Christmas in the French tropics
As an expat in the French tropical territory of New Caledonia, it’s clear that the Christmas ‘silly season’ of December here is quite different to my home country.
Expat experience
The French Christmas compromise
Spending the Christmas season in France is a dream come true for many. And yet,…
Paris, France
Before France was France: what’s left of Lutèce
The Roman city was dubbed Lutetia, which the Gauls, who even then couldn’t be bothered…
Paris, France
Getting social: tales from French bureaucratic hell
In which I brave the treacherous quagmire of the French fiscal system, and emerge sadder…
Paris, France
Who says the French are rude?
If the French are apparently so rude, how do I cope in their country?
Paris, France
Going postal in France: tales from French bureaucratic hell
In which I summon up the ghosts of French post offices past — one of…
How to make friends with the French
I am not French. Who says that I have to play by their rules, and…
FranceMy (imaginary) life as a monk in medieval France
In which a trip to the Abbey of Cluny inspires me to speculate on what My French Life would have been like a millennium or so ago. Paris, France