Another Brexit "benefit"

biba70

So many of my students went to study for a term or year in EU, with Erasmus programme. Our eldest did too, and went with quite a significant group from her Uni. Sadly, this option will no longer be available for our grandchildren.

The son of some old friends went to Italy for a year as part of his 4 year degree course. His year there had lasting effects since he met an Italian girl, she got pregnant and they got married. Our friends are happy with their Italian rellies and now have a house in Italy. Their children are multilingual. Which IMO is a good thing.

Jaberwok

We were NOT promised an oven ready deal, we were promised an oven ready W.A which we got! Spot the difference?!!
Well my SIL lived in France at the time of the referendum and after a lot of thought sold their house and moved back to England mainly for future health reasons. They certainly didn't have an issue with us because of the way we voted, and we certainly don't feel remotely guilty! At the time nobody voted for a deal or no deal, because we weren't asked! It was a simple IN or OUT. Surely anyone living in Europe must have realised that things would almost certainly alter and at least have put feelers out as time went on and make a few enquiries and a few contingency plans? after all there must be people outside the EU living in an EU country,? How do they manage?!

When we decided to move to France, back in 2007 there was very little antagonism towards the EU, apart from the likes of Farage.

At that time, aged 60, we just thought that, instead of playing golf and getting pissed in the club bar, we would have an adventure, which it has been. There was no need for contingency plans back then. No more than if you;d decided to move from Sunderland to Cornwall and decided that you didn't like it and wanted to move back up north.

We moved to France in 2008, 8 years before the referendum. There are Americans living here and they either have to go back to the States for a period each year or else they become French citizens. Most of the ex pat population here are from other EU countries.

Jaberwok

We were NOT promised an oven ready deal, we were promised an oven ready W.A which we got! Spot the difference?!!
Well my SIL lived in France at the time of the referendum and after a lot of thought sold their house and moved back to England mainly for future health reasons. They certainly didn't have an issue with us because of the way we voted, and we certainly don't feel remotely guilty! At the time nobody voted for a deal or no deal, because we weren't asked! It was a simple IN or OUT. Surely anyone living in Europe must have realised that things would almost certainly alter and at least have put feelers out as time went on and make a few enquiries and a few contingency plans? after all there must be people outside the EU living in an EU country,? How do they manage?!

Funny that you should mention health. I went to my doctor yesterday and saw one of the trainees. I went because I thought I might have arthritis in my hip and lower back but her first questions to me were about my asthma. She thought that I should have different medication and gave me a letter for a chest specialist at the university hospital in Limoges. She also gave me a letter for z-rays and one for a physio.

None of this "you can only ask about one thing" because you have less than 10 minutes.

I do have to make the appointments myself but that's no big deal.

None of this "you can only ask about one thing" because you have less than 10 minutes.
On this one, I do have to agree (!!) Dinahmo that French GPs are better at looking at the whole picture rather than just the isolated problem.

Do you remember that Barclays supported the apartheid regime in South Africa? Or do those of you who voted for Brexit support apartheid as a concept?

That makes no sense.

Do you mean that those people who have a Barclays bank account or Barclaycard would be assumed to support apartheid?

Alegrias

DH worked in universities in France and here in the UK. His students always had the opportunity to spend a term at an institution in another EU country. Almost all the French students took it up, not one of the UK students did. I think that's very telling about our attitudes, even among the young.

Really?
I know several British students who spent time at universities in Spain, France, Germany and Sweden, several of them in our family.

That was one of the worries about the ending Erasmus scheme

So many of my students went to study for a term or year in EU, with Erasmus programme. Our eldest did too, and went with quite a significant group from her Uni. Sadly, this option will no longer be available for our grandchildren.

We know many too, biba and it's sad that this will be coming to an end.

It's why I found Alegrias's post puzzling, as if young British students are insular. That is not my experience.

Puzzling or not, that's what happened. It was the early nineties, they were engineering students. Was Erasmus so well established then? I'm not trying to paint engineering students as insular, but were your students maybe from other disciplines? Would that have made a difference do you think? DH was very disappointed that he couldn't convince any students to venture over the channel.

Language, law and medical so not engineering, no.

"Do you remember that Barclays supported the apartheid regime in South Africa? Or do those of you who voted for Brexit support apartheid as a concept?"

I'm afraid, dear Ashcombe, that comments such as those above serve only to encapsulate and illustrate the muddled thinking, non sequiturs, wild generalisations and downright bile deployed by all too many of the "Remain" persuasion in their anger and frustration But it's no good slamming away at this particular stable door. The horse has gone. You really must try to accept the reality of the situation and move on.

There will always be credit cards available for all who need or want them. Banks really want customers - and like us to have them.

Many have no foreign transaction fees (or annual fees) and can be used internationally. There is no 'problem'' really. I just wouldn't expect to live abroad and use a UK one.

Bodach

"Do you remember that Barclays supported the apartheid regime in South Africa? Or do those of you who voted for Brexit support apartheid as a concept?"

I'm afraid, dear Ashcombe, that comments such as those above serve only to encapsulate and illustrate the muddled thinking, non sequiturs, wild generalisations and downright bile deployed by all too many of the "Remain" persuasion in their anger and frustration But it's no good slamming away at this particular stable door. The horse has gone. You really must try to accept the reality of the situation and move on.

Really?

I never knew!

jaberwok well the oven ready deal has been proved to be half baked as we aren’t even getting the one promised with Johnson reneging on his own treaty. Making it up as they go along.

I suspect the ‘reality of the situation’ will not hit many until much later. When it does watch them squeal.

Another “joy” to endure this winter.

I shan’t squeal, I promise.
??

I do love your repetitive narrative varian when you always manage to shoehorn ‘pesky foreigners’ into your posts!

Ignorance is bliss.

"Really? I never knew!"
Dear Ashcombe, your response reminds me of the old tale about the Free Church of Scotland minister preaching to his flock about the Day of Judgement: "Sinners will be cast into the Eternal Fires of Hell, crying, 'Oh, Lord, Lord, we didnae ken!'; and the Lord in his infinite mercy will look down on them and say, 'Ah weel; ye ken the noo!' "

I am delighted that you, at last, ken the noo.

Am I the only one that finds the OP astonishingly arrogant?

I just took a look in my wallet and I found my American Express card. I don't use it often but it is brilliant around the world and I had no problem using it with various addresses I gave when living abroad. The fees are a bit steep but well worth it for us.
I also had a Saga credit card which had favourable rates, but as that was Bank of Ireland they stopped it recently.
As one bites the dust there will always be other options coming into play. As Hetty says, the banks won't want to miss out. France has its own alternatives.

Am I the only one that finds the OP astonishingly arrogant?
Not necessarily arrogant Missfoodlove, but there is a certain smugness amongst those who have gone in search of a better life abroad. The grass is always greener! The irony of course is, that they know very little about the politics, history and culture of the country they living in, and therefore see it all through rose coloured spectacles!

Hetty ' I just wouldn't expect to live abroad and use a UK one.'

not sure if you are not reading posts- those of us who live abroad, in the EU where our conditions were previously garanteed- use UK bank cards as our Pensions, for our lifetime of work and contributions IN THE UK - are paid in the UK, in our UK bank accounts- hence then need to be able to do payments and transfers via UK account and ... cards.

It is not really difficult to understand, really, is it?

Furret

Ignorance is bliss.

It certainly is, I don't even have a credit card and I have never seen a Euro bank note, yet the world still turns and the sun comes up every morning.

Ellianne

^Am I the only one that finds the OP astonishingly arrogant?^
Not necessarily arrogant Missfoodlove, but there is a certain smugness amongst those who have gone in search of a better life abroad. The grass is always greener! The irony of course is, that they know very little about the politics, history and culture of the country they living in, and therefore see it all through rose coloured spectacles!

Good God!

I'm completely lost for polite words...

Curioser and curioser. Barclays have been closing accounts for residents outside the UK for at least 6 years so is Brexit just a handy excuse for something they were going to do anyway? Computer technology enables them to quickly trawl through though addresses to siphon out and send cancelling letters to those who live outside the UK.
Barclays sold its credit card business in Portugal 2 years ago as part of a company wide overhaul. Before that It started pulling out of the EU as early as 2014 when it sold its retail banking
Business to Caixa bank for 800million euros. In 2015 they were closing bank accounts for UK accounts with a foreign address unless the balance held in the account was £100,000+

Hetty58 you say banks really want customers? Really?!!! how come so many local branches have shut then leaving many customers unable to access their nearest branch 6 miles away? How come interest rates on saving accounts are so low as to be non-existent? It’s all the fault of Brexit? I don’t think so.