When we moved to France almost two years ago, I pictured myself shopping each day, basket swinging from one arm, a scarf tied jauntily around my neck and a song in my heart. In truth, the setting was more busy Hackney pavement than small village in the Languedoc, and resembled my London life quite closely. I’d spent decades cos-playing the French lifestyle – it informed my shopping and my cooking – until I finally got to play it for real.