On Being Franglais

On Being Franglais

Becoming officially both French and English has made me ponder to what extent I am either. The thought has been accentuated by the fact that both of my closest English friends will shortly be joining the general post-Brexit exodus of English people from the area. I shall then be one of only two Brits in the village and the other I hardly know; he doesn’t participate in village life. In most ex-pat communities I have observed, the English remain primarily and essentially English, however they interact with the native population; is that true o me too?

By upbringing I am certainly English. By education I am primarily English but a slight mixture, schooled in England but predominantly studying French. When I was young I didn’t allow foreigners to criticise my country; I had to defend it, a reflection of my nationalist education. Now I dislike all forms of nationalism.

By culture I am a mixture too, enjoying English and French music, films and literature equally. By language I am definitely English; my understanding and mastery of French is good but will never be as good as that of my English. By experience I must definitely be English, having lived over 60 years of my life there, even though I have travelled extensively.

By lifestyle I think I am decidedly more French than English. I particularly love food, wine and humour; someone once wrote that the French at play are a gladdening sight and I would heartily endorse that. Certainly I seem to have avoided the English Calvinist tendencies which seem life-denying to me.

So what is it I most appreciate about each country? I can’t separate the people in general because they are just that: people in general. I also have the problem in making a comparison in that most of my life in England was spent working; I was retired in England for only a few years and decided almost immediately that I wanted then to live in France. So my experience here has been just in retirement. Throughout my life I have had French friends, felt at home in France and empathised with typically French attitudes.

Having decided to live in France, what do I miss about England? There isn’t much. True I would see more of my family if I were in England but they have their own, mostly busy lives,so my contact though more frequent would always be brief and peripheral. We can and do visit one another. In spring I miss the deciduous woods that I loved in England at that time of year and that are not present in my part of France. I also miss uniquely English pubs occasionally and a pint of good bitter but that is about it.

Against that my friends in England were far between and here they are close at hand. Here I experience a strong sense of community, which I value and never experienced in England after my very early years. I’m not sure whether that is a function of living in a small village rather than living in France but one of the most commonly used French words is “solidarité, getting together, supporting one another to achieve things. It reinforces the sense of community.

Politically I am not enamoured of either government though certainly very much less so of the current English one. The French government has lurched to the right following the prevailing trend in Europe but still takes better care of the elderly and those on modest incomes, like me, than does the current English government.

How to sum up? Maybe it is just a matter of attitude and preferences. I certainly believe I am happier now in France now than I would be in England. Whether that makes me more French than English I am not sure. If someone were to ask me whether I was English or French I’m not sure either how I would answer.. Saying Franglais would be a cop out. Maybe I would say that I was not sure but that I was certainly European. That is obvious geographically but to the extent that England has distanced itself from Europe via Brexit it probably makes me more French than English.

 

The Coronation And Gardening

 

The Coronation

Yes, I watched the coronation on TV, or at least a little over an hour of it. I couldn’t be quite as cynical as Private Eye which previewed the event as “man on chair, puts hat on”. I thought the ceremony and views of London and Westminster Abbey would at least be worth it and so they were. I had hoped to see Charles crowned but had been invited to lunch at 1.00 ( CET) and so just missed that. My impressions then are just of what for an hour or so went before.

In truth I found the ceremony rather boringly slow and I really didn’t want to know such details as which trousers Charles was wearing. The gospel singers were an innovation but (cynically) a sop to the black community? There was a reference to “people of all faiths”, an inclusivity, that seemed subsequently drowned out by numerous insistences on protestantism. OK, the Church of England is protestant but is it necessary to ram that down the throats of people of other faiths? How well does that help the delicate situation in Northern Ireland and do we want to feed religious strife?

In all this I wonder about the involvement of various parties, who has the most influence and the final say. The government, the military and the clergy obviously have major roles in the organisation and pageantry of the event, the traditional procedures. But what about, beyond that, the messaging? Sunak was quick to say that the event showed the great in Great Britain but any politician can be expected to put some political spin on the occasion. However I am led to question just how much input the government can have on what is supposed to be very much a non-political occasion. If I’m suspicious it’s because the current government has shown that it has little respect for established standards of parliamentary behaviour and even legality, so what else may it trample on?

Anyway, Charles has been crowned king and I wish him goodwill. A good king is certainly better than a bad one and if he carries out his office as well as his mother he will be judged a good king. Going by his past record, his sympathies would seem to be to the nation’s benefit but whether he will be allowed to express them and whether he can use them to influence the government in his decreed non-political role remains to be seen

Flowers And Vegetables

The weather being particularly clement I have left my bedroom windows open. The honeysuckle rambling outside r immediately took the opportunity to ramble into the room (as in photo) and is now perfuming all the house. It is now in bloom on both sides of the house, top to bottom. The lilac by the front door is in bloom too. The jasmine one floor up has yet to bloom so I’m looking forward to a perfumed summer.

The front of the house is looking good, fully planted and people stopping to take photos, particularly of the Dublin Bay roses on both sides of the road. The one opposite (in photo) has previously been just a bush but seems to have broken through the hard core on the roadise beceause it is now way up the lime tree beside it. I think the front is is largely done, barring renewal of the hanging baskets. The back needs a little attention but is mostly planted with perennials so not much is needed.

A lot of the

allotment is already planted but I have to dig up the remains of the spinach beet from last year and the last few leeks. I’ll hold off on the garlic I planted last autumn for at least another month. Corn, spinach beet and tomato seedlings are on the way but I have yet to get the beans going and will need to repeat the sowing of lettuces and radishes. The potatoes, onions, lettuces, beetroot and herbs already planted are looking healthy.

On the fence around one side of the plot I’ve planted three honeysuckle rooted cuttings, eight forsythia cuttings and four grape vines. Hopefully they will cover the fence next year if not this. The gooseberry and thornless blackberry bushes look healthy and hopefully will deliver in due course. A great deal though will depend on water usage restrictions over the summer.

The mad English gardener, who also plays boules, strikes again! And I have my “crown” at the Rémuzat tournament I won last year to defend in September. So, enough to keep me occupied.