2011-06-20T11:35:02Z 'Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/feeds/atom/-Campbell-s-Diary--French-Lifestyle-Blog.xml http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/155942-christopher-campbell-howes-enjoys-testing-times-.-.-.. 2011-05-01T09:37:06Z

WE SEEM to have been very popular just lately. No idea why. Three invitations at least. Well, one was more in the nature of an appointment card, so perhaps that doesn't count. Let's get this one out of the way first.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/155817-christopher-campbell-howes-waits-for-the-full-moon-.-.-. 2011-04-01T11:59:13Z

HAVE YOU ever had your hair cut in a foreign country? For some, particularly women, it's a daunting thought. If you're a woman who cherishes your crowning glory then the thought of surrendering yourself while on holiday to the local Mr Teasy-Weasy must be quite frightening.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/155676-christopher-campbell-howes-turns-the-clock-back-.-.-. 2011-03-01T13:55:54Z

WE'VE GOT a street map of Paris all over the kitchen table this morning. No, we're not going there, except maybe in our imagination. We're looking excitedly for certain streets.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/155444-christopher-campbell-howes-bottoms-out.-.-. 2011-01-31T16:32:29Z

We're so lucky to have an old railway line practically at the foot of our garden which someone had the bright idea of turning it into a footpath.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/155202-christopher-campbell-howes-wonders-for-whom-the-bell-tolls-.-.-. 2011-01-01T10:05:29Z

Our village, Olargues, is officially classified Un des Plus Beaux Villages de France, which I suppose I'd better get 2011 off to a charitable start by translating for those still overcome by festive season torpor as One of the Most Beautiful Villages of France.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154996-christopher-campbell-howes-takes-a-philosophical-turn-.-.-. 2010-12-01T14:27:32Z

WE'RE IN Essex, having flown in from Carcassonne for a long weekend. We're staying for a few nights in a bed-and-breakfast. When we arrive for breakfast, there's a fellow-guest already tucking into the full English.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154811-christopher-campbell-howes-turns-the-clock-back-.-.-. 2010-11-01T13:08:20Z

The Ullapudlians, if that's the word for someone who comes from Ullapool, are back!

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154672-christopher-campbell-howes-has-his-back-to-the-wall-.-.-. 2010-10-01T11:16:48Z

A FEW weeks ago I was rehearsing a choir with the usual physical energy I try put into conducting, on the grounds that the more effort I make the more the singers will too, when I felt my back go. It was very disturbing...

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154484-christopher-campbell-howes-promotes-the-entente-cordiale-.-.-. 2010-09-09T13:32:37Z

Our département, the Hérault, is one of the most favoured by immigrants. Something like 80,000 each year. And now there's one more. Or sort of. I'll explain.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154324-christopher-campbell-howes-glances-at-the-headlines-.-.-. 2010-08-01T09:20:41Z

For many in the village, Midi Libre is as vital a part of the morning programme as a bowl of coffee or chocolate first thing in the morning.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154162-christopher-campbell-howes-swaps-napoleon-for-bonnie-prince-charlie-.-.-. 2010-06-30T12:05:20Z

Late afternoon in mid-June under a blue Languedoc sky in a quiet village are gathered a group mostly of elderly men, some with military procession flags, highly embroidered, standing besides a flagpole and a sort of altar beside a stand of bamboo, and an inscribed enamel plaque on a stand.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/154005-christopher-campbell-howes-goes-to-market-.-.-. 2010-05-27T10:30:21Z

Wednesday morning. Time for a trip to the market in St Pons de Thomières, a dozen miles or so upstream at the head of the valley.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/99450-christopher-campbell-howes-loses-his-grip-on-reality-.--.--. 2010-05-26T13:33:59Z

DOWN TO the mairie for a Sunday morning meeting of the CEPDOL, an acronym so convoluted that all I can tell you about it is that the C stands for Comité. It's the village amenities committee.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/99451-christopher-campbell-howes-heads-for-the-seaside 2010-05-26T13:23:21Z

IT'S ONLY a few minutes from the Spanish border, but it doesn't strike you as a frontier village. In fact, it reinforces its Frenchness, gives itself a last shot of pure Gallicism before the language, colour, scenery and ambiance changes a couple of headlands further south.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/99452-christopher-campbell-howes-exercises-his-democratic-rights 2010-05-26T13:11:56Z

THE FLAG'S flying outside the Mairie, the village town hall, flopping idly in the soft spring breeze. Sunning himself at the top of the steps is Jean-Claude, looking like a prosperous antiquarian taking a breather in the shop doorway and scanning the pavements for custom, and we're pleased to see him, because we know him well: he's a bass in my choir.