Low life
In the waiting room I thought about the Duke of Edinburgh. In particular, I pictured him saluting the cenotaph on…
Low life
‘Alas, David can’t be here this afternoon,’ I told the French teacher as she let me into her light and…
Low life
Applying for a French bank account is like trying for a permit to open a Christian bookshop in North Korea.…
Low life
One day last week we did a wine run up to Manosque in the foothills of the Alps, leaving early…
Low life
Around the time that poor M. Macron was casting televised aspersions on the AstraZeneca jab, I was offered one by…
Low Life
I was supine on the slab and a nurse was rigging me up via wires and tubes to machines and…
Low life
After weeks of living in the 18th century, going everywhere on foot and encountering few other souls, I drove to…
Low life
Every Friday afternoon the foreign correspondent and I attend a French lady’s home for our one-hour French lesson. The foreign…
Low life
Seven bells. Pitch dark still. I descend the creaking wooden stairs in the darkness, let the dog out, make tea…
Low life
I was tipped off to meet a white Hyundai at a French motorway toll rest area at 2.30 p.m. (I…
Low life
‘Anything you want?’ says Catriona on her way out of the house to go to the shop. I’m standing at…
Low life
Here, as in Britain, everyone is a log expert. The woodman leaves a heap at the bottom of the drive…
Low life
A new year and another round of medical treatments in the French health system. On Saturday morning, needing a blood…
Low life
Although I was ten minutes early, Vernon was there ahead of me, framed in the ancient chapel doorway, chatting up…
Low life
Every few years I’ve picked up one or other of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time series…
Low life
Considering the subject of compatibility, experienced British expats in France maintain that a French man and an English woman might…
Low life
There are several cave houses built into the cliff. Ours is the highest and can be reached only by a…
Low life
I regained consciousness on a trolley in a recovery ward. A masked porter wheeled me from there back to my…
Low life
At dawn, starving, I drove to a commercial laboratory in the town centre where five phials of blood were taken…
Low life
We bums find ourselves sought after at this time of year to lend a hand with the olive harvest. So…
Low life
Everything is happening so fast. First we were put under a night curfew. A few days later M. Macron announced…
Low life
Wearing shorts last week in a mid-October heatwave, having worn shorts continuously since March, Les Murray’s poem ‘The Dream of…
Low life
My last NHS scan showed a shadow on a rib. The scan report couldn’t decide between a new cancer metastasis…
Low life
‘Yes, I will have a coffee,’ said the van driver. He’d driven down to the south of France from Devon.…
Low life
My French friend André speaks perfect English and is the kindest of men. After reading last week about my futile…
