Beautiful view Forest of Dean towards Wales |
When I was looking forward to retirement, with a crazed glazed
eyed expression some years ago. France
was the place I thought we would go. It was one of my ideas to leave this dowdy
persona behind and recreate the, me I wanted to be. You know grow my hair wear
floaty skirts and carry a wicker basket.
Could it be France? perhaps ! |
I was an avid pursuer of anything French, magazines, books, films,
property prices, It was a dream shared we took holidays to get a feel for the
various” Departments”. It was an escape plan
that made the drudge of the daily commute bearable.
Now why didn’t we follow
through? I am going to blame the other half for not trying enough with the
language. We were going to have French evenings, speaking only French eating
French food and drinking, you got it French wine. Some how something fell by
the wayside and it wasn’t drinking the French wine!
We agreed if we couldn’t speak the language we could not
implement my wonderful idea so it was shelved.
But Isn't the Forest gorge? |
We have quite a bit of work to do, as we would have in France,
we can change things to suit ourselves, we can walk through the wonderful
woodland, the pace is slower, it must be on a par with the French countryside?
If I wanted to I could reinvent myself, or could have when I arrived, but I
figured out I just needed to chill out and I wasn’t that bad after all.
We do speak the same language here which I thought would be
the main bonus given we have achieved a pretty spectacular rural ideal. However
there are times when “Brummy” just doesn’t cut it in the Forest .
Most people are sufficiently attuned to understand us, but the other night in a
local hostelry I really did need a translator. It might have had something to
do with the copious amount of good old cider the jolly chap had had or perhaps,
I was a bit more relaxed from the wonderfully warm welcome and slipped into a
old thick dialect, not normally heard in these parts?
The garden still looks like a building site but ! |
The work continues but life goes on around it and it’s when
I am doing these other things I get my best ideas. Next time I will fill you in
on continuing saga of the Solar panels and the beast of a fuel burner we ended
up getting.
Alison
I love going to France for a few days but I would never go back to live there. I think that the French are too grumpy (I know, I AM French). And if you miss your dream, why not get there on a short break?
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