Meet the neighbours

Today, we feature the latest product of the joint venture with the online edition of our local newspaper, Le Quotidien de Faire-le-Dodo (87). Our regular reader will recall that we set this up at the beginning of this year with the aim of enhancing mutual friendship and understanding between the local and expat inhabitants of our fair…

A Shoppers’ Guide to Faire-Le-Dodo (87)

[The latest post in a series, prepared in conjunction with our sister publication ‘Le Quotidien de Faire-Le-Dodo (87), designed to promote greater understanding and integration of the local and expat communities in our fair commune. This one is particularly aimed at recent incomers, who may still be familiarising themselves with daily life here.] You’ll already have…

Qu’est que c’est le ‘pub quiz’?

Previously, we’ve written about the Concours de belote, a competition with dodgy prizes that makes almost no sense and whose (many) participants are almost exclusively French. It’s hard to think of a closer parallel within the expat community than the pub quiz, a competition also involving dodgy prizes and many participants – in this instance almost exclusively British – that…

‘Why can’t they speak English?’

In the interests of editorial balance, following last week’s feature aimed at our new local readers from Le Quotidien de Faire-Le-Dodo (87), which sought to explain the inability – or reluctance – of the incomers to speak French, today we deal with the thorny matter of the language barrier from the expats’ point of view. * * * * * * * *…

Thank you for your understanding

A warm welcome to our new readers from ‘Le Quotidien de Faire-le-Dodo (87)’, following the merger announced last week. One of my key tasks in this new joint venture is to promote greater understanding between the local and expat communities. With this in mind, I’m sure that my already-established readership won’t mind if, in this first post-merger piece, I…

Two become one

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…

Everyone’s a winner…

You’ve probably never played Belote. Until two years ago, neither had we. It’s a card game, little played elsewhere but in certain parts of France – like here – almost a way of life. We first encountered it when we were persuaded along to a meeting of the local commune’s ‘Club d’Amitie’, a fortnightly social get-together for retired people. I admit…

Snails for breakfast

Gastropods are not for me. There’s enough food in my world not to have to resort to dragging a lump of snot out of a shell and eating it. I mean, have you seen what a whelk actually looks like? However, there is one type of ‘snail’ that’s got me bang to rights with this latest instalment of…

Mass hysteria outbreak likely to prove temporary

By Jean Le Bidon, Chief Investigative Reporter, ‘Le Quotidien de Faire-le-Dodo (87)’ A number of residents have recently contacted Le Quotidien, reporting increasingly strange behaviour by members of the English expatriate community. “it’s very odd” said Jean-Claude Gazole, cashier at the Trop-Cher-Essence petrol station on the old Limoges road, “but lately I’ve seen a lot of the rosbif flying…

The Stroke of Midnight

By way of introduction, I should explain that the kind people at WordPress have provided an ebook containing ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’. I have resolved to do my best to follow them, but certainly wouldn’t guarantee any success (regarding which, wait ’til you see tomorrow’s….). I warn you now, it won’t be easy. Firstly…