Welcome to another instalment of our adventures as we upturn our lives and move to France.
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I’m sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve published one of these and I hope you haven’t felt forgotten or left out. I must admit, it’s been a bit busy and a slightly strange time for us in the last couple of months, but I’ll try to catch up.
After ‘landing’ at Mother’s (Our new home), on the 16th of February, we ‘Validated’ our Visas online fairly quickly, I think the ‘British trait’ of obeying every law to the letter was still fairly strong within us. (Something that changes after being here for a while). Very quickly after that, we were sent an email each, followed by a letter, with details of our appointments at the OFII, which is the Office of French Immigration and Integration.
Bit daunting.
The appointments were for us both together, in Limoges and would consist of language tests and an interview to sign a ‘Contract of Integration into the Republic.’ We had researched a bit about them and knew roughly what to expect, but for some reason, this ‘span me out.’ I was getting high anxiety and genuine fear about it all.
This is where our favourite FB group once again helped. How To Move To France After Brexit. A quick message on there and people had very helpful tips and allayed some of my fears. We were even advised about where the car parks were in the area.
We arrived at the OFII office in Limoges in plenty of time. Parking turned out to be a bit of a pain as the car parks around didn’t open until 9 am and our interviews were at 08:30, then the parking meters on the street wouldn’t accept our ‘English’ number plate, but we found a large open-air car park close by where it’s 4 euros for the whole day and you can use an App. Which was a good thing as the machines needed number plates and most couldn’t take cards.
We knew no English would be spoken during our time in the OFII, so our nerves ramped up a little as we arrived, but the Security guys were good, helpful and after a quick airport-style check of us, they sat us down to wait.
After a short time, we were shown into a room where it was just us and a young guy taking the tests. I think he was from Sudan or similar. (Turned out he spoke some French). The ‘teacher’ gave us test papers and 20 minutes to complete the written test. Wow, I fully admit, I was absolutely terrible. I managed to work out a few things. The questions were things like, ‘Respond to an email from an Immoblier (estate agent), or from an agency about some work.’ Another was a ‘text’ from a friend to invite you to a party and you have to formulate an answer.
After that, we were sent out and called in one at a time for our verbal comprehension test. The tester asked questions like, where are you from, where do you live, what work did you do before you came to France and we had to respond as best as possible, extra points if you added information or ‘anecdotes’ etc. Anna used our, “speaking like a Spanish cow” anecdote and got a good laugh.
Then the tester showed pictures and asked questions about them, ‘How many are in this family, what are these people doing?’ that kind of thing.
We both ended up being signed up for 200 hours of lessons each. Not too bad as the maximum you can be given is 600 and at least they’re free. At first, we were told the lessons would be every day of the week, but after explaining about our new business and work, they put us in for Saturday mornings. Yes, the lessons are in Limoges, but to be honest, if they work, it will be worth it.
Signing The Integration Contract consisted of a short interview, (some of it in English as it got a bit technical), followed by signing to say you would do the lessons, adhere to the principles of the Republic and would also do Civic Days where we would learn more about France, its history, culture etc. Luckily, the Civic days are with a translator.
Fairly soon after arriving in France, we finally got to help some friends net their lake. I’ve talked about them before – Jo and Nigel at Carp France Fishing. Lovely people and if you go, watch out for the great Maisie the dog, she will love you but make you play fetch until your arms fall off, and believe me, that’s not an understatement. They’d been trying to sort out dates for netting their lake, but the weather had taken a turn for the worst and constant rain meant the lake level was too high.
All told it was a good day, there was a French ‘fish farmer’ and his apprentices doing most of the actual netting, but we all helped with physically moving fish from one lake to the other, (very carefully). The farmer took away just over 800lbs of Catfish from the lake and it was really interesting to see it all done as well as hear about the apprentices attending a ‘Fish school’ where they learn about lakes, eco-systems and the fish themselves.
