Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Nov 07, 2009
Expat communities attract con-men. Spain's "Costa del Crime" was once a fraudster's preferred European hunting grounds but the noose is tightening there as Costa expats become more and more wary of shifty deals by foreigners. These days, Spanish authorities are less inclined to look the other way when one expat swindles another.
You don't have to
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Jun 14, 2009
In a comment to another post (EHIC/CEAM Play the right card!), MikeP voices scepticism about my suggestion in the title of this post.
I maintain that French health cover is cheap for the price. I have no doubts whatever about this -- which is a total ideological about turn for me and the conclusion of many years observation which have proved my
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
May 30, 2009
The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. So said Oscar Wilde. But we’d say it all depends on who’s doing the talking and where.
We’ve just seen a recent issue of The Independent on Sunday in which a Dom Joly writes that on a visit to the South of France he picked up “a curious little magazine called The Riviera
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Mar 19, 2009
It's March 2009 and 25 British cities have been added to the list of places visible on Google Street View. This prompted me to have a closer look at the benefits -- and potential dangers -- of GSV.
If Google Street View doesn't mean anything to you, here's how it works. Using your internet browser at www.maps.google.com key in a city then drag the
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Jan 01, 2009
We call pessimists "bears" and we call optimists "bulls" but why do we not have an animal name for realists? Maybe it's because reality is something no one ever wants to think about. But if we don't want to repeat the economic errors of the past two decades we had better start facing up to the fact that realists are always (and I mean ALWAYS)
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Nov 27, 2008
Photography isn't without its perils. I'm an enthusiastic photographer and I like to photograph people but sometimes they don't like me doing it so I get hassle. I hate hassle.
The worst case was when I happened by a country school in the UK and saw a couple of cute little girls making faces at each other in the playground. It was such a great shot
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Nov 09, 2008
Over 40 years ago Robert F. Kennedy predicted that within his children’s lifetime a black man would become president of the United States. He was the brother of another unlikely choice, John F Kennedy — the first Catholic to hold the highest office and an unlikely pick at the time. Only a few years before the election no one could have imagined
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Aug 16, 2008
Rural England is my escape pod, my bolthole, my favourite time-off destination. But I couldn't live there permanently.
I've been chatting over a pint with Mark for many years at my local in rural Buckinghamshire. He disappeared for a while and as no one brought it up, I just assumed he'd moved away.
The truth was more dismaying. Mark was in the
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Aug 15, 2008
As expats there are things that rile us about France and the French. We've been brought up in different environments where different social and practical rules apply and so we naturally think differently. It's not realistic to assume that a people whose backgound is so different from our own anglo-saxon model is going to align themselves to our
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Jul 19, 2008
If you're claustrophobic don't read this. Or maybe you should because it might make you feel less alone in your phobia and less of a cowardly fool or it might even give you an excuse to have a sarcastic giggle at my expense. Be my guest.
Recently, I've been having some upper back pain which extends down into my right arm, causes some mobility
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
Jul 17, 2008
My father was a war hero in a necessary war against Germany and Hitler. A real hero, not one of those gong seekers with fruit salad on their chest, scrambled egg on their caps and letters after their name but who never saw a day of battle. He was decorated by "Monty" himself for extreme bravery in action.
He is also a committed pacifist with a
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
May 31, 2008
Ok, I've gone all silent on you for a while. Honestly, there's just too much out there that enrages me. Too much hypocrisy, too much irrationality, too many lies. Too much to know what to go on about. Everywhere.
And also too many people with preconceived opinions about subjects they don't know anything about and haven't looked into further than
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
May 17, 2008
Sent by David Lloyd, by email
I have just read the comments made by Mike Walsh in your April/May edition and found them offensive, especially about women drivers (but also tank drivers as well).
I have driven in a lot of places around the world and I think that the driving here is the worst in Europe. A few years ago the annual death rate on French roads was 8000 (twice as much as in Britain). Now they have got it down but it’s still high. I ride a bike every day here and know from experience that the car that gets dangerously close to me is usually a 06 number plate driven by a man. Women are far more considerate (and cautious – not a bad thing here).
I find that you cannot second-guess the drivers and you have to drive very defensively. My brother is a taxi driver in London. When he was down he asked if we have the same classification here as in Britain, where you know from the number plate the age of the vehicle. I replied that we do have a way: if it the car hasn’t a scratch on it, it’s a week old and if it hasn’t a bump on it, it’s a month old.
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
May 15, 2008
A few days ago I was chatting with a lady in Mougins about the queue of private jets that were bringing the rich and famous to the Cannes Film Festival. "Look at that jet. No wonder the air is polluted. Soon the festival will begin and the bay will be full of yachts too and our Mediterranean will be contaminated as well. The rich and privileged
Posted by: Mike Meade in Uncategorised on
May 13, 2008
I got a personal email from Laura Bush the other day. The return URL was
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
and the subject was "Here is the Truth". Hmmm, seems that first ladies aren't what they used to be.
I found the promise of truth rather enticing, especially coming from the wife of a notorious liar, so I opened it and there was Laura's message
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