Tuesday 27 April 2010

Neighbours, Neighbours, French Neighbours

Came across this blog discussing the plight (or otherwise, you decide) of some expats moving to a French village. The story relates how they had bought a derelict plot of land and have spent the last two years building a house, and are now suffering hostility from the neighbours.

"Perhaps not surprising, as they describe their activities as including long periods of using a mechanical digger, receiving deliveries of building supplies, keeping a noisy guard dog, erecting a seven-foot high surrounding hedge, and claiming they do not work during lunchtime or on Sundays! If it was a British person writing about a French family, doubtless they would have been labelled as neighbours from hell."

It was followed by some good advice: "I think one can draw a number of lessons from this truly sad situation. One of which is clearly that you can not and will not find peace and solitude in a small French village, where typically everyone knows everyone else's business and new arrivals have to make a super-human effort to fit in and slowly become accepted. It is very much about contributing something to the overall life of the community."

Doesn't the same thing happen in the UK? Yes, reminds me of the Neighbours from Hell series on TV!

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