Bumping into old acquaintances

This is an entirely anecdotal post. I went out earlier on and I bumped into an old acquaintance (I will not say an old friend as he is not that close). When I was unemployed, back in 2008, we used to chat in one of the local pubs. He was then planning to move to France with his wife, even though his French and hers was limited. He had found an old house which he rebuilt almost from scratch. He had shown me pictures and when he purchased it it looked like an empty barn abandoned for centuries.

Since I started working full time in 2010 I had lost sight of him. I had bumped into him about a year ago, when he had got back from France. He told me then that during his last trip he had been robbed so had to spend days at the gendarmerie, which prompted me to say this great unknown line: "Well, at least your French must have improved a lot." It made him laugh. Anyway, his house there is now set and he is ready to go. I am happy for him. I don't know what to say about this anecdote. I guess I always found it strange that such a typical middle aged Englishman sets himself such a goal and decides to live abroad.