moving to France

[Jean]

Millymollymandy (that's a mouthfull to type!) - surely if you just need a new prescription for your kine you can telephone your doctor and he will prepare it and just give it to you between appointments? Ours does - maybe we are lucky and certainly we've been here 14 years so we know him well; but he doesn't want to waste time with us any more than we do with him. And he doesn't charge us for it either.

France is a bed of roses - but don't forget roses have thorns.

I have a feeling - although I will happily stand corrected by others - that if you go to an area where there is not a dense population of Brits then you will perhaps find it easier to mix with the French. (Yes, that's a generalisation, I know!) The more you try to fit in the more you will. In other words up to you!

[ina]

Millymollymandy (that's a mouthfull to type!)

She answers to MMM!

[Millymollymandy]

Millymollymandy (that's a mouthfull to type!) - surely if you just need a new prescription for your kine you can telephone your doctor and he will prepare it and just give it to you between appointments? Ours does - maybe we are lucky and certainly we've been here 14 years so we know him well; but he doesn't want to waste time with us any more than we do with him. And he doesn't charge us for it either.

Well I hope so! Will report back!

I have a feeling - although I will happily stand corrected by others - that if you go to an area where there is not a dense population of Brits then you will perhaps find it easier to mix with the French. (Yes, that's a generalisation, I know!) The more you try to fit in the more you will. In other words up to you!

Sadly that's where we live. Nobody welcomed us here, indeed we didn't speak to a single neighbour for about 3 months and the grumpy git from across the road we used to see regularly who we'd say hello to and smile just ignored us.

Now we have an annual hamlet do and everyone is friendly. However we never see them from one year to the next!

I think we live inthe wrong place because so many people talk about their friendly neighbours inviting them into their houses, giving them veg etc. that has never happened to us in Brittany.

Where I lived before in France, whilst I was never invited into anyone's houses they at least took the trouble to come to the house to welcome us here, sometimes with a bag of cherries or similar.

I guess that's one reason why I have been so unhappy a lot of the time in Brittany, until I made a french girlfriend who guess what - posted on an anglophone forum and I realised she lived in the next village so I invited her round to my house. I've been friends with her and her mother (my age) for over 2 years now and the best thing is that they now live in my village!

[chadspad]

Just going back to the self-employment bit - my friends have a gite here which is registered and they pay tax on but they have been refused their carte vitale because the gite business is classed as inactif. They have been told 4500 euros a year for private insurance for 2 adults, 2 kids and thats only the 70% cover. However, they were told that if he worked for 60 days over 3 months, either with an employee or thru the cheque d'emploi system, he would get 4 years health cover.

We have found there are plenty of jobs thru the agencies, OK the pay is usually minimum wage but all your contributions are taken care of by them and the jobs my hubby has had werent necessary for him to have perfect French. I have found thru French forums that people moan theres no work but what that usually means is they want the same jobs as they had in the UK and for the same money - theyre not prepared to start back at the bottom of the ladder for min wage. Hubby came from being a design engineer for an oil and gas company to packing clothes in a warehouse and now as a labourer installing swimming pools.

I have to also say, we love it here and have found the French people only too happy to take us in and be friends. Most of them are actually nicer than the English here! Its great for our son, his school is small and friendly, we have a much wider social circle than we ever had in the UK, the wide open spaces and wildlife are beautiful and yes, the food is fab too.

I would definitely say take a chance but be prepared to work doing things that you perhaps would never have imagined.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Just going back to the self-employment bit - my friends have a gite here which is registered and they pay tax on but they have been refused their carte vitale because the gite business is classed as inactif. They have been told 4500 euros a year for private insurance for 2 adults, 2 kids and thats only the 70% cover. However, they were told that if he worked for 60 days over 3 months, either with an employee or thru the cheque d'emploi system, he would get 4 years health cover.

Ah - yes. Just being above board is not enough: you have to gain a SIRET number....

But you are bang on about employment. OK la belle Vendée is one of the easier places to find work, but it is possible pretty much anywhere in France provided, as you say, you are prepared to do anything. Problem is, these days fewer and fewer people are prepared to do "anything" to get what they want. Speaking French is also essential, which, oddly, some people forget. It doesn't have to be good French, just comprehensible.

[oldfella]

I worked for an temporary employment agency on and for for 3 years and to my surprise I now get a pension of 17 Euros per month which is better than a kick in the bum

[Millymollymandy]

Millymollymandy (that's a mouthfull to type!) - surely if you just need a new prescription for your kine you can telephone your doctor and he will prepare it and just give it to you between appointments? Ours does - maybe we are lucky and certainly we've been here 14 years so we know him well; but he doesn't want to waste time with us any more than we do with him. And he doesn't charge us for it either.

If only! I just saw the locum who was the one I saw originally when I broke my foot last summer. The man has verbal diarrhoea. Not only was I 20 mins late going in (obviously because he was gas bagging to everyone) but he kept me there 25 mins, whilst my poor husband was waiting for me outside thinking I'd only be about 10 mins!

So, doc had to look at my foot, take blood pressure (both arms), so yes I had to pay, and as he's a locum he can't use the Carte Vitale machine, so yet another Feuille de Soins to post off!

The worst thing is that the man (whose French I have great difficulty in following because he waffles and waffles) decided to 'chat'. First about les anglais in our commune (I wasn't aware there were many), then les anglais in Brittany (yes I know there are loads). Then the history between France and England over the centures. Then all about the various peoples who've invaded England over the centuries - Normans, Vikings etc etc (I know!).

Then Hadrian's Wall and the Celts and did you know that Gaelic was similar to the Breton language (yes I know, will you please write out my ruddy prescription so I can get the eff out of here!!!

Oh and what do you call 'radios' in English? (XRAYS and you've asked me this before, as well as what are crutches called in English ).

Arrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

[theabsinthefairy]

We moved to France in Dec 06 seeking a better and less restricted life for us as a family (12 year old in tow).

I have nothing to complain about here. - no not even red tape!
We all love it.
We grow veg, keep livestock, socialise with our neighbours, and learn French by having prolonged contact with every French person we meet. Any opportunity for a chat helps us learn the language.
I trade a box of eggs for coffees and biscuits with my neighbours while we sit around in each other's kitchens for an hour or two at a time.

My horse is the hamlet lawnmower (8 houses - only 4 occupied), and my hubby trades his mechanical know how for the opportunity to chat and practise his French, and occasional assistance with someone's tractor when we need hay and straw bales moving around, or a bit of ploughing doing.

We rent our UK house out, and are SIRET registered here in France, although rental income is not considered actif in terms of your cotisations, so take good advice in how you register and what as - i.e. micro enterprise, artist, artisan etc.

Take the plunge and have a go. You only live once. Speak a bit of French and it goes a long way. Be more outgoing than you would perhaps have been in the UK, and you will find the French are very friendly. It can take us as long as 20 mins to buy a loaf of bread because of chit chat over the counter - and a stamp can take another 20 mins!

We have also seen and heard of people heading back after relatively short amounts of time here, and mostly gite businesses folding.

We also know of several British enclaves that keep themselves to themselves, have kitchens full of T***o products, and have never progressed beyond a couple of words of badly pronounced French - needless to say - the French are bemused and unhelpful when approached, and can be downright rude at times - and shake their heads when we tell them we are English too. Apparently there is English and there is English.