A glimpse of medieval Paris
Some people have a mental image of Paris as a medieval place – Notre Dame, the Sorbonne, the Marais. Or at the very least it’s seen as overwhelmingly historic, dominated by the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower...
View ArticleFenêtre-shopping in small-town France
Big excitement amongst the British expats here in Paris: a certain well-known UK department store, best known for its underwear and sandwiches, has returned to the city after a long exile. Well, I...
View ArticleParisian road trip
More evidence that, contrary to its public image, Paris isn’t a living museum. For the last few days, the city has been host to a brand-new piece of urban technology. No, not a sonic force field to...
View ArticleThe need to loosen Paris’s “little belt”
When Paris’s air gets bad, as it is at the moment, the city issues rather optimistic appeals to the population. “Try not to breathe out too much”, they tell us, and “do you really need to drink fizzy...
View ArticleEau what a lovely day
At last the sun is actually shining on Paris. I thought spring had been cancelled because the deities were too busy sorting out who’d win the presidential elections. It’s been so cold and rainy here...
View ArticleFrance needs a Jubilee, too
It’s been cold and blustery here in Paris over the past few days – apparently the French are trying to do everything in synch with the royal family. They can’t have a 1000-boat flotilla but they can...
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French politicians work too much
I was at a friend’s apartment the other day when a plumber arrived. He had a look around the bathroom and said he’d be back on the 1st to do the work. OK, see you on the 1st, my friend agreed. I asked,...
View ArticleToday’s menu in France: mashed potato but no seashells
Tomorrow will be France’s biggest day of upheaval this summer. The first Saturday of July (which this year perversely fell on June 30) is always a huge grand départ, or national traffic jam day, but...
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Parisians are honest people, mostly …
Contrary to many people’s expectations, Paris is full of honest, helpful people. I bought a newspaper this morning, at a kiosk that I don’t use very often, and wandered away distractedly, only to hear...
View ArticleWhat to do when the winter sun is shining on Paris
Crisp, sunlit winter weather in Paris. People stroll along the sunlit side of the street, sit blinking outside cafés, pull the Ray-Bans down off their hair and over their eyes. It feels like LA or...
View ArticleFrance: a glass half-full or glass half-empty place?
France is a wonderful place for the mildly depressed. As well as a generous health service that reportedly dishes out more anti-depressants than anywhere else in the world, it is overflowing with...
View ArticleFrance and Britain get together over a cosy weekend
France and Britain seem to have crept just a little closer recently, as though we needed to cling together under the duvet of friendship to protect ourselves from the cold wind of austerity. Not that...
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