AngloInfo – The Funniest Read Each Day

AngloInfo is an on-line information source for the Cote d’Azur which virtually everybody who is an ex-pat reads. From its humble beginnings, it now provides web sites covering most of the countries in Europe as well as Thailand, China and Singapore. It has proved to be an invaluable source of information for everything from buying and registering a car to selling or renting a house and the legal ramifications therein, but it is probably most widely accessed for its forum where users can post items they want to sell or are looking to buy.

I have bought a car using Anglo, sold one, rented my house, had my PC repaired, got rid of duplicate items and have fixed countless problems using its on-line resources. It is probably the 2^nd site I visit when I log on in the morning – it gives the weather forecast and the exchange rate each day. If I’m looking to buy or sell something, I can access Anglo several times a day.

It’s quite obvious that incoming ‘foreigners’ get onto Anglo virtually as soon as they arrive (maybe they get the website address when they buy their bus ticket?) and some of their ‘placings’ are hilarious. ‘Me want job – please call’, ‘Lady available to do anything’, ‘Philipino couple available to house sit in Monaco or St Tropez’ – yeah – join the queue!

Similarly, I find it incredible that someone wishing to sell a €400,000 house simply advertises it thus: ‘Cute House for Sale’. I’ve seen a guy recently try to sell a Rolls Royce, a yacht and the yacht mooring which, given that one advert immediately followed another, simply shouted – DISTRESS SALE!!

One of the funniest was last year when some guy asked for tall, model-like ladies to ‘work’ in a Monaco exhibition. They had to be beautiful with long blonde hair and if they were the correct shape and size they would each be provided with designer dresses and other accessories. I watched with interest as the replies flooded in and tended to fall into two categories, those who were not interested in what the ‘work’ entailed but just wanted to get their hands on some Hermes merchandise and those who wanted to ask awkward questions without damaging their chances of getting the job. Given that the Cote d’Azur is crawling with Russian and eastern-European blondes of all shapes and sizes, I’m sure he had absolutely no problem in filling the four positions on offer.

Of course, with so many eastern Europeans now able to come here without requiring a visa, they flood in and some of their postings clearly highlight the desperation that many of them are in. A €50 bus ticket is all that it costs to get here from Poland but many probably mistake the French benefit system (virtually non existent for non-French) with the UK system where money is thrown at you before you even get off the boat.

Still, Anglo is probably the best way of making their availability known and the best way they will get a job. Have a look at it at:

http://riviera.angloinfo.com/