Blog

The British, Britain and our excellent NHS

The British love to complain about their own country, which is a crying shame.  I love and champion Britain and also the NHS.  It is a brilliant system.  Here are a few statistics I dug out.  As you read them you need to bear in mind that the French pay considerably more in Social Contributions […]

Posted 14 years ago

Trip reports, holiday reviews, opinions in general

Isn’t it extraordinary what people will complain about ?  Here are three e-mails I received recently from three different families who stayed during in August of this year in the same holiday house. Family 1: We so loved your property, it ticked all our boxes, and I just wanted to say thank you for such […]

Posted 14 years ago

How good is your French ?

How’s your French ?    The French call these words “les faux amis”.  In English we just say misunderstandings.   -The English word FAMOUS is BIEN CONNU in French, but the French word FAMEUX mean INFAMOUS -The English word POPULAR in French would be BIEN AIME.  The French word POPULAIRE means WORKING CLASS. -A PIECE in […]

Posted 14 years ago

Vermeer – one of my favourite things.

Somebody suggested I blog about my favourite things.  The trouble is I have so many things I really REALLY like, and even more that I really REALLY love,  it is difficult to choose!  So I thought I’d mention Vermeer, one of my favourite artists. A lot of people don’t realize that he was not well-known […]

Posted 14 years ago

A Tall Boy in Australia, extract from a book.

Many years ago, in the days of yore, my husband, Bruce, was a young man Doing His Thing in Australia.  He travelled out there supposedly to emigrate, as was the way in the 1960s.  Because he was under 19 the passage was free, and because he was over 18 he could go by himself.   […]

Posted 14 years ago

Trip reports, holiday reviews, being responsible.

Boy oh boy, I am getting such a big response to my tweets about holiday reviews and trip reports!! The responses have come from two sides: – the people who write reviews (and they are usually also the ones who read them) – owners of properties, ie people who have been victims of a nasty […]

Posted 14 years ago

Litter-bugs are a big problem.

Once upon a time I was a teacher.  I taught in several schools, and one was a dreadful place in Erith – I suppose it was called Erith Comprehensive.  Funny to think that some of the staff are probably still there.  The staff used to take it in turns (those that were able to, for […]

Posted 14 years ago

You are beautiful even when getting old.

You are beautiful and you can prove it. OK, I do formally acknowledge that I am never going to lose weight, I just can’t be bothered.  As all us middle-aged girls know, you go to a heck of a lot of effort to lose weight, it is very difficult, you are delighted when it falls […]

Posted 14 years ago

Positive people never see themselves as victims.

–      Positive people know that there is a difference between being positive and being happy.  The one tends to trigger the other, but there is a difference. –      Positive people know that there is a difference between giving up and letting go. Sometimes we need to just abandon something. Somebody contacted me fairly recently about […]

Posted 14 years ago

Child with a deformed foot in Central America

“Travels with a Biro” Emmanuel lives in Belize, not far from the little town of Hattieville. He is four years old and he has a deformed foot. The rest of him is perfect. Well, all of him is perfect, even his deformed foot. He is a dear little chap, good looking the way kiddies are, […]

Posted 14 years ago

Books now available on Amazon:

A Call From France
French Sand
Kefani: An African Childhood
The Man With Green Fingers
Saying Nothing