Just the other side of the water!

Our new neighbours have a habit of asking us whether we're settling in.  "Yes," says Paul promptly.  If I hesitate, it's because I take longer to settle in.  "Do you miss anything in France?" they also say.  Of course we do: I miss our house in Ribérac and the garden I'd created there;  I miss the friends we made over the seven years; I miss the daily opportunity to speak French.  On the other hand, it's wonderful not to have to deal with two tax authorities; to be free from French bureaucracy; and, I have to say, to live by the sea.  So everything's a trade-off!

Gradually we're getting settled.  Even supermarket shopping took some getting used to: everything seemed to be in such small quantities and overpackaged.  But I'm slowly learning my way around.  Car insurance has been a bit of a trial: most insurers were not prepared to recognise my French no claims bonus, and those that did seemed to be the more expensive ones anyway so the first year of our return is a bit expensive on the insurance front.  House insurance proved another headache: I thought it was great to have a Grade II listed property, but hadn't realised that this takes you out of the scope of most web-based insurers.  There are times when I feel like a foreigner in my own country!

And the bonus has been today's article in the newspaper saying that the government is bringing forward some infrastructure spending on projects that include the Hastings bypass and work on widening the A21, which links us to the M25.  So Hastings is definitely on the up!

Antony Mair
12 July 2012