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Recent observations
- Lullaby and bonne nuit
- Strasbourg’s disorganised Summer festival
- Mister Cellophane
- The minefield of French pronunciation
- Big excuse
- Book
- Austerity
- Bloody Ryanair
- A french haircut?
- The gods of Bande Dessinée come to Strasbourg
- Comics, cows, theatre and music
- Hands high if you’re European!
- A word on the Euro
- The BMW X6
- Giant office building open day
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Author Archives: Howie
Lullaby and bonne nuit
The bedtime routine for the boys has changed perpetually since we became parents for the first time in 2005. In it’s current guise I add a touch of bilingualism into the mix. For one reason or another our eldest has … Continue reading
Strasbourg’s disorganised Summer festival
The Summer festival of 2004 coincided with the first visit we made to our now chosen home of Strasbourg. Then, when the town was ruled by Mayor Fabienne Keller, the festival was the low-key ‘L’Ill aux Lumières’ based around the … Continue reading
Mister Cellophane
I’ve been keeping my eyes open for vacancies, in my rather-too-specialised field of International English language business e-marketing-communications and global brand management, for a good six months now, but as yet haven’t received a single job offer nor interview request. … Continue reading
The minefield of French pronunciation
Some things take longer to sink in than others. While I may now be able to speak the lingo with a reasonable level of confidence in some departments (grammar, fluency and vocabulary for example). I still lack the experience to … Continue reading
Big excuse
I have rarely taken the view that the words emanating from the lips of David Cameron are little more than the verbal equivalent of honey-coated horse droppings. That is, seemingly substantial and sweet – yet upon closer inspection clearly just … Continue reading
Book
So, you may have noticed that the blog has dried up a bit in recent days? This is because I am focussing the majority of my orthographic efforts on writing a book. The subject matter is predictably expat, however hopefully … Continue reading
Austerity
It’s Zeitgeist, the word of the moment, and seems to be in use a great deal across the channel in the U of K. In context, it’s use seems to consistently accompany a justification for the slashing of public expenditure. … Continue reading
Bloody Ryanair
Ok, so we were fairly stupid to leave our son’s Thomas and Friends back-pack on our Ryanair flight into Stansted last weekend, but that doesn’t justify the frankly secretive way in which Mister O’Leary’s bunch of cowboys handle lost property. … Continue reading
A french haircut?
One of the few things that unnerved me soon after moving to France was the thought of visiting a hairdresser’s to get my hair cut. This might sound a tad idiotic or even downright cowardly to those who value their … Continue reading
The gods of Bande Dessinée come to Strasbourg
Soon after we moved to France my interest in Franco-Belgian comics was reawakened, partly due to the necessity to master the language. When there are pictures to go with words and dialogue it really helps you to understand the context … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, Life in Strasbourg, entertainment, featured
Tagged bande dessinée, BD, comics
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Comics, cows, theatre and music
There’s a bit of an arts and culture pile-up this weekend in Strasbourg. You’d think the CUS (who sponsors the majority of these events) might point out to the organisers of said events in advance that they might clash so … Continue reading
Hands high if you’re European!
Congratulations to Germany and the pretty little Lena for Saturday night’s Eurovision victory. While I can’t say I was particularly impressed by said performer’s Manc-o-Cockney-Irish accent, nor her interview technique, you have to give the girl credit for her performance. … Continue reading
A word on the Euro
There seems to have been little else in the news of late – but it seems the world’s finance ‘experts’ (the ones who failed to predict any of the last three market crashes) – have been spending a lot of … Continue reading
The BMW X6
I couldn’t help but notice when I cycled past one of these monsters the other day, and then after catching sight of two more shortly afterwards I thought it worth sharing my thoughts on BMW’s latest contribution to the world. … Continue reading
Posted in Life in Strasbourg, travel
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Giant office building open day
If you’ve ever been curious enough to wonder what the insides of that giant glass-fronted office building up at Wacken look like, then rejoice! For on the 9th of May the security guards will open this normally empty building to … Continue reading
Posted in Life in Strasbourg, entertainment
Tagged european parliament building, open day
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Calling Stephen Godfrey
The worst of all possible things happened when I visited the Doctor’s last week. No, I wasn’t diagnosed with a horribly contagious form of the H1N1 flu virus, it was worse than that – my Carte Vitale was actually sicker … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, health
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My life – an update
As Golfy rightly pointed out – it’s been a bit quiet in here recently. The reasons for this have been several, not least a cooling off period following a couple of career upsets, which I won’t go into for fear … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, Life in Strasbourg, pointless whinging, rugby, tax, web / marketing
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Swan Lake on Ice
Ever wondered what Olympic Ice Dance and Figure-skating champions get up to after their gold medal performances? Okay – of course they binge on champagne and get horrendously drunk, but I mean after that – career wise? No? Well 26 … Continue reading
Sorry!
Trojan-Clicker.JS.Agent.ma JS:Small-C [Trj] Many thanks to Matt and Danny who spotted the above virus attacks on this site. I have now cleaned-up and everything should be functioning as normal – if not – please tell me asap!
The English in France
I discovered this article today – and thought it might interest you … To read the original go to France Diplomatie. “The British have been coming to France for a long time now. This transient population from across the Channel … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France
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Useful website for locals
Check this out, it’s the local equivalent of ‘journeyplanner’ …. http://www.vialsace.eu/
Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla? (A Trick Question)
This post by Aaron Winborn, author of, among other things, a book entitled ‘Drupal Multimedia’ seems to find it’s way to the top of my Google search queries on a regular basis. The article, written in August 2008, weighs up … Continue reading
There are no gastro pubs in France
When a word sounds exactly the same in French as it does in English, yet has an entirely different meaning, it is often referred to as a ‘False Friend’. Indeed some words can have a meaning far removed from what … Continue reading
Le racing, racing the wrong way
While historical successes of Racing Strasbourg, or ‘Le Racing’ as they are known hereabouts, have not led to high expectations from their devoted fans, recent developments have made even the most football-phobic residents of France’s ninth largest city groan with … Continue reading
A date for your diary
31st December 2010, New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year. Okay, I know, you might be doing something in the evening, but between the hours of 9 and 5 (excluding lunchtime of course) will be your last chance … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, Life in Strasbourg
Tagged democracy, france, register to vote, right to vote, Strasbourg
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How spurious
I’ve had one of those days. First off, my meeting with the Strasbulles web team was put asunder thanks to a spurious general error on the Strasbulles website. Secondly, I was unable to connect to the internet because my laptop … Continue reading
limited connection
Ever had that annoying little yellow triangle alert symbol appear over your network connection, and no matter what you do to alter your network settings, you just can’t seem to get connected to the internet? This happened to me this … Continue reading
International sports rights
There’s nothing more frustrating to sit down in front of your computer 5 seconds before the match starts to be presented with a standard copyright notice, usually along the lines of “Cannot play media. Sorry, this media is not available … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, pointless whinging, rugby
Tagged france, H-cup, media, radio, rights
4 Comments
A note from your health insurers
I received an ‘oh-so-helpful’ response to my plea for financial aid from my ‘mutuelle’ yesterday. To paraphrase: Your letter has reached my attention. However it is impossible for me to respond favourably to your request for your anticipated revenue for … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, tax
Tagged freelancers, health insurance, mut'est, regime social independents, RSI
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Groovy widget
Just thought I’d share this with you – it’s very clever. Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Posted in Life in Strasbourg
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