2010-03-22T01:35:00Z '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/153528-christopher-campbell-howes-explodes-a-poplar-misconception-.-.-. 2010-03-01T11:26:33Z

WE CALLED him the Great Dane, or the Giant Swede, I can't remember which. He came out of the woods not long after I came to live in France, nearly twenty years ago.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153356-christopher-campbell-howes-kills-99-of-all-known-germs-.-.-. 2010-02-01T12:07:14Z

. . . but that still leaves 1%. 'Bonne année! Meilleurs voeux!' the local French cry, approaching you with arms outstretched, overjoyed to plant three kisses on your cheek, left-right-left, or right-left-right; there's no set order. 'Happy New Year! Best wishes!'

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153111-christopher-campbell-howes-gets-fired-up-.-.-. 2009-12-31T14:45:53Z

PICTURE THE scene: it's dark, the tramontane's howling and anyone with any sense is cosied in by the fireside and what am I doing?

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152975-christopher-campbell-howes-meets-the-neighbour-from-hell-.-.-. 2009-12-11T17:59:15Z

ONE OF the problems of living as we do in a steep-sided valley - maybe you've never had this experience? - is that the longer you live there the more reluctant you are to leave it. You wallow more and more in splendid isolation. It becomes harder and harder to believe that life, especially intelligent life, exists beyond the hills.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152865-christopher--campbell-howes-gets-the-blues 2009-11-02T08:03:48Z

NO, NOT really. Je plaisante, as the French say when they're only joking. But I have been a bit frustrated in trying out a new experience, trying to add something to the definitive Campbell's Diary Guide to the Complete French Experience.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152705-christopher-campbell-howes-fails-dismally-.-.-. 2009-10-05T12:29:39Z

FAILURE, I'M afraid. Signal, abject failure. Serves us right for being so cocksure, of course. We'll be back by teatime, we said. Nothing to it. Easy-peasy. A doddle. We'll call you from the top. Chill the champagne ready for our triumphant return, will you?

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152496-christopher-campbell-howes-scans-the-dawn-horizon-.-.-. 2009-09-01T14:52:01Z

IN MANY years of writing for this most amiable of websites I've covered so many aspects of living in France with pieces about the food and wine, local restaurants, French politics and history and television, goings-on in our village, local fauna and flora, and of course the wonderful farrago and farce that often results from conducting everything in French.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152344-christopher-campbell-howes-takes-his-pick-.-.-. 2009-08-01T00:00:00Z

WHEN WE built our new house here in the Languedoc about six years ago we had first to demolish a cherry orchard. We had mixed feelings about this, because they were handsome trees, arranged in parallel groves on a north-facing slope.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152206-christopher-campbell-howes-buzzes-about-busily-.-.-. 2009-07-01T14:31:07Z

A Wednesday morning in early June. The sun rose about ten minutes ago. Just outside the window, always open on fine summer nights, there's some unusually busy buzzing going on.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152065-christopher-campbell-howes--groans-in-agony 2009-05-31T00:00:00Z

IT'S TARZAN time again, time to change into the old tigerskin loincloth, beat my chest, spit on the palms of my hands and swing myself up into the cherry tree, uttering strange jungle cries.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151866-christopher-campbell-howes-apologises-to-everyone-for-everything-.-.-. 2009-05-01T12:54:17Z

Two years ago we were in the throes of a presidential election. The first round of voting weeded out the mavericks and the no-hopers, and the second showed a close-run contest between the the willowy Ségolène Royal, and the pragmatic and tireless Nicolas Sarkozy.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151653-christopher-campbell-howes-spurns-the-grecian-2000-.-.-. 2009-03-31T19:09:36Z

This postcard arrived in our letter-box the other day. I looked at it briefly, wondering who'd sent us this little poem, and why he - or she - thought we might enjoy it. I turned it over to see who the poetic sender was...

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151492-christopher-campbell-howes-misses-out-on-the-afters-.-.-. 2009-03-01T10:25:14Z

IN 1700 Louis XIV, the Sun King, had a bit of a windfall: the throne of Spain and all the Spanish overseas possessions fell into his lap, a tidy little legacy from the childless King of Spain.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151317-christopher-campbell-howes-feels-his-age-.-.-. 2009-02-01T11:33:52Z

I don't know what scale you rate jokes on. I mean, you can rate restaurants with Michelin Guide stars (it would have to be a pretty stunning joke to merit a Michelin star) and grade Gîtes de France with épis, ears of corn, but when it comes to jokes there's no easy means of knowing whether you're likely to get your money's worth...

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151069-christopher-campbell-howes-is-converted-without-much-of-a-struggle-.-.-. 2008-12-31T18:20:22Z

Finding ourselves on our own, we went out for Christmas lunch, probably for the first time ever. Most of our favourite restaurants close during the winter, but our old friend Gilbert in the next village keeps the French gastronomic flag flying...