Getting used to French working hours is pretty easy. You just need to plan ahead a little bit, and you can always find small things that are still ouvert (open) to hold you over if you’re caught in a long holiday or even a viewing trip.

So when planning a viewing trip to France to see many of the fine properties for sale with Cle France you will notice that we rarely book you in for a viewing between 12pm and 2pm!

It is also worth noting that "the French" rarely work Sundays and Saturdays are not always supported either, although most of Cle France agents work Saturday mornings [I guess protecting le weekend for family duties is not a bad thing] and it is what we "British" may have lost over the years with Sunday Trading and 24 hour opening! what do you think?

You maybe fine with all of that and working with the French schedule, until you need des médicaments (medicine) on a Sunday.

Waking up one Sunday morning not sure how you will be able to get des médicaments is not a fun way to start the day.

It happended to me one Sundsy... I was already sick, but I knew I could get over it with the right médicaments.

J’étais convaincu que (I was convinced that) I’d need to suffer through the day and just wait for lundi matin (Monday morning). After some research, I learned about les pharmacies de garde (emergency pharmacies).

Understanding the importance of l’accès aux médicaments (the access to medicine), des pharmacies take turns being open le dimanche (on Sundays). De cette manière (in this way) there is always une pharmacie ouverte nearby.

I knew “24 hour culture” didn’t exist in France, but was happy to learn la pharmacie de garde includes night services for emergencies. Even though you wont find a supermarket on every corner ouvert 24 sur 24 (open 24 hours), there’s always something open for an emergency.

I also found the useful website,at PharmaciedeGarde.com, for finding the closest pharmacie de garde.

Choose your département et ville (department and city), and it will show you which pharmacies sont ouvertes.

On that fateful dimanche, once I found la pharmacie de garde, I was able to get des médicaments and was feeling better by the afternoon!

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

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