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Here’s the story of how I got in England and stayed there 2 years. It’s a lifesaving story, maybe the reason why I am so fond of that time of my like…

Everything began at the end of 1993. I got seriously ill, could have died and, even if I had to go back to school, I had to find something to do until the next September. I knew I needed to go far away from everything and everyone to repair myself. I decided to go as an au pair which I did the 28th March 1994, the day after my 20th birthday. I took the bus at Paris, a boat and the bus again, arrived at Victoria Station in London where the man of the family where I was going to live for the next few months was waiting for me and we took the train to Royal Tunbridge Wells. It’s funny because even all these years later, I still remember the exact address…. Here I found the mom who was 15 years older than him (really strange as far as I was concerned), the 3 years old little boy named Alexander. Blonde hair with big blue eyes, a Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic, and their 3 cats, Lucy, her sister I forgot the name of and Durian, a huge 12 kilos cat but as sweet as can be.

I still remember exactly how the house was. My room was on the second floor, on the top of the house. I had a huge bed and I loved this room. What was strange to me was their way of like. I never saw the family have a meal together in the kitchen. Everybody ate something different, a different times in the living room, watching T.V.. The adults went on different vacations at different times. It was really strange for me who was used to a family that did everything together.

However strange it was, that first stay (March until September) saved my life. I learned to live again. Plus it was my first adult job. A few days after my arrival we learned about Kurt Cobain’s death (was and still is a huge fan), I watched “Neighbours” and “Home and Away”, heard Take That for the first time ever (they were huge at that time in the U.K., never heard of them in France), had a library card I used a lot (was reading 2 to 3 books a week, in English, of course) went to the cinema, walked a lot and damned summertime in Kent is lovely, and we even went to the sea side…. It was the loveliest time ever. I gained strength, rebuild myself, learned to deal with heartbreaking things, made my first big adult decisions and went back home in September.

However it’s not the end of the story. As I said, I stayed 2 years in England, it was only the first part of it. I went back 2 years after that for 2 years. When I finished school in July 1996. In London this time. Let me tell you, London is 10 times bigger than Paris and I hate Paris….. but I love London…. Even the Tube, can you imagine ? Damned I went everywhere in London. I had my habits, on Sundays I went really early, did some shopping at the Brent Cross Shopping Center, went to the Camden Town market (where I bought my lovely leather jacket), visit everything everywhere in and around London and in the end of the afternoon went to Oxford Street (damn this is a long street) to the record stores, the Sega store, and I finished the day at Leicester square watching a movie the pockets full of pick and mix sweets…. There was a French center at the time, “le Centre Charles Péguy” which was really useful and where I loved to go. They helped me to find a proper job and it was good to have somebody to talk in French to from time to time…. Sometimes I was a bit homesick so I went to some cinemas where they were showing French movies like “le Bonheur est dans le pré”, “les demoiselles de Cherbourg” (soooooo cheezy….). The good thing is that I had a great life there, people took me for Irish, maybe because of the red hair, I earned quite a lot of money, had a great apartment and I was free. For real. There is something so liberating to go and live somewhere where you start new. You have no history, you can be yourself really, without the fear of the judgmental pointing finger….

I think the biggest step for me was my driving license. I’ll scan the provisional driving license I kept all these years to show you. It was great for me because I am left handed but a bit weird at the same time because, of course, I always learned to ride on the right sides until then….. I think that in 1996 there was a theory exam for the first time and I passed it the first time ! How proud of myself I was….. To pass a driving test, theory driving test, the first try ever, in a foreign language and with different traffic signs (some of them) that the ones I am used to…. I stayed 2 years in North London, went back home in mid-1998, just before the Soccer cup we won the 12th July….. It was a great time and I really miss it. I thought about going back and live somewhere in Kent but it would be difficult now. I have 2 cats and I wouldn’t want to let them here and I have OH now anyway so it’s a bit difficult. However I need to go back for a stay. And soon. I don’t know how to explain it but I left a part of me there. Sometimes I really feel homesick and find comfort in something that reminds me U.K. That’s why sometimes I order British food and tea. Do you know how hard it is to find a real English tea ? For a while we had Marks & Spencer in Paris but not anymore…. British food is still seen as the boiled meat or the mint sauce which couldn’t be more wrong…. The last time I went in London was in 2002 for a quick stay. With a friend we went to the London Arena to see Guns‘n Roses…..

I am sorry if my thoughts are going a bit everywhere without making a lot of sense. All the memories are coming at the same time and it’s great and sad. Great because I really loved that time and am still very very fond of it and sad because I miss it so much…. It makes me emotional. Maybe it’s because we see our youth as better that it really was, I don’t know but I miss everything from that time. How I felt, how the people were, how you could wear whatever you wanted without being judged, how you could have a piercing or a tattoo done in the middle of market without anybody finding it strange…. I promise, in 2014 I’ll go back even for just 2 or 3 days….

PS : For my parents 30 years anniversary in 1994, I bought a 16 pieces dinner set for £30 and 20 years later, the dinner set is still intact although it’s used every day…. That’s what I call solid good quality stuff !