I’ve been asking myself this question a lot lately, what makes a house a home and while I have lived in many a house (29 at last count) I’ve not lived in many places that I would call home. So along with all the decorating that we have been doing I’ve been wondering how do I make this house a home and what does home mean to me. It is a difficult question for me to answer, others find it very easy. I asked Pat what is home to you, his reply “home is where the dog is”. While this is one of Pat’s usual flippant responses made to make me smile, when we drilled it down, home to Pat is where his loved ones are. To me it isn’t so simple. Not that I don’t like being where my loved ones are. That is important. But for me I think home is more than the house. I’ve had some fabulous houses but not in the best location and the reverse, small or not great houses but in a great location. So I think I’ve figured for me feeling connected to the greater location around me is necessary. I think this is where Pat and I differ for him the house is much more important than the location.
I think partly I’m struggling with this idea of home as I don’t feel connected to France yet, I don’t feel that I belong. I’ve discovered that when you can’t speak to the vast majority of the people around you, it is isolating and it has been an unexpected aspect of living in France for me. I did think my French language would progress much faster than it has. I also think trying to find people of a similar age and who have a similar way of thinking as me has been difficult. However I am trying to address this, with doing things like Zumba and trying to get myself out to various lunches and coffees. We have also been looking at joining a walking group which will be good.
As to the bathroom update, well, that is still on-going, hopefully to be finished soon as I really want a bath! Especially as I have some very sore muscles after Thursday night’s Zumba class
Enjoy Pat’s blog next week at http://patblog.patbell.co.uk