A Bit of a Recap

Ok, so during this last month, I’ve explained how I came to be here, my particular circumstances, various details about my arrival here and a few cultural and social observations from the aspect of a Brit moving solo, lock, stock and barrel, to a non-Anglophone country.

I’ve also used this Grayblogs experiment as a vehicle for a Gray’s-eye view of various chunks of history, literature, politics and whatever and, when I started it and first began to encourage people to read it, there was precious little here to read. I beavered away to make sure that anyone who found it, by design or by accident, would have all sorts of stuff to read and relevant pictures to accompany and, though I say so myself, I’m happy enough with the start I’ve made.

In terms of my own little story relating to my arrival and adaptation, I’ve fast-forwarded up to the night before I moved into my apartment here in Lille but, as you may have seen, I’ve also “butterflied” around in time a bit when the urge has taken me and so you’ve already read about lots of things which have happened over the past year or so. I’ll pick up on the “moving in” stuff when I get around to it but the general plan is to carry on in much the same vein as that in which I’ve started.

There’ll be a gradual evolution in stories about my installation in France until, one day, we’ll arrive at a point where the blog will be very much “in the here and now” as regards life for me in Lille. There’ll always be miscellaneous historical, political or (hopefully) comedic stuff amongst the France stories and I hope you enjoy those elements too. If I ever appear to be “Frog-bashing”, take my word for the fact that it’s only ever done with tongue-in-cheek affection. If I seriously had anything against the real France or the real French, there is no way that I’d have invested my life in the place.

I’ve been made very aware that I need to cover the subject of “women” in my waffling and I’ll do exactly that in the very near future…. (as soon as I’ve worked out how to do it without offending anyone or painting myself in any unfortunate lights!)

A huge “thank you” for the many responses I get (keep them coming) and, of course, if you have any questions you want answered or if you want an exploration of any specific subject, just say the word and I’ll do my best.