Posted on 01/05/2004 6:53:44 AM PST by dead
The writing's on the wall - and it's not very polite, reports Charlotte Edwardes in Chamonix.
In this pretty ski resort that hugs the foot of Mont Blanc, an ugly Anglo-French conflict is brewing. Local residents are aggrieved at what they call l'invasion anglaise - an influx of Britons buying apartments, setting up businesses and acting as if they own the place - and they are fighting back.
Until a few days days ago, the spray-painted insult "Putain les Anglais" (F--- the English) could be read on a wall. "English go home" is sprayed on car bonnets and walls of British-owned businesses. Tyres are slashed. Glue and matchsticks are shoved into doorlocks.
Bernard Prud'homme explains: "It's English economic imperialism. The English have taken over and only want the French to cook."
Mr Prud'homme is the town's director of tourism. He would like the English to come on holiday and then go home.
"They're taking over," he says. Seventy per cent of clients on estate agents' books are English, property prices have risen 40 per cent in three years and one family in six out of the 10,000 permanent residents is now British, he complains. "My message to the French people of Chamonix is, 'Don't sell to the English'. It is the only way to stop the destruction of our identity."
On rue des Moulins are the Queen Vic, Dicks Tea Bar, Bar d'Up, CyBar, Le Terrace and Le Bumble Bee - all run by Britons.
Here, the signs are in English, tea is served with milk and few speak French. Companies, such as the Airport Transport Service, which ferries skiers to and from charter flights, and Mark Warner, a tour operator, recruit staff in Britain and pay wages in sterling - avoiding French taxes and employment laws.
"It is unjust," says the Mayor of Chamonix, Michel Charlet. "It is not fair on French business for the English to come here and operate under British commercial law. We welcome the category that speak French, live here all year, integrate and pay taxes. But the second category - well, that's different. They don't want to be part of the community. They force prices up so high, buying second homes to rent out tax-free, that local French can't afford to live here."
Other nationalities in the town believe the conflict is born of animosity that is centuries old. "The problem is both sides are chauvinists," Pietro Caputo, an Italian estate agent says.
I didn't know they could do anything else.
...and the other activities they are known to be good at? Wait, never mind, Monica is after all a "French" name.
The French they are a curious race, who fight with their feet and (ahem) with their face.
Well, the do run away very well...
"Only sell to radical Muslims. We only have 20% of pur population that are killers. We must try harder!"
The French. What a bunch of spineless dolts.
If they object to the Muslims, the Muslims will kill them.
So they object to the Brits. (It's all very French.)
One big happy Europe to rival the U. S.? Or the same old squabbling? Ask the French in Chamonix.
In any case at least they've all essentially gutted their militaries (except the British), so we won't have to get sucked in to pull them apart when they try to slaughter each other once again.
One big happy Europe to rival the U. S.? Or the same old squabbling? Ask the French in Chamonix.
Actually, this story reminded me of the Floridians who are constantly bitching about the New Yorkers moving down there!
Quite. You could also read the same story in virtually any local newspaper here where I live in the South West of England: just substitute rich Londoners for 'the English' and any town or rural area here for Chamonix. The complaint is always the same: because of artificially inflated property prices in London and the South East, the incomers have the capital to push up local prices and make it virtually impossible for young local people to get on to the property ladder. And they're only here for the holidays, and make no contribution to the local community, etc etc....
So it's not that this is a non-story: rather it's just another example of a pretty widespread and long-established phenomenon. Incidentally, the English invasion of Chamonix isn't new, either. For years there's been a large community of British climbers and climbing guides who spend their summers there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.