As you are quite likely aware, this blog is called Adventures of an Anglaise — “anglaise” being the French word for English girl/woman. But in truth, I’m actually half “anglaise” and half “irlandaise”, and although I've never lived in Ireland, I’ve always identified very closely with that side of my nationality/heritage. It’s not particularly surprising,... Continue Reading →
I know, I know, I've been neglecting my blog again recently. I had such good intentions when I took up my figurative pen again this summer, but I can assure you, I have my best excuse yet for this most recent hiatus - I've been immersing myself in another writing project, one that I'm rather... Continue Reading →
Search Google for anything remotely related to repatriating in France and you will find a wealth of accounts whining about testifying to the nightmarish near-impossibility of navigating french administration/bureaucracy. In my mission to prepare myself as fully as possible for my new life, I read many (oh, so many) of these myself before I moved... Continue Reading →
Paris in August is a strange phenomenon. The holiday allowance is so generous for most people working in France, that it’s perfectly common to take three weeks, if not a whole month, of leave in the summer. I’d hazard a (completely unsubstantiated and non-scientific) guess that about 90% of Parisians depart from the city for... Continue Reading →
A little while back, I wrote a post in defense of that which is dismissed as too ‘touristy’ and therefore shunned. I don’t know what’s prompting me to do so now, but I’ve decided to make a brief list outlining examples that support the argument I was making in said post: "...just because something is... Continue Reading →
It’s May! Which means warmer days, greener trees, almost everyone in my phonebook’s birthday, and, if you live in France, annual tax declarations. Hurray! French forms! It’s no exaggeration to say I’ve been worrying about filing my tax declaration since I got here, 7 months ago. Actually, it’s a slight understatement, as I did my... Continue Reading →
Happy May 1st! And a happy day it is indeed, for me anyway, because in France, it’s a national holiday! On a Tuesday, too, which is a huge novelty for someone who has grown up in England, where mid-week bank holidays are simply not a thing - unless it’s Christmas, Boxing Day, or New Year’s... Continue Reading →
So, to pick up where I left off (Part 1 here) with regards to the previous weekend, Sunday last dawned bright and sunny, another beautifully-blue-skied-but-bitterly-cold sort of day. Our little party headed out with the intention of picking up breakfast as we went, but alas, the queue for ‘my’ boulangerie was the longest I’d seen... Continue Reading →
I was going to continue immediately on from my previous post and I did start to write “Part 2” (which I will finish and post at some point), but it ended up featuring this massive digression in the middle (so unlike me, I know) and it got to the point where I decided that the... Continue Reading →
Well, it happened. It was always a matter of time really; one of those things that you hope will remain a feature of the anecdotes of others, but deep down, you know is coming for you sooner or later. It doesn’t matter what you do, or don’t do, and it certainly doesn’t matter who you... Continue Reading →
Adventures of an Anglaise 