There are arses and jobsworths everywhere. Any country at all that you happen to live in will have its share of them & of other disadvantages/inconveniences. I suppose it is, as usual, a trade-off: can I put up with X,Y and Z in return for the benefits of A, B and C. I do think some people move to another country (could be France, could be elsewhere) expecting it to be just like their home country only more picturesque/quaint etc and it is a shock when it simply isn't. That shock sometimes turns into resentment & a feeling that the country in question is being bloody-minded vis-Ă -vis one & one's set of givens. My own view is that wherever you go you will have a good or bad time depending on the baggage you carry with you. I also think it is very possible to go 'home' to that idealised cosy no-place-like-it corner of heaven and feel just as out of the loop as you ever did abroad...
Never give it much thought. I love my family and like my work, and always wanted to get on with life, putting 'earning a living' as important - only to preserve basic independence, but otherwise - last. So many interesting things to think about and to do, impossible in UK where basic survival was much more demanding. Moving to France seemed to me to make my ideas look more realistic - in many ways, and that proved to be correct.
Its been said already on here, Place in The Sun, how many people have bought after watching those programs I know of at least one couple who never having been out of Manchester bought a place in the country acres of land and miles from anywhere because it was cheap would not take advice from myself to visit France for a few holiday get a feel for the place, 12 months later wife was in tears divorce just around the corner they missed the pubs, the police sirens, the dirt, hustle and bustle, walking 20 yards to the shops they are back in Manchester now and loving it, no France isnât for everyone and its not perfect but it ticks more boxes than ever the UK did, I made my mind up in 1979/80 to one day live here but circumstances such as work, divorce and being left with the kids stopped me until I retired but I knew pretty much where I wanted to be and the problems i would encounter, my new wife 15 years ago joined in the fun, we toured France buying our house in the Tarn in 2003 coming here permanently 3 years ago we have done our best to integrate and think we have succeeded we grow our own veg have chickens and goats all get on well with our 4 Old English Sheepdogs, having given surplus veg to some of the locals we have had home made jam and even a pheasant given in exchange our French is poor but we try, it would have been so easy to close the door behind us and speak to no one but thatâs not what we wanted I did that in the UK had a job that kept me out all hours lived in the same road for 40 years i knew no one the one thing for me is that the shops shut on Sunday itâs a family day being a field service engineer I was on call or working each and every Sunday I never had Christmas with my kids the company having contracts with all the major supermarkets and retailers so they were working so was I and everyone else yes I lived in a nice house in a nice village that was rife with drugs as the dealers from the town targeted the little rich kids who daddy gave a tenner to and said clear off, price of a bag of heroin just ÂŁ10, as for going back what for, my son worked in the Middle East and Caribbean islands for years now lives in the north of the UK as a hospital manager my daughter lives way down south, parents are both dead as are lots of my friends if I could buy a house what would we do sit and watch the TV all day or walk around the shops we could not afford to buy the type of house we have here and living on just my pension Is tough but we donât pay tax habitation due to my income neither do I pay income tax and those that moan about paying tax you donât earn it you donât pay it
Veronique, this is why I think when EU should be contacted and complaints filed against France. I think most folks here have done battles with RSI. I am about to take on the Ministry of Sport and the local DDCSPP.
I was chatting with someone this past weekend and France does have the most complaints filed against it it in the EU.
Sandy why do you not rent your house out in UK and rent a property in France like we did, it worked very well for us and when after 5 years we wanted to come home it was easy...unlike a lot of people who have to try and sell their properties which can take a long time and often at a loss. we moved our furniture which was expensive but nice that we had all our own stuff and felt like home straight away. Just a suggestion....
Oh yes and I resent hugely being unable to vote anywhere. If it's on the basis of where I pay my taxes let me vote in France, if it's nationality, in the UK. But nowhere? I feel cheated - politicians should be ashamed.
