Picture - June 2017 - I wish I'd had a crystal ball!
I would laugh but I feel very stressed at the moment.
It's been a very tough week or so here lately, my goodness what a kerfuffle......Googles "How to report police abuse on a foreigner in France'?
No amount of quaffable wine and stinky cheese is gonna fix this nightmare!
If you've been reading my facebook page, you'll already know we have a bit of a situation here? If not, here's the long story as short as I can make it. Those that know the story around the world can sit this one out. Thank you from the bottom of my cold Yorkshire/Scottish heart!
Oh and before you bugger off and go, don't be a bystander 'bystanding' doesn't help anyone, it perpetuates abuse.
Lately, the grocery shop owners have been 'ensuring' they personally enforce a parking restriction here. Lots of complaining, gesticulating and angst. When I say 'here', it's just our house concerned and the parking bays outside our house. When we bought the house, anyone could park there, no concerns. To be brutally honest we also have plenty of parking in the square just 300 yards down, for any shoppers or visitors. so no need to fight chidren!! That said our garage is our failsafe no matter what, it's our access only so this restriction doesn't include that or shouldn't legally.
This lorry has tried to park anywhere it can and has been given the heave ho by everyone. Now it's our turn!
The grocery is a small independent shop who has become a Carrefour reseller. Sold their souls to the corporate devil and all that! Their business decison and risk, not our problem. This reseller problem is the crux of the issue. The shop is a few doors down from us and has its own parking bays, but they are not big enough for the huge articulated lorry that turns up with her tin of pea's (joke) on it's way to the big supermarkets. The lorry is 44 tonne, 13 meters long and refrigerated! A bloody great beast that has no place parking outside a residential property! It naturally belongs delivering to a supermarket logistics centre!
So it would seem the Mairie's office popped a parking restriction outside our house with no consultation, tut tut. As we are the main home affected, you'd think they would have bothered to contact us! They didn't!
We've looked at photos over the years and the sign wasn't there. We weren't always here, so we kinda missed it was a 'thing' now and anyway no one paid any attention to it because, one would reasonably expect it to be a normal sized delivery lorry. Plenty of room for all and most residents hereabouts expect to park near their houses, why wouldn't they? There really was no problem, except there was for one grocery business property and a storm was brewing!
It would seem, by us finally getting this house to a state it could be occupied, spending an absolute fortune and building a business here, we've upset their little plan! Mind you, before madam verbally attacked anyone and everyone for parking there, anyone parked outside our house. We moved and someone else filled it! We have no control over that.
We have had a nasty, dirty ancient camper moved on a few years ago from sitting outside our window with a generator and engine on 24/7. Other than that most vehicles here are normal sized and visiting or living around here. It is what it is until we enter a new dystopian reality where a lorry the size of a house visits and I can touch it if I lean out of my bathroom window!
Then came her aggressive '5 pm the day before' arguments and bloody awfully dangerous trip hazard signs! She had a real go at my plasterer who bless him was only loading his platform towers into his van!
These women don't care about anyone else bar themselves and earlier this year she sent a gardener over our wall to cut down soft trailing clematis! Liberties it seems are only for the French!
In the last month or so there has been a parking war erupt between us, them (the grocery owners and the Mairie (although whilst he apparently has decreed it, he has ignored our complaints).
This utterly crazy sized lorry arrives outside our front windows between 5am and 6am ish, not the parking timings signed 6/9 am. Even so! Obviously there are laws to protect residents from being woken up before 7am!
This lorry requires us to move our car twice a week to keep the large bay free BUT it also requires our garage access to drop its tail lift. It's a big NO from us. It's also an unnecessary disruption to our lives here!
The noise of the lorry unloading is obnoxious, but not quite as awful as the 25 minutes it takes the driver to carry the boxes on a forklift, round the back of our house to their barn, scrapping the pavement as he does! That appears to have got much worse lately?
Three hard NO's from us.
The noise before 7 am.
Our Garage access.
Harassing us and our contract team for unloading or loading, or parking there the night before!
If there was a no. 4, it would have to be a WTF to the size of the lorry, riding pavements and destroying drains. It would be WHY? Why bother us only? Why? For conveninence to one tiny local business? How does that help us in this community? It doesn't! This is totally against the French constitution!
Of course this could all easily be resolved with a small van, which is really all that's needed, if that. They could also take their wares in through their front doors using their own parking bays. The issue is that they aren't in charge of the logistics and therefore we get to suffer!
I've had Madame Grocer bothering my guys reloading their tools outside our garage. We are renovating, although thats none of her business frankly.
