i got myself some basic seccy skills worked for a few years to save and then spent the next 7 years travelling on and off while all my pals were saddling themslves with mortgages. i started a mortgage later than them. Not sure if thats a good or bad thing. the travel bug doesnt go away sadly. Its ingrained now i just have to come to accept those days are gone.
[cite]Posted By: Valley_floyd_red[/cite]I spent six months in Enschede learning that the Dutch are NOT the bunch of laid back liberals of popular mythology.
met a couple of dutch lads out here, they are both brilliant at english, first class and stereotypically both mad football fans (one NEC Nijmegen - i remember we had them in a friendly a few years back, anyone know the score? think it was a draw? big heineken/grolsch fans and big house/techno fans. No drugs though!
Yeah, the Dutch think of smoking drugs as something you do when you are 14. We beat Utrecht 2-0 I think, I can't remember us playing Nijmegen.
The young Dutch are a great laugh, my mate married a girl he met on the Erasmus and now lives in Hengelo, near Enschede, so I go over there now and again.
Brilliant AFKA... i'm glad you think my Interior Design with Media Communications and Tourism degree is worthwhile... currently on course for first class honours in my boozey anti-social behaviour module ;-)
Posted By: Les Addicks
Been in a similar situation out here for a year now. When we moved out we intended buying into a swimming pool franchise but the week we signed for our house (and it's binding at that point) the Northern Rock thing imploded, the exchange rate fell through the floor and our available capital and therefore business plan was left in pieces. Combine that with fewer & fewer people moving out here and wanting pools, as the exchange rate/credit crunch is hitting them too, plus the French ecomomy being pretty rubbish for decades therefore high levels of unemployment, even for French nationals, and the result is we are having to look for work back in the UK. Pretty much impossible to earn anything other than minimum wage in this region even if you land a job. Other than that you're in the building game and even then you have to work on the black or be prepared to hand over 65% of everything you declare. Not an option for me.
Shame, but our timing could not have been worse if we had tried.
"Bad luck there Les. Where in France are you?"
We're here in the Correze (19) JM where are you?
Lovely countryside, no crime, no traffic, nice people (generally) and all that around here, and when we moved out we thought "Great, unlikely to make our fortune but...no more rat race for us!". Sadly, events have overtaken us and the five years planning and French lessons that went into our move was overturned in 1 week by the muppets running Northern Rock going cap in hand to the government. Been registered as formally unemployed since Feb but as we hadn't paid anything into the system you get nowt out (and fair enough too I'd say).
Cost of living means that we can't continue living off our savings for ever and things don't seem likely to be changing for anything other than the worse in the medium term so we're locking up and off "home" when we've sorted out some work back in the UK. Easier said than done but got some feelers out and might be reverting back to being Bournemouth_Addick sooner rather than later hopefully.
Trying hard to adopt a 'c'est la vie' attitude but watching the news has turned into a complete nightmare for us these days.
[cite]Posted By: jimmymelrose[/cite]Sorry to hear all that Les.
We recently moved from Lyon to St Claude in the Jura, near the border with Switzerland.
So you're in the south-west (ish). Is that a place with a largish population of British?
Cool place the Jura - Many years ago I stayed in a place called Cervens on the other side of Lac Leman near Bon and Thonon - Would love to go back to be honest.
[cite]Posted By: jimmymelrose[/cite]Sorry to hear all that Les.
We recently moved from Lyon to St Claude in the Jura, near the border with Switzerland.
So you're in the south-west (ish). Is that a place with a largish population of British?
It borders the Dordogne and Lot but nowhere near as many Ex-pats around here as there. Was starting to develop nicely and open up to tourism from the UK but thanks to a bunch of complete bankers, hedgefund managers, etc taking stupid risks the whole thing has stagnated in the last year. Cheers lads.
Jura sounds lovely from what I know. Had a week in a chalet about an hour south of Lac Leman a couple of years ago. Great place all around there.
Comments
unless we go and work in dubai of course.
hark at the soft southern swot : - )
met a couple of dutch lads out here, they are both brilliant at english, first class and stereotypically both mad football fans (one NEC Nijmegen - i remember we had them in a friendly a few years back, anyone know the score? think it was a draw? big heineken/grolsch fans and big house/techno fans. No drugs though!
Assuming you do nothing at weekends do you really do an average of 2 hours lectures and 4 hours reading every day? Sod that!!
LLB Law, would rather not.
The young Dutch are a great laugh, my mate married a girl he met on the Erasmus and now lives in Hengelo, near Enschede, so I go over there now and again.
Great.
Ever you need an example of 'Broken Britain' this is it.
Even the binge-drinking drop-outs who go on to 'study' are getting as bad as the bungee jump bores.
What are they studying ? Electronics ? Mechanics ? Business studies ? Something that might actually be useful in the workplace ?
Oh no, they're studying some little planet most of us have never heard of. And going to bleeding spain to do it in the process.
Sam Miguel Rodney, i'm phoning Jon Gaunt......
Jesus wept, he's gonna put curtains into hotels !!!!!!!!!!
Been in a similar situation out here for a year now. When we moved out we intended buying into a swimming pool franchise but the week we signed for our house (and it's binding at that point) the Northern Rock thing imploded, the exchange rate fell through the floor and our available capital and therefore business plan was left in pieces. Combine that with fewer & fewer people moving out here and wanting pools, as the exchange rate/credit crunch is hitting them too, plus the French ecomomy being pretty rubbish for decades therefore high levels of unemployment, even for French nationals, and the result is we are having to look for work back in the UK. Pretty much impossible to earn anything other than minimum wage in this region even if you land a job. Other than that you're in the building game and even then you have to work on the black or be prepared to hand over 65% of everything you declare. Not an option for me.
Shame, but our timing could not have been worse if we had tried.
"Bad luck there Les. Where in France are you?"
We're here in the Correze (19) JM where are you?
Lovely countryside, no crime, no traffic, nice people (generally) and all that around here, and when we moved out we thought "Great, unlikely to make our fortune but...no more rat race for us!". Sadly, events have overtaken us and the five years planning and French lessons that went into our move was overturned in 1 week by the muppets running Northern Rock going cap in hand to the government. Been registered as formally unemployed since Feb but as we hadn't paid anything into the system you get nowt out (and fair enough too I'd say).
Cost of living means that we can't continue living off our savings for ever and things don't seem likely to be changing for anything other than the worse in the medium term so we're locking up and off "home" when we've sorted out some work back in the UK. Easier said than done but got some feelers out and might be reverting back to being Bournemouth_Addick sooner rather than later hopefully.
Trying hard to adopt a 'c'est la vie' attitude but watching the news has turned into a complete nightmare for us these days.
We recently moved from Lyon to St Claude in the Jura, near the border with Switzerland.
So you're in the south-west (ish). Is that a place with a largish population of British?
Cool place the Jura - Many years ago I stayed in a place called Cervens on the other side of Lac Leman near Bon and Thonon - Would love to go back to be honest.
It borders the Dordogne and Lot but nowhere near as many Ex-pats around here as there. Was starting to develop nicely and open up to tourism from the UK but thanks to a bunch of complete bankers, hedgefund managers, etc taking stupid risks the whole thing has stagnated in the last year. Cheers lads.
Jura sounds lovely from what I know. Had a week in a chalet about an hour south of Lac Leman a couple of years ago. Great place all around there.