On the bonnie, bonnie banks

Some popular cultcha, and some trivia. First, Scottish folk/rock band Runrig's version of "Loch Lomond":



I only just learned the "story" behind this song, it's about two Jacobean soldiers, captured as they retreated from England. One is to be hanged, and one set free. That's the low road and the high road: the one to be hanged is taking the "low" (underworld) road back to Scotland (so he'll be home first). The high road is the real road.

Anyway, even without the little snippet of trivia, it's worth a listen.

You miss the little things the most ...

If you have always lived in the same place (be it same county, same town, same country, whatever), you end up taking many things for granted. You also probably end up noticing the negatives about where you are rather than the positives.

Being an expat (oh no, I said it, does that mean I am one??), I have learned that it is only when one leaves one's home country that one truly appreciates little aspects of the way of life that one now pines for. I appreciate this is not the case for everyone, but it generally is for me.

The little things I miss about the UK / Scotland are, in absolutely no order at all:

• newspapers. Yeah, you can get newspapers here too, but they are either very regional (and a bit parochial if I may say), or far too serious (national dailies like Le Monde or Le Figaro are unreadable for a poor foreigner like myself). I miss The Scotsman (er, what was I saying about being parochial?), The Independent. I miss Sunday papers that have so many supplements it takes you until the following Sunday to read them all.
• curry. Love curry. Love going out for a curry. Cannot be done in France. At least, not in the part of France where I am. And the rare French Indian restaurants (OK, 2 then) I have visited don't serve Cobra beer. How I am supposed to enjoy my jalfrezi if there's no Cobra? Note to Matt - you need to find a good curry place in Rotheram!
  
• my family.
• hilly countryside. I grew up in a fairly hilly place. I spent many summers in the Lake District. I like gradient in my landscape. Here the countryside is flat. It's a bit boring. But I guess living in the Alps would solve that one.
• being able to get a decent cup of tea in cafés/restaurants.
• Sainsbury's (how sad am I??). I can't explain it, but the Sainsbury's supermarket experience is just different from the Auchan supermarket experience. Not the same at all.
• Waterstone's. This one is self-explanatory. But I'll explain it anyway. French books are rubbish. Even ones translated from English. They are written in some 13th century tense called the past historic and it's offensive. Imagine having to read everything in Chaucer's English. Would be tiresome. Also, French paperbacks are unattractive. The typeface is too small and the covers never look enticing. And they are expensive.
• bacon. Cooked breakfast. Baked beans.
• the long summer evenings. When the weather is good, where better than Scotland in June? The evenings last forever. And the twilight barely has time to fade in the north west before daybreak creeps over the eastern horizon.
  
• the M&Ms (they know who they are), boy Nicklas...
• M&S food to go. Good thing I don't have access to their salads because my bank manager would be demanding I give my money card back immediately.
• people knowing how to queue properly. I think anyone who has spent any time in France will appreciate this.
• men in kilts!
• childhood "references" - school friends (well, those I still see), the house where I grew up, even grotty Dalkeith! No actually I don't really miss Dalkeith. Not much.
  
• John Lewis (big consumer theme going on here!!)

I'm sure there are many more of the little things, Hubby should keep a list! But it can't be all that bad because I'm still here after all these years.

In the interests of fairness and equality, and if you can be bothered to decipher my French, I've done a corresponding list of French things I would miss here.

Homesick gardener

So today I've been trying to catch up round the house after two weeks away. Most urgently in need of attention was the garden, or the jungle as it could more accurately be described. I succeeded in cutting the grass but it was so long I did it in two gos, allowing drying time in between. Also tried to trim the hedge but I'm too much of a wimp to climb on the ladder so I couldn't do the top (which is where it's really scraggy and overgrown, of course). I rewarded myself for trying at least with some raspberries (yes, the foetus raspberries are all grown up and are quite yum).

After this bout of landscaping activity I took refuge inside. From both the increasing heat and the pollen, which was causing much sneezing (love summer but hate the runny nose). Moped about feeling homesick and dreaming up ways to repatriate to Scotland. None of my ideas are viable. :(

Later Doggy and I went for a walk round the block then we sat in the sun for a bit. But it was hot so we went back inside. I'm feeling homesick but do I really want to go and live in Scotland where it's about 10°C cooler than it is here and I would wager it's probably a good deal wetter too?!

To digress somewhat, a recruitment agency contacted me last week to see if I wanted to apply for a translation project manager position in Luxembourg. The job does look tempting but I don't have the right software skills (Framemaker, Quark Xpress, Trados). I think I will decline. Still, nice to be asked.

Ian Rankin does it again

Loved The Naming of the Dead. Only it made me homesick. But it was of usual high standard one has come to expect from Mr Rankin. I just can't imagine that Rebus will soon be retiring, and he doesn't have much of a choice because it's compulsory...

Christmas Eve is just a week away

In fact, in a week, Christmas Eve will soon become Christmas Day. That's a frightening thought. At least I've managed to post most of my cards. I even bought some presents. And I ordered the pheasants yesterday.

Still feeling very un-Chritsmassy. Almost certainly because we're not going to be in Scotland, which is a thought that makes me feel quite miserable so I won't talk about it.

It froze last night. It's only the second frost there has been this winter so far. I'm expecting it to be pretty cold in the new year. I know it's sort of old wives' tales, but it's been so mild I'm sure we're in for some pretty tough weather in another eight weeks or so!

We went to the flicks this afternoon. The Disappeared. Let's just say we didn't pay for the tickets and the car park was free so no regrets. Not the best film I've seen.

I finished The Adventure of English at long last. It's hard for me to read clever books late at night, so it took some time. It was interesting, very interesting.

Hubby worked very hard yesterday and sorted out a load of stuff in the larder. He's preparing the way for the washing machine. The washing machine is going to live in the larder so the dishwasher can enter into service and wash our dishes. Hurrah.

We went and got a tree. It is smaller than last year's. Which is more sensible. I cursed and swore as I untangled the lights but it's looking pretty good now. I don't understand the thing with the tree lights. Each year, when we take all the decorations down, I take care to put the lights away properly. But then during the year something happens and they tangle themselves up.

Right, 'm'off to eat my tea. Bye.

Dear Santa...

I have been mostly good all year and for Christmas I would like a new job for Hubby in Edinburgh so we can go and live in Scotland. That may seem an odd thing to want, given that I live in a country full of fine wine and cheese and with a slightly more clement climate than Scotland's. But that is what I want more than anything in fact.

Pfff ...

France is a stupid country.

Sorry.

But there it is.

Plotting my return

We've been back in France since Sunday night. Was really hard to leave after this visit. I've been on the interweb looking at recruitment sites in Scotland!!

Wedding was great, it all went so quickly it's not fair. I wish I could do it again and get the time to have a proper chat with everyone. We really loved seeing everyone there it was the best time. We had fine weather, good food, a lovely service, great wine and champagne and the best wedding guests ever.

Barcelona was an interesting place. I've posted some pics on the magicalfairy site but there are many more to come. I need to get my SLR prints back and see if any of those are any good. Both our digital cameras ran out of batteries but that was *after* visiting Casa Batllo so disaster was averted.

Hubby went back to work yesterday but I took an extra couple of days off. Maybe the time would have been better spent sorting the house out and cutting the grass (looks like some sort of jungle out there - it must have rained LOTS here). But it's also been nice to do not much.