2011-06-20T11:35:00Z Helena Frith Powell's Blog http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/feeds/atom/Helena-Frith-Powell-s-Blog.xml http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104862-the-snails-are-off 2011-04-15T16:45:55Z

National stereotypes die hard. Despite France's poor showing in a recent list of the world's top 10 restaurants, only one against the Britain's four, the French still view England as a place with appalling weather and even worse sustenance.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104863-a-chilly-welcome 2011-04-15T16:44:36Z

George Bernard Shaw once said that “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him”. In France he doesn't even need to open his mouth. Forget the French demonstrating in Brittany. The coldest welcome when you move to France will be from the Englishman next door, who will hate you on sight.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104864-wanadoo-but-cant 2011-04-15T16:42:38Z

It's a funny thing about communication companies, but whenever you want to get hold of somebody, there's nobody to talk to. Just recently I've been very keen to get hold of somebody at France Telecom. And shake them. Then strangle them, slowly.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104865-private-schools-in-france1-2 2011-04-15T16:29:12Z

My stepson Hugo will be 13 next year and has been offered a place at Eton. There are two reasons why he may not be going. One, it costs a fortune. Two, almost more crucially, his chances of getting into university afterwards may be diminished if he goes to a public school, however illustrious its history.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104866-when-your-kids-love-napoleon 2011-04-15T16:25:28Z

What is the best football team in the world and was Napoleon a good bloke? The children dutifully reply “Chelsea” and “no”. But I wonder if one day my husband will find himself choking on his soldiers as they nominate Marseille and start reeling off Napoleonic victories.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104867-why-france-isnt-working 2011-04-15T16:23:26Z

“There's no school tomorrow,” my six year old daughter told me the other day. “We've got a grève.” Grève, or strike, is one of the first words you learn when you move to France.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104868-beating-the-bureaucrats 2011-04-15T16:03:22Z

Reports reach me that Brits living in France have been involved in large-scale defrauding of the benefits system. In a £500,000 benefits fraud case in the Dordogne, more than a third of the alleged culprits were said to be Brits. We need to locate these rascals immediately.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104870-french-wedding-bells 2011-04-15T15:56:40Z

It isn't until the priest begins to speak that I remember I am in France.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104869-the-secret-of-a-long-life 2011-04-15T15:53:03Z

News reaches me that many of us are going to live to be 100. According to experts there could be 1.2 million centenarians in Britain by 2074.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104872-more-more-france-please---a-taste,-chapter-one 2011-04-15T15:45:34Z

I had never thought about living in France until my husband came back from a press trip to Thailand. Before he had unpacked the suitcases, he told me we were moving there. I ignored him.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104871-about-the-book---more-more-france-please 2011-04-15T15:40:06Z

This is the book I wish I could have read before I moved to France. I hardly knew the country at all, and knew nothing of how to live there. I was carried away by the whole adventure of it. Going to a new place, a strange language, a different culture.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/149369-resistance-was-futile 2011-04-15T12:10:43Z

“Don't sell our children's heritage” reads the banner behind me. Much to my amazement I am seated in the place of honour, next to the Colonel, on the high table at the pre-election political rally on behalf of the resistance...

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153755-quelle-surprise-i-was-the-thinnest-woman-in-the-village 2010-04-08T12:59:35Z

Our house in France is close to a beautiful medieval town called Pézenas. One of the best things about it, apart from its cobbled streets and stunning architecture, was that there was no McDonald's. Then to my horror, one day it was there in all its multicoloured garishness.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152207-selling-almonds 2009-07-01T00:00:00Z

It is 7.30 in the morning and I am in the courtyard of the Mayor's office in Pezenas. No, I'm not in trouble with the authorities again, but am here to sell fresh almonds.

http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152066-brits-in-france 2009-05-31T00:00:00Z

If you're thinking of buying a property in France you're probably worrying about how to deal with the French bureaucracy, the language and even the French themselves. But all these pale in comparison when treading the dangerous path of dealing with the Brits already installed here.