French TV

William Lememyrgie

What is on French TV?

Every morning we watch the daily breakfast show just as you would in the UK. The equivalent to Day Break is Telematin which is broadcast from Paris. The programme presenter is called William Lememyrgie and the show has been presented since 1985. The news casts are presented at 7:00am, 7:30am and 8:00am. They discuss topics such as Culture, Lifestyle, Health and employment, amongst other things.



Some of the topics this morning were the on iphone. On culture they discussed a new trend in the construction of houses.  What they were saying was, creating spaces for healthy children separated from parents is now the current trend.  There is a house constructed in the Paris region were each family member lives in a small tower to protect her privacy, sounds good to me.

There always seems to a lot of art discussed with lots of photos of naked men and women.

Carinne Teyssandier

Then we have Gourmet, or cooking, and they have the same woman on giving a new recipe. Today is was Duct Breast in salt crust and fig bread, yum yum. Let me tell you, this woman has such a lovely big smile she just brightens up your morning to watch her.

One other thing to note is, when a columnist comes on to discuss his or her topic, they always play an appropriate song to go with the topic being discussed.


So I have to tell you the songs played this morning.

Banana boat song - Harry Belafonte
Three little birds - Bob Marley
Turn on turn in cop out - Freak Power
Ring my bell - Saian Supa Crew
Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
Goldfinger - John barry
My Girl Josephine - Super Cat

So all in all its not a bad start to the day, of not everything is understood, and its a shame because it would give a lot more insight the the French lifestyle.

Quote for today:
'Be willing to be a beginner every single morning'

Madame or Mademoiselle?

I just read an article about a group of women's rights activists here in France, who are campaigning to get the word 'Mademoiselle' taken off administration forms.  Their argument is that men are 'Monsieur' all their lives, but women are either Madame or Mademoiselle. They argue, that the terminology, is linked solely to the marital status.  Mind you I can see there point, but I think it would be a shame to drop the word 'Mademoiselle' from the French language. Although its not the word they are against, (its actually considered a compliment to older women, to be called Mademoiselle), I should be so lucky,  what these feminists are saying is, on administration forms, tax forms, ballot forms, it should not be obligatory to divulge ones marital status for one gender, and not another.  It seems that in French-speaking Canada 'Mademoiselle' has long been confined to addressing schoolgirls only.

But surly in Britain and America, you would be asked 'is that Miss or Mrs' or is that still the case?  Mind you, I don't think a man is asked 'are you married' but I suppose it depends on the circumstances.  I don't think that when a man fills in administration forms, tax forms or ballot forms they are asked if they are married, or are they?  Although in France, men are not asked to divulge their marital status.  Maybe they should just have a box to tick for men and women 'are you married? a yes or no box, and that would solve it.  Or maybe they should have forms for 'single' and 'married' people.

Mind you I hate being called Madame, it conjures up an old maid image for me. In France they don't have an equivalent for Ms, so maybe they should have that in French, I wonder what they would call it?

If you look up the dictionary the word 'Madame' means 'My Lady' the feminine form of 'Lord' but 'Madame' can also refer to a woman who runs a brothel, maybe thats why I don't like being called it.

Also when I was young older people would refer to young ones as being 'a wee Madame', which meant you were too grown-up for your age.









Quote for today:
'When you call me Madame, smile'

Cheddar Cheese found in the Tarn France

What a beautiful day it has been, our weather at the moment is unbelievable. We went down to the market today as usual. First of all we had to go the vets for some worming tables for the dogs. Then we walked around to the market and had a browse. All the winter pansies are out now, so I bought some to put into my basket. Will have to look out for violas as well.

Anyway we went round to see our friend Michael and as usual we sat outside in the sunshine and had our usual beer.  We discussed the weather, as you do, and a few topics in the news. As we were talking Michael asked if we had been round to the new British shop in the town square. 'Oh he said you will have to go they have Cheddar cheese and christmas puddings'. Well I'll tell you it didn't take me long to get my purse and I was off.

It's a little shop in the square called 'Cox & Co' and as I went in all I could see were union jacks and everything British.

Of course as soon as I went in the woman said 'Bonjour' and I said 'Hello', 'oh, she said well Hello',  and right away I was transferred back home. How comfortable is this, I thought. 'I believe you have cheddar cheese' I said, 'yes she said it's over here, we have a selection, there's chilli cheese, whisky cheese and mature, all cheddar. So I took the mature cheddar, and also on the shelf was a Christmas pudding, so I snapped that up as well.

The Cheddar cheese is from Snowdonia Cheese Co. and is called the little black bomber. Apparently it is very popular, so I can't wait to try it. The Christmas pudding is hand made in Devon, so that has been put away for Christmas day.

As I was standing at the till waiting to pay, my eye was drawn to something which looked very familiar, and there on the shelf was, wait for it, 'Jelly Babies' 'Oh I love these' I said to the woman, of course she laughed, 'let me out of here quick, before I buy the anything else'.  Of course I got a shock when she said that will be €16.00, but sure it won't be that often I'll be buying Christmas pudding, Cheddar cheese, or Jelly Babies. But isn't lovely to come home with a little bit of Britain in you're bag when living in rural France.

Quote for today:
'The essence of life is finding something you really love, and then making the experience worthwhile'.

Time for A Trip Home

Isn't it funny, here I am living in S.W. France for 4 years now, which is basically my current home, and I still refer to Northern Ireland as my home. But it was the same when I lived in Canada, and South Africa, I always referred to home as being N.I.

So our flights are booked and now the count-down begins. It's only 5 weeks away and already I am excited. Lucky enough we know someone who will mind our dogs, Bailey (caviler king charles) and Buttons (Cocker spaniel), she has been looking after them whenever we go on holiday, and she stays in our house which is an added bonus.

This time of year we have to get two flights unfortunately, Jet2 travel from Toulouse to Belfast direct, but only from May to Sept. So we have to get a flight from Toulouse to Gatwick with Easyjet, and then from Gatwick to Belfast.  But we consider it a holiday and take advantage of drinks on the plane and shopping in the airports and of course when we hit Belfast oh! la! la!

All the things I look forward to are seeing family and friends. When we are descending in the plane into Belfast the first thing I always notice is how green everything is, of course with lots of rain its bound to  be greener.

The next thing I notice is how easy it is to communicate with everybody, you don't have to think what you are going to say when going into a shop or asking questions it just seems so natural. Then there is the shopping, it is so nice to see all the familiar things like my favourite sweets and chocolate. Clothes are so much easier to buy and shoes. Of course with it being November all the shops will be getting ready for christmas also, can't wait.






Quote for today:
'Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.'

Going to the Hairdressers in France

When I first came to France in 2007, it took me a while before I could force myself to go to the hairdressers. Even in my native tongue describing how you want your hair done can be a challenge.  There are several hairdressers in our town of Realmont, but there is one in the square called Blondy's and for some reason that's were I made my first appointment.

Now when you don't have a good command of the language, it can be quite difficult to go to a French hairdresser, and explain exactly what you want. Besides the usual, Bonjour and Je voudrais un rendez-vous, (hello I would like an appointment) I hadn't a clue how to say what I wanted.

So the first time, and I must say every-time now, I always take a photograph with me. I learnt to say a cut and blow dry, which is un coupe and brushing. When explaining how much to cut off my hair I was very careful. In France they don't work in inches like the UK, its centimeters, so for a trim I would say 3 centimeter, which sounds much the same French only with a French accent.

If you want to have your hair layered its 'en dégradés' and to have it straightened its 'raide'. So after a couple of years I decided to have highlights. I must admit I was very nervous about this, I could imagine coming out like the jolly green giant.  So I looked up the French word for highlights and found 'les mèches', I also found a good photo of blonde highlights and printed that off. Well I have to admit they did a very good job. But like every language you need to be very careful on your  pronunciation, and not say something like 'I would like my horse cut' as the French word for horse is Chevaux and the word for hair is cheveux.

But I manage alright, and they know me at the hairdressers now and they know I can't speak French very well.
Unfortunately there isn't a lot of small talk going on, but so long as I get what I want I'm happy enough.



Quote for today:
'Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in a few words'