http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/feeds/rss/Helena-Frith-Powell-s-Blog.xml Helena Frith Powell writes the French Mistress column in The Sunday Times about living in France. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, Tatler Magazine, Harpers & Queen and the Independent on Sunday. en_GB http://www.frenchconnections.fr/_format/_images/favicon.ico http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104862-the-snails-are-off?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:45:55 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104863-a-chilly-welcome?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:44:36 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104864-wanadoo-but-cant?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:42:38 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104865-private-schools-in-france1-2?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:29:12 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104866-when-your-kids-love-napoleon?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:25:28 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104867-why-france-isnt-working?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog “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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:23:26 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104868-beating-the-bureaucrats?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:03:22 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104870-french-wedding-bells?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog It isn't until the priest begins to speak that I remember I am in France. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:56:40 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104869-the-secret-of-a-long-life?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:53:03 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104872-more-more-france-please---a-taste,-chapter-one?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:45:34 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/104871-about-the-book---more-more-france-please?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:40:06 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/149369-resistance-was-futile?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog “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... Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:10:43 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/153755-quelle-surprise-i-was-the-thinnest-woman-in-the-village?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:59:35 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152207-selling-almonds?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/blogentry/152066-brits-in-france?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=Helena Frith Powell's Blog 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. Sun, 31 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT