Another Brexit "benefit"

My favourite post on Gransnet (many years ago) was when someone accused us of "fleeing the country". It made me feel like Burgess and Maclean. ???

Our ancestors on both sides wandered the world and settled in farflung places.
Some of mine fled France and settled in England.
I expect they carried any money in their stays in those days.

Same here, all over the world. Sorry do not get you last sentence?

I can tell you that I felt pretty foreign when I moved from Essex to Yorkshire..

I've lived in Essex for nearly 40 years and it still feels "foreign". Even south of the A12 feels like a foreign land to me.

It's quicker for me to travel to Calais (or Paris or Brussels on Eurostar) than it is to travel to Newcastle. The spoken language in Calais is more comprehensible too .

I guess the point I'm making is that we can easily become very tribal and genuine travel or settling somewhere different challenges insular thinking as well as being a geographical change.

biba70

Same here, all over the world. Sorry do not get you last sentence?

stays = corsets

That's why gold and precious gems were useful.

ah thanks - will go to bed a little less stupid tonight ;)

Callistemon

Our ancestors on both sides wandered the world and settled in farflung places.
Some of mine fled France and settled in England.
I expect they carried any money in their stays in those days.

My Aunt who spent her entire life in one village in Cornwall, hardly ever leaving the village used to sew a pocket into her corsets to carry her money if she left the village for a few days away.

one of my young friend's mum, from the Midlands, is very handicapped and can hardly walk- but she always carries her massive handbag, that weighs a ton and more - everywhere she goes- with all her jewellery.

I think that was standard practice Whitewave and sounds very sensible,
Rather like my waist wallet for all the travelling I'm not doing.

biba I knew someone who lugged all her jewellery, some inherited, with her when she went on holiday and had her handbag snatched by two men on a scooter.

Oh, sorry, yes, stays are whalebone corsets

Callistemon - yes, that is my worry for her- but dare not say it. she is very vulnerable as it is.

And yes, I live very close to an old corset factory whih still has a corset museum (and all about whale bones, etc) - I should have remembered.

Ellianne

I'm completely lost forpolitewords...

Why Maizie, what is your experience of those who move abroad? I was employed in Europe to settle ex pats into the country and the system, so I am speaking from witnessing their hopes, dreams, expectations, disappointments etc. Can I not justifiably make an observation?

Of course you can

But you can’t speak for all. Only your experience

It was a while ago, biba and it was in Portugal.
But it could happen anywhere.

Ellianne, not sure what your exact rôle was - but in my experience (and we can only speak from our own ...) those 'expats' who use relocating agents- are exactly as you describe. And are very much a minority.

biba70

Ellianne, not sure what your exact rôle was - but in my experience (and we can only speak from our own ...) those 'expats' who use relocating agents- are exactly as you describe. And are very much a minority.

Yes, biba70, I guess some of the people I met relocating were too busy working to find time to fully integrate into French life. Others were hindered by their lack of the language and others just not interested to learn about the culture and history of their hosts. We are all different.

Regarding how we feel towards our home nation when we live abroad as expats, the French I know in London still want to cling onto their own culture with immense pride. They choose French schools (new ones have sprung up), they shop in French bakeries (loads of them), and food shops, and they eat in French restaurants. They watch French TV and socialise with other French nationals. In discussions, their moans about their own country are very few.
As someone here said, we still rightly belong to our homeland when we move. Brits usually find their new abode abroad m far more appealing and maybe they have reason to. But I don't feel we should start making negative comparisons with the UK, and criticising how things work from a distance when we are not there to see. Otherwise it comes across as point scoring.

No point scoring from me- just an exchange of experiences.

London, like Paris, Milan, etc- is a very different entity to the rest of the country, with behaviours and 'types' to match.

No-one is ever too busy to be respectful to the country they choose to emigrate to, sorry- or make an effort to learn some language. Most immigrants are hindered by lack of language, by definition. Most have no choice but to get on with it, and do. Too many anglo-saxons however ... just say they can't learn and just shout louder- which can be quite objectionable.

Surely anyone living abroad permanently, who still has a UK bank account, can just use their debit card for spending when popping back for the odd visit. Credit cards aren't compulsory!

quizqueen

Surely anyone living abroad permanently, who still has a UK bank account, can just use their debit card for spending when popping back for the odd visit. Credit cards aren't compulsory!

Yes.
We use moneycorp for transferring funds across.

I guess some of the people I met relocating were too busy working to find time to fully integrate into French life. Others were hindered by their lack of the language and others just not interested to learn about the culture and history of their hosts.

They sound like old-fashioned colonialists - people who live in a different country to exploit it for one reason or other. I've always avoided Brits Abroad like that like the plague.

I've spent most of my working life working with people of different nationalities, including French, and I don't recognised the stereotypes you describe Ellianne.

quizqueen - we never use any credit cards- but debit cards and of course transfer money across with Currency Direct.

Credit cards have other benefits as well though, insurance, protection and credit ratings I believe. They are a good safety net in case of problems transferring money too.

Gave up on Barclay many years ago.

I keep getting adverts for Barclays on GN now!!

Alegrias

Spangler it's good that you are content but millions upon millions of people want to engage with world in different ways from you. If you've never seen a Euro note, I assume that's shorthand for never having been in a Euro country? My life would be missing something if I hadn't experienced their cultures.

On the contrary Alegrias, I have been to many countries that now trade using the Euro. My travels to Europe were work related and all were pre-1973, long before the Euro.

That's the year that Prime Minister Heath signed us into The Common Market, it's also the year that my company promoted me up the greasy pole to become the head honcho at the distribution centre of a new contract.

I have worked throughout Western Europe, The Middle East and North America, I agree with you, travel expands the mind. But after taking that promotion I really found my feet, I just couldn't face one more departure lounge.