Archive for May, 2007
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
A cowly good donkey bridge
It is incredible to think, given the sheer size of our vocabulary, that there are some French words and phrases that simply don’t have an equivalent in English.
I am at that stage in learning the language where just understanding the literal translation is no longer good enough. The sense of a phrase [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
France loves paperwork
Having recently moved house, I am forced to contact all my agencies to inform them of my new details. My accountant assured me however that this process would not be as harrowing as when I first arrived - because this time I am ‘in the system’.
What he neglected to point out was that this [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
Rip-off Opodo
Opodo, the online flight reservation service, is a classic example of how international businesses take advantage of consumers in the UK.
Comparing seat prices between those intended for UK customers (on opodo.co.uk) with those for French customers (on opodo.fr) demonstrated a discrepancy of £20 for exactly the same seat on exactly the same return flight.
At first [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Life in Strasbourg by Bart
Monday, May 7th, 2007
The result
As I predicted Nicolas Sarkozy won the election hands down, but I’m dissappointed. While I had strong reservations about the suitability of Mme Royale for the job, I would have preferred to see her have become the next Presidente of France.
While I do not doubt that Sarkozy was most likely the best [...]
