October 2004

Back from France and wondering why the world is moving so fast.

For three weeks I have had no car and no visitors, and my evening recreation has been a 2kilometre walk to the local dump with my bin and bottles. The dog came too, and on the way back we collected blackberries and mushrooms. 

My days were simple: Get up at 730, go running with the dog, come back and make steaming coffee and eat stewed apples from the trees, with last night's blackberries. Work from 830 until 1130, then a mad cycle dash 4 kilometres to the nearest village to buy provisions before the shops closed for lunch at 1230. 

Shopping done, I sat outside the Au Bon Coin, with perfect espresso than cost 1 euro. Best of all, they let me eat a slice of homemade pizza from the deli.

If you live in the UK, it is hard to image a remote village enjoying two bakeries, a butcher, a greengrocer, a fabulous deli, and a bar. Welcome to France.

The same place in England would be lucky to have a Spar or a Co-op, and it would be the land of white bread and processed food. Vive la difference!

I spent my afternoons gardening, with another spell of work between 5pm and 7pm,. At 7pm, I made myself a Kir with the local Cassis and a white wine from the local Cave. After that, it was off to the bins, returning at 8 pm to light the candles, and cook supper. This was not a castle for lovers of electric light - the ceilings are too high and the rooms are too deep. Electric light gives a gloomy sepulchral feel. The candles are perfect, casting shadows of possibility.
   
Back in England, I am returning to the dinner party question of haste and trivia, being the new deadly sins. Why is it that in France that was time to get through all the important things, at an absurdly slow pace, while in England I rush to finish the day?

I will get the answer - slowly.

My latest venture is to open a shop on the ground floor of my London house. It will be an Italian deli called VERDE'S. From November you will be able to buy olives and Parma ham and the best food that can be found. More of this next month, when we open.

Why am I doing it? Life is too short not to do things. Remember what Virginia Woolf said about doubling or halving your output after 40? Well, I think I had better double mine in all sorts of ways.
The trick will be to balance fullness and time, and somehow have both.

I am also looking for an apartment in Paris - so if anybody out there has got one... mail us.

I want to spend less time in England because I am upset by our anti-Europeanism, and of course, by Blair and his Bush-mongering. I still do not believe that the war was right, or that Britain should have been part of it. For women in Iraq, the situation appears to be worse than it was under Saddam. True, a lot of fuss is being made of the 25% allocation of seats to women on the ruling council, but as Iraq's population is 60% woman, this is hardly proportional representation.

Women are being forced back into the home and into wearing the full-length burkha. We have to remember that before Saddam came to power, Iraq was the most progressive of the Middle Eastern States. Even under Saddam, women had equal opportunities, not that anyone had much in the way of any opportunity. Saddam's Iraq was secular; the new Iraq is turning fiercely Fundamentalist.
If you are in the UK, go and have a look at David Hare's new play at the National Theatre, STUFF HAPPENS. It's not much of a play - more of a live drama-doc, but it's well worth seeing, just to remind ourselves of the real facts of this increasingly blurred situation.

Which is a long way round of me saying that I admire France for taking a stand against the war and against the USA. There is much about the USA that I love, but it is not good for one country to hold such power unopposed. The great strength of Europe is that it is not a vast continent, but a group of countries. There must be debate, there must be division of opinion. I don't want to live in Little America, I want to live in Europe and to be European - that means debate. 

It is of course fascinating to see how different countries report the news - another good reason for catching the Eurostar more frequently. I want the bigger picture. I want to get a sense of how other people think - and the best way to do that is to spend some time with those other people.

I know that most of us have lives where that would be impossible, but the life I have made for myself makes it possible, and I am a writer with a duty to observe - and to be critical - and to love.
The last one mustn't get lost.

Meanwhile, I know I promised you a Philip Pullman interview this month, but the magazine has delayed publication by a month, so I must delay too. Such is journalism!