Category Archives: Pontrieux

As my French experiment draws towards its natural conclusion it is time to consider the many characters that will feature in my forthcoming bestseller “A year in Pontrieux”. Not knowing the real names of all the people I come across … Continue reading →

June 21st see many French towns organising a Fete de la Musique, offering a programme of free live music events. Several organisations in Pontrieux had come together to organise the town’s first ever Fete de la Musique. An ambitious programme … Continue reading →

I return to my regular theme of the perils of trying to get a decent night’s sleep in Pontrieux. I have been a little bit spoilt the past few weekends as I have been spared the 2.30am and 4.30am cacophony … Continue reading →

Trying to understand the rules behind refuse collection has been a major preoccupation during the past year. Seeing microwave ovens, mattresses and wheel caps left out for the weekly collection led me to believe that “anything goes”. Excellent news, I … Continue reading →

While most of the French locals are either ignorant or indifferent to my presence in Pontrieux, I am sufficiently visible on the radar to be invited to things. Mostly these are of an official nature, like the annual assembly of … Continue reading →

Watching those lifestyle programmes on Channel Four, you get the impression that the French spend their day food shopping – wandering around the local market bulging with fresh produce, stopping off at the village boulangerie and the butchers wallowing

The party animal is back and I am not pleased. I will have to find out who are the equivalent of French environmental health, failing that a letter to the Mayor may be in order. Not much chance of a lie-in on Sunday’s … Continue reading →

On the whole Pontrieux is a very quiet place to live. By 6.30 pm what passes as a ‘rush hour’ has finished and the town becomes deathly silent. Unless there is anything on in the Mairie the town is deserted. … Continue reading →