I am drawn, by some bizarre inclination, to the allure of midsummer. I have been, ever since high school English syllabus and Shakespeare’s titled comedy appeared on our reading list around the age of 14, I think. It would have been way too easy a study for the Matric English Lit Shakespeare, at which point … More Another Midsummer.
Do you know what’s better than Christmas in a warm, sun drenched, blue skied, endless-horizoned space, one with swims to cool down in, listless insects hovering over icy glasses of Chenin Blanc, braai fires and garlicky prawns, rolling highveld thunderstorms, and a setting sun with golden fingertips reaching over the west coast ocean, tumbling down … More A Christmas Carol, Version Y2K22
There is a sombre atmosphere pervading my home this week, almost as thick as the humidity that hovers over these thick summer days, windless but for the fans blowing relentlessly. A deep seated longing for those orange South African sunsets and warm almost-sisterly embraces have embedded themselves into our hearts, and there is no escaping … More A Tale of Two Countries
Thursdays are currently my Sunday, my one day off work where I don’t do anything unless its for me: go for a run; have a coffee date; sit on my terrace and write; binge watch tv; sew or even mundane stuff like the washing and cleaning. Between 8:30 and 15:00, my time is- for the … More Heritage Day
This weekend marks our two year anniversary of living in Strasbourg. Yes, somehow we managed to tie it close enough to Bastille Day, and the hottest time of the year. I can write that with conviction, because I have two very definitive memories of that weekend. We arrived on a Friday. I was wearing jeans, … More Two Years
MIDSUMMER AND THE FETE DE LA MUSIQUE This recent Friday just passed I was skimming through my CliffCentral Daily Dose mail, when my eyes glanced upon a link to an article featured on the BBC website 6 years ago, concerning an inexplicable month long dancing plague in Strasbourg. Quite surprised to see Strasbourg featured on this South … More The dance plague of 1518
Life can be funny sometimes, in a way of odd co-incidences. Earlier this week, I was invited to join another family to have brunch this morning at a new café in Kruteneau (a ‘quartier’ bordering the Petite France ‘quartier’). Since its Victory Day here in France, it’s a public holiday-or ‘jour férié’ as it is … More Cafe Bretelles
Last week I was invited out by the girls for a night out: dinner, drinks and chatter, sans les enfants. I had been cautioned that these nights out sometimes get a little expensive, so I was in two minds as whether to go or not. Â Also, the last girls night out had resulted in way … More Vino Strado
Yesterday morning Mme H and I took a bus to Kehl, over the Rhine into Germany. Â They have a ‘Woolworths’ (which are not the Woolies we all know, but more like a shop in a Chinese mall, in the south of Jozi.) Â The reason for our trip was to buy trinkets and sweets to put … More A bit of sunny perspective
When we announced to various people last year that we were moving to France, one of the many responses were that of “How exciting for you to be going to live in the food capital of the world!” I was quick to point out that I had no interest in working as a chef in … More Vapiano
A month has passed since we moved into the city, and for the most part, we are settled. Koos’s paintings are on the walls, I have baked cakes in my Kenwood, a casserole or 2 in my LeCreseut and the girls bedroom largely resembles the state we had it in at home in SA. Somehow … More OUR LIFE IN THE CITY
Is it just me being my over-analytical self, or could this be a topic for discussion? Before you cast this aside as something you are not interested in, stop and put yourself in my shoes for a little while. Take yourself back as far as you can remember. Your friends have always just been THERE, … More Making New Friends
Pinot, Bretzels, and Cathedrals 