ChatterBank1 min ago
Why is Britain not empty when heaven is across the ditch?
Just been reading on another thread how France is a quarter of the price for almost everything and the life is idyllic and you can even get English TV for nowt. yet Calais is inundated with asylum seekers, they are already in Utopia so why risk life and limb to get our relative "sh1te h0le"? I don't get it! why is France not sinking under the wait of our "grass is greener" millions and why are we not living in a Ghost country? Makes you wonder what this place does have going for it! Someone explain please, confused Geezer!
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You need to have money to live in france they don't just give it to you as in the UK. It is almost impossible to get a job if you do not speak French. In the UK you can get a job even if you cannot speak English. I had to walk out of a post office once because I could not make sense of what the person serving me was saying. Strangely I do not have this problem in France, they ALL speak French, isn't that amazing!
These people clamouring to enter the UK are from outside the EU. Many Europeans (and others, actually) would argue that the people in question are extremely misguided to prefer the UK, but then they probably are making their choice simply because they see English as a manageable language (however poor their command is) and a lot of them have some sort of ex-empire background. Also, quite a few among them foresee that from the UK they may be able to go elsewhere, such as to the USA once they have UK documentation. The people we discuss operate under a wide variety of imperatives which most of us find not only ill conceived but much of that is beyond the understanding of the likes of us Europeans - we are totally unfamiliar with the desperation that drives many of them. Finally, the UK media (or at least some among them) are given to highlight the "hordes" whereas actually Italy, Spain and other countries within the EU are under far more pressure from immigration.
An awful lot of English do
In fact Sarkozy shut down French healthcare to those wantinting to retire to France a few years ago because the number of retiring Brits (and others) was just getting silly.
Sadly my French isn't quite business standard yet but if someone offered me a job over there in "Le Sud" you'd not see me for dust, but everybody wants a job in Antibes.
It's getting one that's the trick!
In fact Sarkozy shut down French healthcare to those wantinting to retire to France a few years ago because the number of retiring Brits (and others) was just getting silly.
Sadly my French isn't quite business standard yet but if someone offered me a job over there in "Le Sud" you'd not see me for dust, but everybody wants a job in Antibes.
It's getting one that's the trick!
jake....quite right, the French are no fools, one pays NI and taxes into the UK all your working life and then got to France and expect free healthcare.........what are the French getting out of it? Bu99er all.
In Spain, the UK government agree to pay all over 65´s healthcare taken in Spain...seems sensible.
In Spain, the UK government agree to pay all over 65´s healthcare taken in Spain...seems sensible.
The reason the french tightened up on healthcare entitlements is that so many Brits lied and made claims that they weren't entitled to (just like in the UK)that it was costing the French millions. If you are over retirement age and are entitled to a UK pension the UK government pays all the health costs.
Why Antibes as a choice, jake? Is it because of the science park on the northern edge of it is a growing attraction to those in science and technology?
I lived in Antibes as well as Britain until recently. Why does anybody think living in France is cheaper than living in Britain? That's nonsense. Wine is cheaper, of course, but, curiously, top class wine seems about the same. Overall the cost of living there is the same.
The much vaunted health service is still better than ours, but everyone has to take top-up insurance because the government only pays most of the bill and leaves the rest to the patient.
And sooner or later, you come face-to-face with bureaucracy which can be very annoying, impossibly complicated and slow and staffed by people who find any excuse for delay.I once got asked for the title deeds to my flat when all I wanted was the local government department to stop charging me twice for a TV licence. Bank statements, their own bills receipted and proof of i.d. were not enough! (You can't cancel direct debits there.Only the payee can do that).
Like everywhere else, including different parts of Britain, there are pros and cons in living there, that's all.
I lived in Antibes as well as Britain until recently. Why does anybody think living in France is cheaper than living in Britain? That's nonsense. Wine is cheaper, of course, but, curiously, top class wine seems about the same. Overall the cost of living there is the same.
The much vaunted health service is still better than ours, but everyone has to take top-up insurance because the government only pays most of the bill and leaves the rest to the patient.
And sooner or later, you come face-to-face with bureaucracy which can be very annoying, impossibly complicated and slow and staffed by people who find any excuse for delay.I once got asked for the title deeds to my flat when all I wanted was the local government department to stop charging me twice for a TV licence. Bank statements, their own bills receipted and proof of i.d. were not enough! (You can't cancel direct debits there.Only the payee can do that).
Like everywhere else, including different parts of Britain, there are pros and cons in living there, that's all.
As a PS:
It's right about speaking French there. It's basically essential for workers..Mind that doesn't stop all workers. When I had a flat refurbished, the builder was French, as was the plumber, but the plasterer and the electrician were both British (and legal) and the general handyman used for small jobs was a Swede. Neither of the Britons spoke any passable French; the boss, happily, spoke some English. In Antibes yacht harbour it's quite hard to find a French worker. When it was built, the locals expected all the work but yacht owners soon got fed up with workers for whom ' I'm coming back on Thursday' should be answered by ' A Thursday in which month, and are you sure it'll be a Thursday?'
It's right about speaking French there. It's basically essential for workers..Mind that doesn't stop all workers. When I had a flat refurbished, the builder was French, as was the plumber, but the plasterer and the electrician were both British (and legal) and the general handyman used for small jobs was a Swede. Neither of the Britons spoke any passable French; the boss, happily, spoke some English. In Antibes yacht harbour it's quite hard to find a French worker. When it was built, the locals expected all the work but yacht owners soon got fed up with workers for whom ' I'm coming back on Thursday' should be answered by ' A Thursday in which month, and are you sure it'll be a Thursday?'
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