MOVING to rural France does involve a few cultural changes. Among the items you have to get used to - according to The Local (English-speaking-French news) website - include purchasing several pairs of jeans. You wear best jeans for functions such as Halloween dances, etc.

French men and women in rural France favour jeans. I have not studied in depth their sartorial preferences in big towns and cities, but you cannot help but note the increased sophistication once you get away from the countryside. The differences are quite marked.

In Limousin, in which there are more cows than people, we observed women tended towards a minimum of three pairs of jeans: best jeans; shopping and everyday jeans, and jeans for undertaking chores. Once the best jeans look a little tired, they are relegated down the pecking order.

Of course you saw the occasional dress or skirt worn by the under-fifties but it was rare and usually the women who sport skirts are the old and ancient.

Jeans are de rigeur in rural areas.

I noted that very few French opted for wearing a suit at funerals. Looking at the mourners outside churches jeans seemed much in evidence: best jeans, naturally.

I could not make an in depth study because that would have involved staring and we English were brought up to appreciate it is rude to stare.

If you drive through a village, even when in a French registered car, you can see people on the pavements or in groups, stop and stare. If you walk through the village they break off conversations to stare at you. It is undertaken without subtlety and even if you attempt to catch them off guard with a hopefully disarming 'Bonjour', they will reply and continue to stare. If you look back, after you have passed, it is a patisserie to a stale baguette that they will be staring still.

I don't know if the success rate derived from publishing identikit photos of criminals has a higher return in rural France than elsewhere, but during the average day, a French resident will have stared at many strangers. If I was disposed to consider undertaking a bank robbery, I would give rural France a miss for they would spot you and have you taped, right down to the odd blackhead.

Mentioning 'bonjour' that is one French habit that strikes you within the first week of moving to France. Total strangers pass you in the street and greet you. Of course we are not talking about walking down the equivalent of Watford High Street where saying hello to everyone would be a tour de force. But when you walk in a village or a small town, there are only ten or twenty metres between one passer-by and the next, so it is wise to ready your 'bonjour' for dispatch.

The first Saturday morning after moving to France we enjoyed a seat outside the local bar and had a drink. Almost everyone who entered the bar cast a bonjour in our direction. Then a pensioner of some sophistication stopped and talked to us, establishing we were English and new residents. He bade us farewell in French and then, in English, he added that he hoped we would settle in quickly.

The following week, he shook our hands when he saw us and a week later, much to Ellie's joy, he greeted her with a kiss on each cheek. It was almost as if France had embraced her.

The kissing thing - once on each cheek - became an acknowledgement of acceptance rather than friendship. In some regions in France, there are three kisses and others favour four. We are happy with two and I am also grateful that the tendency around Limousin and in The Tarn is for men to decline kissing men on greeting.

I think the French kissing culture is one all too readily embraced by the English. Once you've familiarised yourself with the habit, it is difficult to stop upon returning to England and likewise a handshake with males. I recall several women were a little surprised when, upon reaching Sarratt, I continued with the French habit, without thinking.

Likewise, in France, ex-pats greet each other with kisses.

The bonjour habit is also an indicator. Some do not offer up a bonjour when passing in the street, which usually indicates they are either the type of person you would not want to know or they resent the fact you are English.

That is only a rough rule of thumb and it is best to give them a second chance but if they continue to ignore you, they are not worth knowing.

The other tendency we have never mastered is the changeover between bonjour and bonsoir. If you say one, as often as not, you will be rejoined with the other. I have been tempted to think it is just the French way of keeping you on edge, but many people have had similar experiences so it is best to go with the flow.

When you walk into a local pharmacy and you see a queue, your first reaction is one of disappointment in that you have to wait. It is the wrong reaction but you learn quickly to make the necessary adjustment. In fact, as soon as you enter, the other members of the queue will proffer a ‘bonjour’.

So, wherever you go in rural France, be it a shop or a waiting room, have a ‘bonjour’ handily placed near your lips. You will use it.

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