Roquebrune Sur Argens in the Var close to Frejus.
Brian, Catharine, so can I assume from your collective replies that we don't see any value in having more French people participating?
Brian, not too many French people have a full comprehension of British humour - and these days neither do I from what passes as such from what I see. Neither do we étrangers have a great understanding of the French sense of humour, which is much more physical - hence the continuing following of Charlie Chaplin Festivals etc.
Your understanding of 'surviving' is different from mine. Mine infers more than just some niggles with bureaucracy or the time shops are open, but somethings like 'starvation and deprivation' which I just don't think apply at all in France.
However, to be fair, if all the site is aiming to do is provide a platform or forum for (mainly) having a good old whinge for a lot of people obviously unhappy with being here, then it works admirably.
Wasn't quite what I thought it to be, but I have been disappointed before - and I will SURVIVE.
Did you mean Rhillian Fainor's exceptions in the Joel Shepherd 'Blood and Steel' books?
In which case, you have an 'e' where no 'e' should be, oh what the heck!
Will look forward to it - safe trip!
I will find one that is not too risqué, however I am off to Toronto on Friday very early and I am under pressure from the planning committee to get organized.
Luckily our Scots humour depends on irony. After 300 years plus of having the urine extracted by Sassenachs what would anybody expect :-D
rehillian? quoi?
I googled it and your post came up on the first page, wow that's quick!
Do you live in Roquebrune sur Argens? My home town is just down the road!
Re mutuelles - the reason they are so confusing is the name - (they are only true mutuelles when they are cooperative and non profit-making as is still the case for some eg the MGEN, the clue is in the name: mutuelle) however private companies are allowed to provide a very similar service & call themselves the same name - but have to make profits so obv they rip you off.
David - thank you for starting such an interesting discussion. Now any chance of a profile photo of you good self - with or without bicycle! Thanks C x
I really do like living in France. I enjoy the food, the wine, the sunshine in the Var and most of all my friends that I ride with who are all members of the Roquebrune Sur Argens cycling club and mostly speak no English. I enjoy going to their parties and receiving awards for things I cannot even pronounce. I like trying to converse in French to functionaries at the Mairie, CPAM and the Sous Prefecture, I enjoy it more when we come to an understanding and speak a little of both Canadian English and Var French. I am thrilled to be a part of "Survive in France" although I think IRONY may have been an afterthought. The only reason that I initiated this topic was to try to understand various responses to the expensive inefficiencies that I everyone living in France must endure. My final word on this is Mutuelles are a travesty. The concept or need is born out of poor planning, fear and political expediency. My 1800 euros per year would be much better spent providing children with special needs a place to play and learn than in the Capital Account of Allianz.
In that case I’m an expatriate ex-pat.
Well said David.
Hi David. Please understand, I'm not attacking SFN in my long post. Why would I do that - I'm a voluntary member ? (Though I do believe that the name does you no favours - and probably attracts a 'certain type' of expat to your clan - ones who it seems often lack your sense of irony and take the name at face value). By the way, no one has ever accused me of lacking a sense of humour - if that remark was sent my way.
What I am attacking is the attitudes and mindset of some members - sadly often the most active ones in the chat rooms. I mean do you ever actually read some of the stuff that people post ? It's awfully depressing reading and occasionally borderline racist. If you recognise yourself in this parody, then please take your negative whinging, carping, small-minded, xenophobic attitudes back home to Blighty and leave France for those of us who love its quirky ways - at least most of the time ! There, I feel much better now.
I suppose it's essential for you and other Scots to have a sense of humour especially if you are a Scots footy supporter !!!
Did you hear the one about the Scottish goalkeeper ?..........................
Some people just don't get irony. Fortunately apart from Rehillian exceptions most members of this forum appear to have a sense of humour. I see no need to change the name. By the way it's expatriates not ex-patriates nor yet ex-pats the last are forrmer Irish citizens.
:-)
@ Brian - thank you for replying for me! xx
It strikes me that one of the things coming across from British, or Britain originating, people on this thread is that the famous reputation for wit, one of the key components to the sense of humour Britons are renowned for, has been bypassed. All in all, wit accommodates such comedic qualities as irony, paradox, contradiction, surprise, misdirection, hyperbole,ambiguity, metaphor, pun and reframing. Humour is also reflective of or imitates reality, sometimes deviating meaning into the unreal or surreal.
Survive is and possesses a lot of those qualities as it is used here. Suggesting, for example, enjoy is a riskier venture. It falls flat because it lacks irony or ambiguity, almost compels people to have a good time and brush many of the questions that arise aside, because there should not be any if everybody was busy enjoying. Most of our friends are French and they do not necessarily enjoy France, even if the majority of them have limited or no experience of any other country.
Some of the 'moaning' that goes on constantly requires humour to put the brakes on occasionally or slap it down other times, better to make it funny for others than unpleasant for all, as I am sure most people will agree. However, in terms of the many discussion topics that arise, surely many people are surviving in a way that French folk are too, bureaucracy being number one object of attention so very often. That state functions are so often portrayed farcically by so many and so often is part of the humour that comes with the name. I will be the first to admit that that is perhaps difficult to nigh on impossible for some of the US, Dutch, German, French and other members to get to grips with but without the humour they too might well find the entire site flat and unappealing.
Just think outside the frame a bit and if absolutely necessary have a humour transplant then you too will come to understand and survive the word survive. Easy-peasy innit?
Regarding the ex-pat vs immigrant discussion; I’m not an immigrant because I’m a European and have been since the 1st of January 1973 and a very enthusiastic European at that. My country of choice in “my” Europe is France but having been born in London I suppose I could be refferred to as an ex-pat QED 
My two-pennorth for what it is worth. No secret, I don't like the name and also feel it is negative. I have stopped referring to it in full as it annoys my French wife at just the sound. I now just call it SFN.
Talking of which although I have noted one or two French people on the site, don't you think having more visiting and participating would enrich the input? If my wife is an example - and I appreciate it is not a prime survey,and almost certainly she is not in the target group of SFN as it stands today.
My limited view is that just maybe people who ARE French might just be able to help us 'survive' France even better than the most well-intentioned ex-pat (immigrant - yes the irony doesn't escape me either)?