As part of our continuing commitment to keep the expat community informed of significant goings-on in our lovely commune of Faire-Le-Dodo (87), we’d like to take this opportunity to provide a list of things to look out for to provide reassurance that, here in the heart of rural France at least, spring is just around…
In recent days we’ve been contacted by a number of expats – especially newer arrivals in our lovely commune – concerned by an apparent spate of intimidating threats to their property perpetrated by a very large man in a very yellow jacket, driving a very large tractor around, and in some cases almost into, their…
We didn’t see you at the recent annual Vin d’Amitie at the village hall. We can only assume that you didn’t know there was free drink involved (quite an agreeable rosé méthode champènoise, as it happens). You may not even know what the Vin d’Amitie is. For the uninitiated, it’s an evening ‘do’ early in…
Greetings from The Management. As we indicated in the recent post announcing that we were stepping in to rejuvenate Mr Deadhead’s blog, our aim is to keep our readers much more informed about local news – even if we have to make it up ourselves – as it concerns the local expat community. As Deaders…
Being the latest despatch from the front line of one man’s war on terroir…. Our rural idyll here in the heart of la France profonde is lovely, but there’s one problem. Nature rather objects to us having muscled in and wants to take our little piece back – which it tries to do relentlessly throughout…
Pets? You ask me about pets? Well, WordPress does, in today’s instalmemt of ‘365 Days of Writing Prompts’: “Menagerie. Do you have animals in your life? If yes, what do they mean to you. If no, why have you opted not to?” Are there animals in my life? Living, as we do, in the depths…
In a searing indictment of the awfulness of French TV, close to 300 people packed into the local village hall (salle polyvalente) on a Saturday night, in order to play bingo or – as they call it here – Loto. We joined them, eschewing the far more uplifting televisual entertainment offered by British programme-makers (Britain’s Got…
Newer members of the growing expat community here in Faire-Le-Dodo (87) may have been nonplussed by the strange state of suspended animation that our commune appears to have settled into for the past few weeks. Please be reassured, this is perfectly normal. Indeed, the French have a word for it – août. That’s August to…
Tuesday was a public holiday in France. Arguably, it was the public holiday: July 14th, the Fête Nationale. You may even think it was Bastille Day. Wrong. We were surprised to discover that French people don’t refer to it by that name and would quite likely have no idea what you were talking about if you…
As part of the public service brief adopted by this site in its jjoint venture with the local newspaper, Le Quotidien de Faire-le-Dodo (87), here is the latest online edition of our Community Noticeboard: Super-Loto: Saturday night at the Salle Polyvalente. Join us to sit on uncomfortable plastic chairs in overcrowded conditions for six hours…
the only deadhead in the hameau 