francofiled

Out for a walk today I came upon my latest French discovery - a repurposed vintage Citroën Type H commercial van.  Love it! Painted blue with white bumpers, all that was missing was a splash of red upfront to confirm its distinctive Frenchness. The branded chevrons at the front weren't immediately obvious but that corrugated metal surround is a distinctive feature.   I'm sure that you, too, will have seen similar vans while out and about. Since they stopped being manufactured in 1981 restored and converted versions pop-up in loads of places these days pressed into new life as coffee docks in parks, drinks outlets at events and even catering outlets along roadsides. Built for commercial use, those grab handles and footplates to help the driver climb into the cab are surely as practical now as they ever have been. I wonder when importing them became a thing.  The "plaque de l'immatriculation" - the licence plate for the vehicle includes the number 49 at the end.  ...

The Cher comes to Belfast! Having spent a year living in Vierzon, in France's Centre-Val de Loire region, I feel a strong connection to the Cher department and the Loire Valley more generally. This part of France is famed for its châteaux and its wines particularly Sauvignon Blanc, and Chenin Blanc. I visited several times over the decades, but recently, the Cher came to Belfast in the persons of winemaker, Thierry Delaunay, and his wife, Marie. They brought 9 of their wines with them, to Direct Wine Shipments (DWS), for a meet the wine maker tasting, organised by DWS.  There was a large crowd of wine enthusiasts, and the air bubbled with conversations and excitement. Making our way up the stairs we each received a welcome glass of sparkling wine at the top before a member of staff assigned everyone to their place in the tasting room. I had gone on my own but soon our table was a buzz of conviviality, fellow tasters swapping names and sharing wine adventures. A handbell sounded ou...

Want one of these!  A French friend brought one of these back from Nice for her young son. He had such fun with it. A mechanical cicada that makes that nostalgic sound characteristic of warm summer evenings in the south of France. She told me that it was available online and I placed an order.  Full of expectation that with some bright lights, a bunch of lavender and a glass of pastis...that winter would be that little bit shorter. Ah, not to be. Yes the cicada arrived but not at all the mechanical version I was expecting. Something of much poorer quality. The other cicada's lavender is always bluer.

................ Alex ................ By Pierre LEMAITRE Translated by Frank WYNNE Maclehose Press, 2013 ISBN: 978-0-85705-626-9 This was a real page turner of a book from Pierre LEMAITRE, whose literary talents were recognised through the award of the Prix Goncourt for another of his works - The Great Swindle.  The book was translated from French by Frank WYNNE and published by Maclehose - the same publisher who brought us Karim Miské's Arab Jazz. Alex is the second in a series which features the superbly drawn character of a diminutive Commandant Camille Verhœven (a talented artist himself) and the equally well crafted characters of his team at the Brigade Criminelle in Paris. I've read  Alex  out of sequence but it was nonetheless a great read, recapping aspects of the previous book,  Irè ne  and anticipating the third instalment,  Camille. Look, there are no spoilers here...except to say there are twists and turns tha...

The Friend at Hand is more than just an Irish Whiskey shop in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter, it is also an emporium that houses a vast array of whiskeys and whiskey memorabilia; legacies of a bygone time which are definitely not for sale, providing instead a visible, authentic record of the many distilleries around the city in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Among the items on display was the framed telegraph request pictured above. Found in Belfast That evocative word - Cognac   - near the top of the page caught my eye and, interest aroused, I noted the date: 8 August 1891. 1891 - This is a remarkably well preserved document but I wondered what on earth was an order for brandy doing as a display item in a whiskey store.  I set about finding out.  The telegraph as you can see was addressed to a company in Cognac.  This lead me to an internet search but my initial queries on Bouhelleau or Bonhelleau and other variants returned zero results. The solution la...

  I find it hard to part with books and have several old texts from my school days. One such is a book of French Translation Passages. It dates from the late 1960s and when I found it again recently I flicked through to an extract that has come to mind several times over the years since. I have the book beside me now, open at Passage #42, relating to the writer, Anatole France . The extract appeals to me. In summary it refers to a charming, greying man, nearly 70 but with a young disposition. Someone whose age suited him and who in the salon preferred to give way rather than argue. Described as a seductive speaker, drawing on literary references, he disliked stubborn, argumentative people, saying about them : - They think it is important to be right! That sounds to me now like good role model behaviour. I wonder if I also thought that as the 17-year old translating the piece for the first time. As I engaged in the lengthy, technical process of translation back then I wonder if thos...