I found that when I told people about my plans they (though it is important to say not all) invariably said one or all of the following:

“Do you like France?”

I wanted to say ” No I Am going there because I hate it!”

Instead I said “Yes!”

“Can you speak French?”

I wanted to say ” A little but that is part of the adventure.”

Instead I said “A little, but I can learn.”

This was often met with looks of disbelief?

However the  most incredulous has to be:

“What will you do when it all goes wrong?”

Seriously! Who is to say it will all go wrong? Why do people naturally assume that? That’s what I wanted to say, or

“Oh no what will I do? might it all go wrong”

Instead I said “who is to say it will all go wrong?” This normally shut them up at this stage.

I have been told by some people that people say this because they care about you. Really?! The people who have said this never seemed to care about me in any obvious way when I was living my life on the hamster wheel!

My advice to anyone who will think of taking an adventure in the future is understand that these people are afraid because you will be, by your actions, making people think about their lives; and for some reminding them that they are standing still. Therefore to justify their existence, to themselves because you’re not asking, they will ask you this stupid question.

One of the other common coments was “I hate the French”. To which I would say “do you know any French people?” They would say ” Oh no I have never been to France”.

!!!!!!!!!!!

i would then say “So how do you know that you hate the French?” Often met with a dumb silence, or the comment ” oh I just do”.

Not all people were like this, but I hope this post has made you laugh, just at the ridiculousness of what people say.

We have had fantastic comments, but sadly from a lot less people, mainly:

” I admire you, I couldn’t do it but wished I could”

” You have made us think”

“Good luck to you, knowing you both as we do we know you will make a success of it.”

So I would like to thank all those who wished us well, of which there were many, not least on Facebook, but a special thanks to:

Our fantastic joint best friend Nic, who has never doubted us for a minute.

Our beautiful friend Mary, and Den, the O.B, both of who you will hear more about often. We couldn’t have done it without them, and they are coming over soon with a camper van of stuff for us!

Jo and Mike, for always listening, looking after our plants, and supporting us even though they did not want us to stop being their neighbours, ever.

Last, but never least our wonderful friend Terri, who encouraged us all the way, and inspired us with her Cornish adventure.

And yes I am writing this whilst sitting in the garden, in temperatures of 28 degrees at 8pm in the evening.

Sante everyone.

Moisy