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What Is It With The French?
15 Answers
Could Shoota or Jourdain explain what is wrong with the French Lazy- Faire attitude?
I very much enjoy the humungous task that Dick Strawbridge and Angie have undertaken with their renovation of a beautiful chateau in la belle France. Dick's engineering skills and Angie's artistic decorative talent is to be applauded. Both their young children attend local French school and speak fluent French.That must be also admired as they truly have integrated happily in their new found environment and country.
Why do the French appear to neglect their older and interesting property and happily sell it on at knock down prices?
I was asked by a colleague of mine to assist him with renovations on a fantastic farmhouse he had bought in Brittany for sous. No electricity and no sanitation.After a week we had hot/cold running water, flushing toilets ( to a installed septic tank) bath, shower kitchen sink and domestic ( not Agricultural) power Grid arranged. The property was cheap by UK standards but had great potential as a B&B. Sadly ,due to divorce, he sold the property. Why don't the French realise the potential in their own derelict and abandoned property? :-(
I very much enjoy the humungous task that Dick Strawbridge and Angie have undertaken with their renovation of a beautiful chateau in la belle France. Dick's engineering skills and Angie's artistic decorative talent is to be applauded. Both their young children attend local French school and speak fluent French.That must be also admired as they truly have integrated happily in their new found environment and country.
Why do the French appear to neglect their older and interesting property and happily sell it on at knock down prices?
I was asked by a colleague of mine to assist him with renovations on a fantastic farmhouse he had bought in Brittany for sous. No electricity and no sanitation.After a week we had hot/cold running water, flushing toilets ( to a installed septic tank) bath, shower kitchen sink and domestic ( not Agricultural) power Grid arranged. The property was cheap by UK standards but had great potential as a B&B. Sadly ,due to divorce, he sold the property. Why don't the French realise the potential in their own derelict and abandoned property? :-(
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The main factor is likely to be the fact that various criteria which seem largely ignored in the UK mean that older properties are in lots of countries considered uninhabitable, high maintenance cost is one such consideration. This applies to lots of UK properties too, foreigners consider them uninhabitable yet people live in the UK ones. In fact, some fairly recently built houses too are lived in in a way many foreigners simply would not put up with - little or no heating. People who want to be comfortable don't want to pour heat into the outdoors for the lack of insulation. That concern does not figure highly in the UK, often because it is a common shortcoming but more so because in the UK people simply give heating exceptionally low importance/priority.
The French billionaires put money in to sort out Notre Dame. Maybe they don't feel the same about historic chateaux? :-)
There might be a few French folk who wish they had the funds to restore a property.
This has got me wondering if there isn't a similar National Trust-like system in France, why not? Would that help save some of the buildings?
There might be a few French folk who wish they had the funds to restore a property.
This has got me wondering if there isn't a similar National Trust-like system in France, why not? Would that help save some of the buildings?
Not sure I can answer this fully, retro., but I'll give you some bits I know of.
Point 1 is that the countryside has been more or less deserted by younger generations, this has all sorts of awful spin-offs - deserted houses and unsaleable properties being one of them. This applies at all levels. I remember our local small chateau (Brux) being up for sale. The owners stayed with me for B&B when they came down to try to piece it together and I visited them. The walls had cracks in that you could see though (about 3" wide in places). Prices seem cheap from here - but not from a French perspective. This all has a political spin-off in a country vs. metro stand-off, similar to that seen here. Virtually all my area voted either Communist or National Front (often 100% in communes). There is so much more - Napoleonic law makes children responsible for their parents' well-being - but the kids may be in Paris and old folks literally languish inside their hovels (many are) kept alive by visiting nurses and neighbours (I did, honestly, know some of these poor people).
Point 2 - most elderly country-property owners are only too anxious to move into a neat little bungalow on a lotissement (built by commune on the edge of the main village) and get rid of the slog of upkeep of property and land. It is hard slog, I'll confirm, and grassland is apt to be dug up by wild boar for example. They chucked the prices up for the Brits. and went off laughing to their cosy bungalows (paying for them plus a nice little nest-egg), leaving us with the holes in the wall, inadequate plumbing etc., which we all tackled with enthusiasm and pride, boosting the local economy in the process. They are very pragmatic and not at all sentimental.
That's enough for now, I'll probably think of more later and wish I'd rephrased etc. etc.. Hope it helps in your understanding. The thing is, people keep thinking that the French are like us, but with a different language and appealing way of life. To a certain extent this is true and I dearly love the friends I made, but they do NOT think in any way like us of come from the same viewpoints. This became more and more clear over the years and as my French became better and better. I used to think that I would understand them when I became fluent - but I just became more baffled by many thought processes. :) x
Point 1 is that the countryside has been more or less deserted by younger generations, this has all sorts of awful spin-offs - deserted houses and unsaleable properties being one of them. This applies at all levels. I remember our local small chateau (Brux) being up for sale. The owners stayed with me for B&B when they came down to try to piece it together and I visited them. The walls had cracks in that you could see though (about 3" wide in places). Prices seem cheap from here - but not from a French perspective. This all has a political spin-off in a country vs. metro stand-off, similar to that seen here. Virtually all my area voted either Communist or National Front (often 100% in communes). There is so much more - Napoleonic law makes children responsible for their parents' well-being - but the kids may be in Paris and old folks literally languish inside their hovels (many are) kept alive by visiting nurses and neighbours (I did, honestly, know some of these poor people).
Point 2 - most elderly country-property owners are only too anxious to move into a neat little bungalow on a lotissement (built by commune on the edge of the main village) and get rid of the slog of upkeep of property and land. It is hard slog, I'll confirm, and grassland is apt to be dug up by wild boar for example. They chucked the prices up for the Brits. and went off laughing to their cosy bungalows (paying for them plus a nice little nest-egg), leaving us with the holes in the wall, inadequate plumbing etc., which we all tackled with enthusiasm and pride, boosting the local economy in the process. They are very pragmatic and not at all sentimental.
That's enough for now, I'll probably think of more later and wish I'd rephrased etc. etc.. Hope it helps in your understanding. The thing is, people keep thinking that the French are like us, but with a different language and appealing way of life. To a certain extent this is true and I dearly love the friends I made, but they do NOT think in any way like us of come from the same viewpoints. This became more and more clear over the years and as my French became better and better. I used to think that I would understand them when I became fluent - but I just became more baffled by many thought processes. :) x
jourdain, it is not just a case of the French being different from the British, the British are different from pretty much all the rest. Foreigners do not generally follow/subscribe to/like/adopt the perceptions, preoccupations, preferences or priorities of the British. In other words, perhaps considering the British being the odd ones out helps to understand.
FYI, nothing to do with idleness or indeed a fete.
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