Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, 30/11/13 Let me tell you now, I worked hard for this pie. Hard as in leaving my cosy 1er arrondissement room on a cold, wet Friday evening to cycle through some very dodgy parts of east Paris, and piling onto a coach driven by a German with an eighties mullet and a moustache, […]
Cycling home along the rue de Rivoli last night I had a sudden flashback of my first day in Paris, back in early September, and of setting out to walk to Bastille to pick up a card to hire a bike. It seemed like a good way to explore the city, and it surely couldn’t […]
…for those of you that are such avid fans that there simply isn’t enough for you to read here! 🙂 (I don’t know if anyone actually fits in that category, but humour me anyway). So, the wonderful Sarah Burne James, of ex-St. Anne’s, now living in Japan fame, has kindly invited me to get involved […]
This may come as a surprise to those who follow the general belief that Paris is a glamorous city of culture, fashion, effortlessly chic if slightly rude beautiful people, and that Manchester is… well, none of those things. But I am here to point out that you should not be so easily deceived! They’re actually […]
Tea with D’Artagnan has now passed 50,000 words. It is not finished by any stretch of the imagination, but I have officially succeeded. Now six days to draw all of those loose ends together… If you haven’t yet read it, join the fun! If you’re following, I promise ever more instalments 🙂 If you’ve already […]
As anyone that knows me will know, I love certain types of French food. I have never yet met a cheese too strong or too smelly, I would happily eat nothing but bread all day, and I adore any kind of cake, as long as there’s no meringue lurking in it. Living here for five […]
Or, to be more precise, are done in a way that surprises me. For all I know, it’s entirely normal in many cities that I’ve never lived in, but I wouldn’t know. Anyway, things that tickle me. 10. Everyone lives in flats. (That’s not strange in itself). To visit someone, you would think that you […]
…or, storming the Bastille, take two. I am not an expert in opera. My mother attempted to teach me a bit of culture when I was young, (and maybe convince herself that the bizarre contortions I came home practising after the weekly trek to the deep dark depths of Middleton did in fact bear some […]
Paris is a city where straight lines don’t exist: not only do none of the roads go in quite the directions you imagine, you also spend your time weaving around mysterious objects, lost people, blocked streets, road works, scaffolding and other mysterious obstacles. And so, here is a list of my favourites. 10. The doorman […]
After an amazing evening with fellow mad people (mostly French but a smattering of internationals and a tab!) deciding to do this 50000 word thing, I am almost 10% done and it’s only 10.30am on the first day. Expect rate to slow down considerably. For those that want to read, links are here: Chapter One […]
CakeonFridays 