This French Life

New Year message from President Sarkozy

Les vœux de Nicolas Sarkozy by lemondefr

“It’s a considerable effort,” Sarkozy said in a New Year’s Eve address on national television in Paris today. “We’ll be pragmatic, watchful, reactive, and if more needs to be done, we’ll do it, but we’ll also keep our cool.”

Sarkozy says he’s ready to do more to stimulate French economy - Bloomberg

Looking forward on the coming year - part 1

WELL that was quite a year. From initial worries about the economy struggling a little, to banks and financial institutions around the world stumbling and pulling up the drawbridge, the coming year should be a bit of a doddle.

But what does lie ahead? Here are the thoughts of some of the people I've featured on This French Life as they look to the future for their own projects as well as France as a whole.

I have split the replies, part two is here, and of course if you have your own thoughts on 2009 please feel free to leave a comment below.

The rising cost of an expatriate life

RECENTLY newspaper articles, forum posts and the comment sections of This French Life have featured the experiences of people who have seen their incomes tumble as the value of sterling weakens.

Here regular contributor to the site, Coral Luke, writes about how currency fluctuations have impacted upon her family's life.

Coral highlights the fact that many people are on a fixed income, the ongoing fight for entitlement to UK benefits and when newspapers write that Brits are heading home, for many France is their home.

My husband and I bought our first house in France in 2002 situated in a small village it cost us around €40,000.

That was the year 2008 that was

Robert Luc takes a group around the streets of la Croix-Rousse, Lyon.

WITH the year drawing to a close, and 2009 just around the corner, I thought I would take a look through the archives to re-visit stories from the past 12 months.

Flight deals to France from bmibaby

IF you are sketching out your travel options to France for next year then you might want to cast an eye over the offers available from bmibaby.

The airline is cutting up to 50 per cent off the cost of all tickets for travel between January 1 and October 24, 2009.

Bargain hunters have a chance to make savings such as East Midlands to Paris CDG, which was £36.99 one-way, but is now £21.99 inclusive of taxes and charges.

Tickets have to be booked between today (December 30) and midnight on January 13, 2009 and the savings are available on all routes from Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands and Manchester and bmibaby fly to Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris, Marseilles and Nice.

Severe weather warning in France

AN icy blast of winter chill has seen Météo France issue a warning of dangerous driving conditions across the north of the country.

Its Carte de Vigilance provides a map of potential problems over the coming hours ranking them via colour, with the current icy conditions being deemed orange, the second highest level.

French luxury marques feel squeeze

A stonemason takes his time

WOULDN'T it be great to see smaller producers get the recognition that for too long 'big firms' have been able to quash with marketing budgets?

Well it makes you wonder if things are beginning to turn as two stories have recently passed across my computer screen.

Fashion house Chanel has announced it is to cut 200 jobs, which whilst horrible for the people concerned, is being seen as a sign that the luxury market is feeling the squeeze.

Public holidays in France for 2009

The colours of the Tricolor

IF you have received a calendar or diary over Christmas then you might want to make a note of the French public holidays coming up in 2009.

I have also included the days they fall upon, as you can be pretty sure that if one lands on a Thursday, then it might be a struggle to get anything done on the Friday.

A festive tour of blogs

MANY people have been writing up their Christmas experiences over the past couple of days, with the festive spirit helped by a sprinkling of snow for many.

Catch up on a few blog posts I've recently crossed and if you've written up a tale about your Christmas in France feel free to leave a comment.

A tough 2009 for French tourism?

COULD the coming year be one of the most difficult the French tourism industry has ever faced, especially for small operators with gites and holiday homes?

A survey by the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) and the Foreign Office has found that many holidaymakers are turning their backs on Europe.

One of the key reasons is the fall in the value of sterling, meaning holidays to France and elsewhere in the Eurozone, are now seen as expensive.