blog -->, Britain, France, Life
300,000 Frenchmen can’t be wrong….
A survey out today by a US magazine called International Living places Britain at number 37 in the world of best countries to live. We share this dubious honour with Greece, Ecuador, Cyprus, Iceland and Lithuania. Apart from Greece I have never been to any of those places. Partly because on a scale of must-visit countries they’re way down there. Actually I think in my dim and distant past as a financial journalist I did once go to Lithuania to write about its central bank; but it could have been Latvia or Estonia.
It is depressing news that Britain scored so badly. Especially if you live there. Obviously I don’t. I live in France, which was voted, guess what? Number one of course.
But the fact that Britain is on a par with Cyprus and ranks way below a whole host of unlikely places like Finland (have you any idea how COLD and miserable it can get there?) and Bulgaria surprises me. I have been to Bulgaria and won’t be heartbroken if I never go there again. And maybe things have gone horribly downhill in the six years since we left, but I would always rate London over Ljubljana as a place to winter.
If Britain is such a dreadful place, why do countless foreigners want to live there? Did you know, for example, that there are more than 300,000 French people living in London? Just take a walk around South Kensington if you don’t believe me.
Tomorrow morning I head off to Blighty so I will be able to keep you posted on whether or not it really is one of the worst places in the world. I am looking forward to my trip, I always enjoy myself there whatever the surveys say.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007
27 Jan 2007 helena
Here’s the deal, Helena. These surveys are rubbish: the people queried have never lived in the places they are passing judgement on as good or bad places to live. Maybe they have visited one, two or even several places as a tourist, and come away with some vague notion of what it might be like to live there. I am American, but lived in France for 20 years (and in China for two, before that). I traveled pretty much all over the world during that period. I moved back to America a year ago, and have been struck by the “fantasy France” that people here carry around in their heads. It tends to be one of two extremes, both wrong of course, but containing a tiny grain of truth. Women in particular have this idea that life in France is more exciting than life elsewhere, and that just being there elevates people culturally, improving not only their French but also their grasp of the finer things in life. Men in America tend to look upon France with suspicion and/or scorn, unless they are gay, in which case they love it, just like all the women here who want to escape from the drudgery of their lives.
As simplistic as it may sound, I’m convinced that you can be happy or unhappy anywhere. You can become cultivated or remain ignorant anywhere. And despite what people seem to believe, learning a language–truly learning it–is not something that happens automatically just because you live in the country where it’s spoken. I met countless expats in France who never bothered to really learn French; they learned just enough to get by.
By the way, Iceland may be far down on the list, but it is an enchanting place. As is Sweden–isn’t that where you are from? I spent two weeks there in 2001 and loved it. Is Sweden even on the list of the best places to live?
The thing about where you live is this: every time you turn around, and everywhere you go, YOU are there. So if you want to get anywhere in this world, know yourself, open yourself up to possibility, and approach your life as a work in progress at all times. A year ago, I did not think I would leave France and return to America. A year from now, I may be elsewhere. Wherever it is, it will be the best place to be.
Hello Peggy
I agree and I think that’s why many Brits end up going back after trying France. They still have the same problems, just a different country.
Yes, I do come from Sweden but could never live there again; too cold, too dark and too insular. I love it in France but also love England when I go back, whatever the surveys say!