The French are never afraid to protest if they don't like something Smiffy. Furthermore they are the only Europeans that still appear to have pride in their own culture and traditions, and wish to keep them. The others have meekly diluted it to suit the American influence. That sort of civil unrest I like!



I don't know as that never quite worked for me. I used to be an angry young man, but now I've reached 50 I'm no longer angry - I'm bloody furious! Arthur Seaton sold out!
True as Viking says by age 50 there's no longer a need to prove oneself, nor does the adverse opinion of others have the same import, it's just a matter of finding a balance where happiness can be found without having a million pounds.



My nick-name for my stepson was 'Numb-Nuts', I threw him out eventually, a stone waste of time and breath. If that makes me sound cruel then perhaps I am, or perhaps I just don't have the inclination to model my life as a bit part player in some one else's kitchen sink drama?

I notice in France that as Viking says the rural people are more polite, the children are more intelligent and articulate than what generally passes for children here in the North West UK, and the respect for the elderly etc. that he mentioned above are signs of a better culture. Also France has large rural area's where I can live in my farmhouse with a reasonable amount of privacy from snoopers, and where political correctness can for me take a large leap...off a cliff. With fine weather and good food also what's not to like?

And you know the strangest coincidence of all? My current wife has the same motto as Vikings wife. She also reminds me that every day that passes is one that you don't get back. Life isn't like a football match, there's no extra time added on at the end for the years that you waste, so don't waste 'em.

Nothing much changes, it seems...

Two quotes, the origins of which can be dated back a couple of millennia;

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do"
&
"Carpe diem"

ken

I don't doubt that rural France is everything you say it is - it's my appealing image of that country too; the stone barn nestling in a rural backwater, with only a rough, single track road (the bread and butter of the 2CV) to connect you with 'civilisation'. I wonder how realistic it is to achieve, tho', at least without a huge wad of cash...

I'd still argue that this country has all that to offer too - 'cept maybe the weather, the food, the scenery and the beautiful women.

Ok, what I'm trying to say is that a decent life can be found here - you just need to move out of the cities, find a rural backwater, and settle into a comfy life. I'm also in my early 50's, and have a simple, easy-to-maintain lifestyle (wife works part-time to put food on t'table, and I 'do up' the house. And cars.) We have two little kids (well, 7 & 8), and go for walks and cycle rides in the beautiful Devon countryside. All that costs - nothing. We also have an inflatable dinghy and - when the weather is kind enough - we paddle up the Torridge river and let the current drift us back down again - kids jump in and float down beside the boat. I vividly recall a strange feeling I had the last time we did this a month or so back - 'could life actually be better than this'?

I don't have an axe to grind with hardly anything. Yes, lots of things annoy me and there's lots of things I'd like to change, but I can usually either avoid them or else accept they are part of a bigger picture - the world ain't perfect, and probably never will be, but by and large it is slowly getting there. C'mon - how many of you would like to go back to how it was in your childhood? Before you shout "Me!", I'm talking about standard of living more than anything. I was born and brought up in the Island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides - a more safe and exciting location for a childhood I couldn't imagine - complete freedom. However, when I think back to how we, and other families, in our village lived, it is the stuff of Angela's Ashes. Ok, I exaggerate - a lot. It wasn't that bad, but some people in our village still lived in 'Black Houses'. To walk into any number of these homes now would make you shudder, and take care not to touch any surfaces...

It ain't bad. I think we are incredibly lucky to live in this country. It only takes a documentary like one last week showing 'Bravo' company fighting in Afghanistan to realise just how fortunate we are. My god, that's a f***ed-up country

"The grass is always greener"

theres slums, Chavs, petty beurocrats, macdonalds, Xfactor, petty xenophobes, estate agents and general Multi national( americanism) crap everywhere

It's interesting, I have almost everything here in the UK that I dream of having, except I dream of having it in France. I work in a nice little dusty 150 year old barn in the sticks, all you can hear are the cows mooing and occasionally a chicken cluck-clucks into the yard, where we usually throw it some crumbs. I make things which are interesting and old fashioned, using old fashioned machines and techniques. I drive a kick-ass 2cv and have a lovely girlfriend and stepdaughter. Life is great, except I still feel that my idyllic life is just normal, and that if I stopped at the tiny village stores for my paper and pint of milk every morning and instead of a friendly 'Hello' I was greeted with 'Bonjour'.

