Blog

Le loo de la Longue Droppe

It is odd that the French, so advanced in most ways, still have these archaic loos. Turkey, OK. Greece, OK. But France ? Actually, France was very late in sorting out its loo problems and when we first came here in 1989 many houses had no indoor loo, and many had no loo at all. […]

Posted 13 years ago

God bless silly people. No.3..Good humour

God bless silly people no.3 France, a couple of summers ago. My husband went outside after supper to put the car away in the garage. He noticed that the caretaker, who lives in the cottage by the road and who is in charge of watering the grounds in the evenings, was looking a bit harassed. […]

Posted 13 years ago

God bless silly people – no.2

God bless silly people In our village of St Just (France) there is a church dating back to the year 1432. It is an utter monstrosity, far too big for the village, but hey ho, that’s what they did in olden days. When we first arrived in the village, years ago now, I was interested […]

Posted 13 years ago

God bless silly people – no.1. Jokes.

Supposedly, these are sentences exactly as typed by medical secretaries in a major Hospital in Glasgow … 1. The patient has no previous history of suicide. 2. Patient has left her white blood cells at another hospital. 3. Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40 pound weight gain in the past […]

Posted 13 years ago

Litter-bugs. From the mouths of babes & sucklings. A bit rude.

I was telling a friend yesterday about the lamentable amount of litter (garbage) in Hopkins, Belize (though they do seem to now be making the effort to clear it up and to teach people about keeping the streets clean) when I remembered something my daughter, Pippa, said when she was about five:- First, I have […]

Posted 13 years ago

Gentle Jesus. A heartwarming story from WWII.

At the outbreak of World War Two, my father was a young doctor serving in the British army in North Africa. Along with wounded soldiers he looked after any of the local people who needed his attention. His post there came to a rapid end when he contracted TB and was shipped out to South […]

Posted 13 years ago

Ladies, ladies, ladies ! Instructions for a lady!

Today when I was helping clean up in the Chateau I came across a book that was published in 1962, entitled “Useful Hints for the Housewife and Mother”. Here, ladies, are the tips we have all been longing for! – …. A restless baby can often be soothed if you wrap a ticking clock in […]

Posted 13 years ago

Writing and editing, spelling and punctuating, wanting to be a writer …

I am quite frequently asked to look at other people’s work. A lot of the art work I see leaves me feeling humble, and a lot of it leaves me feeling glad … it is all a question of taste, I suppose, though some of the art work I am asked to glance at is […]

Posted 13 years ago

The NHS – National Health Service in the UK

I have travelled hugely and I just cannot understand why the British love to moan about the NHS. It is a fantastic system and we should be grateful for it. We have doctors and nurses that are among the most highly-qualified and experienced in the world. We have a care system to beat 90% of […]

Posted 13 years ago

Becoming an author, how to, a few do and don’ts. Writing and publishing.

  I have been asked to write an item for an on-line writers’ forum. I haven’t written it yet, and this is my rough copy as I work it out ! OK – well, all writers know that is it stunningly – excruciatingly – difficult to get published. People who haven’t tried it have no […]

Posted 13 years ago

Books now available on Amazon:

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