We need more Austrians here!
Most Intermarchés sell Heinz Baked Beans :D ;)
Ow, but then from the word go we had children in two classes at school and that was where it began and has shaped our social scene. They are all parents, grandparents, other relatives or carers of children in classes with ours and all are French by chance rather than choice.
That is awful Heather, just horrid. I want to let of expletives here but I won't. :(
What I will say is that I have two bad experiences with Brits here, and they have both been in the Hyper U... strange that.
What is it that gets into people when they are shopping....? *le sigh*
How rude! Personally I really appreciate the effort that anyone of any nationality makes to speak to me in English - whatever their accent is like. Even if it is just a couple of words from a waiter in a restaurant who has overheard us speaking in English and then says "bye bye' rather than au revoir, I see that as making the effort. I don't think I could have bitten my lip!!
Haha, made me chuckle, I totally get your viewpoint, and I did ask!
Thank you Richard, I suspect you've summed it up nicely. I guess in the end we can put it down to human nature!
Unfortunately, wherever you go in the world, it always seems to be the most ignorant who have the loudest voices from which to shriek whilst scratching their craniums from the top of the most barren tree! haha
Well - that sums it all up. What a thoroughly decent lot the members of SFR are! (Apologies if that is a split infinitive).
How kind - thank you
What is with the 'mini-Britain' in France notion that I've observed? Why be in France if you don't want to speak the language, work, live and use the services of locals? All good points that I've been wondering myself Gordon.
Two of our best Brit friends here harldy speak any french, not due to unwillingness, but due to age. They go to classes, but not good ones, as our town is small and restricted and they have to pay because they are retired. They have been here for 10 years, but have also found french friends, none of whom mind their lack of language skills because they are such nice people. We help them out a lot and we don't mind at all. From the outside it may seem strange that they bother to stay as they suffer hardships from the language barrier, but they also love the french and their country.
That sounds decent Doreen, I'm in Limousin, not been here long enough to feel associated with any Brits, or anyone for that matter, but in time, I hope I find a bunch like the sort you are friendly with now. :)
Haha, Martin see my response to Angela, I keep hearing sentiments like yours...
On the funny side, if so many Brits hold this view about each other, it makes for a great reel of slapstick comedy in my mind. Just picturing everyone running around with rubber knives in ffwd with 'Benny Hill-esque' style background music. :P
Being British isn't necessarily an indigenous origin, but I hear you Angela. I feel the same, I just couldn't help but notice that the only two bad experiences with people I have had since being here have been with English (specifically) people, and that the French seem wary of Brits generally, though not in an unpleasant way, just cautiously so.
I have 3 good British friends out here now however, and even they complain about the English! So I wanted to see was this actually a 'thing'....
After 6 years here in rural Cantal: We befriended one English couple but after a year they split up and she returned to UK. Another English couple - but after a year the husband has just died, leaving her in a complete mess on her own in the middle of nowhere. One other English couple who dog-sit for us and are very nice friends. Otherwise all our friends and neighbours are French and accept our whole-hearted attempt to learn/savage their language and customs from scratch when we arrived in their midst. We "know of"/"have met occasionally" about three other English couples, but they are much younger and we have little in common, so we stick to our French friends. We moved to Cantal to join a French community and not a Dordogneshire British commune; although I do miss proper Heinz tomato soup and baked beans!
It always amuses me when you get the "How Long Have You Been Here?" brigade having a little competition to see who is the most integrated.
That and the "All Our Friends Are French" brigade. You wouldn't go around in the UK maintaining that you only socialise with Native Americans / gays / labour voting home brewers so why the heck do people feel the need to do the same when they cross the channel?!
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I couldn't agree with you more...most the English we have met since moving over here are two faced, bull-shiting, time wasters. With the exception of a few who have become very good friends.
Heather, I have done too much of this on SFN over the months, but the too much was saying that I am a Cambridge man. The person in question said that I did not sound like an East Anglian, to which I said no university, studied and taught there. He then said that I must be 'a pompous git with the wrong accent'. I gather it is because I have a London council estate background prior to Cambridge. I remember his words very clearly, but my own I do not so well, but they were along the lines of 'Oh well Mr Know-it-all, got that wrong didn't you, crawl back into you own little hole'. Rude, I know, but fire with fire. Some time a few months later in the pharmacy he was looking for somebody to help him buy something, he asked me to help him. I said one word: "Jamais".
My (limited ) experience is very similar.
Given I work with two Poms (luckily not whinging Poms as us crude Antipodeans are wont to mention), their comments about the French were relatively derogatory (rude, arrogant etc) making me approach my house hunting trip to France 2 years ago with some trepidation. And they were almost right - two blokes got close to a fist fight at the car hire place and when we asked for directions from a lady at a house in a small village, we were treated dismissively and rudely. Only problem was, they were all English !!. The French we met couldnt have been nicer
However since actually taking the keys to the house, my experience with the Brits and other expats in our little village (when I get a chance to visit from DDA) could not have been better. We have a small group (and very much not a clique) comprising 6 Irish, 3 Pommies, 2 Thais, 3 Aussies, 2 Norweigans and assorted French who could not have been more welcoming or kind and have gone out of their way to be supportive. Their kindness is only matched by the local French residents who have not disparaged my atrocious French and both groups have kept an eye on the house for us, checked mail and generally made me feel very welcome.
The only criticism I would have of Team Trebes, as my son named them, is that early on we were watching a rubgy match at the local winebar, drinking red wine at 6 am on a Sunday morning (as you will) and at the beginnning there were 9 English in the bar, cheering on England who subsequently lost. By that time, those same 9 English had become 5 Irish, 3 Scots and a Welshman.
Anyway, I ramble - there's good and bad every where and at this stage I have been very lucky to get very very good
Heather,
If you are on SFN, I can't imagine for one minute that you are stuck up or pompous! Your photo certainly doesn't give me that opinion either. Your acquaintance was probably jealous and better off remaining an acquaintance or less... ;)