A short while back I was thrust into the local community spotlight via a microphone and a badly rendered version of Sonny & Cher’s “I got you babe”. My partner in crime even had her photo in the local paper as a result. This was a part of our ongoing effort to integrate into our surrounding community and learn more about the local French culture … [Read more...]
In photos: the 2012 Occitan Piégut Félibrée!
The title of this post is possibly a little boggling if you’re not familiar with some vaguely old French history, which I wasn’t until I did a bit of reading up around the subject. Here’s what I learnt. (Warning – history ahead. Feel free to skip to the photos section if you’re not into it. I won’t tell anyone!) Félibrée & Occitan Facts! Back in the day, some time … [Read more...]
Free music at France’s Fête de la Musique
There is a reason I am standing in front of an entire French village clutching a microphone and preparing to launch into a rendition of Sonny and Cher’s “I got you babe”. That reason (other than beer, and the effect it has on my perception of my singing capability) is the insidious figure that society generally refers to as “the man”. Allow me to explain. Wherever you go in … [Read more...]
Angouleme–wanders around the ramparts
This is my third post on Angoulême! Who would have thought one French town could hold so much appeal? Admittedly, Angoulême cheated slightly, by seducing me with awesome street art. That’s a good way for any city to get my attention, and more than one post. See Berlin’s street art for example. So I have now thoroughly covered the paintings on the walls of Angouleme in this … [Read more...]
Nontron – French town of the knife
Were I a knife aficionado, (of the pen knife, rather than the Crocodile Dundee variety), then I could not have picked a better place to locate myself in France than where I am now, near the town of Nontron. Because as it turns out, Nontron is home to France’s original folding knife creators, a cutlery making tradition which dates all the way back to 1653. I’m not … [Read more...]
In photos: My life in France (so far!)
For today’s post I thought I’d share some of my favourite photos from my first four months of living in France. The surrounding area holds all kinds of attractions, plus the rural nature of our current living arrangement makes for all sorts of lovely shots. Here are some of them! The local towns and villages err seriously towards the cute. Old, plant covered buildings, … [Read more...]
An Old French Mill
Parts of rural France have some really old bits of industry lying around. One of the more common types of surviving building still in use today are the old mills that were used to create both flour and oil. Of course, not all the mills that once dotted the landscape have survived intact. Many, whilst still technically classed as mills, no longer operate as such, having been … [Read more...]
Perigueux: what have the Romans ever done for us?
If the title of this blog post makes little sense to you, then you should pause your whole life for a couple of hours and go watch Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Done that? Good. Perigueux is a town with a remarkably hard to spell name in the heart of France’s Dordogne. It is the administrative capital of the region, and has held the title of capital for some time, … [Read more...]
Visiting Oradour Sur Glane in France
On the 10th of June 1944, four days after D-Day, a retreating German SS Panzer division entered the town of Oradour-Sur-Glane in the Haute-Vienne region of France and killed 642 men, women and children. This was essentially the entire population of the town. This was the worst civilian atrocity carried out in France during World War II. Oradour-Sur-Glane has been … [Read more...]
Three French Castles, and the death of a lion
France is home to some quite brilliant castles. As well as being magnificent to look at, these castles also bristle with history, from playing host to damsels in distress, to being the place where Kings die. Below, I go on a journey around three Chateaux in the Haute Vienne region of France. Read on to find out what I learnt! Chateau Jumilhac The first castle on … [Read more...]
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
It was a strange thing, I must admit, standing in an old French chateaux with a roaring fire going, singing Silent Night in Dutch. The path that led me to that point wasn’t as complicated as you might imagine. Well, thirty one years of living were involved, and I had had to make the decision to leave a career, travel parts of the world and then move to France, all of which … [Read more...]
My recent sex change
When I was christened, it would seem that the plan had not been in my parents mind for me to move to France. As if it wasn’t already enough that my surname is a girls first name in most of the world, it was decided that I be given a first name that to the French is a girls name. Now that I have actually moved to France, the French bureaucracy is struggling to get its head … [Read more...]