Moving to France and adapting to life in Lyon
This evening I had a leaving do. Didn’t think it would be possible in a Covid world but about 40 of us had drinks and hugs in a central London pub. It was a lovely send off – people said and wrote nice things and I got a bit drunk.
Even better was at 11pm my son came to drive me home . That really is the end of BBC leaving dos now. From next week I will be a Euronews employee!
To mark my leaving the BBC, starting a new role at Euronews and Cath’s birthday, we went for dinner at Le Gavroche in central London.
After being treated to some aperitifs by Sean, a friend of our son’s who works in the kitchen, we ate some amazing dishes from the tasting menu.
Michel Roux Jr did his usual tour of the tables to say hello. I mentioned that we were moving to Lyon and he said it was his favourite French city. So naturally I asked him for some restaurant recommendations.
He returned shortly and gave me this:
Plenty to try there.
He said La Mere Brazier is amazing – but not cheap. Cath is already talking of booking us in for our wedding anniversary.
Euronews today released news of my arrival. The email is in both French and English so I was able to see the word numérique which I had learnt meant digital being used for real!
Very exciting. It was also good to see that I am:
un passionné d’ornithologie et un fervent supporter du Fulham FC.
That is important information for my new colleagues.
Ah! After the joy of yesterday’s successful appointment at the visa centre, the French Consulate waste no time in rejecting our application.
Wow – this is very deflating. I immediately send it to Euronews’ visa expert who replies to the Consulate asking them to reconsider as she insists I do qualify for the Talent Passeport. There is a bit of to-ing and fro-ing but ultimately the Consulate doesn’t change its mind.
Our passports are returned the following morning. Euronews is now exploring other ways to get me out to France to start work on 1 February. What is the French for squeaky bum time?
Today was the long-awaited day for our appointment to apply for work visas for France. We needed to take a lot of paperwork with us and I had a last-minute wobble when I realised I hadn’t printed out Cath’s form properly.
We made our 1030 appointment on time – on the site of the old Young’s brewery (where I once went for a job interview).
My experience of applying for visas in the past meant I was a bit apprehensive that things wouldn’t go smoothly, I would have forgotten some key document, we would be here for many hours.
But actually the process was very smooth. There was a bit of waiting but when it was our turn we had brought all the key documents and, although I was told off for missing a comma which meant the form had to printed again, it was all ok.
When they relieved me of more than £200, I was reminded of when I worked in Paris in 1990 how I just turned up and got a job in Monoprix without any need for documents. But I guess that’s Brexit for you.
A final biotmetrics appointment and we were done. It took 90 mins in all which is far faster than I had expected.
They suggested it might only take five working days before we get our passports back which means I should make my departure date of 30 January. Fingers crossed.
Celebrated the smooth process with a croissant. Felt fitting.
I went on my last birding trip with my friend and former colleague Jim Todd before I head out to Lyon.
We have been to Norfolk and the south coast and this time we headed to the Somerset Levels.
In the first hide we popped into on the off-chance we chanced upon the rarest bird I have ever seen – a baikal teal.
The trip was also a chance for me to try out my leaving present to myself after 23 years at the BBC – a spotting scope.
It enabled me to get this photo of the teal – at the front of this photo with his head tucked in.
I added two more birds to my life list – a cetti’s warbler and cattle egret. It was a great send off.
Next stop French birds.
Today marked my last day at the BBC after 23 years. Head of Digital Naja Nielsen rang me to wish me well and then sent a lovely email to the staff.
I then received lots of lovely messages which made me laugh and smile. As I said in my email to colleagues I will always look back very fondly on my years at the BBC where I had an amazing time and made some lifelong friends.
But now on to the next chapter.
Having said in my earlier post that the BBC website wouldn’t use a swear in the headline or top four paragraphs of a story and that I would have to get used to a different way of working at Euronews, take a look at this.
It’s a sure fire way to remind me that I no longer work at the BBC.
If ever it were needed, here is a good example of why I need to learn French.
Le saucisson:
Le sécateur:
French President Emmanuel Macron has had strong words to say about France’s unvaccinated this morning.
In an interview with Le Parisien the president said:
So, there’s a new word for my French vocab – emmerder – to piss off.
J’ai très envie de les emmerder! I like that sentence.
The story is leading Euronews this morning with that translation IN THE INTRO!
Now, during my BBC career I became the go-to person to ask about the use of swear words in stories. This happened so often that I had a list of the most offensive swear words laminated on my desk. Our general rule of thumb was if it was absolutely essential to the telling of the story then it should be used but not in the intro or the top four paragraphs. This is because there is no watershed on the internet and a lot of children read the news site.
But France clearly has different rules and is comfortable putting strong language right there in the intro. Obviously more Guardian than BBC.
Thrown to (the) Lyon 