I embarked on another food quest this week, deciding on a whim to dig out one of my (embarrassingly numerous) "to try" lists and settling on a little boulangerie I've been meaning to visit for at least two years now. The boulangerie in question is the Circus Bakery in the Latin Quarter, specialist purveyors of... Continue Reading →
It’s just gone 8am and I’m speeding towards the Channel Tunnel at 221 km/h. I have a whole carriage of the Eurostar to myself - talk about social distancing. The journey marks the end of a two-week trip back to England, the most time I’ve spent in my native country since I emigrated to France... 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 →
I’m starting to wonder if there’s something wrong with me. We’re 26 days into the official confinement in France, it’s been 27 days since I had a conversation with another human face-to-face, and 29 days have passed since I saw anyone I actually know. Not that I’m counting or anything. But if I was, I... Continue Reading →
I know you’re not supposed to wish your life away (a favourite admonishment of my mother) and you’ve got to live in the moment, etc. etc. But right now, the moment is cold, wet, windy and grey, and franchement, I’d much rather think ahead a little. So I thought I’d put my wistful spring-and-summer daydreams... Continue Reading →
Bonne année! A new year, a new decade – though the same strikes, if you’re a Paris-dweller. Appropriately (and for the first time), I brought in 2020 in the most fantastically FRENCH manner possible, between NYE and New Year’s Day – both of which I spent in French homes, speaking predominantly in French, and enjoying... Continue Reading →
As part of my 2019 quest to take advantage of being based in Paris by exploring other parts of France, I spent last weekend in Bordeaux. I have actually been before, so it wasn’t exactly expanding my French horizons the way the “quest” is supposed to be, but my last (and only other) visit was... Continue Reading →
A warning: This is going to be a long one. A promise: It’s worth it. I’ve got a bloody weird story to tell you, and I simply couldn’t do it justice without the word count. I don’t mind if you want to go pop the kettle on and come back in five. Get a drink.... Continue Reading →
Oh look, it's the end of the month already - which means I need to write a blog post, because as much as my publishing frequency has plummeted since I started out, I have still not left a whole calendar month devoid of an Adventures update. It's been bloody close on several occasions (here's to frantic... Continue Reading →
Visitors are like buses: you don’t see anyone for months at a time, and then suddenly, everyone you’ve said “hi” to in the last fifteen years wants to turn up on the same weekend. As usual, I’m exaggerating somewhat – but I did have guests 3/4 weekends in April (and it was very nearly 4/4,... Continue Reading →
