Daydreams and Fantasies…

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I’m a bit of a dreamer, a daydreamer. I fantasise. I obviously need to clarify. Not in a kinky tie-me-up sort of way, no, so stop smirking.

I fantasise about having a pretty little stone house in France with long summers spent with family and friends, eating endless croissants with a table strewn with bowls of salads drizzled with olive oil, baguettes and cheeses. I see a sparkling swimming pool and numerous dogs playing chase with their tongues and tails waving in the dry, warm air, the sounds of a game of tennis interspersed with laughter and squeals of delight. I want it so much that I can almost feel the heat of the sun, touch the lavender in the flower beds, feel it, smell it. Bliss! Ahhhh I’m there!

It’s not completely out of reach. It’s not a “when I win the lottery ….”, it’s a possibility for in a few years time. There are of course problems associated with a big move like that, but the question is always the same. Do the pros outweigh the cons? And a firm and resounding yes can be heard from yours truly.

It’s not that I am discontented living in England and annoyingly I cannot, during this heatwave, even blame the usual atrocities of the weather here. This desire is perhaps associated with the people, the slightly more predictable climate in summer, it’s the thought of the plants I could grow, the peaches, tomatoes without a greenhouse! The quieter rural roads, it’s the beautiful language (“Kev! Put yur facking shoes on before I belt you one!” sounds so much better and more civilised in French), it’s the long lunches, the siestas, the cafes on the pavements, the black coffee and a Gauloise for breakfast, it’s the thought of tap, tap, tapping on my little computer at a little desk in the shade of a plum tree, listening to the chickens scuffling around in the flowerbeds as I write my book. It’s, yes … it’s just a dream. A very peaceful, happy dream that I’ve had for as long as I can remember.

“Pah!” I hear you snort!

“The fool! She’s seeing it all through rose-tinted spectacles! She’s just found an old copy of A Year in Provence. Doesn’t she know she’ll never integrate, never be quite fluent enough, never even look French.”

And yes, you’re quite probably right, but a girl can dream can’t she?

Katie xx

Do you dream of moving away? Of a different life? A different place? Where? How? What?

66 thoughts on “Daydreams and Fantasies…”

  1. For me living in Brighton has always come to mind, whether a flat or a house. I can just imagine eating on the sea front, or reading a book most days, enjoying relaxing, watching the ocean.

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    1. Absolutely lovely! Funnily enough I went to school just outside Brighton on the top of the cliffs. Very cold in winter (it’s nickname was Colditz) but the summers on the beach were gorgeous! And they sell fresh doughnuts on the pier … cardiac arrest in a paper bag, but utterly delicious. Yes, I think you’re right .. a nice first floor flat overlooking the sea there would be perfect! I might come with you! X

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      1. If the flat was overlooking the sea, then an added bonus. I was thinking when it came to admiring the sea, when I am on the sea front near the beach. I actually did not think about flat with the view. A great idea, no matter what the weather. But in Nice weather, cake and tea on the balcony and you would be invited, if this came true.

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  2. I live in the most northern state in the US. Our summers are beautiful but mosquitos and ticks are rampant. But our winters last forever. I would love to move some place with actual 4 seasons instead of winter ruining spring and coming too soon in autumn. I do better in the warmth and my mood doesn’t dive into depression in summer as much. I don’t feel trapped by the mounds of snow outside my door step. I get my fill of vitamin D. It’s my dream to move somewhere warmer but we probably never will. The older I get, the harder it is to deal with frigid Temps. I am waiting for my husband to get tired of it too.

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    1. I know what you mean. I long for long drawn out summers. Without a doubt my entire mood is better 100%. I hate being cold although I don’t mind a spell of snow, just not endless drizzle. Maybe your husband will like a change too … that would be wonderful. Where would you go in an absolute ideal world … you’ll have to name the state as my knowledge of the US is limited!

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      1. I live in Minnesota. We’ve thought about colorado, but it’s getting a lot of people coming in there (overpopulated) because of the medical marijuana, I think. Plus they have mountains. Minnesota doesn’t. It’s pretty there. But the cost of living is higher than here. I pretty much like any place with mountains, but haven’t visited enough states to know I’d like to move there for sure. I’m just tired of living in the midwest, but I suppose there’s something to be said for familiarity too.

