[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…
A recent WordPress daily prompt enquired: “What are the things you do within 30 minutes of waking up to ensure your day gets off on the right foot?” In my case there are two essential tasks that must be performed. Of the first – and I do mean the first – nothing more needs to be…
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…
I’ve always been attached to my hair – and thankfully my hair has always been attached to me. I was born yelling lustily and sporting a good headful of hair. Of course I don’t remember that but there’s an obvious parallel with my earliest memory, which was equally traumatic to me (although I suspect my mother…
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. * * * * * * * *…
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…
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…
All shopped out? Thought so. Even the most prosaic shopping expedition – to your local food supermarket, for example – can be a highly stressful experience. The problem of course, is the other shoppers. Obviously, the problem is worse during the holiday season as there are more of them about and they’re buying more stuff, but in truth your fellow shoppers…
“Ask a simple question and you’ll get a simple answer” I was always told when I was a child. Sound advice too, I’ve always thought. The posing of a question is one of the most frequently used of all poetic devices and is particularly popular in modern songwriting. The problem is that even if the initial…
I is useless. ‘Tell us something we don’t know’, you chorus. The archives of this blog are awash with examples of my general ineptitude when it comes to anything practical, chronicling my various struggles with duvet covers, flat-pack furniture and many of the other benefits of modern civilisation. However, this week I may have hit…
the only deadhead in the hameau 