7th November 2008

Oh wad some power the gifte gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion.
- Robert Burns, 1786

There are many French who see every setback as part of an international conspiracy (naturally concocted by les Anglo-Saxons) to rob France of its jobs. So how do intending English expats who are below pensionable age and therefore need to work, deal with this situation?
One such was Clive Cummings who, with his wife Tanith and four children, decided to spend 5million euros setting up a restaurant and hotel in Burgundy. With his English accent and poor grasp of French, he knew it would be a challenge. You can say that again! But worse - what he didn't realise was that his property would be covered in graffiti, protesters would gather at his gates, his children would have to endure snide remarks at school, and planners vowed to pull his property down. Despite trying to ingratiate themselves into the community by enrolling the children in local schools and employing a young French chef, Olivier Elzer, the hostility continued. The problem was never his closest neighbours, who were charming and supportive. It was those who lived "further afield" who were against their living and working there, so he had to fight. What would Winston Churchill have said: We will fight them on the beaches......
But, all that was in 2005. Today, after buying and converting the 900-year-old Abbaye de la Bussiere, near Dijon, the restaurant now boasts a Michelin star and the hotel is listed in the prestigious Relais & Chateau guide.
So, what's the moral of this story? In this global world, we must stop living 'in the box' of our own countries and mindsets and try to help and understand those who bravely come amongst us.
Just as Robbie Burns said all those years ago: Oh to see ourselves as others see us.