I’ve touched on customer service in France more than once in the past, so to avoid looking like Mr Grumpy I tend not to talk about it much any more. But sometimes I just can’t stop myself…
One of the DIY shops near us have never been famed for their friendly welcome, and it seems probable that they pay their staff according to how unwelcoming they can be to their customers. Or perhaps it’s just me they don’t like, who can tell.
Mrs B is looking nervously out of the window today – the weather forecast was for possible showers after a very long warm dry spell, and she is hoping the garden will at last get some rain.
Can’t say I’m convinced, it looks a bit cloudy, not very lovely for a bike ride, but I wouldn’t bet on rain, and the storms that have passed over us during the last couple of nights have failed miserably to actually produce any rain.
There is one thing that it seems almost everyone agrees on, whether French or otherwise – that French pop music isn’t really very good. But is it true?
Despite the personal risks involved – being isolated from friends and society, and ridiculed by pretty much everyone in the western world - I’ve exposed myself to quite a lot of recent French pop music recently, and I have to report that actually some of it is pretty good!
I hope readers are appreciative of my recent efforts to include the occasional photo in entries, to brighten things up a bit…
Yesterday I was amused to cycle past the above sign in a street near us – placed, so it seems, by the local farmers union – so I rushed back with the camera to take a photo.
Here’s a problem for you…I was sent a question by someone and hoping someone can help out.
I’ve spoken to a couple of large holiday type companies recently and they both told me that bookings for holidays in France are ‘slow’ this year, at least among the Brits. I’m pretty sure they said they same last year, but this year they are saying it in a more desperate way!
So it’s time for our annual encouragement – France needs you! If you haven’t booked a trip to France for 2011 yet, let me tell you why you should.
April is a good month. Mrs B’s garden springs into bloom, we tidy away all the rubbish, and generally get things looking beautiful after a winter of neglect.
This is usually a good plan. February and March are often a bit cold or wet to be doing much outside, and by May things are getting too hot – apart from anything else, pulling weeds out of baked hard soil isn’t very practical.
Since I spent last week driving to Zurich for a day at Google European Head Office for what they called an ‘exclusive publisher event’ (an honour for a webmaster roughly equivalent to getting an invitation to the Royal Wedding) I thought I’d best share a few suggestions for website owners, ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’.
Each spring and autumn Mrs B and I try to get away (separately, because someone has to stay home and drive the children around).
The purpose of these trips is either (1) to research interesting travel destinations in France for our website visitors or (2) because living and working together 24 hours a day all year round is more than Mrs B can tolerate…
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Sorry for my absence for the last few days – how time flies by when the sun shines and there’s a million things to get done!
One little pleasure I had yesterday was to get out on the bike for a few hours in the sunshine. There is a ‘marked cycle route’ that goes past our house and travels about 70km through the local countryside and villages, and it is nice to see the orchards coming into blossom.
When Peter Mayle spent his famous Year in Provence he seemed to get lots done, have a great time, and integrate in the community in just a few short months.
Quite an achievement, but a question that crops up quite often when chatting to people who are thinking about moving to France, or those who have arrived recently, is ‘How long does it really take to adjust to living in France’?
A couple of years ago our neighbour ‘accidentally’ climbed across a ditch and cut down our 200 year old oak tree – by the time I had seen something was going on and charged across the field ranting and raving it was too late to stop it.
Likewise we are all too familiar with the site of old hedgerows being chopped down and dug out for no apparent reason*
It’s a bit difficult working on the computer this week – we are getting some work done on the house which involves a great deal of noise and disruption and lumps of wood falling on my head, but I thought I’d shake the dust off the keyboard and tell you what’s going on here while the builders are out to lunch.
We are getting a lovely new roof on the ‘porch’ to the front of our barn-conversion, with traditional canal tiles on top and planks of poplar underneath, all supported on the ancient beams, and all for a mere 12,000 euros!
One of the most surprising things about Miami was the large number of French people in the city.
We didn’t hear any Germans, Italians or Spanish, although there were a few English accents to be heard, but everywhere we went there seemed to be people speaking French.
Even living here in south-west France we need to get away exploring from time to time – so we’ve just been on a family holiday…but where?
From the pictures below you get 1 point for country, and three points for town! Hint: the pictures haven’t necessarily been chosen because they are most helpful or representative of the destination…!