On Saturday 6th March, a cold but sunny morning,  the Annual Walkathon for the Ecole Mediterraneenne de Chiens Guides D’Aveugles in Biot (Guide Dogs for the Blind) took place in Sophia Antipolis.

It was encouraging to see how many participants and helpers turned up, and although the final amount raised from the sponsored walkers...
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… and make a date for March 24th in Lorgues

A local radio station promotes itself as “the sound track to the good life” and then defines that in terms of flash cars and yachts ... and yada, yada, yada. As Peter Massey of the Ark (www.arkpastoralcare.org) puts it, “Of course, most people are happy enough here most of the...
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Patrick Middleton recalls “a man of subtle intelligence and complex character”

The look of the man alone would have discouraged those summer scroungers who climbed the stairs to the consular office on rue Paradis. At first glance he may have seemed almost a cartoon version of a retired British officer but...
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The Second World War began just after eleven o’clock in the morning on September 3rd, 1939 when Neville Chamberlain made that famous broadcast – who hasn’t heard the clip a dozen times? – from “the Kebnit Room” at number Ten Downing Street announcing that Britain was “at war with Germany”. Paris lined up with London six hours later. Then, of...
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Laura Ciocan offers a new take on an old privilege.

That Monaco is crowded with celebrities is no piece of news. Since 1869, when the personal income tax policy became favorable, Monaco attracted very many individuals with high net income, such as movie stars, sporting stars etc. who became residents of the...
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Not everyone agrees with the direction Morris Communications has taken Riviera Radio. Many residents would like a less flashy approach and a return to the community station it was until a decade ago. But whatever its chosen path in these trouble times, a media concern in difficulty gets our sympathy.

It hasn’t always...
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When Stephen Roche was growing up in Dublin cars were much more rare than in recent times and his parents cycled everywhere. “So I wanted a bike and when I got it I just loved riding it.” In fact he showed a natural talent for handling two wheels and by his late teens was competing in events as an amateur. “I even got to the Moscow Olympics and...
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Brits are attracted to living in France, says Marie-Martine Aguer, who has been studying their motivations, in part by what they think of as a traditional rural landscape and way of life which has largely disappeared from the UK. But this countryside they see as part of “an eternal France” is, we are assured by Graham Robb in The Discovery...
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This feature has largely assumed that local candidates will have been in one of our international schools. But what of pupils who are in the French system? They will have benefited from the usually high academic standards of the lycée but there are notable disadvantages in their situation.

- Their English (especially written)...
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This time round Phil Heinlein devotes his column entirely to this one subject

Some time back Dave Shilling wrote to me from the Var to ask how he should set about planning his daughter's post-secondary education. At the time she was just fourteen and wanted to go to college in the US. Dave had heard from other...
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Okay, another allusion that's an age give-away but I needed a title for this item about US college entrance for expat kids. I devoted a whole article to the subject some time ago (see Reporter 119) but I still get questions about it. Recently the newsletter of the Paris-based Association of American Wives of Europeans (AAWE) carried an...
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UK television loves stories of British expats whose dream of a new life in France has turned sour. And they exist. But there are many others who settle in well like Tim and Pam Copeman in Sospel. They talked to Patrick Middleton

“Some people,” said Tim, “will tell you they were absolutely fed up with England...
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Of Brits living abroad who are qualified to vote in general elections fewer than one per cent actually do so. Why? Patrick Middleton explored the subject together with Francis Maude, MP, until recently Chairman of the Conservative Party and now a leading planner of Tory election strategy

“Polls come and...
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Thinking of getting married this year? It's a good idea to get some expert advice. Cressida van Zyl-Pithey explains

Whether you'll hear bells at church or just traffic noise outside the mairie with no religious ceremony to follow you'll be excited on the great day. Afterwards - soon afterwards -...
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For some years that was the cry raised by environmentalists, opposing the sale of millions of “natural” Christmas trees every December. This year over one French household in five will have its tree and most likely the figure is higher for English speaking homes here. After all, the Germans started the custom of having a Weihnachtsbaum...
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In political circles Economy Minister Christine Lagarde  is known as “Madame TVB” – that’s for “Tout va bien” (or “Everything’s okay”) – with her insistent optimism. She doesn’t convince most of us as we see prices rising all the time (a 10 per cent hike in the cost of cigarettes is likely in January, by the way – that will mean...
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As an architect who is actively involved in earthquake preparedness and response training in Seattle, Washington. I read with interest “Where the earth has moved, it will move again” article in the August/September Reporter. I am writing to send you the earthquake survival sheet distributed by the City of Seattle for their...
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A few days into April newspapers and TV screens offered us fearful images of the Aquila earthquake, not all that far away in Italy. So could it happen here? Yes, reply the seismologists, but they don’t know when.

The basic fact is that this area lies on a fault line running from North Africa under the Mediterranean into Italy. That’s...
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Expats usually come here with memories of how they celebrated back home and then they see how their French neighbours do so. A survey in the west of France a couple of years ago found that Brits living there divided into three groups: some 15% said they went for an all-English Dickensian Yuletide, about the same number – involved in mixed...
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Recently I have had to renew my British passport, so I thought it might be helpful if I passed on my experience.



First of all, don't forget that some countries (eg USA) require a passport that has at least six months left before expiry. The British Consulate automatically credits you with any remaining time...
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After recently having had the distressing experience of our bank card details being stolen and used by the thief to make internet purchases, other Members might be interested to know that, upsetting though these events are, there can be a happy ending.  

We would have remained blissfully ignorant of the fraud until receiving our...
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Bank holidays for 2010 in France