Every year it is so moving to see the ceremonies surrounding D-Day–the commemorations and the celebrations, the veterans (fewer and few each year), the pictures and movies of that memorable day. Sadly, due to the coronavirus and travel restrictions, D-Day 2020 barely existed. But in spite of the lack of ceremonies, no one can forget …
One of the first things that French President Emmanuel Macron said about the coronavirus – and one of the only ones that a vast majority of people remember is that “we are at war” with it. “At war” may have seemed a bit much when he gave his speech in the early days of the …
Will the coronavirus kill French cafés? I certainly hope not! As you’ll see in the photo, the café (this picture was taken at the Café des Foudres, Place Martin Nadaud, Paris 20) is my office – and I’m not alone. The day the charming waitress (can one still say that? or is it “wait person …
Today, December 26, is the 22nd day of the Paris transportation strikes. Am I resigned? No, I’m furious! I hope the government won’t give in to the unions. And I hope that someday in this country the government and the unions will sit down to discuss reforms intelligently, with good will on both sides and …
The current strikes in Paris lead to strange things, but I never dreamed that taking a camembert to the movies would be one of them. But first: Do you know what a really good, ripe, raw milk camembert, as opposed to one of those pasteurised plaster-like fellows you find in supermarkets, smells like? Well, of …
I Have a Dream – I live in another country!
Friday the 13th: Day Nine of the transportation strike and I’m sick and tired of it. But although I complain about being under house arrest (our nearest metro is closed, buses are irregular and the one day we foolishly decided to take the car we spent two hours getting only a fourth of the way to …
The other day I met a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time. The occasion was not a happy one. We were in the Parisian apartment of a recently deceased friend where we had been invited to choose, if we wished, a memento, something material by which to remember her. These moments are always …
In February my husband and I spent a month in Tucson, Arizona where I had been asked to give a speech to a philanthropic organisation on the topic of “Getting to know how a writer thinks”. I admit I was perplexed by the title. Frankly, I’d never thought about how a writer thinks – but …
Are you a Francophile ? Or a Francophobe ? It may seem contradictory but whether you are one or the other you are surely confronted with the same malady : you don’t understand the French. Of course the Francophobe probably doesn’t even want to. The Francophile, on the other hand, is avid for all things …