old! How did this happen? I'll be starting school soon.
Well, here I am in our little flat in Angouleme and what a lazy time I
have been having. I am too ashamed to describe how I spend my days.
Angoumousins, apparently, are like shellfish; they don't go out very
much. I am fitting in by leaving the house as little as possible and
spending a lot of time asleep.
I have read a couple of books I've wanted to read but didn't have the
necessary brainpower. It's very strange having brainpower again; it's
like when you get broadband having been used to dial-up or when you get
extra (RAM?) added to your computer so it runs faster.
I have read Tom Holland's history of the Roman Republic which is really
good. I didn't know anything about the Roman Republic but it is rather
useful to know about it since you discover references to it all over the
place. I am also reading _The Making of the English Working Class_. I
finished _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell_ which was very enjoyable.
You need to commit to it and invest some time and effort at the
beginning to appreciate the great ending.
The comics festival has come and gone; it turns normally quiet and
mild-mannered cartoonists into manic party animals, squashing themselves
into the main hotel in town's bar and paying ridiculous amounts for
indifferent beer and bizarre cocktails (5 euros for a Cognac and orange
cocktail seems a bit steep and an insult to Cognac). I went to a party
given by a cartoonist from Finland and met lots of Finnish cartoonists
who had a very long conversation about farting and the smoking ban.
James frantically networked.
I have found a friend who likes Joan Baez and is a good guitarist, so I
visit her and we play folk songs together. She and her partner help us
with our French.
I haven't found a job.
Our flat is very nice. Quite cold though.
I have been reading some comics and I drew my first comic during the
festival. James liked it. He said he always knew I could draw. Such
confidence! I have no plans to become a professional cartoonist but it
was fun. It's now in a half-finished state and likely to remain so.
Some comics I like: _Mormol_, by Sardon, which includes a scene in an
archive...(!); _Le Roman de Renart_, about a bad fox; _Epileptic_ by
David B.
I am hoping that 2008 will be a better year for blogging. In 2007 I
wrote 90 posts, not a very good number. Most of them weren't very good
either.
Very pleased to note that my friend Pete's blog, Created in Birmingham,
has been given a Guardian media award. I was pleased to meet the
creator of Derek the Sheep at the festival, and equally pleased to learn
that he sold out of Norbert le Mouton, as he is known here in France.
Can't think of any more news I'm pleased about but I dare say there is some.
So things are all right. I feel strange but that's normal when you're in
a country where you don't know anyone and you don't speak the language.
And there are lots of friendly people round here. James likes it here a
lot. I forgot that we will have to catch all the local bugs; we both
have colds at the moment. I can't sing, so no jolly folk song evenings
for us.
The fruit and veg is very good, much better than at home. Things we
like to eat include carrots rapee, that's shredded carrots in
vinaigrette, nice cheese, biscuits. I am eating very healthily and
have, without trying, become thinner. The other wonderful thing about
France is that you don't feel obliged to pour loads of alcohol down your
throat when you go out, in fact you don't even have to drink at all at
parties and no-one notices. So I have hardly been drinking at all,
which might explain the loss of weight.
James has gone lardons crazy. He puts them in everything. This is not
a complaint; lardons are little strips of bacon that you fry and mix
with your fried veg or put in your quiche to make it taste delicious.
1 comment:
rubbish!
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