It’s 5.42 in the morning. I kick-start out of slumbering mode before a cock has crowed or a sparrow has farted. This is not a good start to a working Tuesday. I tug the duvet up over an exposed shoulder and close my eyes again in determination. My mind however has already set out on its daily spirals, mentally checking through things to do, people to meet, places to go. Despite attempts to consciously call up pleasant memories – holiday afternoons on sandy beaches, a lingering kiss from a handsome...

roxane

One of the largest stumbling blocks I faced in acclimatising here has been the innocuous you. The you can say you to me one. Without wishing to dishearten the newbies, I have to confess that after 20 years here situations still occur where my mind shifts into panic-mode when this dilemma crops up. With the speed of lightning I tick off all the items on my mental list of criteria for the mode of address and scan all the precedents desperate to get it right. Last week I flunked again, flailing...

roxane