Aux barricades! The French are revolting - so the King’s visit has been postponed. Over the 12 years we lived in France, the French were always protesting about something. Phrases like gilets jaune have become commonplace. In many ways I found the French to have a sense of personal entitlement far exceeding that of the ‘lowly’ English. Along with the excellent French health system, their amazing carte vitale having personalised medical history encryption, their pension system is generous. Many French retirees receive 50% of their working salary. Claude, our erstwhile French neighbour in 2005, was able to take full retirement at the age of 55 from his job as an electrician with the EDF service, on two very generous state and occupational pensions. He lived the life of Riley, installing an indoor pool in his bungalow. Every day we saw him pootling around on his top of the range ride-on mower. But now, his countrymen are protesting loudly that, for entirely sensible economic reasons, Macron is moving the retirement age goalposts. So our King must wait. Otherwise, like past French royalty, he would be sent to the Bastille. Allons enfants de la patrie…
To read more about our tumultuous life with the French: mybook.to/Ed2paradis
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