Watching them squirm

Your question to Brian was “Do you live here Brian?” How is that a question on integration?

Personally, I freely admit to not being “integrated” - but then Iived in London most of my adult life and I was not “integrated” in London, if you mean being friendly with the neighbours and going to lotto afternoons and tea-dances.

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So you don’t live there then :yum:

No of course not, he lives là-bas

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Sorry mate. But do not know

Oh no we disapprove of many Dutch people because they come on holiday with absolutely everything they need for their stay and spend €0 locally. Also they are seen as rude.

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But do you live here, or there?

It also doesn’t clarify what blade46 meant by ‘here’. She might mean the UK, or France, or wherever Blade happens to be at the time. Hull, Aberdeen, Nairobi or Raratonga…

Lots I would think.
Me, obviously :wink:

Edited to add really we don’t spend any time talking about les anglais because why would we, there’s plenty of other stuff to talk about and if someone we meet/know/work with/who is a friend happens to be English that’s probably the least significant thing about them and won’t really come up in conversation unless for some specific reason eg they have aged parents on the wrong side of the channel and we know they worry or have to travel.

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Mostly here but occasionally there :yum:

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I am omnipresent, Mark. And I move in mysterious ways…

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Because living here and visiting are different. That is why it was a question

I do not mean being friendly with neighbours or even the rather denigrating going to tea dances

I mean being able to speak, have a conversation, following French values, not choosing your own country artisans over the French, paying taxes and social charges here…, anything that can be done to integrate and become part if French community and society

I thought it was you I saw crab-walking around Carrefour last week. I thought at first you were having some kind of spasms, but now it makes sense. Mysterious crab-walking.

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Don’t be daft. Here as you well know is France

Although you never know. Might be azerbastin

Goodness. Never heard or seen that. Whilst you maybe right do you have experience of that?

What do you mean? Talking about stingy Dutch people? French people in areas where there are lots of Dutch second-home owners do it all the time. There’s a big difference between those Dutch people and the ones who live in France full-time.
There are loads of Dutch 2nd home owners in the area I live now so there’s a corresponding amount of bitching. ‘C’est dingue ils apportent même leur PQ et ne dépensent pas un rond ici’.
You probably wouldn’t be aware of it because you’re foreign too.
It’s something I really noticed after moving to the SW because there are lots, where I come from on the Côte d’Azur there are very few as it’s much more expensive.

No - I saw him too. I think it was the Flaxborough Crab as documented by Colin Watson :wink:

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More for my reading list!! :slightly_smiling_face:

I do find your contribution on SF strange. In fact I wonder why you are here at all since you seem to have a very low opinion of many Brits. And a “holier than thou” attitude to integration. You seem to think you know people on here better than we know ourselves and are quick to query what we are saying - unwise in the case of @vero, among others - and often come over as quite rude. Are you Dutch by any chance?

It would be pleasant if you told us more about yourself and your life here then perhaps we can get a sense of who you are. For example, are you retired? Have you worked in France, how many years have you been here? Maybe you’ve said all this elsewhere, if so, my apologies but at present I have a large number of threads muted.

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I am aware of it as I lived in the Perigord and even despite being foreign I do get the subtleties. Oh yes!