France (Page 3)

I’m halfway through my French Adventure now – my work contract tells me that I run out of job on the last day of May, and my flat contract ends on June 6. Paradoxically, time is both speeding and crawling by. In one sense I feel like I’ve been here forever and in another sense like I have only just arrived. My French skills are very much improved; I’m not sure that the people I share an office with would agree wholeheartedly, but I can perceive the difference myself. Every now and then, in conversation, I do something surprising (like use the futur antérieur) andRead More →

Weightwatchers in France is an interesting thing to do. It’s not as hugely popular here as it is in the UK, and I don’t think there are any competitor diet clubs (I’ve seen no Slimmers World or Rosemary Conley), and it is much more expensive than in the UK (38 Euros/month rather than 18 quid/month !!). However given that my documents were posted in Maidenhead, I guess there are some postal overheads involved here. And it’s still cheaper than French lessons, even if the vocab is somewhat limited. In the UK, as you approach the scales, there’s a kind of scruffy striptease, in which everyoneRead More →

This view is about 20 mins into my bike to work. I love the way the mountains shift behind the buildings, perspective changing and somehow managing to make the boring boxy foreground stuff look interesting. There’s been snow on those for about four weeks now.

It was a glorious evening yesterday, but I didn’t make it up the big hill before dark. I thought I’d give the panorama an attempt anyway.

My favourite one-and-a-half hour bike ride goes out along the Drac, past the confluence with the Isère, across the dam, then back along the Isère. Here are two panoramas from the barrage – the first in early summer (June, I think), and the second today: Click for bigger versions if you want a bit more detail.

I’ve just had a guest post published at Grenoble Life, the Anglophone website for Grenoble & environs. It’s about finding spicy ingredients in Grenoble. Here are some Google Streetview links to the various shops, just in case you want to find out what they look like: Saïgon Store, 6 Rue Doudart de Lagrée 38000 Grenoble has a range of mostly Vietnamese products – good range of noodles, some fresh exotic vegetables and some frozen stuff, and a huge range of spices. You can get decent hot chillis here and stuff like lemongrass, galangal, and other south east asian vegetables and spices. View Larger Map CarrefourRead More →

A couple of articles in Grenoble et Moi (one of the many free magazines and newspapers distributed throughout the town) caught my eye the other day. The first is about the reaction of Algerian fans every time their national team wins a match – apparently last time this happened, a car and a scooter were torched. I’ve not seen any burning vehicles, but I have seen lots of hooting cars with young men hanging out waving Algerian flags. The police are quoted as saying: “Nous ne sommes pas à un niveau d’alerte dun match du GF38, mais nous devons maintenant être vigilants à chaque matchRead More →

Those of us called “Hannah”, who are from the UK, spend a lot of time saying things like this: My name’s not “Anna”, it’s “Hannah”, with an “H” My name’s spelled “Hannah”, with two aitches, one at the end and one at the start Yes I do know it’s a palindrome, thanks! Yes, please tell me your favourite palindromes. Yes, I have heard the one about the canal and the plan. I’ve always found it particularly annoying when people manage to send me email to hannah@ … but then start the message “Dear Hanna”, or “Dear Anna”. As for spoken anna-isms, I noted a markedRead More →