Really Brian....more employed than self employed...where did you get those figures from... maybe a good idea for a forum...how many of us are employed how many self employed...? I maintain both my sister in laws wouldnt be in such a good employment situation in France... I have countless UK friends in our town...and know one who is employed...by another English builder! all the rest are self employed...so our town must be very unrepresentative...
My favourite answer Simon....about time someone mentioned romance....
Carol, there are ten of thousands of employed UK citizens in France, then other EU citizens. AEs are far fewer, that is all I am saying. There are far less self-employed 'Brits' than there are employed ones. Nothing to do with Filipinos and all the other people who get wrok wherever. Lithuanians are EU also, no idea, didn't look. However, a lot of skilled building workers in large companies in this area are Poles earning much more than in Poland...
There was a girl ...
sorry Brian...bear out what I say in what respect? in terms of Brits and others returning from France... the figures I have read were higher...I rounded them down...
I have a Filipino sister in law living with my brother in Eastbourne...she got a job within 2 months of moving to the UK....she works in a residential home for people with learning difficulties...she had previous experience of working in the care field. My husbands brother is married to a Lithuanian who has worked since her marriage to my brother in law...as an accountant and earns in excess of 40k......now what chance that either of these women would be working in France?
Carol, I find statistics very useful, as boring as they may be, INSEE who do all censuses and population studies does not bear out what you say about Brits, and indeed, other EU citizens mainly being self-employed. In fact, only a relatively small proportion or the working UK citizens are in fact AEs at all. I'll let you go for a look yourself. Incientally, INSEE is the most advanced statistical office in the world in that it was the one that devised the rolling census and is streets ahead in extending that to such areas as employment surveys, so anything you read is accurate within a very few months at worst.
We came because the UK treated my OH shoddily as a foreigner in many respects, I got flack from even officialdom for marrying a foreigner and had been at the end of my tether with England for some years anyway. We both like France, what politicians are doing to the place is another question that is being dealt with on another post. We have no more 'battles' than we did in the UK so EDF and FT are just like there, so with the wine and wonderful people we are happier here than there.
have a sister in law thinking of moving to Canada...my husband and family came from Canada originally and my sister in law maintains her Canadian passport. I didnt realise it was so expensive in Cananda...I havent been there for close on 28 years....husbands family from Ontario which I loved....so clean....so bright....nice people and very friendly...especially if you had an English accent!
The warm hearted people of the south, the fabulous delish food, the garden that does not stop blooming, the rare rain fall compared to BC Canada and low cost of living compared to where we came from. Huh? Now that I think about it also love the close location to other locations in Europe...
The list goes on and on. We haven;t come across too many things we dislike yet, except the amount of time it takes to get things done.
Th weather was the main reason, we wanted to ride bikes and motorbikes, and swim and get outside!
I guess if you live in the countryside its a good option. I have noticed that many jobs advertised are minimum wage. Sometimes when I shop and buy meat or see the cost of clothing, I do wonder how some families manage.
We moved to France 16 years ago. My husband was offered a job in the aeronautical industry just outside Toulouse. It was not a difficult decision to make! We had just come back, a year early from working in the USA, and our job prospects were not that good.
Since then my husband has worked for several companies her, we have 3 children who are all bilingual! Unlike a lot of Brits here they go to a french school and we live in a village away from "Little England". We own a piece of paradise which has a meadow and woodland and we are working on the house so we will live there one day. This place is very quiet, real heaven!
Fantastic! you did pretty much what we did....kids gone and then time for some adventures before we get too old! I think the red tape would come top of the list for irritations here....no surprises there.....but of course its balanced by all the good things you list above. Are you near Brantome? that was one of the places very high on our list of places to live in! I wish you well and hope you find something interesting in terms of a job/career/wage earner......thinking outside the box is required...actually....maybe that would be a good idea for the forum....what jobs or careers we adapted to when moving here.
