Staying Connected

It's been a funny old weekend. I, like millions of others, have spent this month tuned into what is occurring on the roads of France in the Tour de France. France feels homely still. I have always felt a sense of allegiance to anywhere in which I have spent a great deal of time, be that here at home in Flitwick, or at University in Canterbury, or now indeed in France. When something happens in one place, I feel affected by it. I immensely enjoyed my year abroad, and I know that the same can be said for the large majority of those who have done the same experience. Yesterday was the 14th July, or Bastille Day; the French national day where everyone is 'en fete', they sing and dance and enjoy spectacular events.

However, the weekend began in tragedy. On Friday night a train crashed on the outskirts of Paris just as people were heading home to celebrate the holiday. This weekend I spent the weekend in Shropshire visiting a friend, but on the way I picked up a French newspaper 'Libération' which moved me to tears as I sat in Kings Cross station. I've translated the editorial from the newspaper:

A train accident as bad as the one at Brétigny, the day of the start of the holidays, represents a national tragedy. For their victims and their families, for the railway community but also for the entire country. We'll remember the emotion on Guilaume Pepy's the CEO of SNCF for a long time and his tears live on television as he visited the accident site. The train, more than any other form of transport, belongs to the history of the nation, and this tragedy touches all the French, who are all, one day or another passengers on the SNCF. The train is taken daily by tens of thousands of us without concern of its safety. And, in that aspect, the SNCF has an excellent record which it, and it's workers take in pride. Fatal accidents have been quite rare over recent years, which makes the exceptional accident at Brétigny even more tragic. At the moment it would be inappropriate to speculate what the cause of the accident was, and a full and transparent inquiry must be held, not to do so would be to damage the confidence of the SNCFs users.

The newspaper did not make for easy reading with headlines such as "Dans ce wagon, il y a surement des enfants". But major events, both good and bad rally a nation together and this was seen in France (in the negative event situation) and at the Olympic Games in London (in the positive aspect). It almost made the celebrations to come over the weekend much more poignant.

In truth, I've always liked France, their language and their culture (I'm in the wrong degree if I don't), and so have always tried to read French newspapers. But now I feel in a small way I share in their events both good and bad. On the night of the 14th July I watched a wonderful classical music concert at the base of the Eiffel Tower 'Le Concert de Paris' on TV5Monde which was followed by a wonderful firework display, despite feeling incredibly tired, I felt a feeling of joy.

I don't know if others feel a similar way, but perhaps once you've lived somewhere and you've moved away, you've never truly left. A piece of you remains, and a piece of it remains in you.

La Rentrée

Bon Voyage!

Right then folks. Christmas is officially behind us (Sad times), we've enjoyed those first few days of a new year and it's back to reality. And my reality is a year abroad. So, on Sunday 6th January I boarded a Eurostar to head back to France. (Not such a bad reality really...). But before I tell you what I've been upto my first few days back, here is a quick rundown of how Christmas went.

I arrived back in the UK on the 22nd December and the first thing I did was grab a Nandos in Kings Cross. Not because I was hungry, but because there weren't going to be many chances over the next few weeks and I needed to take this one, I had missed it a little bit. I got home, and then slept. Oh boy did I sleep. Christmas itself was nice and quiet, just as usual and the way I like it. I didn't bother with the sales until the 27th December (and even then, I only really wanted the Michael McIntyre DVD). Then we went to York to see the grand parents for a couple of days. Not the most fun you can have, but it was nice to see them. New Year was another quiet affair with a bit of watching a DVD, then Jools Holland/Fireworks on TV (Never really made a big fuss over New Year). On Saturday 5th I saw some friends from Uni, which was great fun and I hope to see them again, in France real soon.

Packing to come back was a bit of a chore, that I left until last minute. Cramming all the stuff you got over xmas in a small case was a hard job, but luckily the security guys in London didn't want to have a look in. Taking it all out and repacking it would have been a nightmare. When I say things were crammed in, I mean it. It's amazing how returning with a few more t-shirts than you left with causes such problems.

Back in France and it all felt quite normal very quickly. I went straight to the Thistle pub to do their pub quiz, and a few minutes after seeing friends, doing the usual 'How was Christmas/New Year' catchup that we are all so familiar with as you tend to do it every year at Uni, it was just on to normal topics of coversation. It was like we never left, well aside from the fact that I had a few cases. I spent Monday in bed, only moving to go to a few shops in Val d'Europe. Tuesday I was back in the school. After doing my first two lessons, I wasn't needed for the rest of the day, so I went home and just chilled out watching TV. Imagine my delight at discovering a button on the TV that changes the language to English on dubbed shows. Wednesday was the first day of the French January sales, I'll check those out tomorrow (Friday 11th).

Not too much has happened this week, but I'll get around to getting something interesting to blog about soon, I promise.

But to everyone reading this, HAPPY NEW YEAR. Or as they say here in France, BONNE ANNEE!