Culture Fix

This morning the boys went out to play cricket and us girls (Angèle, myself and Maia - one of the boy-girl twins who will be 11 on Friday) stayed at home and took it easy. I love the fact that the children have all these activities on their doorstep. Angèle and her family live in a leafy suburb of London called Beckenham. And it really is very green; houses almost without exception having both front and back gardens, off-road parking AND garages adjoined to their houses.

So different to where we live where gardens, at least in terms of the older, interesting character properties, are almost non-existent. The village centres comprise houses built so tightly together (and with zero outside space), that you sometimes have to park streets away from your own house as it's only accessible by foot! And in the villages municipal parks or even any green spaces are rare as they take so much watering to keep them green and healthy.

I miss the greenery of home. I don't miss the weather. I do miss the culture, the style, the art, the theatre, British comedy, the diversity of street fashion... I could go on.

I am beginning to question whether the extra sunshine where I live in France can ever compensate for the dearth of all things cultural. And now that I have no William to love and cherish, I foresee days, weeks and months of endless boredom.

Today Angèle and I nipped out to the wonderfully colourful, cosmopolitan 'village' of Greenwich, by the Thames. How fabulous to be able to do that!

We saw the (outside of) the newly rebuilt Cutty Sark - amazing! We had a wander around the market, where each stall seemed to propose something unique and well-crafted; from jewellery to bags, from clothes to pottery - everything of such a superior quality.

I am afraid to say all I ever get to see are the local village Christmas fairs to which my friend John and I have attributed a special saying: 'Just because you CAN paint on glass, doesn't mean to say you should'.

I bought a coaster in the style of a stone tile for William's memory box and Angèle bought me a 'positive thought reinforcement' tile. Pix below.

But we only stayed at Greenwich for an hour - I kept breaking down. God - will I ever be able to look at a 2 year old boy again? Every time I see one I think, 'Why aren't I holding William's hand?' or 'Why aren't I pushing William in his pushchair?' He should still be HERE!

Blogging off now...