Also helping were another nice couple who are running an off-grid lake, again not far from us. Nicki and Paul at Etang Villotte Carp Lake. They have been here a lot longer than we have and had more helpful tips for us for ‘surviving France.’
I think meeting people like this has helped us, particularly me, as we get hints, tips and sound advice from people who have been through what we’re doing, at different stages. The one thing they all say is to give yourself a lot of time to adjust.
We have both been very shocked at how we have been generally over here. I fully admit, I have had the worst time adjusting. The over-whelming urge to get on the bike, ride to Roscoff and catch a ferry to the UK has hit me quite a few times.
I have no idea why, we have several theories, but I have struggled. Badly.
I think one of the main things is that I have worked or earned money from the age of around 13. Then, since 1986, I have been a professional driver in one form or another and even though the jobs have been different, they have had a form of structure, I have been responsible for myself and very self-sufficient in my work, right up until December 2023.
It feels as if I have lost my purpose and meaning in a way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not wallowing and I have plenty of things to do; physical and mental work. But I can’t seem to get rid of a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I’m sort of… ‘lost’?
D, our friend said he had similar and it took well over three months for him to adjust to everything being so different. Anna has settled into the country very well, she still has the odd wobble, but they are small and very few and far between.
I think it hasn’t helped that the lake has had to take a back seat for a while because of several different reasons.
The DDT and SPANC, fisheries and water Police for want of a better description, are getting very hot and very strict on compliance works. (Another reason Carp France Fishing needed to get their lakes netted and had a lot of building work done at quite an expense. Mind you, it looks very good and is a brilliant venue).
The market for lakes over here, even in the last 9-10 months has changed a lot. It is a bit ‘flooded,’ sometimes literally after the heavy rain we had, and the majority of fishermen have drastically changed in their approach to the pastime/sport. Now, they all seem to want lots of creature comforts and bring their families. We are constantly seeing requests like “no more than 3 hours from Calais. Need a lodge for the wife and kids. Is there a hot tub? Must have internet and food package.”
And as we all know, Trecastle is a long way from the ferry ports, completely off-grid with little comforts. On top of that, there is so much work to be done for compliance with the DDT. So all in all, things may take longer than anticipated. Something you must get used to when in France, but I’ll do more about that another time.
As I’ve mentioned Bureaucracy, it’s worth pointing out that ‘officialdom’ in France has generally got a little hotter on some things for ex-pats. We’re hearing of people having a few problems at ports now. Customs are starting to look more deeply at people bringing over goods/property etc. Some fishermen have had problems bringing over tackle and bait etc and ex-pats have been searched or questioned more than before.
With plans changing and me adjusting to such a different way of life, it has felt like we’ve been here for a lot longer than two months. Yet, as we look back it also feels like we’ve been here for no time at all.
One thing that is helping me is that we are now also looking to start up Bike Tours and holidays. We’ve done similar in the UK with our Normandy, Le Mans and general rides as well as organising a few Bike shows We are looking into doing all kinds of tours or giving help to people wanting to come over to France but may find it daunting or want someone to take on the stress of organising their own trip.
We have great bike roads, for motorcycles and other kinds of bikes. (Part of the Voie Vert is very close to us, 2300 km of Cycle Track that’s a mix of old railways, tracks and some designated roads). Other road users are quite ‘two-wheel friendly’, and show extra respect and courtesy to those on 2 wheels. I fully admit, I’m broken record when it comes to riding over here – it really is another world and such a joy to do, like it used to be riding around Devon and Cornwall in the 80s.
On top of this, D has finally gained the necessary permissions to start the project of re-building the Ruins and starting his business. I’ve mentioned before that D bought a Village, most of it in ruins, but with a huge amount of potential. The business is going to be Gites, Glamping, a Yoga/wellness retreat, an on-site restaurant and shop as well as a few other plans he has.
