purelyfrance

The ’cost of living’ in France is a topic which often arises with our guests.

While one is tempted to make a comparison with other countries, it is fraught with danger. There are so many imponderables.  The COL can be ‘lower’ or ‘higher’ depending on circumstances and one’s own particular lifestyle.

Pinning down the COL is like those health industry reports you read. One says nuts are bad for you, another says not. Some say chocolate will send you to an early grave, others not. The same for red wine. I loved a recent quote by a centenarian when she was asked of the secret to her longevity - ‘I never touch vegetables ’she replied!!

I digress. The largest ‘economic’ adjustment we have had to make is the ‘high’ level of tax, and the contributions towards ’social’ costs such as your pension, medical, and contribution towards social’ welfare’ funding.

But there are upsides to all that cost.  For example the quality of the French medical services is widely recognised, and we can tell you from first hand experience it is excellent. In fact, it is superb.

And just like in most countries, there are many legit methods for minimising your tax. The important thing is to seek out expert, current advice. I say current as the tax laws are frequently amended. 

One of the standard COL tests is the weekly shop - food and domestic provisions of course being a central cost of our living expenses.

I have always enjoyed supermarket shopping and am like a pig in muck as I while away a couple of hours each week. France is well served by supermarkets and the consumer benefits as the supermarchés tend to compete with each other very aggressively.

We tend to use E.Leclerc mainly because they are located next to a ‘Grand Frais’ fruit and vegetable specialist who Anne swears by for variety and quality. Anne is not in the centenarians camp!

For those of you interested in comparative prices here’s some extracts from our weekly shop, all costs in euros. Firstly from Grand Frais

Banane 1.19 per kg - Citron jaune 2.95 per kg - clemintine 2.99 kg - orange 1.50 kg - royal gala .69c kg - patate douce 1.99 kg - carottes .99 kg - choux de bruxelles .99 kg - haricots gros 2.99 kg - tomate grappe 2.25 kg - poivron rouge 1.99 kg.  

And from le supermarché: café x2 5.33 - 500g of musli 2.31 - 1l soupe 3.00 - 6×1l evian eau 2.92 - 1.5l coca lite 2.54 - 6×100g savon palmolive 3.60 - 8×100g yahourt 2.52 - 1l lait fraich 1.09 - beurre 1.05 - 6 x oeufs 1.57 - 2 tranche jambon 1.44 - 70cl rhum bacardi 13.62 - 300 gr tagliatelle 1.15.

In reality, in many cases a move to France is rarely influenced by the cost of living. If life in France appeals to you sufficiently, you will cut your cloth to fit!! 

A Bientot, Bruce. 

Laundry is not a very sexy subject, but for all B n B/Gite owners it is an unescapable fact of daily or weekly life.

And while it is not my favourite function, we sure have it easy compared to my parents generation. As a small boy I recall my Mother lighting a fire under the huge copper-well it seemed huge to me-to heat the water and then taking a long pole to stir the sheets around in the boiling water.

Then all 10 sheets-there were 4 kids, so 4 different beds - had to be fed through a hand wringer. What a chore!!

When we had our small B n B in St Remy-de-Provence, Anne use to wash and iron all the bedroom and bathroom linen. I tried to help her-honest-but she is very fussy about that sort of thing-compulsive, obsessive you might say!

However once we graduted to our larger property located here in Burgundy we wised up.  www.maisonchaudenay.com

We still wash/dry all the bathroom linen ourselves, but all the bed linen is sent out to a blanchisserie. Other property owners will be interested in these prices-we couldn’t do it cheaper ourselves.

Double/queen sheets tops and bottoms cost us 0.909 centimes each. Single sheets run at 0.843 centimes. Pillow slips are 0.421 centimes each.(all HT)  The laundry is collected and returned to our front door so all in all we consider it a pretty good service.

In terms of purchasing, most bathroom linen we buy at the French retail chain, Eurodif. Their quality is very good and prices very reasonable. They usually have good quantities of stock too, so replacements for sets of linen can be bought.

For bed linen, while we have bought some in France we tend to buy in Switzerland where again the quality and price are in good balance. Normally from Globus, a Swiss department store chain.

E.B. White had life sorted: “We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.” 

Cheers, Bruce.

A peaceful scene in our garden - ideal for outdoor dining.

Hello, what’s that lurking there………..can you see it?

Zut alors!  It looks like a…………..

No, not a koala bear,  it’s a wasp’s nest…….un nid des guêpes……un grand nid des guêpes!

Fortnuately, our femme de menage’s husbands sisters husband is a pompier. So, Nicholas rides to the rescue.

Elsewhere on this Blog I’ve been talking of the warm dry European summer.

Another word for all that is - thirsty weather!  As wine afficinados will know, the summer weather in France brings out refreshing drinks such as pastis and rosé.

In Burgundy, Kir falls into a similiar category.

The recipe for KIR is very simple - one part Cassis (blackcurrant extract) to three/four parts white Burgundy wine - but my favourite is the mix with Cremant, Burgundy’s white sparkling wine.

Personally I find one part cassis far too sweet, so I tend to just pour a ’splash’ into each glass, giving it both flavour and colour without looking like a raspberry soda.

As refreshing as the drink is, its history is equally delightful - although there are many variations to this story.

Kir is named after Cannon Felix Kir, a priest, World War 2 French resistance hero, and mayor of Dijon from 1945 until his death in 1968.

There was a time when the lower quality Aligote white wine was being difficult to market. A keen promoter of Burgundy and its products, Cannon Kir imaginatively started adding cassis to the wine being served to visitors to the Town Hall.

