Je Suis

My French teacher at school used to wear matching outfits: beige jeans, brown jumper; red polo neck, rouge trousers. I have such a vivid memory of the brown ensemble. The jumper had acorns and oak leaves on. Shame I can’t remember much of what she taught me whilst she wore it…

When I am listening to people speak in my own language I have good peripheral hearing and I can listen to a couple of conversations at once. But in any other language I have to listen with my full attention focused on just one person’s mouth.

Since school I have attempted to learn a little Spanish. But in the mess that is my brain there is space for only one drawer in the filing cabinet and the drawer is labelled ‘foreign’. I threw a whole load of Spanish phrases in on top of the French and now they are all muddled up together. I speak bad European, and, contrary to popular belief, drinking isn’t helping.