All change
Well, it’s been a while since I wrote here…I twisted my neck the other day and haven’t done a whole load this week. On the mend now and I might even have a gentle trip out on the bike tomorrow.
One curious thing. I thought lads in the UK all liked girls from southern Europe because of their permanent suntans, their dark hair etc. Well, my daughter tells me all the girls in her school want to move to England because of all ‘those lads with blond hair and blue eyes’. Seems the pale, wasted look is still in fashion, happily for me. Kind of an interesting prospect that all the girls from France move to England and all the lads from the UK move to France. That should do wonders for international relationships, so to speak.
Two of the most common questions I get asked by people are: what do I miss about England and what do I think about England when I go back.
Well, what do I miss? Err, not so much really. Once in a while I have a hankering for fish and chips or a decent curry. A Sunday Times would be nice. Once in a blue moon I fancy sitting in an English pub garden with a pint of bitter, wasps buzzing around me and a few bags of Walkers Crisps. Shops never did interest me much, but I wouldn’t mind half an hour in a newsagents looking at the computer, bike and car magazines. And an hour in a good bookshop would be nice.
But none are really crucial to me, which brings me to the second question, how has England changed since we left?
Well, it’s a bit embarassing to admit, but I haven’t been back in five years so I have no idea. Roads are busier, I imagine. People would probably all seem rich to me now - the average salary in south-east England being much higher than in south-west France. I expect everything would seem expensive, and busy. I think I’d have a funny turn if I had to pass half an hour in a shopping centre.
We went to Canada a year or two ago and went to a big shopping mall in Toronto. All excited, I agreed to meet the rest of the family two hours later and set off on my own to see what the modern world offered. Well, I can tell you, it had nothing to offer me. It took me about five minutes to realise that clothes shops, camera shops, jewellery shops, etc just don’t interest me. I’d sooner watch a buzzard circling overhead.
But for all that, it is by accident rather than planning that I haven’t been back to the UK - I need to be here in the summer to take care of the gites etc, and outside school holidays it is impossible to get away. And when we do find time for a family holiday we end up going on holiday, rather than to the UK.
One day I’ll get back, have my fish and chips, do a bit of shopping and sit on a crowded train with the Sunday Times. To hear everyone talking English - hard to believe, but I think that would actually seem strange now. Won’t be this year but maybe in 2007 I’ll risk it. And I’ll be able to see how many French girls actually managed to get there instead of just dreaming about it.
