It began with a van
Hi. Hello. Welcome…
The correct way to start one of these is a topic much debated in my head over the past two weeks. (Well actually that’s a lie, i’ve been thinking about writing one one these for the past 5 years but it’s embarrassing to have procrastinated for that long.)
How much of an intro does one need? How much pre-amble before the amble? What, if any pre-waffle is required? Too much and you may lose your reader. Too little and the effect of dropping them straight into the deep end of the piece might be disorientating.
Perhaps I should set the scene….
I am writing this sitting in our Mercedes Sprinter named Janis which we bought about a month ago. She was lovingly and carefully converted by her previous owner who was a dude and a certified electrical engineer and clearly had a penchant for wood. The walls and ceiling are panelled in pine, the cupboards and drawers hand made and embellished with picture frame pieces. There are cute dials and rotating plywood switches to keep said drawers and cupboard doors shut, and then the pièce de résistance - the parquet flooring. God bless the man for deciding that what a converted ex-work van needed was a polished parquet floor. And that’s without mentioning the inexplicably upside down piano keyboard mounted onto one of the walls. We love it all of course.
Sometimes at night when the bed is out and we’re all cosied up, it’s as if we’re in a Swiss chalet-cuckoo clock-sauna. It will feel even more so i’m sure when and if we ever put the heating on.
But for now, its 30-odd degrees all the doors are open and I have both fans set to extra blowy.
So, how did I get to a lakeside field in rural France you might ask….
2020 will go down in my memory as The Great Thwarter of dreams and plans. The Manchester Marathon I had signed up for was first postponed and then cancelled for this year. The WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) Level 3 lessons I began in February are incomplete and the exam un-taken due to all education being put on hold. It’s the year I should’ve been making progress, moving forward, moving upwards but instead i’d reached a stalemate.
For those of you who don’t know me. Wine is my second career after an initial 10 year stint in advertising, and as such, at thirty-five I feel a certain impatience to “get on with it” (and hopefully make a success of it too).
But seeing as the universe had other plans for this year, and with nothing particular on the horizon, my partner Andy and I took matters into our own hands. In what can only be described as an almighty “ F*&@ it” moment we decided to hand in notice on jobs, our rented house and to spend some of our savings on a converted van to carry us away from the stalemate and into new adventures.
Contemplating France with a glass of fizz for courage.
In case you were wondering about the name JollyBonne, i’ll explain. You could use it to describe achieving the perfect balance of cream and jam on your final mouthful of scone. Or it could be the glorious realisation that have somehow found yourself with all of your favourite people, in your favourite pub garden on a balmy afternoon. You may exclaim it as you lean back in your chair and casually toss your napkin onto the table after a delicious and long lunch. I suppose it embodies some deep sense of wellbeing and satisfaction. But it’s a lighthearted, thing, simple, nothing too serious.
So to that end, we’ve set out to find a life that has more of the Jolly and a bit more of the Bonne bits too. And i’m going to share some of them here. So if you’re interested in hearing about my travels, my thoughts on the wines I try, the people I meet and attempts to communicate in French, then read on. I hope you find it JollyBonne.
Vxx