You're right, Mike. Imagination solves boredom. And if you want the space and the climate and yes, the more reliable healthcare, you will have to put up with missing your UK friends and family and the bureaucracy, and the insane little rules that no one understands. Take just shopping as an example. Only tobacconists can sell cigarettes, only chemists can sell medicines, you can't open your shop on a Sunday unless you're a..a what? well it all depends on where you are and what you want to sell...........but certainly not garden centres or DIY or anything to do with leisure which you can only do at weekends if you work oh, and no sales of overstocks or last year's items except at certain specific times of the year. Oh and even if your car is insured and you have the certificate to prove it in your name, don't forget to sign it on the back or you may get a fine and............well it goes on and on).
Do I regret coming to France in 2000 and living in the South West for most of that time? Not for a minute. I loved the spaces, I loved the clearly defined climate with reliably hot summers, sunny autumns, cold winters and wet springs. I loved the new friends and missed many of the old ones. Any regrets? Well, jumping off the UK property ladder if you're lucky enough to be on it may be foolish as you can't expect your French house to appreciate they do in the insane UK house market and I expected the children to visit more often but of course they didn't because they had their own lives.
I'm with Glen. Those silly 'Place in the Sun' programmes don't mention all the BS you need to deal with here. At least in the UK I know where I stand. Here it is something new: Oh look another tax I din't know about!
Today's fun: Sent in Feuils de Soins and the idiots at RAM Gamex need a copy of the prescription. FFS It's for a bloody EPIPen. Like I'm going to pull one off the shelf at the chemist and print out my own FdS. Sheesh!
Anything you try and do that would be considered a positive elsewhere in the world is 'punished'. Start up a business - you'll have to pay thousands in taxes even if you don't earn a bean. Want to hire someone - you'll have to pay their salary twice: once to them and once to the government.
Free healthcare - my eye.
And don't get me started on their 'regulated professions'.
I think 'In a heartbeat' is where I am at today.
My first comment here on SFN so hello to all you lovely people out there enjoying (or not by the comments) living the DREAM.
The grass Is always greener! We have had a dream of moving to France for approx 5 years now, we have friends with houses in the Correze who have made it their home and are positive they made the right
We know we could afford a much better house with bigger garden/land to grow our own, better position over in France. One comment said 'house prices are rising quickly here in the UK' Sorry, not so, we are building our second house, which we hoped to sell when finished to accomplish the DREAM, alas we will not get any where near what it has cost - it is in a beautiful position, on the side of a hill with a view looking over 4 counties - Why would we want to move? I am 60, running my own business, with huge rental on my premises, Mr tax taking lots of cream, actually, yes I should imagine it is much easier in GB to run your own business, than in France, especially after reading all the forums on the subject.
Then again this is all to do with my retirement plan, so no issue there. I digress so I'll get back to where is better... UK weather is pretty miserable from end of Oct to end of May, cold/wet/drab you get the drift. Summer this year was great! but how many times can we say that? Actually not for 18 years. I know you get harsh winters in France, but it's usually cold and crisp, but am I right - Nov to March at worst? I suppose that depends on where you are. however you can pretty much guarantee a great summer- can't you? Politics and laws, buearocrecy is a pain wherever you are, we will never agree with on everything whoever is saying it. Health system, to be honest, OH and I think the UK should adopt the French system, the NHS is totally on its knees. A friend waiting 6 months to have a hernia op after waiting 2 weeks to get to see the doc? not good - friend in France - Doc next day - op 1 month later - no brainer. Council tax is rediculously high, we pay ÂŁ1800 a year, plus ÂŁ300 per yr water rates. All these gripes to name but a few, how long could I go on. It all ads up to pretty grim here as some of you think it is there. I hereby repeat 'The grass is always greener'.
Revisit your reasons for moving to where you are, before you burn your bridges. Our dream will probably stay just that (in a pipe) so live it for us. I enjoy the forums and envy the brave.
Sandy, it's worked for us and I doubt we'll ever go back--to the States. But based on some of what people are saying, it sounds like a key to feeling good about where you are is being busy and being involved in the local community, having work maybe being able to speak French or at least being able to learn etc. I think I would also have a hard time if I were just 'sitting around the house.' That said. . .sitting around the house sounds very good to me sometimes.
