The candle burnt out long before the legend ever will

Ten years ago I was awoken by my Dad, his eyes were red and his voice broken when he spoke, "The princess Diana is dead, she was killed in a car crash in Paris". It was hard to come to terms with, difficult to believe that it had really happened. I, like the rest of the British population, was very upset about her death. That day, when I switched on the radio, every song was a slow and melancholy song and this continued over the weekend. Then when we watched the funeral a few days later, we really felt the impact of the sorrow of a whole nation. What we could not have predicted then is the impact this event would have on the royal family. Since her death we have watched her two children grow up into fine, handsome men. They have carried on her work and have followed her example. As a nation, I think we are very fond of William and Harry and are proud of them, as their Mother surely was. Diana was far from being a saint but she was a person who had a big heart and who dedicated herself to charitable works. She reached out to those really in need and showed them that she really cared. Britain may not commemorate her death again in the same way in ten years time but for today we once again remember the people's princess.

Why blogger?

I have been deliberating over this for a while and I have been inspired by blogs such as lapeiteanglaise.com and pollyvousfrançais as well as laminetteanglaise (all excellent blogs which have entertained me enormously!). Ok I realize laroseanglaise is not the most original name for a blog of an English lady living in France but it felt that it was the most appropriate given the circumstances.

I live in Paris. Many bloggers in Paris write about what a fantastic city it is, that is because it IS a fantastic city!! But for me it's not THE only city in France. I have lived here for a total of 5 years and have experienced three cities in all.

I wanted to create this blog for several reasons:

1) I have a terrible memory or rather I have a rather selective memory and remember things/anecdotes about the last few years from time to time and never bother to write them down.
2) I also often have lots of thoughts and opinions about the French and my life in France and as mentioned above never bother to write them down. I don't flatter myself that others are particularly interested in what I think, but I do think that some people may be bored enough to have a little read!
3) Because I want to see whether I can actually write and this is a warm up exercise for an idea of a book I have and maybe one day will actually right, although I have no delusions of it being a hop, skip and a jump from being blogger to writer.
4) Finally, in contrast, I think, to most other expats I have experienced three very different experiences over the last fives years: studying in French universities (Erasmus and then post grad), being a language assistant and finally the working life. I am 100% British, I came here completely of my own choosing, and before my Erasmus year had no particular connections nor affinities with France, but since my Erasmus year I have completely fallen in love with France and am on a one-woman mission to prove that I can make it work here. I therefore intend this blog to be an account of some of my past experiences and some of my present and future experiences with the hope that it may help anyone to happens to read it to understand better how the system works and the MANY differences between the French and British cultures.

As a disclaimer, I ought to mention that this whole blogging world is all very new to me and I have always been very crap with technology. So whilst I hope to make this blog a little bit more interesting over time with additions of pictures etc, the rest of it I think will be hit and miss and generally possibly not very high tech!

Anyway, you never know until you try!

Oh gosh, can't believe I have done it, after all this faffing around have finally set up a blog. I'm a blogger! I have lost my blogger virginity, started my blogging adventure, and who knows what will happen!