Antipodes

I was recently intrigued by a front-page article, with a lovely photo, about the participation of Australia at the prestigious Chelsea Flowe...

No, my pretty Benny, it's not good enough to simply ask for pardon for the sins of the past, and pray that they won't reoccur. The m...

Ever since I've been living in France, and writing in English (and also, at times, in hesitant French), I've discovered that attempt...

A few days ago, with no prior warning, the electric power was cut off at 9 o'clock in the morning. Unable to work at the computer or eve...

This amusing photo of the Gamone valley, taken a few days ago from the other side of the Bourne, reveals that I'm not exactly hemmed in ...

That pompous title sounds as if I'm dead and about to be buried. Not quite. I'm still kicking, more than ever... I've often evok...

This delightful stretch of the Bourne lies below the Trois-Châteaux mountain, which separates Choranche from Pont-en-Royans. The mountain w...

In my article of 15 April 2010 entitled My bunyip has broken a leg [ display ] , I explained that temperature variations had split a stone ...

My ex-neighbor Bob (who has become one of my regular visitors at Gamone) has just dropped in to pick up his mail. During his career as a to...

Whenever my donkey Moshé sees me approaching, he leaves his companion Mandrin and dashes over towards me. I think his eagerness has someth...

To sense the spirit of Australia, you might like to look at a ridiculous antiseptic touristic video, entitled There's nothing like Austr...

I've always known that, when my compatriots decide to tackle seriously various cutting-edge challenges of an intellectual or scientific ...

At this time of the year at Gamone, it has always been a delightful early-morning ritual for me to pick and eat a handful of strawberries, c...

Everybody knows that, for centuries, Jews have had a hard time… to put it mildly. The Holocaust revealed unequivocally that God does not exi...

Using my iMac to communicate through blogs is an interesting activity. In associated domains, I'm fond of Twitter , but I see it as sub...

This corner of my house was the place where the farmer kept pigs. The big door on the right provides access to a kind of prison cell, about ...

When somebody disappears abruptly, we say in English that he has "taken French leave". In a similar situation, the French would sa...

The restaurant and bar known as Le Picard at Pont-en-Royans are composed of two former cafés, which were united a few years ago by the pres...

Upon the death of his wife in 1964, my grandfather Ernest Skyvington reacted in the style of a prosperous businessman and dutiful Anglican ...

I've always been intrigued by this series of three doorways that give out directly onto the main road entering Pont-en-Royans from the D...