BabyNSX

From 1998 to the end of 1999 I lived in New York. In fact the reason I came back to London was because my new S2000 was waiting for me . I've also travelled alot.

For me:

The Good:
- Salaries
- I'll put down more when I think of some

The Bad:
- Dirty
- Noisy
- Traffic
- The rude people
- The crime
- House prices
- Work hours
- State of the roads
- 11pm closing hours
- Expensive (for everything)
- Public Transport (so I've heard )


What I'd add about the girls is IMHO you are right for the majority of them, but there are a few nice ones. A few. Theres a saying in London that 'she's a 2 bagger' Meaning you'll need a paper bag to put over your head in case her one comes off But without wishing to offend out Northern friends, I find it get worse further North of London. I lived in the Midlands one and off for 5 years..

I found New York safer, cheaper, friendlier and more accessible than London. The only place I've been to which is more expensive is Tokyo.

PariS2K

Well, I feel well qualified to add my opinion here, coming from the diametrically opposite position of having been a born and bred Brit who moved to Paris 1.5yrs ago.

The first thing that I cant help but pick up on is this queuing thing...it is true that often you have to queue in the UK (as in any other country). In France, they still exist, but the difference is that the French have a mighty well developed sense of "creative queuing"...that is to say they dont give a sh!t about the long line of people waiting patiently for service, they just barge to the front and egocentrically consider only themselves. Understandably at first I considered this as rude and inconsiderate, but having become accustomed to this "each man for himself" attitude, and adapting accordingly, I can report that it has its merits

On the subject of cheese: im not especially a fan of strong cheeses, and ok, perhaps it reflects bad taste on my part, but I love a good strong english cheddar. Now you try going to the typical supermarket in France and getting a decent cheddar! I can assure you its next to impossible! My late night sessions in front of the footie with a bottle of wine and a nice mature farmhouse cheddar have gone out the window!

Food: well what can i say...its true that i have never come across such a top selection of reasonably priced (comparative to london) restaurants in my life as you find in Paris. Anyone who has been there for any length of time will agree on this. However, try to get a decent post piss-up kebab, and your out of luck monsieur! Even worse, try to get a decent curry (as le car eluded to) and you can forget it! Theres only a scattering of indian restaurants in Paris, and if you happen to find one, they all serve the peculiar derivation of the standard nan bread...the nan fromage, which is filled with something not unlike laughing cow cheese.

Weather: its been raining in Paris since I arrived 1.5yrs ago...need I say more?

Safety: it seems that France has an even more radical approach to care in the community than the UK...every single nutter seems to be on day release, and its rare that you pass a single day without some dodgy looking character invading your personal space and shouting in your face. (of course, perhaps thats the perfectly sane french people reacting to a foreigner!)

Water: well, i dont want to comment on the tap situation, but i would like to ask why the hell the french dont use normal sized baths? I looked around about 20 appartments before moving into one, and all of them had about 1/3rd normal size baths...i know theres a rumour that the french dont like to wash, but really! And while we're on the subject, apparently the bathroom doesnt have enough room for a normal size bath, but it has room for a bidet?! And speaking of services, its rare you find an appartment in Paris where the light-switch actually turns on a light...oh no, that would be far too simple! The electricians in Paris seem to have conspired to wire all the buildings in such a way that the light switch by the front door turns on the stereo in the bedroom, and the bed-side light switch turns on the answerphone etc (i can assure you this took some working out!)

Parks: you have some pretty groovy parks in Paris too (cf bois de boulogne, bois de vincennes etc)

Trains: again, no arguments there...the french train system is second to none (are you listening Mr Blair?). But of course, in order to use the trains you have to hope that the drivers arent on strike! And i assure you, for a period of about 3 months earlier this year, the drivers were Always on strike, and this is not an uncommon senario. Whilst on the subject of transport, lets talk about driving....lane, what lane?...speed limit, what speed limit?....indicating, where's the indicator? give way to the right, even when going around a round about, you have to be kidding, right? If you find an undamaged car in Paris, you have indeed made a remarkable find! And as for parking...anything goes! Parking in the central reservation on a single lane 2 way road...parking on roundabouts...parking on the pavement...hey anything goes. And dont worry, coz if you get boxed in, you can just ram your way back and forth till you make enough room to get out, its the norm!

Working conditions/Salaries: yes its true that people dont get payed as much in Paris as in London. However there is a very large caveat to this....people in Paris dont work as hard as those in London! What le car failed to mention is that there was a law passed in france making it ILLEGAL to work more than 35 hrs per week! Now seeing as the average person easily exceeds this amount, in compensation most companies give you 2 extra whole days off per month. Yes, thats an extra 24 DAYS LEAVE PER YEAR!!!! Add that on top of your standard, say 26 days leave per year, and that makes a total of 50 days leave per year. But wait, we're not finished yet...france has more public holidays than just about any country in the world (about 12 per year)...so add that into the mix, and you have 62 DAYS LEAVE PER YEARS (not including weekends). That makes a grand total of, erm, yes, im ashamed to say, over 12 weeks annual leave!!!! Vive la France! I love this country...too bad I have to return to the UK in a couple of months

Oh, I forgot to mention tax...french tax is crippling, and this is a particularly sensitive subject for me since I have an enormous tax payment to make within the next 2 weeks

Tonky

Paris S2k:

Have you not heard of the Dover Ferry

Or... The Channel Tunnel

le car

reading your very accurate post, PariS2k, reminds me of my lovely city, and in fact I realize that I miss quite a lot the lawlessness (sp?) of the french people... I'm a complete parking anarchist, and as you said, when it comes to circulating and finding a parking spot, anything goes!

I can't complain about the bath sizes, because...well...I'm short.

And you're right about those switches, it's actually pretty funny, I had never thought of it as a french particularity, assuming that this was one of the difficulties of life - finding which switch activates which lamp

Nick Graves

Paris S2K - LOL!

I'd forgotten about the switches!

It's the same on Citroens, Renaults and Thomson televisions, & I thought it was faulty wiring.

PariS2K

it IS faulty wiring...but it comes as standard, and not as an option, on all products....including buildings!