January, the start of another year. Exciting? Yes! Daunting? Possibly! Worrying? For some! All three of these emotions faced me in 2001.
My wonderful husband had sadly died in Nice the previous August. I was living in the flat of my ex-neighbours on the Port of Barnes. They weren’t arriving until Easter and very kindly offered it to me! On New Year’s Day walking around Aix en Provence with some of my family they suggested that I bought a flat there to be nearer to them.
I looked at some plans and put a deposit on a future construction. To wait for it to be built, I rented a studio. Too late I realised I should have stayed in the Port where I had many friends. Life in the studio was a challenge. Most of the other studios were rented by students. Aix en Provence is a University city. My next door neighbour was Chinese and spoke neither French or English. We just smiled at one another! She ran a Chinese restaurant so was seldom there. However, she had three dogs which often barked. Unlike me they were unable to leave the studio. I did frequently!
My husband and I were certainly not “joiners” we just wanted to be together. I remember Ron saying to me “If you die first, I’ll follow you within a week!” I said, “I can’t say that” and Ron replied, “I don’t expect you to, you love life too much!”
Alone in that studio I wasn’t loving life but I quickly did something about it. I became very involved in the life of a local Roman Catholic Church and I joined the AAGP. What was that? The Anglo-American Group of Provence. Through the Church I was often at the convents with the nuns. There were two convents, the town one and the country one. In the AAGP I was the only English person, the others were all American! We did many exciting things. I’ll explain another month.
My point in choosing this subject? It’s a New Year so if your life needs some change it’s up to you. Be brave, we only live once!
Be happy in 2017,
Esmé
My wonderful husband had sadly died in Nice the previous August. I was living in the flat of my ex-neighbours on the Port of Barnes. They weren’t arriving until Easter and very kindly offered it to me! On New Year’s Day walking around Aix en Provence with some of my family they suggested that I bought a flat there to be nearer to them.
I looked at some plans and put a deposit on a future construction. To wait for it to be built, I rented a studio. Too late I realised I should have stayed in the Port where I had many friends. Life in the studio was a challenge. Most of the other studios were rented by students. Aix en Provence is a University city. My next door neighbour was Chinese and spoke neither French or English. We just smiled at one another! She ran a Chinese restaurant so was seldom there. However, she had three dogs which often barked. Unlike me they were unable to leave the studio. I did frequently!
My husband and I were certainly not “joiners” we just wanted to be together. I remember Ron saying to me “If you die first, I’ll follow you within a week!” I said, “I can’t say that” and Ron replied, “I don’t expect you to, you love life too much!”
Alone in that studio I wasn’t loving life but I quickly did something about it. I became very involved in the life of a local Roman Catholic Church and I joined the AAGP. What was that? The Anglo-American Group of Provence. Through the Church I was often at the convents with the nuns. There were two convents, the town one and the country one. In the AAGP I was the only English person, the others were all American! We did many exciting things. I’ll explain another month.
My point in choosing this subject? It’s a New Year so if your life needs some change it’s up to you. Be brave, we only live once!
Be happy in 2017,
Esmé
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