Services and SEEG

French utilities seem to be quite efficient. We had the electricity switched on and the water reconnected. Although we weren't at Kerverbel at the time our vendors arranged this so that when we visit the house we could at least use the toilet without collecting rainwater in an old bath to fill the cistern!

The electricity board (EDF) arranged a time for the engineer to arrive within a two hour timeslot. Apparently he arrived just thirty minutes into this and did the job in almost no time. The Water authorities were asked to fit a new water meter as the old one had gone missing and in France you have to pay for the meter and it's fitting. This cost us nearly 300 Euro. Quite a shock when we received the bill. However once again they were efficient and polite.

The French are very 'correct' and they are quite strict with their etiquette. It all seems quite charming in an old fashioned way to us Anglo Saxons who seem to have lost much of this politeness and courtesy in the headlong rush to join what we think of as the 'modern world'. This simply means that many of us seem to have lost the concept of manners and selflessness, thinking of others.

It just seems that since the changes of attitude brought about during the 'Thatcher' era selfishness rules. This is mainly the result of her insistence that there is no such thing as society, only the individual, who must strive for whatever he or she can grab. Whatever she meant by this philosophy, it's interpretation means that we have become a very selfish, self centered nation, and I feel sorry for those who have not experienced the pre-Thatcher era when the world seemed less materially rich but a much wealthier society in terms of quality of life. That's the problem with so called 'freedom', in our society this has been interpreted as the freedom to do as our personal needs dictates. However the other side of the coin is the responsibility to act in the interests of others, and this is often missing in the equation. A great pity, we have lost much.

France and the French seem to have managed to have retained much that the Anglo-American Axis has lost. No wonder they are suspicious of us.