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  3. Could I be your neighbor in France? We’d be separated by several acres, acres maintained by staff who subsist on magic money perhaps long-been-in-the-family, but close enough to share the dream.
    Each day I could bicycle to the small town, pick out fresh fraises ou pain ou -bien sûr- chocolat, attach them to a handle basket, and peddle right back home down the dirt road.
    Besides France in the country, my daydreams involve someone else handling housework and wage-earning. 🙂

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    1. Oooh yes! And when you peddle back, could you drop off a few croissants for me! Actually we could go together … As for housework, there will be an old housekeeper like the one in The Durrells (did you see the series? Brilliant and will make you want to move to Corfu) and as for money … well, we shall be world famous authors by then! Ahhhh yes! I’m dreaming again, but there’s no fool like an old fool!

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      1. I’d better throw free childcare into the mix, then, or we’ll never publish.
        And, I’ll definitely feed your carb habits in passing. 🙂
        (Did you get my e-mail, by the way? I intend to elaborate, but wanted to be certain some other Katie didn’t receive my greeting.)

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      4. I’m available for light gardening duties or menial housework on either of your French properties. I’m house trained and ‘know my place’ when it comes to feisty female authors. Where do I apply ladies?

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      5. Are you able to chop logs and keep the wild and very ferocious French boar away? Alternatively, you can just come and keep us company and read to us from your book … we’d like that just as much. 😊

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      6. All three of us will be successful authors by then. We can read each other to sleep. I’ve never encountered a ferocious boar although I have faced down a few frightful bores in my time. Does that count?

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  5. You can if you will. I did and it is the best thing I ever did. For sure I am now in the US for the next while but France is my home. Pros ✅ cons … I miss my children but I would miss them anyway because they are grown and flown and I never ever wanted them to hesitate in living their lives for looking worriedly over their shoulders at their rut stuck mother. And to the doubters …. moi, je dit ‘je t’en fou’ which certainly does sound much more elegant than ‘I don’t give a f*ck’ xx

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    1. I love that! Je t’en fou! I shall remember it! Yes, you’re right, children will go and spread their wings as they should, and you’ll return to France and as soon as they start having families of their own, I bet they’ll need you for babysitting and help! Xx

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      1. The eldest has already told us that when she and her husband have children they will want to drop them Chez Mémé et Pépé and bugger off for some respite …. she seems to think I should be happy that she trusts me – which of course I am xx

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      1. Brief being the key word. I would love to be back in England. Let’s throw in a small villa in the Tuscan countryside and one in the Dordogne region, and I would be a happy beaver. Thanks for asking, Katie. A bit of daydreaming does good to the soul.

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  9. Daydreaming/fantasising was my form of escapism during childhood depression and now that I have no need for it anymore I find myself missing it. I used to spend hours dreaming the miserable days away. Now that I don’t have such huge worries, I have to remind myself to come back to the moment and not wish my days away. My top tip for wellbeing is: be here now. ✌️💚🌈

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  13. Well that sounds like a perfect day dream to me. I remember years ago watching a film with the young Imogen Stubbs. It was set in rural France I am sure so I became a bit obsessed with everything French after that. The language is just the icing on the cake. Me now I dream of retiring with a thatched cottage in the English countryside for 6 mths of the year and an apartment by the beach in Australia for the other 6 mths. A reaity one day I hope. I do still pinch myself when I am in Sydney 😊😊

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  14. Every time we go on holiday I indulge in a little fantasy like this. I love all the alternate realities I can inhabit! Like you, France would probably be by No 1 alternate reality. Or Italy…

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  16. I love this! Once in my life, I did take a bit of a jump and made a move (the poem in last week’s post was based, loosely, in reality – I moved ~1,300 miles away for college), but since then, life has been more reactive than proactive as far as the living locale goes. I do dream of moving back to a cooler clime, though. San Diego summers are far too hot for me.

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    1. Gosh, yes there’s hot and there’s HOT. I lived in Singapore for a year and found the humidity quite awful … you sort of get used to it, but you’re always damp. I would assume that in San Diego however. It’s more like just putting your head into a fan oven and leaving it there on full heat..??

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