konalavadome

Moving to France...

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Ramshackles

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« on: June 12, 2017, 05:03:24 PM »
So its looking very possible I'll be moving to France at some point this summer, somewhere around Lyon.

The move will hopefully provide a bit more time to enjoy life and play more music - hopefully there will be some good bars in which to play music (and preferably an appreciation of indie folk!)

Do we have any expat members?

tone

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« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2017, 07:28:43 PM »
Not me,but I did consider making the same move a few years back to take advantage of the house prices.

I'll certainly be interested to hear about your experience, and of course hear the new music you'll have time to make.

Best of luck to you Ram :)
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adamfarr

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« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2017, 08:29:58 PM »
Doesn't the Viscount live in France? Big place though...

Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra

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« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2017, 05:29:41 AM »
He does indeed.

Hi there Ramshackles. Been living about 30km SE of Angoulême for 12 years. Love it. Sit in the sun all day sipping Pineau and nibbling cheese.

In reality a French day is no longer than a British one so unless you've got the dosh......I can't find time at the moment to get anything laid down though I'm still writing the songs! Too busy trying to earn an honest (or dishonest even) buck.

House prices are nuts aren't they? Anyone'd be mad not to buy one! And all that land you can have....seductive isn't it? You can spend the rest of your life on a ride-on mower.

Bet you're looking forward to it. Sure you'll love it. As Edith Piaf sings....je ne regrette rien.
Good luck to you. Keep us updated.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2017, 12:54:20 PM by Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra »
Take it easy.

You can check my stuff out here. Mini-album getting bigger slowly. Free download if you're poorer than me.

Easy Life - Viscount Cramer

Ramshackles

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« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2017, 10:29:41 AM »
Yeah house prices are certainly a factor!
We will be renting at first though I will be earning a wage similar to what I have been offered by other companies in the south of the UK (ignoring the exchange rate - which is almost 1:1 now anyway!) but paying rental prices more like what we would pay up here in the north, while staying in a comparatively much nicer area! win win win!

There are many things which make me nervous though - having to finally make a serious effort to become fluent is one; I am terrible at languages. I also worry somewhat about fitting in with the expat community. The vast majority of expats are retirees - I am not even half that age yet. Hopefully Lyon is a large enough city to have a healthy expat population of younger/working people. (Not that I have anything against retirees! I just imagine having more to chat about with people in a similar situation!)

What brought you to Angouleme? We had briefly considered Limoges but decided around Lyon/Geneva/Grenoble there may be more job opportunities and perhaps more french classes etc to help with integration.

We will be moving to Roanne to be precise...about an hour NNW of Lyon
 

Stylus

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« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2017, 11:16:44 AM »

      I Have a  mate  Sean   Whos   been living over there  for some years  &  hes  bought  a farm,barn etc  lots of land....&  is always  renovating.building &  even growing grapes! ;D  Hes happy  &  owns  classic cars   so  has   lots of space,good weather  &  now is fluent in both languages. :)
                Another  mate  Richard Ran a  Bed & brekit  place   &  married  a french  lady  she took him for a ride  then took   everything else!  Hes  now  broke  & has a job peeling  onions  in the market place. ;D
                      Outskirts  &  places  away from the city  fine   but   the cities  have  gang culture,drugs,graffitee  &  A lot  influx  from Africa etc........

                                                 Bless  wishes  &  R'gardz    Stylus :)

Wicked Deeds

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« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2017, 12:02:11 PM »
Good luck with the move Ramshacles. I hope that you settle quickly and become very happy. I'd love to do the same.  I'm moving from the North East of England to the North West at the the beginning of August. I'll be taking up a new job and moving in with my fiancée.  Not as far as France but it's still a big move for me.

I think will be great to hear how you settle.

Paul
« Last Edit: June 14, 2017, 11:39:35 PM by Wicked Deeds »

Jenna

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« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2017, 06:51:57 PM »
There was a time not too long ago that I was looking at property prices in France. As everyone knows, the US has gone stark raving mad and it doesn't look set to improve in my lifetime. Our voting system is so rigged, it's been fully taken over by the private defense industry, a multinational one - that's the current suspicion at least by everyone who's been paying attention to the numbers and data trends. So on that account, Donald Trump is correct, just not in the right way. There's a whole lot of psycho warfare going on at the moment to try and confuse the issue since it's been exposed by some concerned statisticians and mathematicians.

Back to the topic, the prices over in France are unbelievable. The thing is, my husband would never move to France, so I have to wait for him to kick the bucket first.  :D He's also terrible at languages and he hates the food. He was there once to help with the installation of the inner layer of a particle detector at CERN and said the only thing he could get for breakfast were pastries. haha I've also heard the menfolk have an unusually forward approach toward women. Not sure on the truth of it, though.

As far as land goes - we dreamed of having the old farm type setup starting out, and got as close as we could without getting in over our heads. It turned out to not be a good thing for either of us as we get on in our years. We're on an acre with a small house to care for, and have pretty much given up growing our own veggies. We did just get another small flock of chicks. I'd say for the time invested, chickens are a good bargain. They're incredibly easy to take care of so long as you can fence out the predators, which we have to keep the dogs inside the yard. They also work really hard for the little care they require. They've annihilated our earwig population, so I spoil them with lots of treats from the table. We do get a kick out of their antics, and they're more pets to us than a food source.

Best wishes on the moving this summer.






Ramshackles

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« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2017, 10:36:35 AM »
Ah well! I finally made it to France.

Our stuff arrived a full 2 weeks *after* us, so it was a painful period of camping in our own house with no guitar or piano for a while...
Thankfully everything arrived all in one piece. Since then its been frantically getting bits and pieces we need (renting an 'unfurnished' house in France also means no white goods and no oven!!), bank accounts, house insurance, bikes...

Finally settled but have a hectic trip back to the UK over the weekend to sell our car!

Fortunately, we have been having steady weather in the 19-25 deg range most days with only a little rain and a fairly big garden to enjoy it in! Although no garden furniture....

Wicked Deeds

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« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2017, 02:29:34 PM »
Good  to hear the move has gone well.  I moved from th eNorth East to The North West, a distance of 15o miles. Probably one of the most stressful periods  in my life. Good luck for the future.

Best wishes

Paul

tone

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« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2017, 10:30:55 PM »
Congrats on your safe arrival Ram. That's quite a move to make. I hope your French is better than mine ;) Reading the title of this thread brings this song to mind:


I'm fairly sure your move is a happier affair than the one in the song, but whatever.

Bonne chance et salut mon fils!
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Ramshackles

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« Reply #12 on: September 29, 2017, 09:39:59 PM »
Congrats on your safe arrival Ram. That's quite a move to make. I hope your French is better than mine ;) Reading the title of this thread brings this song to mind:


I'm fairly sure your move is a happier affair than the one in the song, but whatever.

Bonne chance et salut mon fils!

Yay Rufus, always a good choice.

I am in Riorges which is on the outskirts of Roanne....a small town not too far from Lyon!
It is all very nice...a much nicer/fancier area than where we used to live, but similar rental prices and much cheaper house prices than UK!!
Arrived just in time for the end of summer...have had mostly ~20-25 deg days all of Sept  :P. A little bit of rain thrown in but not much.
I'm actually in the UK today though, having driven the car back to sell it. Flying back on sunday.  We are gonna attempt to go car-less and see how we do. We have supermarket, boulangerie within 10mins walk and bigger shops, swimming pool, cinema within 10-15minute cycle.
I'm really hoping we can get used to having no car...I hated being reliant on it these past 3 years or so!