This French Life

Author: Craig McGinty

  • Manuals for France Telecom phones

    France Telecom phone manualsI RECEIVED an email yesterday asking if I knew how to get hold of instruction booklets for France Telecom telephones – I enjoy such challenges.

    Naturally I thought a quick search of Google would do it, unfortunately the results are dominated by a website that is rather cumbersome to operate, but there is a section on the France Telecom website that is much simpler.

    Its Notices des Produits page lists phones by manufacturer and then product name, with the manuals available in .pdf format so you can print particular pages off, or just save the document to your computer.

  • A festive stroll around Strasbourg market

    Strasbourg market
    AT this time of year the market in Strasbourg draws thousands of visitors and events take place into early January, here Zach Spittler takes a tour.

    Ahh, the smells of Christmas. Eggnog, hot chestnuts, candy canes, the distinct aroma of a pine Christmas tree filling the family room. Until this week, nothing else even compared. Those scents had history and tradition behind them, leaving them unparalleled by any other Christmas fragrance. Then I went to Strasbourg.

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  • Translation tools in Google Talk

    Bluefrenchlifeblock03040HERE is a handy new feature for users of Google Talk that will help you with translating words on the fly.

    The big G has incorporated translation tools into its service so if you want to translate a word from English to French, you invite en2fr@bot.talk.google.com to chat, then simply chat the line you want to see translated.

    Of course any translation tool is only as good as the software driving it, so I wouldn’t rely upon it for important work, but if you use GMail and have chat enabled you could translate phrases received in an email.

  • Life after A Place in the Sun

    French sunset

    Don’t let the sun go down on your move. From This French Life pool

    IT is important to consider what impact a move to France will have on your life, here Beryl Brennan casts an eye over some of the key things to consider.

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  • Swoop in on a 3D Géoportail map

    Colombiere_2A FAVOURITE website of mine is the Géoportail mapping service that lets you fly over France taking a look at different towns, cities and the wonders of nature

    It is similar to Google Maps, but excels when looking at places in the countryside because the level of detail appears to be better.

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  • Interview with Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth and Sepulchre

    Kate MosseTHE bloody history of medieval Carcassone was brought to life in the international best-selling book Labyrinth.

    And now its author Kate Mosse takes us back to the south west with her latest book Sepulchre, a tale from the dark woods of the Corbières involving ghosts, murder and tarot cards.

    Here I chat with Kate about the mystery of the region and her writing life – also find out how to win a copy of Sepulchre – and so my first question was what frights can people expect from the new book?

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  • The Auxois open for all

    FRANCE is becoming much more aware of the need for disability accessible sites to appeal to the tourist market.

    Much of this is down to the disabled themselves, whose expectations are much higher now than ever before.

    There was a time when the disabled were pushed into the background and no one considered they could, or would, join in the activities taken for granted by their able bodied friends and family, writes Coral Luke.

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  • Race against time to save the galgos Espanol

    Greyhound rescueA CAMPAIGN to rescue greyhounds, or galgos, used by Spanish hunters is being led by a French charitable group.

    Here volunteer Beryl Brennan writes about the terrible treatment the greyhounds receive, they are often destroyed or abandoned at the end of the season, and how the group l’Europe Des Lévriers travels thousands of miles across the border to rescue and rehome as many dogs as it can.

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  • Toulouse doctor’s surgery forced to close

    Toulouse doctorSADLY the Toulouse medical practice set up by Brit doctors Huw and Judith Casson has had to close, their story was featured on the site a few months ago, see It’s a doctor’s life in Toulouse.

    In a message on the Casson’s website they say there will be a British doctor working one or two sessions a week in Tournefeuille, to the north of Toulouse, but also their 24hr assistance telephone line is now closed.

  • Check up on your cheque book

    Euros FranceIF you have ever struggled to write a French cheque, and I don’t mean through lack of funds, here is a handy site that may help you out.

    The French Euro Cheque Writer allows you to tap in the amount you want to pay and then displays the actual words on an example cheque, so you can write them out directly.

    No more fumbling for a dictionary, or having to tear up cheques if you make an error, and it is sure to help you pick up the numbers themselves for everyday use.