I wonder if it's because I see not only the nice little friendly world I live in, but also the ugly scummy world that exists in the suburban areas and the gobby youths who'd happily stab me. I'm sure these are things that exist in France too, or any other nation foriegn to me. I just only get to see the picture perfect holiday world when I visit.

Having said that, I've just returned home from a lovely evening in a local park, where you can hand feed squirrels and where we played with my model boat in the boating lake. Every British youth hanging round in the park was drinking cans of cheap lager and generally being uncouth and making the place look ugly. There were several Polish families there too, all sitting on rugs with picnics enjoying the evening sunshine with thier children and families. It made me wonder how and why we've lost the values in the UK to enjoy these things like it seems every other nationality still has.

Russ the life you describe and the attitude you have are a credit to you and your parents. It (attitude) does depend greatly on geography of course, a more or less rural location virtually guarantees that you are free of a lot of society's ills.

Life experience is another thing that will give a person a particular 'Weltanschauung'. There are certain milestones that you reach in life where you are forced to admit to yourself that for example, you will never captain England in the world cup (20's) that you will probably never become a millionaire, (30's) and that actually so long as you have your health there is satisfaction to be found purely in quality of life rather than by the quantity of your achievements or possessions. (50's)

If anyone saw the smug self indulgent boast that was the Piers Morgan/Alan Sugar interview the other night one might be forgiven for thinking that the accumilation of the most money by any means possible is the holy grail, but Sugar et al appear only to know 'the price of everything and the value of nothing'.

When DA says that England (Britain?) has everything 'cept the weather, the food, the scenery and the beautiful women. then I would reply that those very things are the jewels that make a simple life rich. To wake up to birdsong and a beautiful sunrise is worth money to me, as is peace and tranquillity, i.e. no nob heads doing handbrake turns on your street in the motor they just nicked off your drive.

There are pillocks everywhere, simply because there are humans everywhere, and a large proportion of humanity are pillocks unfortunately. The trick is to ID those types quickly and waste no time or energy in dealing with them, move on, the future is thattaway.

A simpler yet more meaningful life can be just as rewarding. In my life I have held very well paid positions where the trade off was existing a high stress environment, and the regular witnessing of the very worst that humanity can do to itself. I 'dropped out' you might say, and I now have much less money, but also much less contact with 'society', and I find it an absolute pleasure.

All I need now is the weather, the rural charm, and the slower pace of life of la belle France and the angry young/old man might finally rest his bones.

You are a wise man Old Nail. Maybe we'll meet in France one day, to chat over some Cider, Galettes and other fine french stuff.
Cheers and Bon appetit

It would be my pleasure, I am enjoying a glass of red as we speak. <cheers everyone> My small hamlet is near Rostrennen, we would not be so far away.

Of course, we always see what we want to see. In my mind:

French woman:



English woman:




French musician:



English musician:



French car:



English car:



French children:



English children:



Of course, this is because I don't feel English, I don't feel I belong here, nor do I want to be here, but circumstances dictate that's what's happened, and for the time being how it'll stay. Interestingly the French always seem much more patriotic (as opposed to racist, which is what English people often mistake for patriotism) and I'm sure when asked to find images which show English and French comparisons as I have above they'd have been happy with the images I used, ie, Good french things and shoddy english counterparts. Maybe that's both the cause and effect of why I don't like being English. A vicious circle. I don't believe in being English, and the english don't believe in England. We gave away everything that made the nation great, and because of that we have nothing to be proud of. As a result, the gloom that hangs over the place keeps people from remembering that the first step to making something great is to truly believe in it.

Well said that man!

There's also the humorous side to it too Russ. I'm a bloke that likes to be left alone, I don't need supervising, advising, or nannying which is how it seems to be these days. If I mention 'health and Safety' most of us have had encounters where we can't do this or that anymore because of health and safety.

The H+S industry in the UK employs hundreds of thousands, in France I think they have one office! The attitude seems to be that if you fall off a cliff it is because cliff edges are dangerous, did you really need a sign there to tell you this?



Health and safety French style - it's Darwinian, the crazy are often weeded out of the gene pool!