We have been helping him with a couple of his barns. One will be turned into 2 Gites but needs lots of work. Internal walls have been demolished, the old stones sorted into different sizes and we have become very familiar with a French thing called Choux, and no, not the pastry. (I am not sure of the correct spelling but it is pronounced shoo or show, depending on what area of France you’re in). Choux is used in mortar or cement on walls etc.
Another barn is set to be a ‘treatment room’ for massage, Raki and other relaxing/healing treatments. We demolished the upper floor and found huge oak beams that were supporting the floor, at least 2/3 feet square, and yes, they were very heavy. Unfortunately, as we removed one of the beams, it took part of a wall with it and our growing pile of Choux came in handy.
Is anyone familiar with the ancient ways of French builders? We definitely weren’t.
Well, we learnt fast. YouTube came in handy as well as looking at the remainder of the wall to get an idea of construction.
In this area of France, (lots of things can be completely different from one area of France to another), the big external walls of stone you see are actually double-skinned. Two walls of stones, (various sizes and shapes), mortared together and the gap between seemingly filled with whatever old Pierre Wimpey or Francoise McAlpine could lay his hands on. From hay, mud, empty nutshells and/or anything not nailed down, including small dead animals, (we’ve found small skeletons and other ‘organic’ matter in the rubble).
As you can imagine, when these walls come down they make a hell of a mess, so we have been sorting stones/choux for a long time.
The ‘broken’ wall was rebuilt over a couple of days and I have to admit, we did a pretty good job. D and I were mortaring the stones back into the wall, his young lady sorted rubble, wood and anything else that we’d made a mess of, and Anna was in charge of the mortar mixing. All in all, we made a good team and the rebuilt wall looks good.
Unfortunately, we also have experienced the French Health System during our short time here.
Anna has had a strange ache/discomfort feeling in her side for a while now. It comes and goes and we think it could possibly be yet another thing caused by stress and the git that is the Menopause.
Seriously, if there are any women out there with strange illnesses, forgetting what they are saying even midway through a conversation or generally thinking they’re going doo-lalee, please consider Menopause. It can strike from a very early age and is, quite frankly, a right B***ard. And I make no apology for the swear word, believe me, we’ve used worse than that.
Anyway, Anna, with the help of Mum’s French Teacher, (soon to be ours also), made an appointment to see a Doctor.
The Doctor was quite good, spoke a little amount of English and gave Anna an ‘Ordinance’ (kind of order/prescription) for an Ultra-sound and an ordinance for a Blood test.
Anna had previously found an App called Doctolib, a very useful app for anything medical that’s non-urgent. On Doctolib, Anna found a Doctor in Limoges who did ultrasounds and made an appointment. Blood tests are normally booked via the Doctor and a nurse comes to your house to do them.
In the meantime, we had to collect Anna’s bike from new friends in Nontron who had fixed the fork seals. When we were there, they suggested we go to ‘the lab’ just down the road for the blood test.
We did this and with the usual muddling through to be understood, got the test done. In and out within half an hour. That afternoon we went for the ultrasound and as we were in the waiting room, the results of the blood test came through on Anna’s email. Not bad service.
After all the tests etc, nothing could be found except slightly raised levels of a couple of things in her blood, but nothing to be concerned too much about. Anna is going to make another appointment with the doctor to discuss the results. Yes, we had to pay for all this, it wasn’t very expensive, (less than 100 euros), but when we ‘Register the business’ we get signed into the health system properly and can claim most of the money back.
We have also begun to attend our official French lessons.
The car park we found for the OFII appointment has come in very useful as it turns out is fairly central to the OFII and the place where we have our lessons. It’s a short walk through a nice park in the city and we go passed Limoges Train Station, allegedly one of the 10 most beautiful ‘Gares’ in France. Actually it is pretty spectacular, look it up if you can. Strangely for France, lessons actually started at the allotted time.
