Steep Steps, Revisited Friday, 27 June Recent events have sent me back. Specifically, back to a blog I wrote about a trip to Iran in 2016, a mere month before Donald Trump’s first presidential election victory. The Iran nuclear deal had been signed the previous year. In exchange for limiting uranium enrichment,
Corn Star Friday, 13 June For the last few weeks, I have been watching corn. Not porn. Corn. Although it did start with the above steamy scene. Actually, it started before that. It started four years ago when Patrice and his son Vincent planted alfalfa, clover and broad beans to restore natural
Hidden Dangers Friday, 23 May After six years in the Perche, it can still surprise me: we live without another house in sight, yet a charming town big enough to satisfy most of our needs is a scant 10-minute drive away. On its outskirts, there is even a hilly golf course to
There Goes History Again Friday, 2 May Those of you who have read my latest novel Civilisation Française (and those who haven’t, it’s not too late!) will know that the Marais, where the protagonists rattle around in a grand but rundown old house, has much occupied my imaginary life these last years.
Ode to Joy Friday, 11 April To borrow again from my old friend Mr Eliot: April is the driest month. Hot too. Okay, I admit to some poetic licence in the above statements. April is obviously not, in absolute terms, the driest or the warmest month. But according to la Chaîne Météo, rainfall
Where Do the Children Play? Friday, 14 March Aside from the US President's recent fit of pique dangling the possibility of World War III, what better reminder to take seriously the threat of war today than a remnant of war yesterday? Last Friday morning I rode the métro to the Gare du Nord
Good News Friday, 21 February Failing hopelessly in my determination to find something positive to write about this week, I was once again saved by Le Parisien, the daily newspaper that is my treasure trove of information about what’s happening in the city. The successful 2024 Paris Olympics seem long gone
Our Ex-centric World Friday, 31 January I don’t know about you, but I for one am delighted it's the last day of January 2025. Once upon a time January was a quiet month during which gentle resolutions for the new year (work half an hour more each day, reduce chocolate
The Limits of Progress Friday, 10 January “Has it really been eight years?” David asked somewhat plaintively, I have to say, when I mentioned the anniversary. His wistful question referred to the arrival of our dog Tasha, aka The Princess, The Indefatigable One, in our lives. Eight years ago today (10 January) I cut
Back to Basics Friday, 20 December With all the fanfare around the re-opening of Notre Dame, I rode my bike over there two days after the star-studded ceremony and virtual visit that I'd missed on tv to see her makeover for myself. Silly me. The entire parvis was still cordoned off
Shell Life Friday, 22 November For the last few weeks, since the 6th of November to be precise, I have had a physical urge to put my head down and pull it into hunched shoulders, to retreat into a shell. Fortunately it has been relatively easy for me to indulge this reptilian
The Other Side Friday, 1st November All Saints’ Day, La Toussaint, a holiday in France and it’s dead quiet here at 5.30am as I take my first sip of coffee, open my computer. Tasha is curled up on the floor next to me. Though still dark outside, I can’t imagine
Memory Lane Friday, 18 October “An imaginary path through the nostalgically remembered past,” is how Merriam- Webster Dictionary defines Memory Lane. Though I was on a real path – a two-week trip to the US – it often felt imagined. Or like a dream, where remembered places are both familiar and foreign and certainly
Happy Birthday, Blog Friday, 27 September Ten years and eight days ago I copied the snippets of Paris-Berlin life that I’d been collecting on my computer since January and pasted them to my new website, then went live with the first full-blown essay “Elsa, a French Dog in Berlin”. I began this
Small is Beautiful But Endangered Friday, 13 September If anyone tries to tell you that size matters, send him to Armenia. I have just returned from a five-day trip there to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of my husband David’s foundation The Caucasus Nature Fund (CNF). The country is slightly larger than southwest England, slightly
Aglow Friday, 30 August A few minutes ago I woke up and didn’t know where I was. Or more precisely, I thought I was still in the Perche and stretched my arm right to check the time (thus hitting my husband) instead of left, the direction of my Paris night
Critical Mass Friday, 26 July After much drum-rolling on social media, publication day finally came last week for my new novel Civilisation Française. Neil and Nancy J, Paris friends who now live in central London and have the perfect open-spaced apartment for a large party, offered to host the launch. Maybe they
The Path Ahead Friday, 12 July It’s become an obstacle course, my morning walk. All-natural impediments but the path is overrun with competing plant life. Daucus carota that I wrote about recently still meanders across my way. Though the flower of the wild carrot has mostly turned to seed, she is no
Inertia Friday, 28 June After travels to Northern Ireland, return to a stifling city. Not the 50°C/122°F in India end of May or in Mecca last week that killed 1300 pilgrims, but too hot for comfort in the stone oven that Paris becomes in the summer heat. It
Dividing Times Friday, 14 June The disadvantage of a life split between two places is that you are not in sync with the alterations that inevitably occur over time. The advantage, beyond the good fortune of having two chez soi, is that you notice the differences. We had only been gone a
Wild Things Friday, 31 May Say it out loud: press the L hard against your front teeth, release your tongue for the U, push your lips forward, then let them linger on the Sssshhhhh, and you’ve got it, lush, the word that plays over and over again in my ears during
For the Birds Friday, 17 May Either my ears have been elsewhere the last five years, or something wondrous has happened to our bird community in the Perche. In the past I have heard light singing early spring on the morning walk with Tasha. I have sat in the garden on a warm
Help Wanted Friday, 3 May Maybe because of its deep historical roots and multiple associations, May Day in France is a national holiday celebrated in earnest. Spring, the original reason the Romans then the early Christians observed it, is really here, which makes people happy, encourages them to offer sweet lily-of-the-valley to
Looking Back Friday, 19 April Five years and one week ago today, we took possession of a house and garden and the surrounding fields in the Perche. After a summer-long search for a place in the country within a two-three hour radius from Paris that needed no renovation work, we circled back
Old house, novel ideas Friday, 5 April A few weeks ago I visited the place des Vosges. I wanted to see the recently renovated Victor Hugo Museum and the exhibition of his grandson Georges Hugo’s art. But I also like to check in occasionally on this 17th century square, the oldest in Paris,
