Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Month That Was — July 2026

🇬🇧 If July had a subtitle, it would be something like: “In which the thermometer and the family calendar both refused to cool down.” Between a surprise party in Île-de-France, a peloton rolling through Carcassonne, ten days of grandparent duty … Continue reading

Posted in Journal, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Édition spéciale de l’Aude

un Français interdit de séjour dans sa propre langue Je suis français jusqu’au bout des ongles — né dedans, pour ainsi dire, et élevé au bon vin de Bourgogne grâce à mon père, originaire d’Auxerre (donc rien à voir avec … Continue reading

Posted in Language & Culture, life in France, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stop saying “No”

🇬🇧 Start saying “What instead” There is one thing I genuinely struggle to understand: the fierce opposition to renewable energy. Not because people raise questions—that is perfectly healthy—but because so many objections seem to stop at “No.” There is rarely … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

No recap this week

🇬🇧 or possibly the next ten days I missed last weekend’s recap, and I’m going to go ahead and pre-apologize for the next ten days too, because in approximately three hours the small kiddies and their parents touch down in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Field notes – Île de France III

In which we wear white gold and nearly miss a worldcup match If Part 1 was arrival and Part 2 was Versailles doing its Versailles thing, Part 3 is where the plot thickens: a covert operation forty guests deep, a … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Field notes – Île de France II

Nostalgia, Charged by the Hour In which a shopping mall proves more faithful than expected, a market delivers on old promises, and a rendez-vous looms at the edge of every sentence like a tide coming in. A foreign bed is … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Field notes – Île de France

An Arrival in Three Acts In which a small car becomes a medium car, a dry streak becomes a damp one, and a secret is guarded with the discretion of a man who has clearly never kept one before. There … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

40° and Counting: A Mediterranean Survival Story

A Mediterranean Dispatch · June 2025 41.5° in the Shadeand Not a Drop to Drink A tale of friendship, rosé (for others), excellent sausages, and the quiet heroism of the designated driver. When the météo announces 40°C in Carcassonne, you … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

When the Universe hits “Repeat”

Some people measure a life in milestones: first steps, first kiss, first job, first grey hair. The Universe, apparently, prefers calendars. I was born on Sunday, June 21st, 1953. It was the first day of Summer, Father’s Day in France, … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Avignon

Thirty Years, One Baby, and a Belt I Couldn’t Find In which our correspondent drives two and a half hours to celebrate a marriage that has outlasted several monarchies, meets a granddaughter who has been on the premises for considerably … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment