Hey, England... My best friend from London is coming to Paris tomorrow. In the nine years I've known her, it's the second time. All of the other times, we saw each other in England. I met her in London, I lived with her in Golders Green, we walked through dozens of gardens and shared all the most important conversations possible... In England.
Why do I love you so much, you piece of land? Fracture of the formerly largest empire in modern history...
When I left London for Kenya in 2010, I thought I would never stop missing you, England. When I left London for good in 2012, I thought, though: "this place, I love it so much, yet, it doesn't love me back"...
It's a bit how I feel today.
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I might have to cancel all my plans and prospects for next spring.
Unexpected disagreements.
When I came to Bristol three years ago, I thought that was it. London wasn't the right place. But this call for England was coming from somewhere. I had to dig into Bristol! It was love at first sight...
Yet, since then, there were pathetic elections and the Brexit referendum, and a snowballing effect of misunderstanding and disputes.
There is a moment when you need to throw the towel.
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I came to England for the first time in 1993. And I could already speak English fluently. I don't know how this was even possible. I had studied English at school for only a year by then. But the love of music, I guess, taught me everything.
Now, as I already boycott the United States, as I read dozens of books on colonisation and slavery and the role of Britain in all of that, it might be time to face than maybe England won't ever save me from what France had cruelly hurt me with... The ripping of the past...
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It was an interesting journey of exciting discoveries, blissful moments and hard-learnt lessons. All the months in the corridors of the BBC, in the rooms of the V & A, in the Londonian night buses, in the National Express, my profound passion for the Western Lands, wonderfully deep discussions, a lot of friendships and great encounters.
Special love to Northern Ireland and Scotland too, that I discovered more recently.
I tried to love you, England, you cannot imagine how much. But maybe we'll get there only in another lifetime...
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