Anna Racoon has a wonderful post up about the difference between the English “must have everything now” way of life and the way the French system works.

As a taster :

In the UK there is a pressing social need to ‘have things’, cars, houses, furniture, clothes. They are seen as both an entitlement and a right. ‘Poverty’ is seen as  having less than a set figure which includes the cost of such staples in life as a mobile phone, walking boots and a bicycle. Items, without which, we are assured, you cannot participate in society.

If you don’t have the money to acquire these things Now! – Now! Now!, then you must borrow the money, but have them now you must.

One of the more profound cultural shocks for anyone moving to France is entering the French banking system. You arrive proudly bearing your excellent UK credit rating, and having arranged your current acount you ask for a credit card. The answer is Non! Every time. Non!

I couldn’t agree more – do go have a look.