[Bradford] Meeting notes

[Stephane Urdy]

Hi Chaps,

Time for me to give you some news.

As far as I am concerned, I am happy to be back for various reasons.

I feel European and open to other cultures like most of you are and
brexit just made me feel not so welcomed any more (it is sad and unfair
to you, the other 49% who did not listen to the lies).

The effect of the brexit was I lost my job a few weeks from the brexit
referendum although I had an excellent 10 years track record and could
not find work with an acceptable salary afterwards despite month of
active job search efforts, every day, morning till evening, so many
tests, interviews that lead to nowhere what a waste of valuable time.

I missed French bread, pastries, coffee, well .. food, so much, imagine
a life without tea and pudding ;)

I eat a hot meal during real lunch breaks, in a cafe or a small
restaurant and never again in front of a screen.

I am no longer dressing with a suite and tie for work, but with a shirt,
a pair of jeans and sport shoes.

It feels good to be a citizen of your country, although amongst you I
never felt a stranger, in fact, I felt really good because you guys are
true and great people.

I can visit my brothers and nephews anytime now, no need to plan the
only vacation I have 4 weeks in advance, spend a fortune,  just for this
privilege.

I pay the GP and he cures me properly the way a GP should, I had too
many bad experiences at GP practices. Some were ok, many left me sick
and despaired, one sent me to the emergency for lack of knowledge and
care this I can't forgive because I could have died then.

I can go to Paris my birth place anytime I want, and be sure that I
abuse this happy privilege on a regular basis lol. I see the Eiffel
tower while taking the train to my workplace almost every day and walk
the champs Elysée with a smile on my face.

Summer is still there (22 degrees Celsius today) and last for months as
opposed to weeks, it has a great effect on the mood and the outlook in life.

The difficulties are here too, I had to adapt again to the French life,
the infamous administration plague, the taxes that are to come as
opposed to pay as you earn, the lower salary, well I can live with that
no biggie.

I have to adapt the azerty keyboards again bummer ;)

Words come to my mind in English first and I am learning to speak proper
French again.

These 10 years in the UK made me a stronger man in many aspects. It is a
bit like having two cultures, adding to the complexity of the individual
I am becoming.

Amongst the things I miss in the UK  [this is not a comprehensive list]:

Riding my Triumph motorcycle in the Dales, I sold it before leaving the
country to cover some of the many expenses associated to changing countries,

Spending time with you at the Bradlug, at the BCB 106.6fm recordings,
the Otley radio club and a few other great friends I have.

Drinking English tea and occasionally a pint which is better in North
Yorkshire hands down.

Speaking the language with you, I still love the language, so techy
English videos on Youtube are my friends in order to carry on listening
and learning.

I have found a new radio club 30 minutes drive from where I live and
they are great, I am learning a lot and we share stuff, knowledge and
ideas, they even made a beautiful contact with the ISS [International
Space Station].

I am starting again from scratch in order to get a French radio amateur
licence and callsign, I am not in a hurry, I enjoy every moment. The
time will come when I will try making contacts with Otley.

For those who want to come over to a European country, don't let idiots
dictate your future, come over and write your own history for better or
worst as long as it is your decision.

It was not my decision to leave the UK, but without work I had no other
choice and I'd rather see the glass half full rather than half empty.

I think we have to find a way to carry on interacting maybe through a
web conference in order to keep in touch, it is up to us to do that,
there are means to do it why not giving it a try ?

Let me know if you guys want to try that.

All the best,

Stephane



On 24/09/17 01:21, Brian A via Bradford wrote:
>
>
> Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
> <https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/mobile/?.src=Android>
>
>     On Sat, 23 Sep 2017 at 23:18, Stephane Urdy via Bradford
>     <bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk> wrote:
>     -- 
>     Bradford mailing list
>     Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:Bradford at mailman.lug.org.uk>
>     https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/bradford
>     Wow, Hi Stephane, nice to hear from you. Hope you are doing well.
>     The one saving grace for you is that you are so lucky that you
>     will still be an EU Citizen while I will likely have my
>     Citizenship stolen away from me by these Brexit people - anything
>     I can do to stop it though I will do. So, how are things? Do you
>     have any QSOs with Otley?
>     Brian
>
>
>

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