Settling into the Limousin
“France is a highly bureaucratic, socialist country”
Words and Photography: Philip Wood
Bonjour à nos anciens amis de North Canterbury. Hello to our old friends in North Canterbury. It has
now been over four years since I sold my Woodend accountancy practice and we moved to our new home in France. Eve and I have settled into a small hamlet in the Périgord-Limousin National Park, near the medieval commune town of Rochechouart. Limoges is 30 km due east and so our situation is very similar to that shared between Rangiora and Christchurch.
I’ll try to avoid this article turning into yet another glossy narrative extolling the wonders of the French cultural lifestyle, as that is well covered in a myriad of other places. Instead, I thought that I might entertain
you with some of the quirkier aspects of living in France.
The French maintain a rigid daily timetable with no event more important than their full three course lunch, everyday! Everything stops at noon and stays dormant for at least an hour, sometimes two. All smaller shops close as the church bell strikes twelve. When we first arrived in France this was a highly annoying custom but as we’ve settled into being a little more accepting we just find it rather quaint and amusing. British-run businesses actually advertise the fact that they are, “open during lunchtime”.
Most small shops also do not open on Mondays, which is really frustrating when we only recall this fact aer
we’ve arrived in an eerily quiet empty high street.
“Entrepreneurship” maybe a French term, but you’ll find scant evidence of it anywhere in the country. Stifling rates of tax and social charges, combined with 40% of the workforce employed by the government results in jobs for life and zero motivation to become financially successful. Money is not that important to the average French person, it probably ranks well down on their list of priorities aer good food and wine, relaxation and social intercourse.
You greet everyone with a “Bonjour” in France. Strangers along the road exchange “Bonjours”. Upon entering a shop you “Bonjour” the shop assistants and all their customers and at the medical surgery the Doctor cordially shakes hands with everybody with a “Bonjour”.
And, of course, you have to “Bonne Journée” everyone as you depart.
Loose your licence for speeding or drinking? No problem here! Merely buy a cheap VSP (voiture sans permis) being a small two-seater vehicle that is governed to 50kph max and then chug around in that as it requires no licence to drive. This of course creates huge tailbacks of traic trying to overtake you on country roads.
Working more than two hours over the thirty five hour standard week is illegal and requires specific government approval for each worker, on each occasion. This even applies to the self-employed. France is a highly bureaucratic, socialist country, requiring documents, in triple, for every conceivable activity. We have never had to show our passports, birth and marriage certificates to so many oicials in such a short time in our whole lives. They also don’t accept British short form certificates either.
Oicially all women must use their maiden names on all legal documents. So Eve is a Smith on her driver’s licence, rather than a Wood, which of course creates problems when travelling to other countries. This rule
relates back directly to the 18thC revolution and the sacrosanct Napoleonic Law.
We came to France to experience cultural differences and we certainly have, fortunately
not all have been so frustrating.
Our home overlooks an acre of nature paddocks with an oak forest beyond. These nature paddocks are legally required by farmers, being a paddock prohibited from raising any livestock or crops. The grass and hedges are only trimmed in July, to provide wildlife a spring and early summer sanctuary.
The advantage to us of a neighbouring nature paddock is that we are regularly visited by such creatures as families of pheasants, partridges and quails, woodpeckers, grey heron and hoopoe, red squirrels, rabbits, coypu and even the occasional wild deer. No wild boar yet, but maybe one day.
One of the reasons for selecting this region of France is the relative ease of travel around the rest of Europe. We try to get away three or four times a year. As a large country even at 130kph on excellent motorways it can take all day to arrive at any of its borders in any direction. But this hasn’t prevented us
from exploring all over the continent, from Amsterdam to Rome and Budapest to Seville. Ryanair fares from as little as €10 mean that sometimes the Bordeaux airport car park costs us more than the actual flights to such places as Marrakesh and Portugal.
Planning a visit to Europe in July or August? My only advice, DON’T! Everywhere is overcrowded, hot and expensive; visit during the other ten months.
Our adventures have also kept my trusty Nikon hard at work. I have recently had my first book of photographs and their inspired poetry called “Phrotose” published by a London publisher. An easy Google
search if you are interested in viewing what we have been up to.
I trust that you have enjoyed these musings and anecdotes on our French experiences. Moving to
France has certainly enriched our lives and widened our perceptions on life.