Hooray and hoorah! I have finally written fifty posts on my blog. This is a particularly special milestone for me since it has taken me over two and a half years to achieve. I started this blog in July 2016, with the aim of keeping myself company at night whilst feeding my baby Chou. It was a resounding success for a full three posts, and … Continue reading Fifty posts celebration!
Stepping down, down, down into a subterranean labyrinth beneath the calm and pleasant streets of old town Buda, one bitterly cold morning in February, two years ago, my husband and I had just made the rather questionable decision to take our then one-year-old son on a quest to see the prison where Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was detained for an indeterminate amount of time … Continue reading Under house arrest in Budapest: A tale of holiday woe
Dear all, Having been made nearly prostrate with horror yesterday at the discovery that my all-time favourite post (and hours of work) had inexplicably been replaced with that of another (when, in a moment of writer’s block, I opened it to reread for possible inspiration), I advise you all to check over any of your previous posts that you would be disappointed to lose. I … Continue reading A quick word of caution – check your old posts!
Last year I made a list of 18 aspects of my life that I thought were pretty wonderful as they were, and which I resolved not to change. Since I hadn’t looked back at the post in question since its creation, I thought that I ought, out of politeness if nothing else, to check on my progress. Did I succeed in my resolution to do, … Continue reading Ne touchez pas à ça revisited: Maintaining the status quo into 2019
Happy Épiphanie to one and all! Since my Chou has now reached the practically adult age of three, and nursery restarts tomorrow (where, no doubt, Epiphany will be a major topic of conversation, Christmas having taken place so long ago), I decided that it was time my family participated in the time-honoured (and much-loved) French tradition that is “tirer les rois”. In order to “draw the … Continue reading Epiphany and la galette des rois
Book of the day: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. This year, as part of an ongoing attempt to be greener and more ecologically conscious, I resolve to reduce further the amount of food waste produced by my family. Shortly after we moved in to our home, five years ago, we adopted a lovely big compost bin (and, naturally, one of those adorable vintage-looking food … Continue reading Les restes: Waste not, want not
I have recently discovered (through Brit Abroad’s latest blog post on Christmas traditions in France) that wishing a fellow citoyen a hearty “Bonne Année!” before January 1st is considered bad luck. Enquiring of my husband (who has spent over two-thirds of his life in France) whether this new and crucial information was indeed true, I was met with a nonchalant shrug and a ‘Yep’. I have been writing Christmas … Continue reading Bonne Année 2019!
Chomeuse with a Chou 