http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/feeds/rss/-Campbell-s-Diary--French-Lifestyle-Blog.xml CHRIS CAMPBELL-HOWES came out of teaching in Scotland early to settle in the deep South of France, where he lives in one of France's prettiest villages on the road between Toulouse and Montpellier. When he's writing he wishes he had more time for music, and when he's playing or conducting he wishes it didn't slow progress on the various books he's working on! en_GB http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/_format/_images/favicon.ico http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153528-christopher-campbell-howes-explodes-a-poplar-misconception-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:26:33 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153356-christopher-campbell-howes-kills-99-of-all-known-germs-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog . . . 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!' Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:07:14 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153111-christopher-campbell-howes-gets-fired-up-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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? Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:45:53 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152975-christopher-campbell-howes-meets-the-neighbour-from-hell-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:59:15 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152865-christopher--campbell-howes-gets-the-blues?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:03:48 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152705-christopher-campbell-howes-fails-dismally-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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? Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:29:39 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152496-christopher-campbell-howes-scans-the-dawn-horizon-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:52:01 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152344-christopher-campbell-howes-takes-his-pick-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152206-christopher-campbell-howes-buzzes-about-busily-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:31:07 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152065-christopher-campbell-howes--groans-in-agony?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151866-christopher-campbell-howes-apologises-to-everyone-for-everything-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Fri, 01 May 2009 12:54:17 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151653-christopher-campbell-howes-spurns-the-grecian-2000-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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... Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:09:36 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151492-christopher-campbell-howes-misses-out-on-the-afters-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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. Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:25:14 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151317-christopher-campbell-howes-feels-his-age-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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... Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:33:52 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/151069-christopher-campbell-howes-is-converted-without-much-of-a-struggle-.-.-.?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign='Campbell's Diary' French Lifestyle Blog 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... Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:20:22 GMT