Language wars – summer must be coming
Language wars are a fraught hangover from Europe’s imperial days — the fighting ground usually being chosen by the former imperial power and the adversaries always being the thrusting one-time colonials. The French for their part have refined language war to a cultural art form with the highest Académie of the land formulating diktats against creeping Americanisms so that [...]
People Power on Toulouse Pavements
Walking the streets of Toulouse is set to become an empowering experience! Alexandre Marciel Deputy Mayor of La ville rose says the city is giving people power a whole new meaning. The city authorities are testing pavement slabs fitted with micro-sensors linked to storage batteries which can capture cost-free energy generated as shoppers stroll on [...]
How Neighbourly Was Your Day?
This year is the 10th anniversary of Neighbours’ Day, first launched in Paris in 2000. It is celebrated every May 28 and has grown into an event embracing several million people across Europe. This year there are more than 1 200 partners (city councils, housing organizations and local associations) involved and more than 30 countries [...]
Where ‘Apero’ Meets ‘Auto’ in the Entrepreneurs World
Apero What ? Well May You Ask. According to their rather sparse website its a good opportunity to have a drink with the (mostly young) sole traders now flourishing under France’s auto-entrepreneur or sole-trading scheme, to discuss and exchange ideas, meet others and generally network. Launched a little by accident in Paris, aperoentrepreneurs are fast spreading [...]
Johnny Hallyday’s Bottled Health Scare
In November last year Johnny Hallyday, 66, was hospitalised at Cedars-Sinai clinic Los Angeles for treatment of a post operative infection after surgery for a slipped disc. France held its collective breath; the media splashed with fears for his life; doctors decided to induce ‘coma’ and hysteria reached its peak. Now L’Express magazine claims [...]
Shadow of Recession Lifts at Festival d’Aix
Festival director Bernard Foccroulle is confident Aix will return to its traditional musical glory this summer after a 2009 season marked by austerity and crisis. “For 2010, we have redeveloped the festival”, he said unveiling the programme for the 62nd season which runs from July 1-21, 2010 at the Grand Théâtre de Provence . On [...]
Interior Minister Acts as Giant ‘Apéros’ Spread
Apéro Géant: Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux defuses the drama As police around France view with growing alarm the spread of a new fashion for Flashmob drink-ins or “giant apertifs” Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux has been forced to step in and turn down the heat. Le Parisien reported that he has ruled out a general ban [...]
No Ticket To Ride
Paris metro free riders have their own insurance funds Free-riders using the Paris Metro have set up their own “mutuelles” or risk insurance funds — a common pool to meet their fines whenever they are nabbed for their ticket-less travel zeal (which authorities insist is fraud). A report in Le Parisien says there are now [...]
UK’s Met Office Models Misery for Euro Air Travellers
Inaccurate Met Office forecast causes airport chaos for 50,000 Here we go again. More volcanic ash travel misery for millions of air passengers, and all apparently in vain. The Met office stands accused by the industry of relying on “outdated” computer modelling for making its overcautious decisions. In the latest case, says the London Daily [...]
Belphegor and Burqa Rage
A French lawyer at a store in Trignac, near Nantes has become the protagonist of the first case of “burqa rage” in France. She reportedly tore off a Muslim woman’s veil during an altercation in a fashion shop. The French parliament has adopted a formal motion describing burqas and similar Islamic dress “an affront to [...]
A Tale of Derring-do, WWII and the Lot
What do Dönitz, David Coleman, the Count de La Pérouse and Waldheim have in common? Read on. When he was featured in the WWll photo above after the surrender of Großadmiral Karl Dönitz’s aide-de-camp, David Coleman was a long way from imagining he and his French wife Elisabeth would one day own a home in [...]
Love Locked on a Paris Bridge
Le Pont des Arts in Paris has been invaded by “love locks” The most romantic bridge in Paris, Le Pont des Arts also known as the Passerelle des Arts is the target of love lockers. Built as a toll bridge in 1803… (Please scroll to bottom of page to read on …)
Thoughts on Surviving and Austerity
If you want to know the French take on the coalition outcome in the recent British general election have a look at Anne-Elisabeth Moutet in the Daily Telegraph: “We are used to uneasy alliances being formed between people who have spent campaigns taking potshots at one another,” she writes, before moving on to the solution [...]
Films Galore as Cannes Kicks Off
The 63rd Festival opens despite earlier thundery skies and even a snow storm And they’re off — France’s most famous film feast is underway with all the usual drama and the added spice this year of unexpected poor weather. The Mediterranean coast was hit by unseasonal snow and rain just as the stars were gathering, [...]
The King of Strawberry Tarts
The strawberry is the king of fruits in May and the Beaulieu strawberry tart, baked for the annual fair in the Correze, is reputedly one of the largest produced in France. The rolling valley where the Dordogne winds through Corrèze is considered the perfect spot to grow mid-season and summer strawberries – one of French [...]
No Sex Please, We’re British
A report in London’s Daily Telegraph seems certain to reinforce at least one of the stereotypes the French are said to hold about the Brits over some of life’s more fundamental pleasures. The report says: Five per cent of people have had to take time off work because of sex related injuries… Despite the upholstery, [...]
You Like Old? This is Gold
New for old, this is pure gold, the Chantier Médiéval de Guédelon is the first castle of its kind to be built since the 13th century and the first medieval castle built anywhere for 500 years. Started from scratch in 1997, it is scheduled to take 25 years to build as it resorts entirely to the [...]
Volcanic Ash Returns to Haunt European Skies
The airlines’ nightmare — the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name — has returned to wreak more disruption. Driven by a weather depression off Spain and Portugal, it is set to reach “high concentrations over southern France” by the end of the Saturday (May 8) public holiday, the national weather service – Météo [...]
Giant ‘Apéro’ Stalks French Police
Apéro géant place de Jaude – Centrefrance Facebook-Followers flock for a Flashmob Drink-in. The fashion is causing prefectural headaches across France. The Paris Prefecture of Police is not taking kindly to the latest fashion for Flashmob drink-ins or “gigantic apertifs” and now a death in Nantes May 12 is likely to harden his concerns. Like their [...]
Santiago de Compostela – a Jubilee Year 2010
On the Pilgrim Route to Santiago de Compostela in a Jubilee Year Saint Pierre de Moissac an important halt on the pilgrim route to Santiago in Spain Moissac – At the Crossroads Ji Dahai a Chinese artist has decided to mark the 2010 jubilee pilgrimage to Santiago by making a 9000 km trip from his [...]
