Actually I never got around to introducing myself to the maire, having had the house for seven years it’s possibly a bit late 
I certainly try to be polite, buy stuff at the village shop, have at least one meal in the bar - but my French isn’t up to calling in for casual conversation of an evening.
I don’t think there is a problem, it’s just general sensitivity to not inadvertently treading on toes or offending local custom or sensibilities (which, having Asperger’s, I’m good at anyway).
I was a new arrival in Yorkshire for over 30 years 
. Then again, I was originally from Lancashire.
sounds like you’re doing well…
One of these days you’ll get the chance to meet & greet the Maire or maybe never… it’s certainly never too late. 
I know they/we chuckle from time to time, when we find ourselves greeting someone we assume to be a new-arrivals only to discover they’ve been here/had property for years.
EDIT Unless you’ve done it already… check if there’s a regular Bulletin issued by your Mairie, might be on-line, might be hard-copy… usually interesting info etc.
Here, all residents get a copy dropped in their letterbox but 2nd home owners need to ask for a copy at the Mairie…
You’ll know if you’re visiting relatives in Yorks, how you can tell which side of the Pennines you’re on, don’t you…
If you’re west of the Pennines in Lancs they’ll say “you’ll have a cup of tea” and if in Yorks they’ll say “You’ll 'ave 'ad yer tea then”
Oh that’s the same as the Edinburgh/Glasgow divide, apparently. Edinburgh Yorkshire meme combat.
I didn’t know that… thanks 
Yes we have an annual bulletin and irregular updates in between - in fact you have reminded me that I haven’t read this year’s yet.
We also get the minutes of the council meetings online, obviouly these tend to be a bit behind the times as each set of minutes is only approved at the next meeting but they can be a useful way of finding out what is happening in the village.
Sadly the new, flashy commune website seems to have “lost” the archive of older meetings, but the site is archived by www.archive.org so they are probably there.
Ha ha… if I’m delivering to English folk, I generally ask them to read it carefully… 'cos I’ll quiz 'em on it all … next time I see 'em… 
ours are fully up to date and within days of the meeting to which they relate… and includes the approval (or otherwise - by addendum or corrigendum) of the previous version (already emailed) as is often the convention.
The minutes are also posted on the notice boards throughout the commune and generally accepted that they may change, if challenged at the next meeting… same meat, different gravy perhaps but I think our maire believes in getting the information “out there” at the first possible opportunity as some of the items covered may be taking place before the next meeting.
we have a local (not my neighbour) who watches the notice board to ensure that the “results” of the Friday night council meeting votes… are published by Wednesday at the latest… or else our poor Secretaire will get reported to the Prefecture for breach of whatever… 
poor secretary… as if she hasn’t enough to cope with 
Exactly… overworked and yet she still goes out of her way to help anyone in need (often in her lunch hour). She’s a gem.
Our home was a second home for quite a few years. And that worked out very well as people got used to seeing us, and we slowly got to know who’s who in the village, our nearest neighbours and others. So when we moved here full time the ground was prepared and we were able to work out those who might have views closest to our own. And we used all local artisans for renovation which helped, and invited everyone round to look at the finished product. The older generation knew the inside from before so were pleasantly surprised.
We bought our house one February and came over that Easter; sat on the terrace one evening and a face appears at the gate. The maire, whose mairie is in the next village, had heard we had landed and had come over to welcome us and tell us about the commune. Ten years on and he’s still in office. A good man!