Getting here?

We've used Kayak for years - they almost always find the best deal.

English Speaking Businesses In France

It’s been a while since the last post. I’ve been busy with a renovation project and I’ve been on holiday (which I needed after lugging plasterboard, etc up and down ladders!).

Anyway, I don’t have a great deal of news, seems I’ve been too wrapped up in my own stuff to pay much attention to France [...]

The Big Storm

Satellite pic courtesy Meteo.fr

Depending on where you are in the world you may or may not have heard of the storm that hit the French coast on Saturday night (27th) and blew diagonally up through the country towards Belgium.

This is quite a difficult post to write. I said I would do a blog about [...]

Questions about France and the French?

I reckon that the two biggest questions about France and the French are either language or property related. How to learn French? How to buy a house in France?… that kind of thing.

I know there are hundreds of others like how can I learn about French wine? Or where’s the best place to stay in [...]

Living In France – Can I Have It Delivered?

One of the curiosities of living in France that we’ve found frustrating is the delivery of things like fridges and washing machines. Actually the same applies to building materials but that’s kind of different…

When you buy things like fridges, freezers and the like in the UK, you normally get free delivery if you spend over [...]

The Joys of the French telephone system – not.

It would be fair to say that the French telephone system has a certain je ne sais quoi – which might normally translate as a certain something special but in this case should be literally translated as “I don’t know what”. As in – I don’t know what they’re doing most of the time and [...]

French Kissing – What Are The Rules About Kissing In France?

French kissing – the sort that the French do rather than the other sort – seems to have gotten a bit of a bad rap. To hear people talk it’s hardly safe to go out in public without some French person rushing up and plastering you with kisses. Male, female, young, old…

The truth, as usual, [...]

French Christmas - Something I Missed...

There’s something I missed about Christmas in France that I was reminded of yesterday when a smiling fireman (sapeur pompier) knocked at our door. Actually calling them firman is not quite accurate as over here they’re ambulance and paramedic as well. Any kind of accident, it’s them you call first (free call in France, dial [...]

Christmas in France – Any different?

So, French Christmas. Any different from anywhere else? Is Christmas in France the same mad shopping and boozing dash that is seems to be everywhere else?

From which you might think I’m a bit of a Scrouge. Which is not entirely true but I do get fed up when I start to see Christmas goods and [...]

A Few Facts About France

Facts about France? I suppose you could go on forever finding different things but here are a few that you may or may not find interesting or useful.

The French departments

France is often called The Hexagon (l’hexagon), because that’s roughly its shape. It’s about 1000 kilometres north to south and the same west to east. [...]

Why live in France?

Sometimes these posts will be full of useful stuff about living in France, working here, French wine, anything really. Other times it’ll just be something I feel like saying. Hey, it’s my blog after all

A typical French view?

Today’s words of wisdom (or waffle) are the later. Why did I choose to live [...]