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The first of our opinion Polls, ‘What do you Love & Hate about France’ was bound to be a corker. The incendiary nature of those two simple questions generated an enormous turnout - with over 1,000 (mostly expatriate) people responding. But perhaps more interestingly was the length of many of the responses, some of which were many paragraphs long - cathartic diatribes that railed against both the French and the English and both France and England in equal measure.
So what does happen when thousands of anglo-saxons pack their cars with Pims and Chutneys and head, over the channel, to live new lives in lands of their oldest enemy?
Time Travel
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| That 'forever Sunday way of life' |
More than anything, we seem conflicted. On the one hand, we seem to love the fact that moving to France is above all a move back in time, to a time in Britain when life was “unhurried”, more simple, more innocent, more polite. “The Forever Sunday way of life”, “A way of life not possible in the UK anymore.” In France, “The children still look up to their elders with a respect that has also been lost across the Channel.” (The sight of two fourteen year-old French boys greeting each other with three ‘bisous’ does come as a bit of a shock after experiencing English teenagers.) We exit the Tardis to find a time when food was earthy and not over sterilised and packaged. Where people work to live, rather than living to work. A time of strong-communites and strong family. “I love the community life which seems rooted in traditions which have passed down from generation to generation.” We find a country not spoiled by pollution, cities not scarred by graffiti, roads unclogged by traffic. “I love being able to drive home from a friends, or restaurant at night, and not pass another car”. A country not marred by over-commercialisation - we love “the lack of identikit shops, bars, restaurants” - no Boots, M&S and WH Smith on every highstreet. And the fact that people don’t have to work on a Sunday. “The French have not moved into the 21st century possibly even the 20th”, “It is as if time has stood still.”
Conflicted
Which brings us to the conflict - because with all that cultural stasis comes a certain ‘backwardness’ that many British find infuriating. The French hostility to capitalism and their aversion to commercial competition, factors that have helped to keep life gentler, have also resulted in lack of innovation, poor product variety and sloppy service. ‘Bad customer service’ came third in our list of ‘Hates’. “Service can be poor, abrupt and discourteous from civil servants and shop assistants.” We want our cake, and to eat it: “I still expect first world levels of hygiene and decent customer service” rants one respondent. “It's worse than "manyana" in Spain.” snorts another.
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| Thanks for the bureaucracy |
Bureaucrats and officials generate particular fury, “If I am in my bank manager’s office, he will quite happily answer the phone and chat away for 10 minutes to another customer.” Of course, in a producerist society, the customer is never king, but we can’t help but miss our loss of status. We love “how they put almost everything before their careers - their families, their homes, their leisure time”, yet “the shops shutting for 2 hours at lunchtime can seem a pain.”
We also miss the innovation that a fiercer capitalism brings. “I miss the innovation of shops like Sainsburys...and internet shopping. Supermarkets here are years out of date.” But then, France is out of date, and that, supposedly, is what we love about it.
In a nation so dominated by the state, we find the burden of bureaucracy (our biggest Hate of all) an enormous one. (In fact, most French people I talk to do as well, but that’s another story…) “I hate the red-tape, absolutely loath it.” And with it, “the reliance on the 'Nanny' state; the power of the unions (who only represent 7%), the lack of initiative.” It’s almost as if we want to go back in time culturally, but not economically. “It's a great place to relax and a terrible place to work!”
Frog-lovers
So we’re torn over the culture. But what about the French themselves. Overall (and the results were mixed) we find the French people very friendly and welcoming. Which isn’t too surprising - people are people. And if you’re friendly yourself, then most people are friendly back. “Our French neighbours are so very friendly and helpful”, “We have been overwhelmed by the friendliness of our French neighbours and have built up a circle of very good friends who are always ready to offer help and advice.” We also admire their pride. Time and time again, we marvel at “the self confidence that France has in itself.” Perhaps not a particularly British quality. “The French know who they are, what drives them and what annoys them. They are bon viveurs and proud to be so.” Overall, it would seem the ‘Entente Cordiale’ is holding up rather well.
But there is a strain of the French personality that does grate - a certain anti-social selfishness. We fume at their “smoking in restaurants”, and their “disregard of anti smoking laws”. They desecrate, with wanton abandon, that most holy of English institutions: “Queue jumping is legendary,” “They just cut across you and barge you at will”. And we all put our foot down on “The amount of dog poo on the pavements.” (No 2 in our list of Hates). More seriously, we bemoan their “discourteous and dangerous driving.”
When push comes to (Gallic) shove, we actually reserve more bile for our fellow Brits than we do for our Poodle-wielding hosts. Shame, with a good pinch of guilt, rang through many of the comments. We’re ashamed of those “Brits who never make a real attempt to integrate”. Those “arrogant English”. “Why come to France if all you do whilst you're here is moan about things.” Over and over again, we describe ourselves as “guests”, with no right to complain. “These are the characteristics of a nation, and one accepts them by choosing to be here.” It is for us “as foreigners to learn to accept such customs.” Which probably explains why twice as many people voted for ‘Things you love’ than did for ‘Things you hate’.
Jeckyl & Hyde
So are we divided into the Frog-haters and their red-faced ‘France - love it or leave it’ apologists? It’s doubtful. A more likely explanation is that both caricatures inhabit each of us. It’s inevitable, surely, coming from an Anglo-Saxon culture, that we find things we Love and Hate about France. Things that jar. Things that delight. And inevitable, perhaps, that we should feel guilty about feeling so conflicted - like ungrateful, boorish dinner-party guests criticising our hostess’ decorating skills. Especially when, at the end of the day, most of us who have moved here feel that France and the French have given us so much - a new life in a new country full of new experiences and long-lost pleasures.
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