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MOVING ABROAD
WOMAN: Do you know anyone who's
gone to live abroad?
MAN: Yes, I've got these friends who moved to a little village in
France, down in the south-west,
about ten or twelve years
ago now – yeah, they've been there a pretty long time!
WOMAN: It sounds as if they must be well settled in. What do they
do?
MAN: Well, they bought quite a big house in the village and
set up a kind of walking
holiday business. You know, people come in small groups and
stay with them for a day or two, and then walk from village to
village, staying in small hotels and guesthouses, and getting all
their luggage transported for them.
WOMAN: And how have they found it?
MAN: They seem to be doing very well. It took a while to get the
business going – the first two or three years were a bit of a
struggle, I think – but now they're established, and they've got
good relationships with the walking holiday companies. I mean
they don't make a fortune,
and they make most of their money in the spring and the summer, and
winter can be quiet, but then they do get to live in a beautiful
French village!
WOMAN: And have they fitted in well? I mean, do they feel they
belong now?
MAN: Yes, they've really had no problems.
They both spoke French
already, which was obviously a huge help, and
they tried right from the
start to be part of the village, you know, getting to know
people and going to festivals and events and stuff like that. But
the real difference was when
they had a baby – I think that's when they were really accepted, and
people realized that they were there to stay, and the baby
was a real star in the village!
WOMAN: So they're planning to stay?
MAN: Well I think so, yes. I mean they've actually bought a couple
more houses and they're renovating them, and last year
they opened a restaurant
which was the first one in the village, and the first night it
opened they gave everyone a free four-course dinner, which
went down very well! I think they're going to stay. And
it's been good for the
village too, I mean it was really a tiny village, but now they get
visitors and a little bar has opened up in summer, and even a little
shop, and it seems to have come back to life a bit, which has
to be a good thing. |
