-
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
search for mentions of :
Category Archives: Life in Strasbourg
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
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
Leave a comment
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
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
4 Comments
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
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
1 Comment
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
Useful website for locals
Check this out, it’s the local equivalent of ‘journeyplanner’ …. http://www.vialsace.eu/
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
Leave a comment
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
1 Comment
Groovy widget
Just thought I’d share this with you – it’s very clever. Feedjit Live Blog Stats
Posted in Life in Strasbourg
Leave a comment
Snow chaos
Just typical. Monday morning after a wee bit of snow and guess what: no trains have been cancelled public transport hasn’t ground to a halt the roads were gritted before dawn and no schools are closed Which means I have … Continue reading
The swinging tit’s of Olivia Ruiz
When Russian Vladimir Nabakov released his first English novel, Lolita, he was heavily criticised for choosing such a shocking subject matter, no-one really bothered to congratulate him on writing flawlessly in a foreign language. But that’s the Anglophone world for … Continue reading
How to celebrate the New Year – French style
Do one of the following in the hours approaching midnight: do one final ammunition check, dash out to buy up any last stocks of contraband ‘petards’ from the nearest corner-shop, double check you have a cigarette lighter or ‘briquette’ to … Continue reading
Game over?
Having finished my end of year accounts for 2009 I can finally look back at the year with some objectivity. My lack of posts here over the past 12 months may have given away some essence of the unhappy state … Continue reading
Posted in Life in France, Life in Strasbourg, tax
Tagged entrepreneur, independent, self-employed, working for yourself
3 Comments
English Poet Laureate of Alsace
Friends, it humbles me to reveal that my talents with the pen have finally been recognised. Winning is a rare experience and not since the Colgate toothpaste colouring competition in 1978 can I say I have actually won anything on … Continue reading
Robertsau split
Can anyone shed any light on the ream of protest banners appearing in Robertsau? Judging by the content of said banners it appears that the city council is planning to create a new municipal ‘quartier’ – and not everyone is … Continue reading
Strasbourg for swingers
Ha – made you look! Not that kind of swinger! Tch, you should be ashamed of yourselves! No, I mean swinging in the musical bebop-zabba-dabba-da-da-do sense of the word. I mean jazz, man, oh yeah. Ptah, ptah, ptah. You don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Life in Strasbourg
Tagged artichoke, jazz, l'artichaut, music, rick hannah
Leave a comment
Limericks for National poetry day
It’s national poetry day in the UK and the English Speaking Community of Alsace are running a Limerick competition (with an Alsatian angle) to mark the ocassion. I thought I’d shar my entries with you: There was a young chap, … Continue reading
The other Jonny
There’s a lot of brouhaha going on in Strasbourg about Johnny Hallyday’s concert at the Zenith last night, and fair enough, as it’s supposed to be his last tour (yeah right). However another artist named Jonny is also hitting the … Continue reading
Posted in Life in Strasbourg
Tagged french league, jonny wilkinson, Ligue nationale de rugby, rugby, sport, toulon
5 Comments
