On Tours

Now that I have settled in completely and got to know the place a lot better, my initial impressions remain true. Tours is an exceedingly beautiful town and I feel lucky to be here. The river and islands in it are beautiful, the squares are lovely, the boulageries incredible, and any town that owns wallabies and a stuffed elephant gets a thumbs up from me.

There are, however, two negative contrasts with Britain that are very striking; I think these are symptomatic of a wider problem in France and not specific to Tours. Indeed, the fact that they affect wealthy Tours as well as Paris and Marseille just goes to demonstrate how deep the problems in French society are.

Number one is the number of homeless people. I am used to seeing quite a few homeless around Oxford, but the number in Tours seems staggering. They are literally everywhere with their dogs in tow.

Number two is the numbers of mentally disturbed people. I have seen three so far, compared with only having seen one or two all the time I’ve been in Luton, and none that I can remember in Oxford. Worse, I think, is the attitude towards them. One such woman got on the bus on my way home, wearing trousers almost to her armpits and loudly singing a song. The children all started shouting “it’s the madwoman!” when they saw her. They clearly knew her and thought it acceptable to laugh at her madness. While it was funny, it was also sad. I don’t really know what should be done with crazy people – I imagine the reason I see so few is that they are kept locked away, which is as bad as letting them loose to be laughed at all day.

One positive difference, though, is the number of disabled people at work. I’ve seen three in my not incredibly large staff room: a lady in a wheelchair, a science teacher with one arm, and a man with a speech impediment probably indicative of some other problems. In England I think we would just give up on them. It’s nice seeing them mixing in the staff room and being treated like everybody else; this is, after all, the way to break down prejudices and spread understanding.

On Germans

Before I came to Tours, I did not know I loved Germans. I already knew a girl from Munich (who is actually English), a boy at Oxford who studies Maths and Computer Science, Christian (an internet friend for those who I know in real life) and an exchange student from some years back. The number of Germans I know has now doubled, and I have still to meet a German I dislike. Hooray for Germans!