Reading Time: 3 minutes It is a cruel world sometimes and it makes no difference whether the world is virtual or not. Human perceptions, emotions and misunderstandings may have found new freedoms within the virtual reality of cyberspace but retain their potency within the confines of the human brain. The last event that tilted the balance in favour of […]
Culture
Prince Andrew – Forgetting The Bar, Remembering The Pizza!
Reading Time: 3 minutes Do you remember what you were doing on 10 March 2001? I certainly don’t, but then again, I’m an expert at forgetting things when it suits me. And if Prince Andrew’s BBC interview is anything to go by, so is he. It’s one thing not remembering if there was a bar at Tramp’s, but not […]
Dutch “Zwarte Piet” – An Insult To Global Warming
Reading Time: 2 minutes Having reaped the success of my last two posts on this more than delicate subject, this could be the final instalment of a rather tedious trilogy. Why tedious, I hear you scream. The answer is quite simple – to coin a famous phrase, it’s much ado about nothing. But the news is that this time […]
Why Supermarkets Are Getting Into Your Heads
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are two things missing in supermarkets – a giant clock that tells how much time we have wasted and an escape route. It must be old age creeping in before it’s due, but I’m finding more and more reasons to moan about things. And I’m not just referring to all the […]
Le Sac À Main De Sa Gracieuse Majesté
Reading Time: 3 minutes Cet article va être sexiste et … court. Ayant vu une photo de la reine d’Angleterre dans un journal Londonien haut de gamme, je me pose la question existentielle suivante: que contient son sac à main? J’avoue que j’avais l’habitude de me promener dans la rue avec mon propre sac à main – un sac […]
Le Guide #MeToo Du Quartier Rouge d’Amsterdam
Reading Time: 7 minutes Dans le port d’Amsterdam Y a des marins qui boivent Et qui boivent et re-boivent Et qui re-boivent encore Ils boivent à la santé Des putains d’Amsterdam D’Hambourg ou d’ailleurs Enfin ils boivent aux dames Qui leur donnent leurs jolis corps Qui leur donnent leurs vertus Pour une pièce en or Et quand ils ont […]
Franglais De Naissance – George Ou Georges?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Un article paru dans le journal britannique “The Observer” présente un documentaire réalisé par le journaliste et producteur français Benjamin Carle. Dans son documentaire, il tente de se mettre à la place d’un Anglais pour voir ce qu’il aime à propos des sujets de sa gracieuse Majesté et savoir s’il peut se considérer comme un […]
What It Feels Like To Be Frenglish
Reading Time: 3 minutes An article I came across in the Observer presents a documentary made by French journalist and producer Benjamin Carle. In his documentary that is to be shown on French TV, he tries to put himself in the shoes of an Englishman to see what he likes about the English and whether he can see himself […]
Mister Nobody’s Holiday
Reading Time: 4 minutes It was that time of year again where resident populations get eaten up by hungry tourists. As I sat “comfortably” in the adobe construction that my Peruvian parents in-law call “home,” I was probably tasting more of what it feels like to be in Peru than any tourist who has visited Machu Picchu can. I […]
Love At First Read – Françoise Sagan: “Bonjour Tristesse” (“Hello Sadness”)
Reading Time: 4 minutes When French author, Françoise Sagan, died in September 2004, she left behind more than one million dollars in debts and a little gem entitled “Bonjour Tristesse” (“Hello Sadness”). In his memorial statement, the then French President Jacques Chirac said of Sagan: “With her death, France loses one of its most brilliant and sensitive writers – […]