OH’s parents among them) remained entirely within the Polish community.
No one found it unusual or felt it was necessary to insult them by saying “why don’t you go back”.
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I think you’ll find that Brokencipher is male. Hence the reference to bringing up daughter as a single Dad, and “It’s probably just me and meekness and overcautious timidity all rolled into one old man.”
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Also you might not realize it is only 10:30 in Cali. They might not have bothered to check here yet on a Sunday morning.
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I was told by the site that, because I’m a new member, I’m not permitted to reply further until a certain time has elapsed since my start here, so I don’t know whether you’ll get this reply now. I’ll send it along later, if need be.
I haven’t felt that anyone was too pushy. Felt like folks are not only concerned but also helpful and willing to take the time to say so, say how, and say why… And besides, through my work I’ve gained, I think, some not inconsiderable experience in dealing with people of all temperaments, social preferences, and styles of expression. Sincerity and good faith are all I ask, really, and so far all of my exchanges here have presented themselves gracefully, and with kindness, within that space. 
I’m…I wanted to say, “I’m an old man”…but from respectful deference to those older than me, I have to say instead that I’m an “older man” in my late sixties. But, really–and I’m chuckling a little about it because I know that some men would take offence–I’m a “he” who doesn’t much care if he’s regarded as a “she.” The important thing is the quality of that regard, whether it speaks, again, from sincerity and good faith.
Finally, I understand why folks “stick firmly” to their cultures. I happen not to be one of them, but that difference doesn’t matter much to me. Again…sincerity and good faith…those are the main things, for me.
I have to sign off for now. I’m working my butt off pretty much from early morning till evening. Strangely, retirement hasn’t shortened my “work day.” Don’t know what else to say about that…
Thanks for your message. I still have to figure out how to slide “SurviveFrance” time into my schedule, since I didn’t think I’d be receiving so many responses…and I want to respond to everyone if possible.
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Thank you for your gracious reply. I hope you do find time to fit us into your schedule (but quite understand if not). You are far from an “old man” - not least your plans for your future show that you are not. And I think many of us can relate to a life of retirement that is wonderfully full.
Looking forward to having you around and hearing more about how you are getting on.
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Apologies, I’m not sure what led me to ‘she’. Possibly you being very upfront about the fear factor, but who knows.
(Adele Eexarchopoulos grew up where we lived in Paris, but would have been a little kid/teen at the time. And yes, not the easiest speech pattern!)
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Because some people need to believe that they’re never wrong, I guess.
Being wrong on a daily basis, I know wrong when I see it.
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Since I retired I have always wondered how I ever found the time to actually go to work.
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Brokencipher is a man.
Argh so annoying, repetitious, hadn’t read all the way down before writing, sorry, sorry.
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Greetings. If you’d care to share, I’d like to know how appeal turned to shock–I’m assuming the shock was an unpleasant one–when you visited Rennes, given your familiarity with “other small cities.” What were your pre-visit Rennes expectations? In what ways did Rennes disappoint or shock those expectations? I agree that “online or on paper” research has its limits. I agree also with the worthwhile ambition of widening one’s scope. Naturally, I have to concede, smiling and in further agreement with you, that I “have a lot of fun research ahead” of me. I suspect we would agree, too, that the fun research will be knocked about a bit by “research” that’s not only not fun, but downright dreadful. I’m OK with that dynamic. Besides, it doesn’t care whether I’m OK with it or not . In my experience, being OK with it is the better approach when meeting it—it gives me a better position.
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I met a lot of people like that back in Brittany as OH did a great deal of work for brits who could not deal with French artisans. They would start out all friendly and full of it and as the work progressed their true natures appeared and the moaning would start and comparing stuff to the UK almost made OH say well why don’t you bugger off back there then. Fortunately as all the moaners did eventually return to the UK in the late 90’s after discovering the pl**e in the s*n told lies and it was not all wine and sunsets and then the next type of arrivals were more switched on, possibly as the internet was more common. It was the cliques that got me and I thanked god there were hardly any brits (sorry to be rude about my compatriots) in our vicinity that sought us out apart from one or two and being busy with family, school and business I never had the time to get involved. They all, every of them either died in France or returned to the UK eventually.
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Greetings. Yes, I’m an American, an American who’s leaving nearly 70 years of a lifetime to live in a country where I know no one, don’t speak the language, and will find much if not most of its culture–its cultures, I must say, since France is not a cultural monolith—strange and incomprehensible, at least at first, and probably for quite some time. For a long time, “things” in America have weighed heavily on me. Moving to “a country where I know no one, don’t speak the language, and will find much if not most of its culture…strange and incomprehensible” will not be a new experience. For a long time, in my own country, I have felt that I no longer speak the language, and that I understand its people less and less, or, in other words, I feel that my own country has become “strange and incomprehensible.” All of which is to say this: I already feel like I’m living in a foreign country.
As far as “no one giving a hoot that you are a super important CEO,” I can only say, smiling, that I hope to remain as invisible in France as I am here. I’m no one important here, I’ll be no one important there, which means that I’ll have one less country-to-country transition to muddle through.
From the time that I decided to move to France, I decided too that I would not be spending much of my time with my “own nationality group.” As I’ve remarked elsewhere, I understand why folks prefer to spend much if not most of their time within the circles of their (“nationality”) groups. I understand too that I happen not to be one of them. It’s a difference that doesn’t count as too much of a difference to me. I mean, the difference itself doesn’t mean I we can’t get along; if anything, it makes getting even more important. Many if not most people might well find such a position objectionable. So be it. Naturally–in most cases, there are exceptions–like everyone else I prefer that others accept me as I am, as I accept them as who they are, but again that’s merely a preference, not some kind of social requirement or need. Here, I would add only that my emphasis on mutual acceptance does not exist without limits. There are boundaries, bright-line rules of conduct…there is right and wrong, there is good and evil, and it’s important for people like me who strive to be as accepting as possible to everyone, to remind ourselves of those facts from time to time, lest we drift…
To your question as to why France is where I want to be… The most important thing for me was deciding, after long deliberation, that I no longer wanted to live here. After that, of course, the question: where? My great-grandparents lived in the Alsace-Lorraine region. I alighted for whatever reason on western Europe, but where? I considered Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France. At that point, my decision would be based on practical matters: taxation, cost of living, healthcare, and last but certainly not least, the depth and robustness in each country of Canudo’s “seven arts.” Without going into boring details–I’ve already far exceeded any proper limit of how long a SurviveFrance reply probably should be–I “did the math,” and France stood alone at the end of it.
I apologize for the length of this message. I wanted to address each of your questions with the thought and care each of them deserves.
So be careful what you ask me next time…
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