Volcanoes, winding roads, improbable lunches and the quiet majesty of rural France — Auvergne delivers the kind of journey that makes you wonder why everyone else is still on the motorway. Read on.
Chinese name 🇬🇧
Why Chinese names are never “just names.” Read on.
Posted in Uncategorized
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Grey Monday meets British comedy gold 🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪
Sometimes it takes foul weather and a happy accident to stumble upon a genuine treasure. I found mine on a Monday morning, free, online, and it had me laughing until my tea went cold. Read on.
The month that was April 2026 🇬🇧
April packed a month’s worth of living into thirty days — two seas, one family Easter, a face-off with the French tax office, and the season’s first dip in the pool. From the tall ships of Sète to the tidal currents of the Golfe du Morbihan, with a detour through bureaucracy that turned out to be oddly instructive, it was the kind of month that earns its own recap. Read how it all unfolded
Posted in Monthly reflections
Tagged Escale à Sète, French Escapade, Golfe de Morbihan, Sète, Tax returns
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The week that was 17/2026 🇬🇧
No weekly recap this week — the author has absconded to Brittany, which has inexplicably decided to be sunny, and is now filing his dispatches from a harbour terrace somewhere between a dish of olives and an ice bucket. What follows is a pointed meditation on boats, aperitifs, civilised arguments about dinner, and why the 24-hour news cycle can, respectfully, wait. Consider it a proof of life. A rather pleasant one. Click in to find out.
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Escape to Brittany 🇬🇧
From windswept coastlines to gloriously unexpected sunshine, this short Brittany adventure capture the kind of escape that makes you want to throw a bag in the car and disappear for a few days. Between charming seaside moments, sharp observations, good food, changing skies and the quiet magic that Brittany seems to produce almost effortlessly. Whether it’s a spontaneous French getaway or three precious days of sun in a region famous for testing your meteorological optimism, both pieces are packed with atmosphere, personality and enough wanderlust to make you click immediately. Part I & Part II
How things change 🇬🇧
62 cars, zero British Hypercar teams, two Aston Martins racing under an American flag, and France quietly taking over the entry list like it owns the place — because it kind of does. The 2026 WEC season is already delivering surprises, contradictions, and the particular chaos only endurance racing can produce. Before Spa, before Le Mans, before the beautiful madness kicks off for real — find out what the numbers actually say about who’s in, who’s out, and who’s inexplicably holding a cup of tea on the sidelines.
20c and rising 🇬🇧🇫🇷
I opened the pool. The pool disagreed. Click in to find out more.
The great wine swindle 🇫🇷🇬🇧
Un vignoble en crise, des paysages arrachés, et derrière la carte postale du vin français, un système qui craque de toutes parts. Entre surproduction, déséquilibres économiques et décisions difficiles, Le grand gâchis viticole explore ce que beaucoup préfèrent ne pas voir : l’envers d’un monde en pleine mutation. Un constat lucide, parfois brutal, sur ce que devient la viticulture quand elle perd ses repères.
A vineyard in crisis, landscapes being torn up, and behind the postcard image of French wine, a system cracking at every seam. Caught between overproduction, economic imbalances and hard decisions, The great wine swindle explores what many would rather not see: the other side of a world in the midst of transformation. A clear-eyed, sometimes brutal account of what viticulture becomes when it loses its bearings.
Posted in Agriculture, Economy
Tagged * viticulture française, agriculture française, arrachage de vignes, crise viticole, déclin rural, export vin, filière viticole, marché du vin, modèle agricole, monde du vin, mondialisation, PAC (Politique agricole commune), politiques agricoles, surproduction, transition agricole, vin
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L’été 🇫🇷🇬🇧
From soft morning light to the first real warmth of the year, L’été reflects on the small, beautiful signals that summer has arrived—and how they quietly transform everyday life. Click here.
Posted in Daily life, Life in France, Weather & Seasons
Tagged early summer, French Life, morning routine, Occitanie, simple pleasures, slow living, summer, Sunshine
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