Sometimes we spend so much time rushing around that we don’t stop to take a breath and notice what is happening all around us. I know that whilst I was living in the UK, I was guilty of this all of the time. Life was always conducted at high speed which meant that I didn’t as the saying goes, stop to smell the roses.
I think that there is a tendency to suggest that one country good and another bad. This is really not what I want to suggest. What I know is that I wouldn’t be able to do in the UK what I am able to do here. I believe that I would have had another 11 years on my mortgage in the UK. Now we don’t have one. I should add that we had a really nice house in the UK and we live in a building site here that cannot compare. However one day it will undoubtedly be finished. In the meantime we live with cables hanging from the ceiling and plasterboard and insulation missing. You get used to it and half the time I don’t notice!
What I have noticed recently is that there have been different groups performing in Huelgoat market each week. Three weeks ago there were Breton dancers, last week was what you might call a British rock group and today was French folk music. I do find the time to notice these things here. I know that they occur in the UK but often I didn’t have the time to notice. From the model of flourishing that I use, the notion of Engagement in which you are present in the moment is something that I am not sure that I enjoyed as much as is beneficial in the past. Thursday morning in the local market is an opportunity for Engagement. So dinner this evening includes fresh fish, and salad from the market, delicious!
Until tomorrow…
Tales from the Sheshed France 