The drink’s fame gradually grew beyond Burgundy and eventually throughout the world. 

In reality, blanc-cassis was popular in France well before Cannon Kir’s initiative. But being renamed Kir was in honour of his standing and war time exploits.

Some note the health positives of Kir. Blackcurrents contain around 7 times more vitamin C as oranges.

The drink certainly seemed to agree with the Cannon, he was 92 when he died!

So drink up without guilt!!

What great summer weather we are having.

According to my summer litmus test - the number of days I wear shorts - it is the best since ‘la canicule’ of 2003.

It has been so warm, sunny and dry the vineyard owners here in Burgundy expect an earlier than usual harvest - and a good quality one too.

The heat has also caused our chestnut tree leaves to dry up and fall weeks earlier than in previous years - see this image taken today - very sad!

 I guess ‘dry’ is probably also an apt word to describe the businesss side of the 09 Season.

From talking with other accommodation providers, tourist operators and wine sellers many people are experiencing a ‘less than robust’ season - for obvious reasons.

The common observation is the heavily reduced numbers of British and Amercian holiday travellers.

If you have sales growth, or are even ‘down’ between 0 and 20% on last season you are doing pretty well; between minus 20% to 30% you are generally in good company; if you are more than 30% down I suggest you may want to review your marketing!

If your business consists more of French and Europeans, you will probably have fared better compared to those of us who rely heavily on the English speaking market.

We fall into the middle group. Last year we averaged 26 letting weeks for each of our three apartments, this year we will finish just under 20 weeks.

There have been two elements that have helped us to avoid a ‘disatrous’ year.

Firstly the number of ‘late’ bookings that we have received, significantly more than last year. Holiday decisions have been made closer to time of travel once people have felt more secure about their jobs/income.

Secondly has been the number of Australian guests we have welcomed onto our property. In a ‘normal’ year we would expect Aussies to make up around 20-25% of our guests. This year they will be close to 50%.

It is almost like Australians have been immune to the global economic crisis. They do refer to it as the ‘Lucky’ country!

So while 09 will be memorable for the wrong reasons, the positive thing about the tourism/hospitality business is that it is cyclical.

Roll on a better year in 2010!!

There are many general perceptions of how the French live their lives.  And also what makes them ‘tick’.

Passionate, expressive, disinterested, unpunctual are some of the adjectives which spring readily to mind. 

However, if you asked me to name the most impressive aspect of French societal behaviour, instinctively my answer would be ‘the value of respect’.   

In many western countries, one could argue that genuine ‘respect’ for fellow citizens and property have long disappeared.  Not so in France.  

Visitors to France are exposed to the well worn iconic images; a gentle cycle ride through idyllic countryside; the aroma of warm freshly baked bread wafting from boulangeries;  a peaceful game of petanque played under a clear blue Provencal sky.  Beneath all this lifestyle lies a national characteristic rarely observed by the visiting holidaymaker.    

It is only after a period of social interaction with the French do you begin to appreciate how ‘respect’ is a core ingredient to the French psyche. Respect is part of their tradition, their heritage, and is an embedded strain of their ongoing attitude. 

It is after all inherent in their every day language. As any student knows, you use ‘vous’ to an elder or if you do not know the other person well. Conversely, the pronoun ‘tu’ is perfectly acceptable between friends. 

The ‘kiss - kiss’ on both cheeks is a respectful greeting applied universally.  We were standing in the ticketing queue at Dijon railway station when two staff members arrived to start their day. Their first action is to ‘peck-peck’ their way down the line of their colleagues. This suspension of customer service is irritating to us foreigners, but is considered perfectly appropriate behaviour by the French.

There was a time not all that many decades ago when the French would not enter a shop unless they intended to make a purchase. To do so was considered disrespectful to the shop owner. This lead to the placement of window signs ‘entrée libre’ which can still be seen displayed to this day.

Some of the shopping traditions are so subtly respectful they would pass right over the heads of many foreigners.  Mireille Guiliano in her widely acclaimed book ‘Why French Woman don’t get Fat’ tells how she would not dream of visiting her local boulangerie dressed in track pants and sneakers. To do so would be hugely disrespectful to her boulanger. 

This show of respect is not confined to adults.  Once weekly, four of us receive French language lessons from Isabelle in her private home. When Isabelle’s two young sons arrive home from school, without any prompting they move around the table.  ‘Bonjour’, and ‘kiss-kiss’ are respectfully exchanged. 

Consider how public property is treated in many countries today.  In France it is uncommon to see public property vandalised.  While some graffiti does exist, in the context of the size of France it is rarely sighted. 

Here in Burgundy, wine bottles sit outside, unfettered, on display atop of wine barrels. Would a wine retailer in say New Zealand have confidence that his bottles would remain untouched? 

The attitude to wine and alcohol is another illustration of their ‘respect’.When drinking wine with French friends I always empty my glass first. While I guzzle, they sip, giving the wine the respect it deserves. Often they will take their leave with the bottle unfinished. Where I was raised you would be drawing another bottle from your cellar. 

The environment and neighbours are also respected.   In our village by-laws exist that prohibit the use of noisy mechanical devices on Sundays and public holidays other than between 10.00 and 12 noon.  

To what extent the value of ‘respect’ has been lost in other societies is probably debatable. However, it is useful to reflect on how a centuries old country such as France is able to preserve such a positive and powerful form of social behaviour.  

It is a behaviour that many communities could well emulate for their own benefit.