Day 1756 (Wednesday) 30th March 2022

It was a bit overcast again this morning and it was quite chilly on Kisbee. Huw dropped me off at Odile’s and it wasn’t warm enough to sit on the balcony this week so we sat at a picnic table in her living room. The poor woman still doesn’t have a kitchen, she’s been ‘camping’ in her flat for weeks.

The cat sat with us for the full 90 minutes. She is such a gentle giant.

  

I bought a quiche for lunch in our favourite boulangerie before Huw took me to Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat.

These cacti are in a garden outside  the boulangerie – Beaulieu has a thing about cacti.

Oceane and I worked on telling the time in English and she has finally got it. Huw picked me up and we had to go up to the new villa for me to meet the owners again. It’s been five years since I saw her and she took us around showing where everything lives and what is required of us. They leave a small gift for the guests and she showed me the storeroom where they are kept. When I saw the Villefranche sur Mer tin I mentioned that I love these and she very kindly gave me one.

While she was showing me everything Huw worked on the pool. He’s still getting used to the system of how to suck out the leaves and dust that blow in, then he has to add various chemicals.

Huw looked up the yellow boat that was in the bay yesterday and found this…

La Grace is a replica of a historical tall-ship from the 18th century which will sail the Seven Seas as the original ship did some 300 hundred years ago. The aim of the project is to give all the interested people an opportunity to sail a historical ship under the naval craft training programme and to share the proud traditions of sailing. 

La Grace was built in the years 2008 – 2010 by a group of volunteers from Czechia and Slowakia in an Egyptian shipyard in Suez by traditional craft techniques. The brig was designed by its owners (Josef Dvorsky and Daniel Rosecky) according to technical drawings which were published in 1768 in Architectura navalis mercatoria by Sweedish Admiral Fredrik Henrik af Chapman.

According to available sources, the original La Grace was a ship of the first Czech naval captain Augustin Herrman, a famous sailor from the Czech history. He navigated the Atlantic in service of the Dutch West India Company. After leaving the company, he ran the small privateer ship called La Grace. This relatively weak and vulnerable six-gunner annually brought huge prize money from captured Spanish galleons to New Amsterdam.

Our La Grace offers 37 berths for her crew, cadets and visitors and she sails all the year round. She is the first Czech and Slowak training ship, which is a great achievement for these countries with no coast line at all.

The five things the French find most annoying about Brits – the Local France

France and Britain - near neighbours and (mostly) friendly rivals, but what do the French really think of their cross-Channel pals? We asked French writer Olivia Sorrel Dejerine to do some research.

The friendly rivalry between Britain and France continues. Photo: AFP

Let's get one thing clear from the start, in general the French are kindly, warm and welcoming to the many British people who decide to move to France, trading Marmite, rain and proper curry for sunshine, fine wine and 1,000 different types of cheese.

But there is always a little friction between different cultures, so when we asked our French friends what they really thought, these are the top five (affectionate) complaints that they listed.

1. Booze

The French love wine – rouge, blanc, and especially rosé when summer comes. Generally speaking, it would be fair to say that the French enjoy a drink.

However, the French people we spoke to seemed to believe they always did it reasonably and elegantly, and only considered the British as being heavy drinkers.

“They are pissed all the time,” said Baptiste, 32.

“They always have red cheeks,” said Charlotte, 30.

Not only do the Brits drink too much, but – quelle horreur – they don’t even drink good alcohol.

“They love red wine, but rarely drink one that is good,” lamented Nicolas, 43.

2. Attitude

It's a well-worn cliché that the French are arrogant, but actually that character trait came as one of the top bug-bears French people have about les Anglo-Saxons. The French people we talked to complained of the British being big-headed, strict and uptight.

“They think way too highly of themselves,” said Eric, 63.

“Everything shocks them and they are quite moralistic,” said Margaux, 30.

Brits were also seen as difficult to get to know.

“It’s complicated to figure out what they think,” said Caroline, 34.

“There is too much fake chit chatting,” said Gedi, 31 who lived in London for nine years.

And while the British may cherish their individuality, one Frenchman listed this as their most annoying trait.

“They do nothing like the others – they don't drive on the right, they didn't want the euro, they voted Brexit, they have a kingdom, they eat supper early,” said Clément.

3. Food

When it comes to the relationship the French have with food, saying it is passionate barely scratches the surface. 

No matter which region of France, people will be proud of their local spécialités and of course, brag about it.

But even for the French who don’t really care about gastronomy (they are quite rare but they exist), British food seemed to have left an impression. 

When asked about the British, it seemed most of our respondents thought of their first food experience in Britain – which probably happened during a school trip.  

“They don’t realise their food is disgusting,” said Baptiste.

 “They have supper at 5pm, I don't understand that,” said Margaux.

While Clément made a remark about the iconic “tea time”. “The fact they have “tea time” annoys me,” he said.

4. Language

In studies comparing levels of English across Europe, France generally does quite badly.

Although progress has been made (the younger generations generally have a much higher standard of English than people in their 60s), it is still safe to say that most people in France don’t have a great level of English.

But if there is one nation consistently worse at language-learning than France, it's the UK.

“They have a terrible accent”, said Charlotte.

Clément, on the contrary, thought the accent sounded good but it was just that he didn’t understand a word.

“I think they have an elegant accent, but they give the impression they are going to sneeze every time they say a syllable,” he said.

5. History

Britain and France are often referred as “historic rivals” with a legendary conflict that dates back a thousand years.

And it seems like French kids really listen in history class as many of the adults we spoke to mentioned the Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453 – maths was clearly in its infancy back then) and the death of Joan of Arc (1431).

“They burned Joan of Arc”, said Claire, 25.

Adrien, 30, mentioned the Battle of Waterloo. He said this defeat was so important for him he “refused to stop at the Waterloo train station in London”.

But before we get too carried away trying to restart the Hundred Years' War, we should point out that the French do like many things about the Brits; their tailoring skills, their open mindedness when it comes to clothing, their music and (importantly for any Brits reading this article) their sense of humour. 

Here are today’s false Friends 

une caméra - video camera
camera - un appareil photo

un car - coach, bus
car - une voiture

un caractère - personality, nature
character - un personnage (movie, book)

une caution - bail, guarantee
caution - la prudence

une cave - cellar (wine)
cave - une caverne, une grotte

la chair - flesh
chair - une chaise

la chance - luck, good luck, probability
chance - le hasard, le destin

charger - to load
to charge - facturer, faire payer

des chips - crisps [UK]
chips [UK] - des frites

choquer - to shock
to choke - s'étouffer

un coach - trainer, coach
coach - un autocar, un car

un coin - corner
coin - une pièce, une pièce de monnaie

le collège - middle school, high school, secondary school
college - la fac, l'université, une grande école

la commodité - convenience, usefulness
commodity - une marchandise, un article

une compétition - tournament
competition - la concurrence

compréhensive - understanding
comprehensive - complet(ète), exhaustif(ve)

la concurrence - competition
concurrence - une concomitance, une coïncidence

conducteur - driver
conductor - un chef d'orchestre

couramment - commonly, frequently
currently - actuellement

courant - common, ordinary, usual
current - actuel, en cours