Jonzjob":2fwranm6 said:
Not only do they speak funny, but bleedin fast too. Add to that the Languadoc accent and it's like a Geordy on speed! :shock:
The way things are going they may not be using this funny money for that much longer? :mrgreen:
Not only on the wrong side but have a quaint practice called 'Priority a droight' which means that they can pull out of unmarked tracks/lanes/small roads onto a fast moving main road without looking AND THEY DO!!!!! Also, a very little known fact is that their indicators are connected directly to their electricity meters and they get carged for every time they use them, but it isn't a real problem and nobody knows what the charge would be because they have never been used? ](*,) ](*,)
Thought I'd join in!!
When we moved here just about everything seemed ridiculously cheap but its slowly but surely gone the other way.
The thing that really bugs me is the tools. Its so much cheaper in the UK BUT...... the power tools have 3 pin plugs and you can wave goodbye to your guarantee if you change it. So I still have a load of 3 pin adapters all over the place.
How stupid is it, that I can buy a Bosch router in the UK including postage to France for around £300 and its over €450 here. A circular saw was just as bad. This does not compute. Trouble is of course, if you do have to claim, it has to go back to the UK because the 'engineers' here are incapable of doing an electrical safety check 'cos they don't like the plug.
Also, the difference in price between the local shops and the big boys is simply astonishing. I know that we save on petrol and want to support the locals but there are limits. I tend to shop for everything at once and make a trip into town. Hopefully not running out of anything at short notice.
My wife suggests that the price of things merely reflects the fact that you have to offer a ten year guarantee for your work, not sure but possible. Maybe they just like making extortionate profits.
However, I still love living here. The people (yup they are mostly FRENCH) are wonderfully friendly, there is real community spirit still and inevitably, the food and that red stuff that John drinks are quite good too. Wouldn't want to move back as so many seem to be doing now that the exchange rate doesn't make the same sense.
So many people have an unrealistic view of starting a business in a foreign country. There seem to be more Brits offering business services than there are to use them.
I had a narrow escape with the give way to the right thing. The old guy in the Citroen didn't even look - just continued happily along at a steady 90. I just saw him in time and slowed enough to miss. Reminds me of some mothers do 'ave 'em. "but it was my right of way!!"
with the guy on the phone.
