Day 2561 (Wednesday) 12th June 2024

This is Villefranche

and this is Place Garibaldi in Nice.

Jimmy came round this morning to finish the electrics in the smallest bathroom in the world.

Since we have lived here we have had to switch on the fan with the light and Jimmy has now finally fixed it so we can have the light on without the fan. He also put in a new light above the shower.

While he was doing this the man across the road was moving and there was a lift outside.

and this is his piano.

Huw saw him when he moved in and two men carried the piano up the stairs, that must have been a hell of a job. I’m happy he’s going because he plays the piano really loudly with his windows open and a nearby neighbour yells at him to shut up. There is also another piano-playing neighbour at the back of the house but she is good.

Huw took me to Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat to work with Oceane and we had a lovely fluency session talking about how polite people are here in the South of France. I said that I loved the fact that everybody says ‘bonjour’ and she said that when they start the day at school the teacher holds the door open and says bonjour to every child and the child says it back– how lovely is that? At the end of the hour we did ten minutes of French using cards and I did pretty well.

As promised yesterday here are some more French idioms…

être bien dans sa peau – to feel good about one's self
Literal Translation: to be good in one’s skin

être long(ue) à la détente – to be slow on the uptake
Literal Translation: to be slow on the trigger

être à l’ouest/à la ramasse – to run on empty
Literal Translation: to be in the west/picked up
After studying all night for a test you might use this idiom to say Je suis à la ramasse.

ne faire qu’une bouchée de quelqu’un – to wipe the floor with somebody
Literal Translation: to make one bite of somebody

faire une queue de poisson – to cut somebody up
Literal Translation: to make a fishtail

faire la grasse matinée – to sleep in (US), to have a lie-in (UK)
Literal Translation: to make a fat morning

faire l’andouille – to be silly
Literal Translation: to make the sausage
This French idiom refers to a smoked sausage made from pork. If you call somebody une andouille in French it means they are a dummy.

faire un tabac – to strike it rich
Literal Translation: to make tabacco
Un tabac is also the word for a French café that sells cigarettes and newspapers so this idiom could be understood literally to mean make a café.

filer à l'anglaise – to sneak out
Literal Translation: to slip away the English way

finir en queue de poisson – to fizzle out
Literal Translation: to end like a fishtail

la goutte d’eau qui fait déborder le vase – the final straw that breaks the camel’s back
Literal Translation: the water drop that makes the vase overflow

l’habit ne fait pas le moine – you can't judge a book by its cover
Literal Translation: clothes don’t make the monk

il faut souffrir pour être belle – no pain, no gain
Literal Translation: one has to go through pain to be beautiful

il n'y a pas un chat – nobody's here
Literal Translation: there isn't a cat
If you go to a dance club and it's empty, you might use this French idiom to tell your friends it's not worth going.

jeter l’argent par les fenêtres – to pour money down the drain
Literal Translation: to throw money out of the window

jeter le bébé avec l'eau du bain – to throw the baby out with the bathwater
Literal Translation: to throw the baby away together with the bathwater

jeter l’éponge – to throw in the towel
Literal Translation: to throw the sponge away
As in English, this French idiom traces its origins to boxing. If a trainer feels their boxer should quit, they can throw in the sponge or the towel to concede the match.

joindre les deux bouts – to make ends meet
Literal Translation: to join both ends

la fin des haricots – the last straw
Literal Translation: the end of the green beans
More often than not, the French use this idiom sarcastically to mean things really aren't all that bad.

les carottes sont cuites – your goose is cooked
Literal Translation: the carrots are cooked
Food is important to the French and it appears in a lot of idioms. If you are down 4-0 in a football/soccer match with 10 minutes to go, it could well mean Les carottes sont cuites!

mener quelqu’un en bateau – to lead someone up to the garden path
Literal Translation: to take somebody to a boat ride

mettre la charrue avant les boeufs – put the cart before the horse
Literal Translation: to put the cart before the oxen

mettre son grain de sel – to put in two cents
Literal Translation: to put one’s grain of salt

ne pas être dans son assiette – to feel under the weather
Literal Translation: not to be in your plate

ne pas y aller avec le dos de la cuillère – not to go in with half measures
Literal Translation: not to go with the back of the spoon

ne pas avoir sa langue dans sa poche – not never be at a loss of words
Literal Translation: not to have one's tongue in one's pocket

ne pas avoir la lumière à tous les étages – the lights are on but nobody’s home
Literal Translation: not to have light at all floors

The rest will be posted tomorrow.

This was Badger last night he’s never sat there before.

This was him this morning while Huw was trying to do some filing.

and this is where he was when we left for Saint-Jean.