- The Languedoc Forum -

[Lewis Gunn]

I was sitting at a local fete recently along with a few mates. We’ve all lived down here for many years and, by sheer coincidence, been involved as participants in the forum scene at various times. The alcohol flowed rather too freely and one among us launched into his analysis of the ex-pat forum scene. Before I go any further I should perhaps stress that the conversation was centred on events elsewhere, not the LP.

The general feeling is that there is a gulf between those of us who are permanently resident and the bulk of the part-timers. We all went into the forum scene thinking it would be a way of passing on some of our hard won experience. In practice it does not quite seem to work like that. There was a general agreement that the following topics are particularly irritating:-

Ryanair. So far they’ve been 100% safe. The total fares are invariably far lower than any other mode of transport. We all remember the days before low cost airlines. When the cheapest option was the coach. Eighteen hours of purgatory. Coming by train might mean changing trains three or four times and, maybe, crossing Paris on the Metro. So why whinge on and on? Anyway we only go back to the UK once in a blue moon!

English Foodstuffs. If your life cannot be lived without Liptons’ tea, HP Sauce, Heinz Baked beans etc, why bother to leave the UK?

English speaking artisans. Just because the guy speaks English does not make him/her any good. What’s wrong with employing a local craftsman?

Lack of basic French. Typified by requests such as “Can anybody tell me if it is possible to go from Narbonne to Bezier by train?” You’ve managed to log on to this web-site. Why not log on to SNCF and cheque the horaires? It ain’t brain surgery.

Food and Wine. Boring, boring, boring! Over the years we’ve worked out what we like to drink and where to buy it. Like the majority of French people eating out is an occasional treat, not the central pillar of our existence.

Things are not helped by the dynamics of many fora. There is a general tendency for a small number of contributors to dominate the scene. They set a narrow agenda and it becomes difficult to stray outside the unwritten boundaries. Very often this becomes semi-formalised by the way the forum is moderated.

In the end we all reached the same conclusion. Heavy indulgence in the ex-pat forum scene is a sure fire way to blowing a fuse. Best either walk away completely or, at least, limit participation to the occasional sortie.

LG

PS I repeat my belief that this forum is, by and large, an exception. Possibly because it is not moderated in the usual sense and left to the good judgement of those that wish to contribute.

[TC]

Hi Lewis--hope you feel a whole lot better now that you have got that off your chest!!

By the way I am a "part-timer" (but could quite happily give up "Rainy" England tomorrow! ) and I enjoy looking at this forum to keep in touch with what is happening in my "part-time" area (Agde) and also appreciating the useful and at times helpful comments.

My son lives in France with his French wife and our grandchildren and I think he would be a bit miffed if I stopped bringing his "English" food supply. (old habits die hard?). That said although I do agree with some of your comments I feel that your opinion of the occasional visit by us "second home" owners is often very biased.

Perhaps you could swop notes with one or two other people on this forum who have a "downer" on those of us who are unable to make the permanent move to France? You could form a club perhaps?

TC

[66to11]

Lewis, I have to agree!
I've (regretfully - as one of the original founding members in 2005) semi-retired from a previously favourite haunt.. things have changed too much and no longer to my personal taste...

[TC]

Looks like you have your first "club" member Lewis!

[66to11]

Lewis and I go back a long(ish) way! Not always amicably(!), but on this one I am more or less in agreement - though not totally! For example, I rarely drink alcohol of any kind - except when in my French-side family company and then in moderation and the occasional "pression" in the "Brasserie 98" in Carcassonne of a Saturday. The "religion" of wine leaves me indifferent, I'm afraid... I do quite like bretonne cider, though, as it's refreshing (cold) and hardly alcoholic at 4%.

