We used to laugh when we spotted cables from the workers’ vehicles to the lamp posts… obviously the council workforce were charging up the batteries during the lunchtime break … even in those days… long before electric cars came on the scene… 
This is starting to remind me of all the old truisms about, when workers complain about their salary it is a sign that they are discontented about something, but often the salary is not actually the problem. Maybe they are bored with the work, maybe they feel unappreciated or they do not like the journey to work or something has happened to sour their relationship with a colleague or a manager. If they were actually happy in their work they would be perfectly content with the salary. And therefore a raise in salary does not solve the problem. I suspect this is the same syndrome. If the same people were happy with their lives, the lack of a certain facility would not bother them, but because they are discontented for other unconnected reasons, it does. But because the real reasons why their life does not feel quite right are vague and indefinable or perhaps are things they do not want to face, they find a peg to hang their discontenment on. Establish a restaurant near them or set up a medical centre, and they will simply find a different problem.
Although I realise that the old mantra about workers complaining about their salary when what they really want is a new office chair or a better view out of the window, probably does not hold true in the UK any more because probably these days when a person says their salary is not adequate, that is in fact what they mean.
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Hi Angela,
Went to our " brilliant cinema " yesterday for the Old Gits special screening of Delicieau . Absolutley brilliant 3 euros each and orange juice and bickkies afterwards. Happens once a month. Cannot rate it too highly.
Andy
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takes me back to those halcyon days of Saturday Morning Pictures…
Stella
Bring back Buck Rogers !!!
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you’ll be too young to remember Hopalong Cassidy…
I’ve never dared go on those particular days, Andy, because I assumed it was for “personnes agées” (my French teacher said not to use agée about myself because I wasn’t over 85 )
Before Covid our friends used to give a film screening in their big salon.
We would all b ring something for a meal beforehand and then watch the film.
They were kind enough to show it in an English version with French sub-titles.
How lucky are we to have such kind friends here?
I love these little local cinemas too - and I’m amazed (as somebody already mentioned) how quickly they get blockbuster films - ours had the new ‘Dune’ on - showings in both French and English - while the new release press reviews were still appearing in the UK!
Unfortunately, you can’t buy 8 fruit salad or blackjack chews for a penny, as I used to in my youth - but one of them does sell Revels!
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not quite cinema standards… but a few years ago, we 3 girls would go to the SdFetes for French country dancing… while our non-dancing OH’s would watch some ghastly/blood and mayhem video/dvd on our TV…
we all had a great time…
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All to do with French gov’t support for the arts, and licensing/rights which mean France can get things at the same time as the States. Many are also the wonderful “Cinéma d’art et essai” and in return for showing world films, low audience stuff and so on (which is all usually what we love) they get a grant from Gov’t to keep them going.
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I think you will find it’s a question of keeping the meat as pale as possible and all herbivores eat their bedding if given the chance. Eating veal is to be avoided,unless it’s from animals reared under their mothers ,even that is something I no longer do.
Isn’t it just that, as people get older, sometimes they want different things? In your 40s, you’re quite happy with a bit of a journey to eat out; in your 70s, on average, you probably prefer to be able to walk home afterwards.
And if you’ve never become competent in the language, and with the loss of confidence that often afflicts people as they get older, going back to where you came from is increasingly attractive and practical.
Where we lived in the UK, our cinema was run by the local community. They served tea, in real mugs, and biscuits. Wonderful 
I’ve been thinking about a lot of the points raised by different people here and of course they have a lot of merit and you are absolutely right, @Porridge - what people want/need in later life is often quite different from what they wanted earlier on. This applies whatever country you are living in, of course, and many people in the UK used to move out of their city homes on retirement and down to the south coast only to find that they missed their old life massively. Likewise, being in France where there is space and a good environment (perhaps) for raising a family or having a big garden or whatever, can raise a lot of problems later on.
What I was wondering @tim17 is whether the excellent point you (I think it was you!) raised earlier on about testing out an area before moving to France or within France might actually apply to moving back to the UK? If someone has been in France for very many years and only returns to the UK for brief holidays, they may not realise quite how much the UK has changed in the intervening years. Would it be sensible (if finances permit) to rent somewhere in the UK and stay in it for, say, 5 months, to see if the location there is right for a permanent move? It’s a bit of a one-way trip otherwise 
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Strangely, for Dune, France had it before the US. The US film release was I believe yesterday whereas it’s been running in France for a week.
Friends are in this position, they’ve sold a too-large place here and not quite sure what to do now…
Renting a gite locally, while they catch their breath… they do have the luxury of already owning a small place in UK where they can do a test-run for a few weeks/months.
I’m not at all sure that the lure of seeing family more often, will totally make up for the very different lifestyle (here in France) to which they have become accustomed…
That is the problem, isn’t it @Stella ?
That’s why I thought that testing things out for a few months might be a good way to go, whether people are thinking of coming to France, moving within France or returning to the UK. Of course, not everyone can do that, but if possible, it might help. Then people can be sure that it is what they want. I have several friends in the UK who retired to the south coast of the UK and some are really happy with the choice they made and others are not.
Most people I know here have a very complicated set of “pulls” in both directions - family in both countries for example . It’s a lot easier to make the decision if. for example, people don’t integrate at all - the classic “expat” scenario - in which case returning to the UK is a no-brainer. Most of us are rather more mixed than that…
Grass fed veal is the best if you must have it.
What veal should be instead of the tasteless caged stuff