Whew! Made it back without getting swine flu.

Five days in London and I didn't get swine flu, or a cold, or a dose of England-hating. I did get a lovely new granddaughter and a few days with some of the people I love most, after two weeks here, with some of the other people I love most, which is the best reminder of why, in the end, we will go home.

Re the England-hating, I went to a Vide Grenier [car boot sale] last week, and as I gazed at the French country tat, I overheard English voices behind me. Two couples greeting each other after one couple had been on a visit back to the UK. The following was the gist of the conversation:

'We're so glad to be back. It was terrible, crazy.'
'I know. I know.'
'It's gone completely mad now, the whole country.'
'I know. You're absolutely right.'
'We hate going back now. It's awful.'
'So do we. But you've made it in one piece.'
'Thank god. Whew!'

You hear this kind of thing a lot from ex-pats. I can't imagine French people ever being so negative about France. We need to change the record.


Back in the village, in this summer heat, there is still what passes for a local holiday crowd. There are ten to twenty cars lined up by the lake, people swimming, canoeing, lying on the grass. If last year is anything to go by they'll all be gone in ten days, the campsite will close and the village will go back to its sleepy silences. I used to think it was a bit odd, maybe over-rigid, the way many French people stuck to fixed, holiday periods: Mid-July to mid August - but now I wonder. Perhaps more French people actually like their ordinary lives, their houses and streets, families and friends, and don't need or want to go away for weekends and half-terms and short breaks, as much as the English. I could be romanticising here - it might be money, for instance, and there are probably plenty of other reasons.

Still, the French do seem to like their country and to be proud of being French. Before anybody leaps in, I know there is racism here, and that patriotism et cetera can lead to hatred and anti-foreigners. Of course. But it doesn't have to, and most of the people we've met are as moderate and tolerant as most English people, or at least, like us, they mainly keep quiet about their intolerances. They just seem to like who they are better than we English do. Maybe it's because they [and their media] don't keep banging on about how awful their country is.

Things that are brilliant about the UK:
- The language
- The people
- The countryside
- The rivers and lakes
- The coast and sea
- The books
- The arts
- The food
- Family
- Friends

Of course, most of these are just the same things that French people love about France. That's the point.

A third of France has better weather than we do, I give you that, but only for some of the year, and anyway, not having much, we appreciate the good weather more than the French do. We also have funnier stand-up comics - oh and fish and chips. I knew there was something.