Blog

Learning at home alone is simply not for me. It’s not just the lack of motivation, or social interaction – it’s above all the fact that I can’t ask questions or get feedback that finally send me searching in desperation for a teacher. Two problems; being on a sabbatical in France I have no spare […]

As some of you know, I’m fairly ‘gourmande’ (fond of food), so long as I don’t have to cook it and I have just had a culinary experience which ‘a mis en fête mes papilles’ (tickled my taste-buds). It all started on the Eurostar.  As I was trying to manoeuvre a highly embarrassing number of suitcases on to […]

My daughter is preparing her ‘brevet blanc’ (mock GCSEs the French take at 15). With just two days to go, we desperately try to ‘déchiffrer’ (decipher) the ‘Théorème de Thalès’, the ‘passé simple’ (past historic) and the finer points of ‘la citoyenneté française’ (French citizenship) with the frenzy of WWII ‘décodeurs de code’ (code breakers). The impending exam has prompted […]

When our teachers get their ‘propre’ (own) facebook page, I always ask them to be ‘politiquement correct’ (PC), not to publish ‘des photos compromettantes’ (embarrassing pictures) of themselves doing a ‘défi du seau d’eau glacée’ (ice-bucket challenge) in (tight shorts) ‘caleçon moulant’ … ‘et ainsi de suite’ (and so on). But the week’s events here […]

The ‘raison d’être’ (purpose) of Le Métro et moi, is that despite years of learning and teaching French, I’m still frequently ‘déconcertée’ (stumped) by French words, phrases and sometimes ‘comportement’ (behaviour).  Written with ‘un soupcon’ (a dash) of ‘humour anglais’ (English sense of humour) I offer ‘un aperçu’ (an insight) in to my nearly Parisian experience, as I discover life in the ‘banlieu Parisienne’ (Parisian suburbs).

Le Métro et moi – week 5 Published 6th October 2014 ‘Il y a des jours’ (there are days) when I feel like, jumping on (not under – not yet) the Eurostar and ‘partir précipitamment’ (hotfooting it) back ‘sous la manche’ (under the channel). Maybe it’s ‘à cause du froid’ (because of the cold), or […]

Le Métro et moi – week 6 Published 13th October in England, 14th October in France. I’m ‘à la bourre’ (in a rush), trying to get to the ferry ‘à l’heure’(on time) to get my car to England ‘à temps’ (in time) to ‘passer le contrôle technique’ (pass its MOT). I absent-mindedly type ‘Douvres’ (Dover) […]

La cuisinière est enfin arrivée!’ (The cooker has finally arrived!), but ‘les livreurs’ (the delivery-men) were unable to connect it to the gas supply as it was not ‘conforme’ (up to current standards).  As it is a ‘cusinière mixte’ with one electric and 3 gas rings, I now have a rather expensive second ‘plaque’ on […]

Published 15th September 2014 Week 2 of the ‘déménagement’ (move) and most of the ‘cartons’ (boxes) are unpacked, but not yet ‘rangés’ (tidied away).  I cannot bring myself to spend as much money on a ‘cintre’ (hanger) as the item of clothing that is going to be hung on it, so I’m waiting for a trip to […]

Published 8th September 2014 So I’ve swapped the mountains for the métro, ‘à la périphérie‘ (on the outskirts) of Paris and the only thing I’m scared of here is how not to look like a ‘mal fagotée‘ (frumpy), middle-aged (the French don’t even have a word for it!!!) Englishwoman. I can finally satisfy my ‘penchant‘ (fondness) […]