大象传媒

"Yesterday evening was one of the most memorable of my life. My wife and I sat in a bar on the beach in Theoule sur Mer.

What a view of Mandelieu hill!

The sea was dead flat and joined the horizon in a seamless blue, tinged pink by the sun that was dipping behind the rocky hills that squeeze the town up against the sea. A couple of large sailing yachts anchored just offshore were swinging in the pull of gentle currents while their crews prepared them for the evening.

What made this scene special to us was that it took place just 10 minutes drive from our new home in Mandelieu La Napoule on the Cote d'Azur.

We chinked our glasses and looked at the lights of Cannes across the bay where the film festival is underway. This is what we came for.

The moving abroad experience

We have been here for a year and we love it. For a Brit living in France there are some well publicised frustrations and we have had our own, but in some ways these are part of the overall experience that now makes up our lives and that experience is great, it's foreign and it's French.

Although my wife was very fortunate to find a job as a teacher, my background in manufacturing has not been useful to me here in a region where there is no heavy industry to speak of.

So I re-trained as a life coach and now help other people who have just arrived in the area to settle in and live out their dreams as well.

What we're missing

We love the North East of England too and that is where most of our family is, although my own roots and family are in Merseyside.

The Povall's balcony.

If you were to ask me what we missed then you would probably be able to guess the reply - Bell's Chippy in Gilesgate, a walk on the beach and a curry in South Shields, the Northumberland coast, a pint of Real Ale by the fire in the back room of the Vic in Hallgarth Street Durham, Mowbray Park on a sunny afternoon... the list would be almost endless.

But despite all these things we came here for a fresh start - for the long summers and blue winter skies - and that is what we have found.

Arguably the hardest part of coming here was leaving the family behind and we know that it has not been easy for the Grandparents to have lost our two girls to foreign climes.

But with budget flights and warm weather to tempt them, they never seem to take much persuading to come and visit, heaving behind them bags stuffed full of baked beans, Marmite and M&S clothes when they do.

Even here, when out and about, we still lose my father-in-law; only later maybe to find him engrossed in a conversation with a Frenchman - a complete stranger - conducted in the international language of football on the subject of "Les Chats Noirs", the Black Cats.

"Two little Angels" Kevin writes

The Angel of the South of France

With a twist of fate, the playground of the International School where my wife now works boasts a model of the Angel of the North that stands about as high as a man.

You could take this as a sign that we were meant to be here or a reminder of home. Either way it gives us a great pride to tell our new friends and acquaintances of the real Angel of the North and our North East roots. Although my wife does have to explain to her students why in her photos of the Angel the people look so small...

Yesterday, after we had our drink on the beach we went into a beach side restaurant for a lovely meal.

As we were leaving the owner called to his waiters; "Mr Copolla will be arriving soon!" We got in to our old car, with its "I love County Durham" sticker in the back window, and drove home to Mandelieu."

Written by Kevin Povall on May 19, 2007