This French Life

What's On calendar for your events

IF France is good at one thing it is hosting festivals and events to celebrate all manner of things, be they music, the arts, sport or food and drink.

But trying to find out where things are taking place and when can be a challenge, I've never thought those little posters on grass verges outside villages were terribly effective.

So thanks to the wonders of Google Calendar and Maps I have created a What's On in France page that lets you see events coming up and where exactly they take place.

Dijon - a city of art and history

The Palais des Ducs de Bourgogne, in Dijon, just one of the jewels in a city of art and culture

THE mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamen, has been in Paris to put his case for Dijon to be awarded the status of 'City of Art and History', a status that has been awarded since 1985.

Newcastle to Rennes from Flybe

A SUMMER service between Newcastle and Rennes is to be operated by Flybe, with the first flight set to take off on May 24.

The weekly flight will operate every Saturday and provides a link from the North East of England to Brittany and Normandy.

Flights head out of Newcastle at 12.45pm, arriving in France at 3.40pm, with the return flight departing Rennes at 4.05pm and getting back to the UK at 5pm.

Fine wine, film and snowy adventure

A GIANT of the cinema world will be guest of honour at a film festival in Nimes next month, and there are plenty of things to do in France over the coming weeks.

Here is a quick pick of events and don't forget to add details of any festivals or shows taking place close to you via the comment form at the foot of the article.

Using RSS feeds to stay up to date

AS promised here is my look at RSS feeds, or what happens when you click on those small orange buttons you've most probably seen sprouting from all the websites you read.

I am not going to go into the techie side of things, just show you how to use RSS to help you read websites quickly, as well as offer some tips on using them for article ideas for your website.

In internet days of old, a few years ago, to stay in touch with website updates you had to pop it in your favourites and keep heading back to see if anything had changed, unsurprisingly people soon tired of this.

Paris, plumbing and Figaro: blog tour

Photograph by AlexanderC titled 'French scene'. More in the This French Life Flickr album.

FROM the joys of plumbing to a tour of Tours Cathedral, with a bit of French language learning thrown in, here is a quick spin through some blogs and interesting articles.

Can you help on the forum?

CAN you offer a hand and help to answer some of the questions and comments left on This French Life's forum?

It's free to sign up and if want to leave a link to either your gite or business website then just add it at the foot of your reply, here are some messages people have left:

A Canadian reader is available for house and pet sitting services in France, if you are an estate agent or financial advisor can you offer a helping hand with a property question? And if you have experience of researching the history of older properties have you any tips on tracking down the owner of a château?

French are 'arrogant', says footballer Antoine Sibierski

IT has become a bit of a cliche the fact that younger French people head to the UK, although many still return after a period of time, but there is one Frenchman who is unlikely to be heading back to France.

In a candid interview with The Guardian, French footballer Antoine Sibierski has called his countrymen 'arrogant' and says he has no intention of living in France once his career comes to an end.

EU agreements on social security

IF you are in the planning stages of a move to France there are most probably a thousand and one questions zipping around your head.

High on the list will be things like the transfer of social security payments, for example child benefit and winter fuel payments, or maybe there is a health question buzzing away.

A good first stop is the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) website that offers clear information on the agreements between EU countries.

Finding out about Cajun et Zydeco music

EACH August Saulieu in the Cote d'Or department of Burgundy hosts the Nuits de Cajun et Zydeco music festival.

To find out more about the music and the festival I asked the man behind the organisation of the festival for the last 15 years, Didier Lonjard.

Didier was born in Le Creusot, Saone et Loire, Burgundy and his family originated in the Luzy area of the Nièvre in the 1600s, music has been a part of his life since the age of four.