I've been reliably informed by my flatmate that I have picked up the (somewhat unfortunate) habit, when cooking, of adding '...of course, they're not as good as the ones we get at home' to the end of many a sentence - according to her, most recently I have complained about French Strawberries and French Stock Cubes...
Still, my strange complaints aside, this got me to thinking. There's a lot of stuff I will probably miss about France when I eventually return home,, and I might post about that at the time - but today's post (slightly different from the usual agenda) is a list, in no particular order, of stuff that I miss about England...
1. CHEDDAR CHEESE - I'm sorry, but Cheese on toast is not cheese on toast without a good ol' bit of Cathedral City, and emmenthal just isn't the same. Not even close.
2. I know that the French and the Belgians are well known for their chocolate, and when it comes down to dark chocolate, I agree. And I know that the Europeans are sceptical that what we Brits call chocolate is actually chocolate. But I don't care. When it comes down to milk chocolate, I'll choose a DAIRY MILK every time. I actually asked my mum to send some of it out to me, I'm not ashamed :) What I am ashamed of is the abysmally short time it lasted....
3. ENGLISH TEA - you can buy this out here - I've got a box of Twinings - but... I don't know whether it's the water, or the milk, or what, but I just can't get it to taste the same as it does back home.
4. Although the Carrefour near me does have that one lonely little shelf devoted to English products, MARMITE is inexplicably, not on it. Love it or hate it (and I love it), it's not really an English section if the marmite's not in it! Boo :(
5. NETFLIX. Can't get it in France. Whyyyyyyyyy?!
6. EASY COMMUNICATION. Okay, so France isn't exactly third world is it - I've not been cut off from all forms of civilisation - but it would be nice to send a text without worrying about the phone bill, or to make a FaceTime call without getting frustrated because the wifi is cutting out and people are not hearing about a third of my sentences!
7. GOOD MUSIC. Apparently, there is some kind of law here that the radio stations play X% of French language music as opposed to English language stuff. And (this is purely my personal opinion) French music tends to leave much to be desired... (also, it has to be said - French adverts on youtube are waaaaaaaay more annoying than French ones!)
8. My MUM'S COOKING. Get me home and get me a roast - 'nuff said.
9. The PUB. Call me stereotypical English woman, but I like strolling down the pub for a drink. The French do things differently - what they have is great as well - but I still miss the pub.
10. I've technically borrowed this from someone else's blog, and I can't remember whose it was, but it totally stands even if it is a little bit (very) unclassy and should probably remain my dirty little secret for all eternity - whisper it now - screw top bottles of wine. They're just so convenient!
Til next time -
Vicky xx
Hey, an English Language Assistant in Meaux near Paris :) If you want to watch netflix, on google chrome there is an extension you can download called Hola which allows you to watch netflix/iplayer/4od etc as if you are in the UK :) There's also a British Pub in the 5th that does roast dinners and fish and chips if you're interested! I'm glad it's not just me that keeps saying 'it's not as good as at home!' and I'm basically living in M&S on the champs elysees to get some British food! x
ReplyDeleteFish and Chips?! Where is this place? Haha. Thanks for the Netflix advice :) hope your year is going well x
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