Category: Current Affairs

A NORTHERLY wind sweeping across Germany into France is expected to take temperatures down way beyond freezing tonight.

A figure of -10°C is being predicted by Météo France for tomorrow morning (January 7) and with a wind speed of around 20kmph things could be particularly chilly.

Yesterday the Eiffel Tower was closed due to snow as it became dangerous for visitors, while Phil Voice has been out in the winter wonderland of the south west.

Richard Barley has also captured the icy scene around his home in the Vendée, and if you’ve been out and about to enjoy the winter feel free to leave a link below.

WELL that was quite a year. From initial worries about the economy struggling a little, to banks and financial institutions around the world stumbling and pulling up the drawbridge, the coming year should be a bit of a doddle.

But what does lie ahead? Here are the thoughts of some of the people I’ve featured on This French Life as they look to the future for their own projects as well as France as a whole.

I have split the replies, part two is here, and of course if you have your own thoughts on 2009 please feel free to leave a comment below.

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RECENTLY newspaper articles, forum posts and the comment sections of This French Life have featured the experiences of people who have seen their incomes tumble as the value of sterling weakens.

Here regular contributor to the site, Coral Luke, writes about how currency fluctuations have impacted upon her family’s life.

Coral highlights the fact that many people are on a fixed income, the ongoing fight for entitlement to UK benefits and when newspapers write that Brits are heading home, for many France is their home.

My husband and I bought our first house in France in 2002 situated in a small village it cost us around €40,000.

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WITH the year drawing to a close, and 2009 just around the corner, I thought I would take a look through the archives to re-visit stories from the past 12 months.

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IF you are wondering what to get this Christmas for someone who enjoys all things France, then take a look over what others have been buying.

I have compiled a list of the most popular items that have been bought through the This French Life Shop on Amazon, including books, music and kitchenware.

Here is a list of books, from guides to life in France and stories from others, as well as items to put in the home and as always if you buy items through these links it earns the site a small commission and doesn’t cost you any extra.

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IN May 1881 Engels wrote in the Labour Standard: “A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work? But what is a fair day’s wages, and what is a fair day’s work?”

Over a hundred years later no one can expect a job for life. In the current financial and economic climate people are unsure of job security and this becomes even more of a problem if you are disabled.

Over two days the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT) held a conference with almost 200 members to discuss the the inclusion of disabled people in ‘the right to work’ and ‘the rights of man.’

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IF you spend a few hours in the French countryside you are sure to cross some of the meanest looking beetles ever to walk the planet.

But if you have wondered what the different beasties actually are then a great piece by Susan, of the Days on the Claise, website will help you spot them.

Her Big Black Beautiful Beetles article provides detailed photographs, info on where the different bugs live as well as their names in French.

And if you are scared of such bugs I’d read the piece from a safe distance.

WHEN I received an invitation to the inauguration of a footpath for the disabled at a beauty spot near Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, in Burgundy, I thought it was to bring the place to the attention of others with disability or reduced mobility.

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I AM set to chat about all things France on BBC Radio Manchester tomorrow morning – I have been pencilled in for 8am.

If you want to listen to me waffling on, and don’t live in Manchester, then you can listen online through the station’s website.

UPDATE: I spoke with BBC Radio Manchester’s Eamonn O’Neal and Dianne Oxberry about the different attitude in France to children in restaurants, and I highlighted how dinner table manners start in the school canteen and the importance in the French home of gathering together at mealtimes. Listen out for 20-month-old Lilly who steals the show.

BBC Radio Manchester interview

Or you click on the play button of the YouTube video.

THE Irish town of Dún Laoghaire (pronounced dun Leary) has turned to the Côte d’Or to help support its plans to erect a statue to the High King Laoghaire (Ard-Ri Laoghaire), the eponymous founder of the ‘dún’ (stone fortress) that gave its name to the town.

The town is looking to the statue of the Gaul leader Vercingetorix, which stands on the battle site of Alésia above Alise Sainte Reine in the Côte d’Or, Burgundy as the inspiration for its own.

The proposal is gaining support from Dún Laoghaire’s county council, as well as members of the local community association, led by chairperson Michael Merrigan and even the Dún Laoghaire football club whose emblem is the sacred Black Bull of High King Laoghaire.

The statue would stand in the town centre and be ready in time for Ireland’s national commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Irish Free State.

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