A Year in Villefranche sur Mer - Moving to France

Day 511 (Wednesday) Happy Halloween. It was 18 degrees this morning, not cold enough for jeans but not warm enough for a dress; the sky was blue again so all was well with the world again. I had an email from an old student called Roger from Bolivia saying that he’s coming to France in November – I am very excited about seeing him again. He was in my class in London before I met Huw and he’s such a lovely, lovely man. He went back to Bolivia before Huw and I got engaged but we’ve always stayed in touch. We had our engagement party in 2005 in the 100 club on Oxford Street and quite a few of my students came along. While Roger was in London his best friend was Gustavo from Venezuela and he was invited. You could have knocked me down with a feather when Gustavo arrived with Roger in tow. He had planned a return trip and kept it from me to give me a surprise – it had to be one of the best surprises of my life. Two years ago Huw and I went to Bolivia and we planned to meet Roger duri...

Day 510 (Tuesday) We watched the news last night and saw that Corsica was really hammered by a storm yesterday. Tuesday, October 30, 2018             French island of Corsica on high alert due to storm of "exceptional            magnitude" Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-30 04:05:55|Editor: Mu Xuequan PARIS, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Electricity was cut, roads were closed and people called to avoid moving on the French island of Corsica on Monday as strong winds swept the region, the regional authorities said. A storm "of exceptional magnitude" and high winds of up 163 km per hour was forecast on the Mediterranean island that "could generate very strong waves, “according to French weather agency. It had put Corsica on red alert and decided to maintain the alert system in the zone till Tuesday afternoon. Cited by local media, Corsica prefect Josiane Chevalie...

Day 509 (Monday) It was 19 degrees this morning and cloudy and it poured down nearly all day. I know the trees and parks need it but it can stop now. The rain kept us indoors today so I thought I’d share a few more French fillers with you… Comme The word “comme” means “like” or “such as” and its use as a verbal filler is extremely similar to when English speakers use the word “like” in the middle of a sentence. It functions as quite an informal filler and while it will usually break up a sentence, it can sometimes appear at the end as well. Much like with its English equivalent, “comme” is predominantly used by younger people and can sometimes be looked down upon by older generations, especially in formal settings. However, this is in the process of changing and “comme” is now gaining greater acceptance, as well as usage, even among older French speakers.   Bah The filler “bah” is tricky to translate or give an appropriate English equivalent, although the closest...