Decorating in Hot Weather

Today, I’ve been decorating the bathroom. Well, in fits and starts. I already had the wallpaper stripped off and I washed the ceiling. Today it just seems so clammy and humid it’s a struggle to keep at it!  The other problem lies in the heat too. You see, there’s nothing more refreshing when working in [...]

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France: Why It’s Cool (Part II)

Food customs. Number one – Le canarde.
 The act of dunking a sugar lump, preferably a large, oblong one, in a cup of coffee is known as “faire un canard” where “canard”, as you know, normally means “duck”. It is quite common, where several people are gathered around cups of coffee, for a person, who hasn’t [...]

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France: Reasons it is cool (Part I)

An odd mood has come over me lately. My mind has been flirting over and over with the idea of moving to France and learning French. I don’t know where it’s come from. I’ve never been there, never had much thought about it until this year.
So, in an attempt to see why it’s so attractive, [...]

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Nigerian Rocket Fuel

For perhaps the first time since Oliver Cromwell’s settlers moved in, there are more people coming into Ireland than there are leaving. Mostly from other EU states – notably Poland. There are a few from Africa too, though, and it’s these immigrants who Guinness had in mind when they started selling Guinness Foreign Stout.
Guinness isn’t [...]

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