A Year in Provence ... Part 2

So having rekindled my love affair with 'la bonne vie', what to do about it? Now I'm not naive, I know the dream often does not meet the reality. So let's start with what I did not like about my trip. 

Firstly, mosquitoes. I've always been some what of an attraction for these critters. Whilst my wife remained bite free, I was bitten to shreds and am still scratching myself raw. Secondly, the bloody cockerels waking me up at 05:30, and then virtually 'snoozing' to repeat their bird song every ten minutes. Now I think I was getting used to this as I seemed to notice it less and wake up later as the week went on. 

Finally, the sun. Yes the very thing that makes it so attractive. By 09:00 it was already on its way to 30. On such a short holiday you feel compelled to make hay, as they say, whilst the sun shines but it was far too hot some days and made for uncomfortable nights sleeping. Given more than a week I guess I would acclimatise more but at the same time would have to adopt a more European approach to the midday sun and escape it. 

From an economic point of view the pound is recovering, French property prices have been falling whilst French property taxes have been rising. In the past, UK ex-pats have often set up businesses to serve other ex-pats but with an increasing number of ex-pats returning to the UK this is hitting them. The other favourite is having holiday properties to let but there is already an abundance of these.

With all of the volatility in the EU at the moment the Euro has suffered and could further suffer if countries like Greece and Spain decline further. Ex-pat pensioners have already suffered with currency fluctuations. If the UK withdrew from the Euro zone then working and living in France would become even harder.

Divorce rates for couples who emigrate to France are high, chances of employment for non-French speaking persons are low. The French education system does not go out of its way to accommodate non-French speaking children often setting them back a year to compensate and not providing further help. Private schooling is better but only add to the cost of living.

So where does this leave my French dream? Well from a schooling point alone it puts it on hold until the kids finish school by which time I will be nearing retirement but I do not want to wait that long which brings us back to compromise. Being a home worker I can work from home, wherever that may be, as long as I have a decent internet connection. With kids being at school they have six weeks summer holiday each year. So I like the idea of letting a property for one month each year abroad. Maybe Provence one year, Tuscany another, Murcia the next, who knows.

But there remains an obstacle. Finance. My wife currently still needs to work and cannot get that much time off. So either she needs a job or business that allows her to work remotely or I need to earn enough for her not to work! Hmmmm......????

Compromised or Compromise?

Uni-on [noun]

1. the act of uniting two or more things.
2. the state of being united.
3. a number of persons joined or associated together for some common purpose

Living in a box

I think there has been a catalyst to my recent mental ramblings. I work from home. In principal its great. No wasting time and money or damaging the environment commuting. It allows me great flexibility in helping out with the kids. I don't need to wear a suit and tie, in fact I can work in my pants!

But it's not all happy pant wearing work schedules, there are some downsides. It can be hard to discipline yourself when you most need to. Work hours seem to go out of the window and because you're at home people sometimes call you when they're at home, like evenings and weekends. Also, when you leave for a place of work the kids know you have gone to work. When you're sitting in the next room it's not always an easy concept for them to grasp when you keep dismissing them and asking them to leave.

Perhaps one of the biggest negative parts is the isolation. In my previous job I was Mr Social and had a great social life around my work. Now I'm just a voice on the end of a phone, not even that most days, an email. I often do not leave the house, sometimes for days. Even then when I do it just for a local trip often less than a mile. I cannot help thinking this isolation is magnifying the problem. Some days the silence is deafening and that's when the mind start to wander ...

P.S. No that's not me pictured in the box.Yet.

Knowing one's limitations

I'm not particularly talking about mental, physical or emotional limitations, I guess I mean the ties that bind us. If I take a quick look in the mirror I see a dad, a husband, a business partner, home owner, all of the above and more.

These roles all have responsibilities and it is these responsibilities that limit a lot of what I now can and cannot do. An important thing to remember is that I chose these, not just willingly but went out of my way to achieve. 

As a dad I want to be there for my children, help raise them, watch them grow, share as much time as I can with them. As a husband I want to be as much as a soul mate to my wife as she it to me, share our lives together and provide for the family. As a businessman I have made commitments to our clients and more importantly my business partner who is also my brother. As a home owner I have major financial obligations that must be met. This is truly a mixed bag but perhaps two of the most obvious limitations come down to time and money. Both and considerable challenges, not entirely impossible, just almost.

Although this is a personal journey, as I highlighted earlier, I would like my entire family to learn the life less ordinary. This however means that I have to consider their obligations and responsibilities. Just looking at the time constraint alone poses many challenges. My wife works and only has limited holidays. Due to this she is also unable to make all the school runs so I have to handle these.

The kids have school and their education is important as well as the social life it also provides them. We are constrained as to when they can and cannot have time off as well as needing to fulfil their homework obligations. There is also their hobbies and the after school clubs and activities to factor in. They should not in anyway have to suffer as a consequence of my choices.

In terms of the business I do have an ace up my sleeve. Being in IT means that I can pretty much work from anywhere I have a laptop and an internet connection and being self-employed affords me some flexibility in choosing when I do the bulk of my work.

The choice of being a home owner brings financial obligations, which is why both my wife and I have to work. The house is also in need of much work which my wife, as the home-maker, is understandably keen to progress. With this in mind the financial challenge is a major obstacle. If as I said at the outset the life less ordinary activities are to be in addition to, not instead of, my current lifestyle then it means the associated expenses will be in addition, unless of course I choose to start making sacrifices (not the children I might add).

Given the above, finances are perhaps the first obstacle to tackle. The kids do have a lot of time off in holidays across the year, and I do have a good degree of flexibility in when and where I work. My wife does not have as much holiday allowance as the kids but if she did not have to work then we could make use of these advantages. However, I am by no means the first to spot this type of opportunity. 


I frequently see adverts for cheap flights 'just £15 per person each way" and immediately I think of spontaneous trips away to foreign destinations. This is of course short lived when I try to book said flights for the family. As anyone else who has tried to book these will know these are for mid-week off-peak times which anyone who works or has family cannot make. Any parent who has ever tried to book a family holiday knows full well the price difference between holidays outside of school holidays and during school holidays. Yep the £15 per person suddenly becomes something more like £300 per person.


Time and money are without a doubt going to be big challenges, but perhaps not the biggest ....