How to leave the rat race behind
This is an article I wrote 2 years ago, that has been
very well published on the net.....
“The 8.16 train to London Victoria has been cancelled
due to leaves on the line. We apologise for this
inconvenience"
A collective groan, with British reserve, reverberated
along the station platform. Another normal day in the
life of the commuter trying to get into work to earn a
heavily taxed crust.
I stood on the station platform and looked around me.
That familiar site that had greeted my
pollution-reddened eyes for the last 15 years was
becoming tainted. The drab colours of ill-fitting and
over worn suits, mixed with badly ironed shirts and
“racy" ties. Let me tell you about those ties.
It seems that there is a belief that you can be
thoughtless and grey in all of your attire, but when
you enter a Gentleman’s outfitters, and head for the
section marked “Ties", you enter into a new world. This
one garment can describe and liberate you, verging on
being risqué and out of character. Your eyes are
attracted to South Park characters, Disney or at worst,
a Jackson Pollock reproduction that looks like your
scrambled egg missed your mouth. You purchase this
tasteless tie, and walk out of the shop, floating on
air, like Mary Poppins clutching onto her umbrella.
The weather too- the favourite topic of conversation-
never seems to vary. The grey, heavy skies with ever
threatening rain, add a dull lustre to everything.
So, while waiting for the next train, that I know will
be full, and that we will be treated to an experience
that even cattle on the way to market would decline, I
had to ask myself a question. What’s it all about? This
has been my life for the last 15 years, the quality of
my life is being diminished by continuing to be a
rodent clone in this rat race, and there must be a
better way to exist- even to live happily every day. Is
there a way out?
My brother had left England and moved to South West
France to start a new life. He was vaguely forced to do
this, as he had fallen victim of the 21st Century
culture of being far too old at 54 to be considered for
new employment. What happened to those values that
stated that experience is everything? He bought a ruin
of a property in a small village for next to nothing,
spent 1 year renovating it, and began a new life.
I had been to visit them on a few occasions and
discovered a region in France that I had previously not
known. The Languedoc-Rousillon is on the West coast of
the Mediterranean heading towards the Spanish border.
Their home is situated in one of the 6 regions, namely
the Aude.
The 5 other regions are Herault, Tarn, Haute Garonne,
Ariege and Pyrenees Orientales. Each one is different,
filled with touristic and rural villages, beaches,
mountains, waterfalls, history, and variety to quench
all tastes. More detailed information on the regions in
future articles.
Maybe this is the way out? Sometimes the best solutions
are the most obvious and simple. Why not sell my home
in London, kiss goodbye to my fellow commuters (maybe
not) and buy a property in the Aude and work for
myself.
Over a gin and tonic, with plenty of ice, a plan was
hatched. I would go and spend 2 weeks with my brother,
make appointments with property finders and try and
find the dream. I booked my budget ticket and flew out,
filled to the brim with expectations. That was short
lived as the property finders had not followed my brief
at all, and the appointments that they had made for me
turned out to be a total waste of time. Estate Agents
were not expecting me, then they dug out a handful of
properties to show me that missed the mark by many
kilometres.
Imagine looking at properties, day after day, that,
even with the wildest imagination, one knows that they
could never be renovated to any suitable level of
comfort or quality. I was looking for a primary
residence, not a holiday home, and therein lies a big
difference. Holiday home buyers can see things through
rose tinted spectacles as their needs are different to
purchasers who aim to live permanently in their new
home.
At the end of my first week and 27 properties later
that all got an emphatic thumbs down, I was walking
from my brother’s home to the Boulangerie (a trek of at
least 1 minute), when I spotted a hand written notice
on a green metal gate. “2 houses for sale, could be
made into 1, with other properties. Contact buyer on
****** )
A phone call was made, an appointment set up for later
that morning. What lay in wait behind that green gate?
Imagine 300 year old stone which was part of the
villages’ ramparts. Originally the total property for
sale contained 6 homes, now turned into 4 “spaces",
which included a ground floor apartment that was being
used, partly, as a “kitchen" to sell Kebabs through a
window to passing trade and a greasy living area. Then
we have next door, a commercial property that housed an
Estate Agent of unknown origins. Above both of these
ground floor properties, there are 2 houses, both
containing 2 floors. Lost? So was I when being shown
around- trying to imagine the overall picture. After an
interesting 3 hours of drinking Ricard and negotiating
in typical French style, a deal was struck to purchase
all 4 “spaces", and at the end of my second week, I was
a home owner in Bize-Minervois, Aude, Languedoc.
I was now free to make the next bold step and sell up
in London and move to the Aude, refurbish the spaces
into workable properties, and start the dream. It was
no easy move, with many “interesting" experiences. I
decided to set up my own Property Finding Services to
offer future dream hunters a smoother ride down this
worth-while but pot-holed route to leaving the rat race
behind.