We sold up and moved to France in June this year. We were both unhappy with our lives and jobs in England and with our children leaving home we wanted to do something utterly different before we were too old to take up the challenge. We need to earn a living if we are going to be able to stay more than 2 years and only time will tell if we can do that successfully. Of course there are some frustrations (bureaucracy mainly but our approach is to grin and bear it because we sure as hell can't beat the system!) but here are some of the things that we love about our new life in the north Dordogne (in no particular order):
- the joy of driving on open roads
- the sense of space
- peace and tranquility
- beautiful countryside
- fresh, tasty food
- clean air
- not being judged by the car we drive
- lunch time
- drinking cheap yet excellent wine
- the appreciation of culture and heritage
- ability to own a piece of heaven for a fraction of the cost in England
- daily fresh baked bread
- long walks with the dogs without ever meeting another soul
- kissing the neighbours every time we say hello
- generous French neighbours bringing us haunches of wild boar
- politeness - everyone says "Bonjour" without fail
- respect for the elderly from teenagers
- well behaved children in restaurants
That's all I can think of for now!
hmmm...I think possibly the Languedoc is my favourite part of France....though our place is pretty far down, St Cyprien.....is it France or is it really Catalunia? anyway...it works for me!
Looking at your post, Carol, there is not much for us to add to your comments - they seem to cover the reasons for living in the Languedoc region very well. Don't like the corrida, however.
Kerry I did wonder at one stage about undertaking a TEFL. My daughter taught in Sardinia and Korea using her TEFL and then decided to go the whole hogg and retrain as a teacher. Do you live in a town/city...I do wonder about using a TEFL in a country area and whether you find enough pupils. I have a friend who moved to Spain last year who has plenty of children under 14 she is teaching English to but she is just outside Alicante.
I bought a ruin as a holiday home and after five days back in the UK I found I needed to be back in Brittany. I rebooked my ferry ticket. Two weeks later I had to return to Cornwall and again rebooked for an earlier ferry back to Brittany. I just couldn't seem to stay away, even though I had a really lovely house in Cornwall. I never intended to live here, just couldn't seem to stay in the UK anymore. I love it here. I love the empty roads in my department, the excellent health service which I seem to have used so much, the people, the language, the food, the space, the quiet, the amount of water - streams and lakes, the friendliness of my neighbours - much better than in Cornwall, being able to have so many animals with the extra land I could afford, the warmer weather, the feeling of contentment I have when I'm here.
You are right most of us are self employed.
We have found something which we can do and where there is a need for our services.
You are right about the multi ethnic mix and that is a great thing about UK. My London
friends came from all over the world.
But I feel Carol that you miss the total life style of UK too and as you can see an
easier route in UK....that is the way you are going.
We all want something different.
My world of catering was becoming so commercial and materialistic....you hate that word...BUT
the materialistic side of fine dining was no longer what I wanted.
But I conciously moved here to set up Clos des Saveurs.
I knew that things were going to get very tough....here...there and everywhere.
Oh dear...now you will have me spoil the nice sentiments I have put above! This is part of living in France that I dont like!
There are some French nurses in London....but many more German, Spanish, Portuguese nurses and many nurses from the Eastern block in the UK....and of course those from Africa/Asia etc. Part of me Barbara misses the big mixing bowl of the UK....I like working in a multi ethnic mix....and that as far as I can see, doesnt happen much here. I am going back to nurse...have a job starting in November...nursing in a hospital which will be fine for the time being.
It never actually hit me before I moved here....but most Brits working in France seem to be self employed. I never noticed that prior to moving here. France employs mainly French people...fine and dandy unless you happen to be part of the EU and have ruled that all europeans have the right to live and work in other member countries...seems some countries practice this more than others; I think we all grow and learn working with other nationalities.....thus...I return to the UK!
Interesting to read this....
It has arrived at a perfect moment.
It probably would be difficult for a British nurse to find
work in a French hospital although I know of one in St Foy
Hospital.
How easy will it be in UK?
Are there many French nurses in UK hospitals?