Changing places: from Provence to the Tees

If you'd been the woman in Stockton, you might have thought Christmas, birthday and small lottery win had all arrived at once.

You could leave your home and teaching job in cold, damp Teesside and move to the beautiful southern French city of Nimes. It didn't seem possible, but they'd found someone there who was willing to come to Stockton.

It happened. And six years later, Flossie Malavialle is still in the North East, happily settled in the West End of Darlington and combining teaching (supply these days) with a useful singing career, applying her outstanding voice to pretty much any kind of music. British influences range from the Beatles to Vin Garbutt, French ones from Edith Piaf to Jacques Brel (well, he was Belgian but you know what I mean).

But enough of the Flossie Malavialle story. It is being told elsewhere in the little Salut! empire.

Read what she thinks of the North East and north-eastern folk (not just the music) at my main site Salut!. And if my synopsis of her musical adventures strikes a chord, see the first part of my interview with her - plus a YouTube clip - at Salut! Live.

Comments

[Bill Taylor]

For shame! This post is hardly a reflection on the North Eastern England of your youth. It's nothing more than unpaid advertising for yourself and, as such, surely renders you liable to prosecution under the Trade Description Act.

[Colin Randall]

In case anyone takes my old friend seriously, everything about these sites is unpaid. Unless, that is, you take into account that a year's commission on Amazon sales pays about three months' subscription to the blogging host..........I posted this because I have dealt with an aspect of my younger life - Joelle's arrival in Darlo - in the piece at Salut!

[Bill Taylor]

Your old friend (not much older than you, either) says: Facile, very facile!

[silversmoggie]

That photo of the Wolsely certainly brings back memories Colin - the shiny brown seats that were freezing cold in winter and sticky in summer, various members of two or three families (Goddards/Reynolds/us) squashed into the 5 seats - Mum hanging on for dear life if we ventured faster than 20 mph. She said we should travel at a speed that allowed us to see every flower in the countryside.
I remember that time we had to turn back from the visit to (probably) Scarborough because we got stuck on Sutton Bank. The scary bit was when the car started to slide backwards.
Ahh nostalgia!!!

[silversmoggie]

Sorry, this should have been on Wheels of Life.