Well we did ask ! and what an interesting reply.

Hi Val,

Who am I? Oh well, you've asked for it.

I am French, was born in the South-East about 50 years ago and was brought up in French speaking West Africa.

I was then educated in France and I studied English, which was absolutely no help when I went to Scotland as a French assistante.

Nothing I learnt from Shakespeare, Marlowe or Dickens was any help when it came to asking for a ticket to Kyle of Lochalsh or understanding the kids in Falkirk ("Miss, I dunna ken").

I fell in love with Scotland, decided to stay and studied Marketing in Glasgow (for some reason). 

My mother had told me, "never marry an Englishman" from a very young age, so of course I married a Mr Rose (descendant of the Scottish Clan Napier) and we left for Est Africa, my two children were born on a tea estate in Malawi. Having witnessed my second African revolution and getting tired of it, we came back to Paris.

I've had several jobs, trainer for adults for English and French as foreign languages, energy healer and therapist, responsable associatif, interpreter /translator...

I'm a huge fan of chocolate Hob Nobs, Faulty Towers and BBC period dramas. I make jewellery in my spare time and can cook a good curry.

To cut a long story short, I now live in St Antonin with my French companion, Olivier, and I make a living as a translator, specialised in subtitling among other fields of expertise (I have an MA from London University).

We are renovating a "maison d'hôte" behind the church in Ste Sabine with a view on the vallée de l'Aveyron and we will shortly start to take in people and small groups (we can accomodate 10 people max) for activities linked to alternative healing, nature, well-being, creativity... (or just family gatherings).

Re politics and this whole thing about getting the British involved: Thierry Leroy (head of our electoral list in St Antonin) is a neighbour and he asked me to join his list because he found that being a independant worker working from home and a "porteur de projet", I represented the sort of people that are needed to revitalize this region.

When we met, I told him: "We have to speak to the British, you know, they are very collective minded, I'm sure they would love to mix more and would bring a lot to the community" and that's how the whole thing started, really, very simply.

We had intented to liaise with all foreign communities but of course it all seems more difficult now, we'll see what happens in the near future.
I hope this will satisfy your curiosity. Please feel free to contact me: laurerose@sfr.fr

Laure Rose
Val says very interesting Laure. I do hope the new Maire and his team have the sense to use your strengths to help liaisons within the different community groups.  I will file this letter in "Face to Face" if Doreen agrees.
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