Just a quick plug for another French blogger Bob Toovey. Bob has been running his “Computing in France” site for several years and tomorrow he launches a swanky new design. If you are interested in Web design and all things computing, I would reccomend checking out www.computinginfrance.co.uk.
As an incentive to sign up to his site feed [http://feeds.feedburner.com/computinginfrance], Bob is also offering some free eBooks, so why not sign up while you’re there.
I have a great collection of readers here at La Vie en Foussais. Some of you choose to leave comments too, which is really really great. I always get a buzz from receiving a new comment and I love to respond, opening up conversations and helping to build a community based around the site.
As i know the majority of bloggers* feel the same way as me I have made a commitment to myself that I will always try to comment on any blog I find from now on. I may not always manage it, but I’m certainly going to try. If you want to do the same thing, then great. Tell me about it here.
I have just written an article on this subject over on the FuelMyBlog blog [here]. It looks like it may turn into a very big debate, which is, after all the whole point! Why not pop over there and give you own opinion?
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* For those that don’t know, a blog is a website with regular updates like mine. A blogger is someone who writes this kind of site
Today is my birthday, so I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has sent me messages – they are very much appreciated. I’m looking forward to enjoying the start of the party tonight when the children return from school and I have finished my work. It’s my first birthday since living in France and I look forward to spending every other one here too!
You may have noticed that the “Visitors” stats shot past 5000 for La Vie en Foussais recently. This is really amazing and I am so glad that people are enjoying the site enough to keep coming back and reading what I have to say. Please don’t be shy about leaving comments – I really do love to receive them and its great to develop a community around a site like this.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading, I think I will leave you with a chuckle. On this day in 2005 Ronnie Barker, British comedy genius, sadly gave his last laugh. So here for a bit of Friday Fun is “Swedish Made Simple”, one of my favourite Two Ronnies sketches.
Enjoy!
A few snippets of news for you today…
Today the BBC are featuring a story [here] which reveals that half of all UK adults have forgotten the languages they learned at school. Luckily for me this wasn’t the case as my schoolboy French had to get me through many tricky situations when we first arrived!
What is hopeful for our kids is the following:
more than two thirds (69%) said they were jealous of people who were able to speak another language fluently.
Of those who can speak another language, 61% said it had been of benefit to their career, with a third (34%) saying their language skills have given them opportunities to travel and work abroad.
This bodes well for the future of our 3, who will leave school being fluent in at least 2 languages, possibly even 3.
Craig McGinty runs the superb ThisFrenchLife web site [here], which is on my daily read list. It’s a great read, always full of interesting articles and news about all things French.
Well today is Craig’s birthday (age not revealed!) so what better time to head on over to www.thisfrenchlife.com and wish Craig a joyeaux anniversaire!
Front-page news toady includes Nicolas Sarkozy and his extra leg (!), news about banned Chinese milk products in France and a pointer to some free travel guides.
I will fill you in on the details next week, but this wil be another busy weekend!
On Saturday we are heading next-door to the apple-pressing barn where we will hopefully see the whole process from picking to pressing to bottling. With a bit of luck we will walk away with a nice collection of freshly-squeezed apple juice, which should keep us going for a while.
Then on Sunday we will be testing our French again as we meet up with some families who have links with Lisa’s nephew through school exchanges. So a trip to Montaigu near Nantes, then over to the beach to La Tranche-sur-Mer.
(Photo under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic by krejcirkmira)
Due to some changes at work, I’ll be hitting the road to England quite a bit this month. This is a real pain and not something I really wanted to happen, but the situation is rather unavoidable at the moment.
Hopefully it will only be a very temporary measure and I can return to my rural hideaway very soon 
In the meantime, if you’re anywhere near La Rochelle, Stansted or Maidenhead, feel free to get in touch and we can have a coffee.
Next Friday I will be the ripe old age of 37. I’m looking forward to a majorly-fun-time-friday, and an especially fun weekend with great friends.
Anyway, that’s what’s going on with us. Keep a look out for updates. Or why not subscribe to my email newsletter [by clicking here]? Every time I add something new to La Vie en Foussais you will receive it in your inbox - what could be easier?
