Blog

  ‘La plupart des français’ (most French people) are very complementary about ‘mes capacités linguistiques’ (my language skills). ‘Les moins indulgents’ (the least forgiving) tend to be French, French teachers, ‘dont un’ (one of whom) recently publicly challenged me to decline the verb ‘to sew’ in the past historic (don’t even try it). Generally ‘Je […]

‘J’ai l’habitude de’ (I’m used to) travelling between England and France ‘sans préavis’ (at short notice) sometimes ‘sur un coup de tête’(on a whim).  Having had ‘quelques ennuis’ (some trouble) with train travel recently and needing to be in France ‘le lendemain’ (the following day) I decided to take the plane. I found ‘un billet d’avion pas cher’ (a […]

I hope you don’t mind us blowing our trumpet but we are so delighted to get this badge!  An enormous thank you to all of our teachers and franchisees, for helping us to achieve this award.  We have also reached the top 3 in the Best Franchise Business-to-Consumer and Best New Entry categories.  Organisers Workbuzz […]

Unlike the French, who generally allow ‘les dix minutes de politesse‘ (arriving 10 minutes late) for dinner, here’s why arriving 10 minutes early meant that I didn’t miss ‘le repas de Noël’ (Christmas dinner) with my family! ‘On allait passer Noël chez mes parents’ (we were going to spend Christmas with my parents) in London. The train tickets […]

C’est la fête au village’ (it’s party time in the village). The Auberge has organized a public theatre & music festival to ‘fêter la trentaine’ (celebrate the 30th birthday) of one of their friends. Our modest population ‘a explosé de 50 à 500’ (has exploded from 50 to 500) for the weekend. My daughter and I have offered to ‘prêter […]

‘C’est la rentrée’ (school has started again) here in the Alps and with it comes ‘un rude réveil’ (a harsh awakening / realisation). I am going to have to get up at 05:30 every ‘jour de semaine’ weekday for ‘l’année qui vient’ (the next year). I am not a ‘lève-tôt’ (early riser) by nature and ‘je me reveille de mauvais poil!’ (I […]

“J’ai longtemps fait’ (for a long time, I did) the 1,000 mile (1,630 km) round trip by car to our home in the UK every 8 weeks – ‘en partie’ (partly) to keep my insurance valid and ‘en partie’ to ‘faire des réserves de’ (stock up on) chicken noodles, marmite and peanut butter and to ‘remplir notre cave’ (replenish our […]

La Montagne et moi; Année sabbatique ‘Un parfait inconnu’ (a perfect stranger) has just ‘porté plainte’ (filed a complaint) regarding my blog. The essence of their ‘mécontentement’ (dissatisfaction) is that there hasn’t been one for ‘un peu plus d’un an’ (just over a year). Je suis autant flattée qu’énervée (I am equally flattered and annoyed). It can’t possibly ‘faire un an’ (be a year) […]

La Manche et Moi – Le prix d’un café Public transport where I live ‘au fin fond de nulle part’ (in the back of beyond) is non-existant. The village train station closed ‘il y a des lustres’ (many moons ago) and the 150 inhabitants don’t ‘justifient’ (warrant) a bus service. I have no car at […]

So we’ve had the Montagne, then the Métro, but why the Manche et moi? I am not begging (faire la manche) – nor am I living by the sea (la Manche = the Channel) – but as I am going to be cross-channel commuting ‘dans l’immédiat’ (for the time being), it seems like a title […]