This French Life

Author: Craig McGinty

  • Training French dogs and their owners

    James-conroyA DOG’S life in France can very often be spent at the end of a chain in a dusty courtyard, with their owner seeing them more as a guard dog than a pet.

    But James Conroy sees such dogs as an opportunity to help them have a better life, as long as their owners are willing to understand the psychology of owning a dog.

    James has completed a course in Avignon, overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which aims to help people with dangerous dogs control their animal so that both the dog and others are safe.

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  • First days back in the Dordogne

    I HAVE already had to make my apologies a couple of times for completely misjudging the distances involved and dropping in on friends 15 to 20 minutes late.

    If there is one thing I had forgotten about driving around the twisting, turning roads of the Dordogne it’s that what looks a short hop on a map, turns into quite a drive once en route.

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  • Insurance for guests staying in your gite

    Duck-blockHAVE you checked if your holiday home is insured should guests from the UK cause damage, or worse the building comes up in smoke?

    That is the question being asked by Boris on his France This Way site after going through the process of renewing the insurance on the gites he has.

    A casual remark about feeling safe in the knowledge that he is covered should anything nasty happen to the property, was soon brought to a halt when he was told that the insurance of guests covered the building not the cover he had just bought.

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  • Fight to save Marcel Marceau memorabilia

    Museum-bipA CAMPAIGN has been launched to raise the funds to buy the treasures of Marcel Marceau, as his estate is set to be sold at bargain prices to pay off his debts.

    The master of mime, who died in September 2007 aged 84, spent much of his earnings on helping theatrical productions and left debts behind which will be paid off through the sale of items such as costumes, photographs and texts.

    But this means that much of Marcel Marceau’s affairs will just be sold at the going rate, something that has annoyed many in French theatre who believe a place should be found for many of his items so that people can see them.

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  • Support and advice from Cancer Support France

    Cancer-support-franceCHARITABLE group Cancer Support France offer English-language help and support to both people with cancer and their carers.

    Their website offers information on their work as well as advice for those people who want to offer their time or raise money to help the group.

    There is also a very useful page of downloadable documents providing .pdf files on subjects such as the French health system and vocabulary guides to medical words and phrases.

    The documents are free to download, but I am sure they would appreciate any form of support should you find them helpful.

  • The artistic world of Joe Downing

    Village-france
    ONLY a handful of American artists have appeared in the Louvre, one of them was Joe Downing. Although he passed away in 2007, film maker Chistopher Strong met him whilst filming his Treasures of France tour, here he writes about their meeting.

    Quotesstart_2 You don’t get to have tea with Picasso by being an ordinary Joe, and Joe Downing is far from being ordinary.

    He’s an exceptional artist with an incredible story. An honest to goodness country gentleman from Horsecave, Kentucky. Joe’s love affair with France began more than fifty years ago, when he stood on the banks of the Seine, gazing at Notre Dame.

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  • Translate email messages in GMail

    Gmail-translate
    A HANDY little feature has been launched within Google Mail labs that allows you to translate messages into English and a number of other languages.

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  • Enjoy a French language crossword

    French-crosswordIF you enjoy a crossword and want to improve your French vocabulary skills, then here is a new feature on the site.

    Each month a French language crossword will be available for you to spend some of your leisure time on.

    Beverley will create the crossword puzzles with the clues offered up in French, and the answers in English, with a guide to the overall theme from the title of the puzzle.

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  • Making plans for a new French life

    Loubejac-church
    DOES travel and living overseas broaden the mind? I hope so as in just over a week I will be heading back to France on a permanent basis.

    It is nearly four years since I packed up the car and headed out of the small Dordogne village of Loubejac, but I don’t think I ever really left the place behind as This French Life took up more and more of my time.

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  • Listen and learn to improve your French

    French-onlineHERE is another handy online French language guide that will help improve your vocabulary and polish up your grammar.

    French Spanish Online offers free language help in both languages, with the French page organised by categories such as greetings, in the home or computer vocabulary.

    And a smart addition is that Pascal d’Hervé, the creator of the site, has voiced the pronunciation of words and phrases so that you can listen to them as you read along.