Thursday, 22 May 2008

Chapeau!

After many years of visiting France, and living here for two years, probably the most important advice I'd offer to prospective travellers in this fair land would be to avoid at all costs any foodstuffs contained in tins. Even if the contents of the tin, like the one I opened last night, are described as Filets de Poulet a la Normande at ses Petits Legumes, you can be sure that, after warming them through, you'll be left with an insipid vegetable broth, not dissimilar to Cuppa Soup, and some lumps of meat that could easily have originated in the same process that created my self-inflating camping mattress.

So, a big chapeau, I say, to the welcome global presence of McDonald's and its wonderful range of good, hearty food. Personally I'd recommend a tasty Croque McDo' and a portion of frites. And, after eating your fill of delicious food without a hint of escargot or the dreaded fromage de tete (a personal favourite of Anth Ginn), catch up with your email and keep your blog up-to-date with their generous free WIFI.

The only thing they don't do is decent cakes, but there's always that brilliant patisserie on the way home. That's where I'm going now. Here's today's pic from the forest:


Sunday, 18 May 2008

Online again

Sitting in La France Cafe, downtown F'bleau, marvelling at the wonders of WIFI. On the other hand, it's costing several Euros per hour for parking, plus 3 Euros per coffee while I'm writing this. I think I'll have to start composing posts offline and just connecting occasionally. Thus far, from the comfort of my camping chair outside my tent I've enjoyed the company of rabbits, woodpeckers, jays, red squirrels and, most fun to watch of all, little baby crows, pecking around at ground level under the watchful eye of their mum. It's been raining comme les chats et les chiens, so not much in the way of climbing so far. As soon as the sun comes out though...

Anyway, I'm signing off now before I spend all my money. A plus tard.

Wednesday, 14 May 2008

Lost in France

Occasional will be even more occasional for a while. I'm off to sling my hammock between a couple of trees in a French forest; I may be some time. Contact with the outside world will be courtesy of the strangely named Boingo, a roaming WIFI hotspot provider. So we'll see how it goes. I might be more prolific on my Facebook page. Meanwhile, from the days when racial stereotyping wasn't quite so frowned upon, this is good fun: