Our French Life, Our School Life

College Life In France

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Okay so in the UK it goes like this with regard to schooling:-

Pre-school, Primary, Secondary, ‘A’ Level (which is more than likely at the same secondary school or a college) and then University or College (that specialises in some vocational training). So for us Brits, and I appreciate that some of my readers are not British, college to us is further education. It comes after your child has completed their main secondary educational exams – the G.C.S.E’s (General Certificate of Secondary Education). The students complete an exam in each subject – so you will have a G.C.S.E in Maths, English and so on. Continue reading “College Life In France” →

Our French Life

How To Register Your Vehicle In France

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It appears that most people tend to dread or worry about this process. I’m not sure why, as out of all of them, it’s low down on the brain drain pecking order. Less thought goes into this than, say, setting up a Micro Entrepreneur business (check), much less than if you start thinking about inheritance, dividing up assets and all that other fun adult stuff. And far less than filling out your first tax return form – check (with a “that will do if its wrong am sure they’ll tell me” type of approach). Actually make that forms – there’s a main one and lots of different ones to add a sense of danger and excitement to the occasion. Or you could employ an accountant but where’s the fun in that?!  Continue reading “How To Register Your Vehicle In France” →

Our French Life, Our Review Life

Review Of Papillons De Nuit Music Festival

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Okay so this is one French word ‘papillon’ that I cannot for the life of me prononce properly (and it’s not even that hard!) not without being stripped of all my dignity and self-respect. What French word does that to you? Mr Normandy always corrects me on the pronunciation “you mean…” cue saying it properly. Whatever. Anyhow, it means butterfly – a word I can pronounce so this literally means butterflies of the night although google translate has it down as a moth. Continue reading “Review Of Papillons De Nuit Music Festival” →

Our French Life

A Year in Normandy

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Blimey that could be a best seller couldn’t it? Oh wait, it’s already been done with a Year in Provence or something like that. God darn it!

So, I’ve been a bit busy of late working on some wonderful Normandy businesses’ social media accounts. However, sometimes that means my own writing and social media takes a back seat. Just over a week ago marked our one year anniversary in France. It has gone quick and at the same time feels like we’ve been here forever. Does that make sense? I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to reflect on our catapultization. This is a newly made up word derived from ‘catapult’ and bunging ‘ization’ on the end, to conjure up the image of being launched, into French life. You’re welcome.  Continue reading “A Year in Normandy” →

Our Renovation Life

The Full-Time Building Works Commence

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So, we had left the house for another two years prior to moving out full-time.  If you’ve missed the previous renovating stories you can read them here, here and here.

Mr Normandy had a deadline. To make the house water tight within 2 months so that we could move all our worldly possessions, from our damp rental accommodation, into our home. This was a tall order.  We knew we had to be out of the rental property (which was big enough to store all our contents etc) by mid July. We needed to ferry all our stuff over in stages to avoid paying storage costs. We’d already saved money by moving all our goods ourselves from the UK. We had made sure we’d rented somewhere where we could combine rental and storage together. Continue reading “The Full-Time Building Works Commence” →

Our French Life

Ou Est La Gare?

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I wrote this on my now old blog The 1970s Diet. So, I haven’t recently had a contact lens removed from my eye after it being in there for 3 weeks. I do, however, like this post as it reminds me of why I used to love coming to France on holiday. Is it different now I live here? I suppose I don’t notice the painted water towers as much but I most certainly can appreciate a good roundabout when I see one. I haven’t, as yet, come across the nasty stuff I was talking about in the woods – maybe it’s a southern thang! I still appreciate the beauty that surrounds me and I hope I never take that for granted.

Continue reading “Ou Est La Gare?” →

Our French Life, our relocation life

Top 5 Tips For Renting In France

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Try before you buy they always say don’t they? And prior to moving to France, I would have said nah just pick a region, google it and job done. You don’t really need to live somewhere for 6 months/one year to know a place – everything can be found on the internet. Oh, what an amateur. Yes, you can find out loads from the comfort of your own living room, prior to moving (well just about anywhere in the world) but you don’t really know a place until you’ve actually lived there. Continue reading “Top 5 Tips For Renting In France” →

Our French Life, our relocation life

Top Tips For Travelling By Car In France

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This article was written by me on my previous website The 1970s Diet and is so darn good and comprehensive that I have shared it for you here. Whilst this guide is written with families in mind, in particular, my friend who is travelling for the first time – I feel it’s applicable to anyone wishing to have a road trip this year.

We have been travelling to France since our eldest was 6 (he’s now 11), my youngest 4 and Buddy who was 3 months old on his first European holiday.  I have flown before when our eldest was 18 months old which was a horrific experience which I’ve written about in this post. I still cannot talk about it. It still haunts us some 10 years on! This blog post also details our very first trip to Brittany, France and how we totally under estimated the sheer size of the country compared to the UK.
Continue reading “Top Tips For Travelling By Car In France” →

Our French Life, Our Review Life

A Week In Normandy Itinerary Overload!

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Okay, when people come over for a visit it can be tricky to decide where to send them. This is because there is so much to choose from. People don’t come to Normandy for the weather. If you do then I’m sorry to have to break it to you  – you’re gonna need a refund. As I type it’s torrential rain just in time for the school run. Yes, we do see the sun and it can be glorious but this year and the back-end of last has been particularly dire. Now I have it on good authority that the Dordogne has been awful as well. Edit – today has been glorious! Continue reading “A Week In Normandy Itinerary Overload!” →

Our French Life, Our School Life

Master Normandy Gets Into Trouble

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When a school phones me about one of my troops, I don’t expect it to be anything other than child sickness. Well you don’t with my lot.  I don’t want to show boat or anything but they’re never been in much trouble at school. I’ve never sat in the Head’s office discussing my child’s behaviour. They’re well behaved at school (can’t say the same at home!) and if I ever got a phone call from the school – it was to say one of them had thrown up. Continue reading “Master Normandy Gets Into Trouble” →