Don’t panic: this is a totally Spice Girls-free zone. It’s what I really, really want.

No, today we have serious matters to deal with: nothing less than the effective merger of this blog with the on-line edition of our local newspaper ‘Le Quotidien de Faire-Le-Dodo (87)’. 

My regular reader may recall that we have already featured a guest post from that esteemed organ.

From a personal perspective, having dragged my way through last year’s ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts‘, to be pretty honest I was casting around for another significant project to arse about with instead of doing something useful focus my energies on. 

At the same time, our little commune’s news-sheet – as with many such local journals – has seen its traditional readership come under mounting pressure from the combined assault of new technology and the actuarial tables. Indeed, its very raison d’être has been compromised by the ready availability of affordable Andrex.

Taking these two considerations together, it was a logical step to pool our talents and resources. After lengthy negotiations, conducted in a very cordial atmosphere (to whit, the back room of the Surrender Monkey Bar and Bistro, Faire-Le-Dodo (87)’s leading gourmet destination and nite-spot), between yours truly and the publisher-editor of ‘Le Quotidien’, M Jean Saisquoi, we concluded that our publishing futures lay together.

From what I can remember, this occurred somewhere near the bottom of the second bottle.

Inevitably, changes as momentous as those we are revealing today will pose challenges, not only for the two parties directly involved but also, much more importantly, for their respective readerships, whom destiny has now thrown together. Therefore, with the full agreement of M Saisquoi, I will be taking full executive responsibility for enhancing mutual understanding between these two groups within our local community.

In practical terms, this means that, as well as its usual, much-loved, diet of acerbic observation and the author’s futile attempts to get to grips with a world gone mad, this site will also henceforth be featuring news and features from Le Quotidien’s team of distinguished journalists. 

In addition, I shall regularly be contributing pieces specifically intended to educate and inform our expat readership about the customs and traditions of those who have lived here in Faire-Le-Dodo (87) all their lives. Coming next: ‘Why can’t they speak English?’

Other features will explain to the increasingly baffled native population the particular outlook on life and way of doing things properly that characterise their new neighbours. The first piece on this theme will appear soon and will deal with the vexed question ‘Why can’t they speak French?’

We, Jean and I and our staff, hope you will want to join us on this exciting voyage of discovery.

À bientôt!