Sunday 4 July 2010

what would you miss?

a friend and former colleague is British, is married to a Frenchman and lives in Finland.  She and her family are currently in Ecuador for a study visit.  Read her blog here.  Anyway, she says what they will miss when they go back to Finland and what they won't, and what they do miss from Finland.  I am not going back to the UK, but it set me thinking.  Things I miss: a quiet pub on a Saturday afternoon; pork pies; English summer days; the sea; polite and friendly service; Sunday shopping in Reading.  Things I don't miss: crap public transport; the NHS; rubbish housing, especially in cities.  Things I would miss if I left France: most of the food, especially bakery; the public transport, especially trams; the fantastic health service; sustainable high-density urban life; French pop music; Plus Belle La Vie (though I thought I would miss The Archers when I left the UK and I don't).  Things I wouldn't miss: bureaucracy; rudeness and xenophobia; the opening hours of everything except bakeries and florist shops; the country shutting down for the whole of July and August; the subjunctive.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would miss The Daily Mail -on tap 24/6 and then the Mail on Sunday.

I would not miss The Guardian.

Anonymous said...

I would misss the pure and unadulterated vulgarity of 'Come Dine With Me'.

I would not miss Olly Grender who has returned to Newsnight, jowls twitching, eyes bulging like squids on sticks, to rival the poached eggs of Ed Balls himself.

Anonymous said...

Real beer.
Curry.
The natural beauty of South Oxfordshire / West Berkshire.
Oh, and driving on the proper side of the road.

Anonymous said...

I would miss Brookside both here and there.