Clé France

L’Heure D’Hiver - Standard time

Last week was l’équinoxe d’automne (the autumnal equinox) marking shorter days and colder weather. It also marks la saison des moissons (the harvest season) and many holidays across the world. However, there’s one tradition d’automne (autumn tradition) that is annoying for everyone involved.

Photo by icolo J on Flickr

Now... for us in the UK it is very easy to manage the time changes and easy to remember by the phrase 'Spring forward / Fall back' [Fall being the Americanism for autumn] PLUS the time changes are on the same day in France and the UK, easy!

But if you live in other parts of the world it is not as easy as that, take America for example... 

En automne on gagne une heure (you gain an hour in autumn). The shifting clocks sont un casse-tête pour tout le monde (give everyone a headache) while people spend a week trying to wake up at a new time. Malheureusement, c’est encore plus compliqué (unfortunately it’s even more complicated) between France and the US.

I live in France, but mes parents habitent en Floride (my parents live in Florida). Normally, le décalage horaire est de six heures (there’s a six hour time difference) between France and the US East Coast, and heureusement (thankfully) that’s easy to figure out on a 24 hour clock.

There’s a period in autumn when the US falls back, but France still uses l’heure d’été (daylight-saving time) creating a 7 hour time difference between the two countries. Le décalage horaire (the time difference) lasts long enough to get used to before France falls back as well.

Le passage à l’heure d’hiver (the transition to standard time) happens on le dernier dimanche d’octobre (the last Sunday of October) in France and on le premier dimanche de novembre (the first Sunday of November) in (most) of the US. Having to figure out all these time changes is un casse-tête, and only gets worse when travel is involved.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Hello, we are very happy with our house in Normandy and wish to thank you for your help and contacts.

Regards, June.

June bought a delightful house with Cle France and we wish her many happy years there. We make sure that every part of the process is stress free for our clients throughout the buying process.

Hi Sharon, 

We had quite a whistle-stop tour of the area and probably viewed more than a dozen properties. We liked the house at Montsurvent and the size of the plot, but we were rather daunted by the number and size of the outbuildings.   

Having looked around the area we are drawn toward the coastal region of the Cherbourg peninsula, however we are struggling to work out the true worth of properties when the pricing against the condition of the houses seems quite variable. Our short term plan is to make a further visit in the next few weeks just to try and narrow down our choice of area before looking at any other properties.

The Cle France agent was really a helpful and knowledgeable guide, thankyou for arranging the viewing and for the other information you have provided regarding foreign exchange etc. this has been really useful as we are such novices.

No doubt we will be in touch again when we have had a chance to think things over.

Regards, Helene & Stuart.

Sometimes a viewing trip does not result in a sale for Cle France but it always rpresents the start of an excitring journey for our clients as they narrow down what type of property and in which region of France they want to buy. We hope to help Helene & Stuart on thier journey to owning a House in France very soon.

Hello David and Sharon,

We have been in our beautiful cottage in St Aignan de Couptrain for three weeks now and would like to thank Cle France for your invaluable help both in arranging the viewing with a very professional agent, thanks you for your continued assistance in completing our purchase.

We had been looking, off and on in Brittany and Normandy for ten years and this property really ticks all the boxes!

A new adventure in your early seventies is very rewarding!

Best wishes, Mel and Carole.

We are so pleased to have helped Mel and Carole find the perfect property fit for them and in the process we helped our vendor sell the house and move back to the UK, so happy vendors and happy new buyers completes the circle for us at Cle France.

Mel and Carole bought a house with Cle France in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire Region of France and moved in at the start of September 2015. We wish them many happy years at the property.

Do you want anothe reason to visit France apart from buying a property in France?

How about this; a Humpback Whale caught on video off the coast of Arcachon on the Atlantic coast of France.

FISHERMEN off the coast of the Bassin d'Arcachon captured on video a humpback whale leaping, twisting and jumping into the air from the depths of the Atlantic ocean, magnificent.

We hope you enjoy browsing through these pages of blogs. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your search, or indeed for any further information you may require.

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Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.