Enjoy your little holiday in UK Veronique and Merry Christmas to everyone on SFN...
Good Luck Veronique, whether in France or UK...
Hi Sandy, no you have not got the rose tinted glasses on...it works out for so many people, I think we were in the minority....you can only try it...nothing ventured nothing gained. Bon Chance !!
Sandy ... do it!
We thought and thought before coming back here, we rented in France and were very lucky to have a good landlord and a nice house and so we had our house here to come back to... financially we were probably better off in France as we got more rent from UK than we paid out for in France even with 'les impots'. I was sorry that it didn't work out for us as it is a beautiful country and the reason we went was eventually the reason that drove us back to the UK ie the slow, backward, stressless way of life...in the end I felt that I was becoming a vegetable, unable to find a part time job, every day the same, only 1 close friend, no energy to do anything ....now I am completely energised with lots to do, funny how when you have nothing to do that you don't want to do anything....moving back has definately worked for us but we are so glad we tried living in France.
Hmm. . .interesting discussion. My husband was born here and has finally found a way to work in his hometown in France--so that's a big incentive for us to stay. For many years we lived and worked in the US--California. We remember San Diego and San Francisco fondly. But when we think of living in the Silicon Valley, it just makes us shudder. Horrible, ugly, boring expensive place to live--unless you work for Google and you are rich.
We came here because I couldn't imagine being a mother and working 65-70 hours a week AND never being able to afford to buy a home. And because my husband needed to be closer to his family and skiing.
Obviously, I miss things. California is generally a very open, diverse place. You can find people from all over the world and since people move around, people are open to making new friends. It makes being a transplant pretty painless, I guess. As I think of starting my own business, I also miss some of the financial simplicity--yet I don't miss knowing that in the US, if your job disappears, so does your income, your health insurance. . .and literally you may be left for dead if you don't have friends and family with serious extra income.
Of course we miss having all the extra money of your US salaries. . .and yet, we've been able to buy a home here and scrimp by on a single income while my daughter has been young. I think I'd rather be on a tight budget in France than on a large (yet somehow insufficient one) in California.
I would say, I'd need a serious motivating factor to move back 'home.' Maybe a really great job opportunity for both of us, or my daughter deciding to do her studies there. . .Otherwise, makes no sense financial or otherwise.
Yes, finance comes into it particularly as regards property prices in the UK. For me the plusses of life in rural France are, quite simply space. To have space in noise-free, traffic-free rural space in most of the UK demands a budget far higher than most people can ever afford.
A French friend asked me the other day whether it was true that many English people said 'love France - pity abut the French' so I said yes, I've heard that. Of course it's absurd but I'm afraid the one thing I miss about the UK is summed up in one French word - 'liberalisme.' In France La Republique isn't some mix of politicans who run the country for the time being, it's an ideal, it's mummy, it's who looks after you as a French citizen. Liberté, égalité, fraternité sure, but the French have somehow divorced liberté from the notion of liberalisme - the right to do as you want provided you don't hurt other people and not expect la République to insure your crops, guarantee your job, protect your language, pay you to exist, make you better and if necessary erect barriers to keep the rest of the world out. It's a wonderful dream but in this overpopulated mechanised world where every one has to fight for a job, heat and food, it is increasingly unreal. I wish it weren't so but seeing the sullen, humourless resentment of this fact in so many French faces every day for me does make life here less than idyllic, despite having the space to enjoy the rual idyll. My wife is French by the way and agrees with the analysis.
Whenever someone used to say 'money only brings you misery' my granddad would say 'aye but at least you can be miserable in comfort'
Finance is definitely the main issue preventing us from having a choice. I always believe that given that choice, I would chose to stay, but that when things are so rough, the tendancy is to need old friends and family more than nice weather and a better government.
It is a real catch 22 situation. Can't go back because of lack of money, not happy here because of lack of money. The big answer to all these questions is the big question. "who has our money?"
Mike, the question came up on a group yesterday and was eliciting some interesting responses, that's the reason for the post. We're not going anywhere :)