It's been over two years now...

...and we're still here, trying to make our way in a French world.  Sometimes it feels as if it might as well be a Martian world, so alien certain things are!

I've been quiet for four months I realise, and having been innundated with requests (well, 2..) to recommence French Lessons I thought it would be good to get into the groove again.

Facebook people will know that during those four months I posted every day for 100 days things that made me happy - harder than it sounds!  From February to May I featured flowers and kittens and all things in between, including our new endeavour to earn a crust in a country notoriously difficult and intractable for natives and foreigners alike.

 

A year of planning, six months of tussling with documents and Mairies and eventually Mr. Fish & Chips opened its shutters to serve traditional British poisson et frites to difficult and intractable French locals.  It hasn't been easy, but it's certainly been interesting, we've learned an awful lot and improved our vocabulary into the bargain - mostly concerning fish and chips, strangely enough.

We are still in Pomerols, we are still annoyed beyond belief about Lunch Time and Closed Sunday and Crap Coffee, we still appreciate the cheap wine and charming country side, the finds at the flea markets are still frenchy and fab, but we are on a different side of the fence now.  We are looking at the Languedoc and France as tax paying members of the community and wondering what the future holds.  It does seem that the French people who sample our fish and chips like it and come back for more, but will this afford us a life of comfort and joy in the long term?  Will I ever learn to love being a Fish Wife, Alex a Short Order Chef?? 

In the interests of punchy and interesting posts, I shall try to deliver weekly updates - maybe more often!  Stay alert for vivid thumbnails of our life and times in the slow lane.  Will battered cod and big chips sweep the nation and launch us into the big time?  Or will it all prove too much and it'll be Goodbye Mr. Chips..??