Category: France vs UK

I’m a promiscuous alcoholic in France

You would think that for a country that is so geographically close to the UK, and that has had an enormous amount of influence on the Brits over the last thousand or so years, France would be pretty similar to Britain. But not so.

I am a Francophile. I studied French A level.… Read more

Proud mummy of a French reader

Our eldest daughter, L, is now 7 years old. She lived the first half of her life in France, with French as her first language. Since the age of 3 years and 7 months she has lived in the UK with English becoming her first language (she has always been brought up with both languages).… Read more

What makes me an expert on France and the French?

If you are a regular visitor to this blog you’ll know that I often write about France and the French, comparing it/them to the UK and the Brits, and various people have asked me what makes me such an expert on the subject, so here goes:

I am bilingual and have a French (and Spanish) degree; I studied French culture, society, history and politics as part of my degree.… Read more

Is UK schooling really that bad?

In the UK we seem to always be hearing how terrible our schooling is, how the children learn nothing and how we should change EVERYTHING. So I thought I would share some comparisons between schooling in the UK and in France, having recently spent a week with French friends whose daughter, A, is the same age as L (age 7 and in Year 2 (UK)/CP (France)). … Read more

Christmas cards – yay or nay?

Christmas cards - yay or nay?

Christmas cards – yay or nay?

I was skimming through Facebook earlier today when a discussion on Christmas cards caught my attention, and it got me thinking, in this day and age is there still a place for Christmas cards? How many people actually still send physical paper Christmas cards?

So the gist of the discussion was this: on the one hand, a lovely lady I know was saying she loves writing personal messages, in fountain pen, on the Christmas cards she sends out; on the other hand another lady said she preferred e-cards as they saved time, the environment and could be really nice too.… Read more

Why are the Brits so anal about suppositories?

This post may affect those with a sensitive disposition as it is about bums, and putting things up them. And no, not in a kinky way. People often ask me about the differences between France and the UK, and whilst the countries are not the same there’s not necessarily a lot that makes separates them.… Read more

Is the French education system better than the British one?

I recently read a very interesting blog post by Stressy Mummy which talked about testing and ranking school children, and on separating children into sets, and it got me thinking about the differences between the French and the British education systems for secondary schooling.

In the UK children are generally separated into different sets per subject depending on ability in that area, which is usually based on tests or exams taken.… Read more

I accidentally moved to France

In 1998 I bought a return ticket to Nice, France – leaving London on the 1st July 1998 and returning to the UK on the 10th September 1998. I’d just finished my university finals and my aim was to have a summer of partying on the French Riviera with two friends (a fellow Brit and a Danish/American) I’d met there the previous summer.… Read more

Are mothers in the UK being abandoned by the NHS?

C is 7 months old today and I haven’t seen any medical person with her (apart from to get her jabs done by a nurse) since she was 8 weeks old. Whereas by 7 months old L had seen the paediatrician in France 8 times for routine check-ups. I have had no phone calls, letters or enquiries from anyone in the NHS as to how C is doing.… Read more