Apparently, we can't park anywhere near our garage ever again. It's a loss we aren't willing to accept under any circumstances because it's just nuts! It's selfish and a breach of our residential rights. We bought this house 7 years ago with a drop kerb access to the double garage facing the street. We bought it because we could always park and off load. This house had previously been a surgery and home to the Doctor here and all the parking was for his patients. He obviously used the garage access as we do. There is a precedence set. Take away our access to our garage and we loose value and thats not happening here. If the Mairie wants to purchase our property its his but it’s going to cost him dearly!
We've been suffering lots of locals telling us we can't park at our garage entrance to off load and load whilst they are parking in the bays outside our house! Where else then? Should I carry my shopping 300 yards from the church square to suit everyone bar us?
Apparently, we are not allowed to block the side road either by parking outside our garage, which services the grocer who keeps her vehicles round the back of her property! It's all about these two ladies, I mean come the fuck on! We've checked what we block road wise and because of the parking bays, they'd have to pull out further anyway, no blockage we are causing! Stop moaning!
Their grocery business model has changed and so we now become unwilling victims of a parking scam! I think they snuck it in when we weren't here because we are Brits and are expected never to complain! Oh dear, really?
You are devaluing my house and taking away my rights! Sausage off!
Yesterday morning we suffered verbal abuse at the hands of a 'policeman' who was waiting with the lorry. He was unbadged and vile, shouting and screaming in my husband's face, no introduction, no hat and he wouldn't take a statement about our noise complaint. We are finding a lot of shut doors here, no surprise. We are being abused and ghosted by the local government who caused this issue in the first place.
Philip and I were left very shaken yesterday, but next time we will ring the police ourselves. I'm so glad I didnt open the door at 6 am in the morning because he was so close to my husbands face with his fingers, I'd have slapped him, truly. Real policemen dont act like this and they don't sit waiting to pounce. It was entrapment. The verbal abuse was not needed, not welcome and illegal in the extreme.
How do we now trust the police here?
Do I feel safe here now? Of course not.
We have refused to move our car and many others did the same, but one by one it's just moved to it being an 'US' problem. It's our proerty thats the target here and they really expect us to roll over and say 'yes sir'. Sorry, no. We have a business and pay tax here and we also have rights. one of those rights is not to be woken up to that row two days a week!
It's shocking and sad that this commune would put one small business owner above everyone here. They want an agreement but don't want to compromise on anything, so thats not going to happen is it. We can't work with nothing and I will never agree to giving up my sleep or my garage access?
So whats next?
Well it's obvously so important to the commune to keep this up and the agression towards us continues. Could we be murdered in our sleep? Our car or property damaged? Far fetched you say? Is it? I mean who would have believed a 'policeman' would turn up at 6am drug bust style and try a new brand of intimidation on us! Is it worth complaining? You tell me?
The Mairie is aware of the issues, the indimidation and our points of action but is hiding from us. He won't meet and won't respond. This is not normal. We are part of his commune and it's his responsibility to engage.
It's not right and it's not fair. We won't give up. We will take this as far as we can get it to go because its called justice. Don't ride roughshod over us and our rights. Don't get 'policemen' to threaten us. Fine us if you like, we won't pay and eventually this will end up in the media! Cart me off in handcuffs and see where it ends?
I repeat , it can be easily resolved by being sensible and fair.
Next door is a new renovation and will be a house of multiple occupation. We also have planning to add accomodation here. Where will these new residents park and will they accept that one small business owner can reap havoc on their lives?
What happens when we forget to move our vehicle or we are actually unloading/delivering or other lorries are delivering here. The 'policeman' stated the sign was for Carrefour only? Insert a giggle here! Say what! No, I don’t think I can see that here and honestly that sounds very corrupt! Maybe I should contact the CEO of Carrefour and tell him/her what we are suffering?
Why write about it, you ask ?
Why not? Freedom of speech and we know we are being spoken about in negative terms here all the time now. Heads being shaken as we walk by! Just so kind, friendly and welcoming it's unreal!
Come to France they said!
Finally lets talk POO! I have a disability. My bowels don't act normally and they sometimes need a rush visit to the loo! If I can't get to my garage and to a toilet when I need to, then I will be fined for the unthinkable on the pavement eh! Shall I apply for a disabled parking space outside my home?
I understand that there is a lot of negative chat in this town about foreigners! How blinkered! We are investing and building this town back up! What do you think would happen if they manage to drive investment away from here, due to what can only be described as racism? These people that come to live and work here will keep this town thriving! Grow up!
More soon, from one very stressed woman, somewhere in the Mayenne wishing people actually cared.
D x
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