We are in a class with a Ukrainian, a couple of Turks, a Sudanese, 2 Moroccans, a Syrian and an Afghan, and in the second lesson, a guy from New Guinea and a guy from Georgia joined us. Quite a mix and sometimes the mash of different languages was incredible. We find it interesting as we get to know them, the variety of different skills, trades and knowledge they all had; from Photographer to Architect to Gas Powered Power Station Engineer. The lessons go well, (It’s all in French, no English spoken), and I feel as if I actually learn something, Anna feels the same and we have a really positive feeling about it all. Yes, it was going to take forever to do 4 hours a week up to 200 hours, but we intend to get extra tuition in exchange for cutting grass and sorting a garden for someone who will teach us.
Above all else, we want to learn the language. It’s a nightmare not being able to fully interact with our neighbours or just random people in the street. I think that’s another thing that’s affected me, as I miss that silly, mucking-about banter or sharing a joke you can do with people.
Over the last months, the local area is beginning to come to life as well. Most people who have been over to rural France will tell you that as you travel through the small towns and villages, you wonder where everyone is. Ghost towns seem prevalent. But lately, as the trees have been turning green, the flowers coming out and nature wakes up, the people have seemingly come out of hibernation.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s not suddenly hordes of humans storming the shops or anything, it’s just noticeable that there are generally more people around.
Holiday season is also approaching and we’re seeing more and more different number plates on vehicles. Unfortunately, in these situations, it’s the ‘British Plates’ we try to avoid as these are the ones you’re going to have a problem with. (Unless you can see that they’re residents which can be fairly easy to spot – filthy vehicles driving slightly faster than the posted limits and appearing very relaxed on the road. Plus, the tourists usually have huge UK stickers all over the car as well as ‘Top-boxes’ etc).
Now, I’m not Brit-bashing, it’s just we can all be a little ‘regimented’ in the UK. Looking at it from over here, it appears we have been indoctrinated to follow rules, do as we are told and become drones in Britain. Unfortunately, I think that will get worse as more and more cameras and surveillance are put into service under the guise of ‘safety’ and ‘well if you don’t break the law, you have nothing to worry about.’
Sorry, I digress.
Although we have been busy, we’ve managed to see some sights and even visited a Vide Grenier, (car boot sale), a special ‘Fire Night’ called ‘Flames’and a couple of Car/Bike shows.
This is what I mean by the area coming alive.
Flames was a bit of a shock. As the night progressed, more and more things were set on fire to make displays or Animations as the French call it. The shock was that there were families all in attendance, with some of the kids running around free. Now, I hate brats, but the children were respectful and behaved very well, yes they ran around, and yes they were having fun, but they didn’t upset or cause a problem for anyone and were on the whole, well-behaved and fairly quiet.
The atmosphere was relaxed, easy-going and worth the 5 Euro each entrance fee.
On top of this, some of the ‘fire’ was protected by….nothing. Yes, a couple of things had a length of rope around, but mostly, if you were stupid enough, you could walk up and either put your hand in the flames or touch very hot metal.
But guess what? NO ONE GOT HURT!
French Health and Safety is fairly relaxed and has the attitude of ‘You are responsible for yourself.’ Quite refreshing to be honest.
The car and bike shows were a shock also. Like I’ve said, you feel as if you’re in a ghost town until there’s an event. The shows had very little publicity and we went with the attitude of, ‘Well it’s worth a look, there’s probably going to be no one there.’
How wrong were we?
Both shows were free, had a large attendance and the variety was pretty good. We also made contact with a small bike club in our area with a mix of French and English. As you’d expect for France, food and drink were available, health and safety took a back seat as common sense prevailed and again, the atmosphere was great.
We’re looking at doing a bike show around September time. We have looked at a couple of large fields and are in the process of organising things like toilets, water, power etc. I’ll keep you posted.
I think I’ve caught us all up. Although I’m sure I’ve probably forgotten some things. Thank you for reading these ramblings of mine. I get feedback and that also helps my sense of being lost by giving me a sense of purpose. Until next time – Au revoir.
Oh, and just a reminder. Menopause, please ladies, you are not going mad and it’s not all in your mind, talk to someone.