Another thing is that Lewis apparently still watches UK TV (gathered from another recent post of his). I do not. I am perfectly contented with French TNT, though I would enjoy reception of Swiss German and French TV occasionally - but not a must. I can read the Tagesanzeiger if I feel homesick for Zürich and surroundings (where I have two daughters in their 40s who've lived there since 1970.) I can also (since Stephen's TNT aerial installation) now watch Arte in German - which is great!

The only British "dependence" I have is the occasional tea purchase - but I can do with the "Tee Corsé provided by certain suprmarkets if the original is not available.. and I do enjoy the occasional McV Rich Teas, though I can do without.

Having lived outside the UK since 1970 (24 years Switzerland and 15 years France) with last visit to the UK in 1992, married to a Swiss-Italian in 1964, then divorced and remarried to a Bretonne-French 28 years ago, I guess my connections with the UK are rather nebulous.
My sister and her husband who still live in my natal Torquay come over here regularly rather than me visiting them. When they describe today's Torquay it's like another world.

I admit to being a rather atypical Brit - being an enthusiastic European - but it doesn't bother me. If one would press the point, I suppose I would consider myself as an expat(riot) rather than an expat(riate).

[Lewis Gunn]

May I add a few more words on this topic?

I don’t have a downer on part-time residents – honestly! After all, I was one once. I dashed off the original piece in a few minutes. In truth it was in reaction to a particularly crass posting I’d seen elsewhere. So you were right TC, I was getting something off my chest!

In a nutshell all I am trying to say is that, in my experience, the aspirations and expectations of the full-time and part-timers among us can vary. This is not a universal rule, simply a tendency. After all no two individuals have identical personal circumstances. I did not intend to give offence, simply to provoke a little gentle discussion on a subject that impacts many of us.

I see 66to11 has made a couple of contributions. We both live here full time but there the similarity ends. From what I can gather he and I are as much alike as chalk and cheese. The fact that we agree on anything is bordering on the miraculous!

Can I examine one of his points in a little more depth? Yes, I do watch UK TV. But not exclusively. Living in a somewhat remote place I need satellite TV to see the French programmes. Which means I have TNT-Sat and thus access to Belgian, German, Spanish and Italian mainstream channels as well.

Why do I watch UK TV? Simply because of the quality of the output. France has an unrivalled reputation for artistic creativity but, with a few notable exceptions, the quality of home produced TV is dire. There is a huge reliance on bought in material, mainly from the US. On the other hand the UK still manages to produce a fair number of quality programmes and the technologies available to users of Freesat makes TNT-Sat look like something out of the third world.

LG

[TC]

Hi Lewis,
I have read your reply and understand your views to some extent.
I take your point regarding some of the questions/contributions on various forums.

I think the problem sometimes is that a few "ex-pats" do come across as "all-knowing" because "we live here". That said I welcome the sensible comments/postings made on this forum because I find them useful for my next trip down.

At the end of the day we all have our opinions and whilst your comments were perhaps said a bit tongue in cheek I felt that a sensible reply was needed.

By the way it is still raining in England!!!

TC

[66to11]

Rain?? You should have been in Carcassonne earlier this evening - all the electricity went off in the medieval "Cité". Magic! Pouring rain and hail, roaring wind in dark medieval streets.. tourism by panic!!

That was my wife's version - she works in Hotel de la Cité.

Here in Palaja we had very heavy rain and winds but no hail. the electricity went off for about 1/2 hour so the candles were lit.

Panic a few doors down as they came home late and all the windows had been left open - also lots of stuff like cushions in the garden - the second car parked outside the garage with all the windows open!! lots of screams and shouts trying to shut everything and grab all the sodden bits in the dark. Apparently nobody knew where the torches were...

The only panic in our place was just after the downpoor started when the 3 cats and the dog were sheltering under the verandah - when a lightning flash nearly overhead immediately followed by a deafening CRRAACKKK of thunder caused a scattering in all directions...
Oh, and had to restart this PC and do a recovery as a result of the electricity cut too.. fortunately went OK!

At least the garden is happy!!!