Comme le laisse entendre le titre de ce billet, je publie ici mon premier speedwriting intégralement rédigé en langue anglaise. Depuis quelque temps, je prends de plus en plus de plaisir à écrire en anglais et surtout à me sentir à l’aise et en confiance. Je n’ai bien sûr pas la fluidité ou la richesse de vocabulaire que je peux atteindre en rédigeant en français, cependant, j’ai découvert que ma manière d’écrire en anglais me conduisait à exprimer les choses différemment. J’ai trop la flemme ce soir de développer plus en avant mais je reviendrai dessus promis !

En attendant, voici le texte que j’ai écrit ce soir :

I cast a glance behind my back to look at the people surrounding me, or rather, the lack of them! I must admit that I was fully aware of my walking alone in those foggy streets for a long time now. As much as I can remember, I had once been not far away from what was once called the Devil Shire Street. The name sounded completely childish to me, but of course, I did not dare at the time to raise   such remarks for I did not wish to appear pretentious to the men and women who had kindly invited me and offered me their protection.  I knew that there would always be a gap between me and them, but I was determined to hide it as much as possible, and I also knew that it was of the utmost importance to let them think that I considered myself not so different from them. Even if it was not exactly a question of “life and death”, I took it all the more seriously that back where I came from, my reputation would be judged based on my acting of those long months.

Devil Shire Street. I merely kept this serious behaviour of me when I heard it from their mouths for the first time whereas I could as easily have made jokes and fun of them. They, on the contrary, even if they did not fear to talk to me about it, especially of all the awful deeds that always happened there, they had this strain which could be felt both from the look on their faces and in the sound of their voices. Anyway, that first morning when the matter was raised in our first meeting, I was very grateful to them to unveil the subject once and for all, for what I feared the most was they being too afraid to make the first step and be as objective as one should be in this whole subject.

This very first meeting was, by every means, a great success, considering the two main criteria that I wished to see fulfilled. On the one hand, that I did not make a fool of myself at that moment. On the other hand, that our talk was sensible and pertinent. I remember that when Mr. Christopher put an end to our discussions, I felt relieved and I could sense that the other members of our little committee felt the same. But what made that first reunion such a great success in my view and worth all the troubles that I had gone through was the presence of Miss Ana and of Mr. Tao. I will go back to them later, but let me just say that I knew from that very first moment when they talk to me that I could count on them and trust them in every matter which could arise sooner or later. Mr. Tao was just in front of me at that little table during the whole meeting and as for Miss Ana, she was as close to me as she could for she was seated at my left. I could already foresee a special connection between these two characters, something in their inner self which could not be understand and shared by the other members of the meeting. I am not even sure that they could perceive it. I, for one, came from the outer world if I can call it like that. I was therefore a stranger, a drawback in lots of things, but also an advantage because I had this very receptive characteristic which allowed me to look at things completely differently. But I am digressing. What I would like you to know is that for this first meeting to go so well came as a surprise to me.

And what came as another surprise was this moment just after the meeting, as I was gazing at the boats from the harbour nearby, when Miss Ana came next to me, sighed a little, perhaps to show me that she too felt relaxed after this first encounter, and asked me the most unexpected thing given the current situation…