Mar 15Our New Garden Is Helping Me GrowWhen we moved in to our home in the south of France, it came with a new responsibility. Learning how to deal with it is rewarding. Early March and there are daffodils in the garden. In the afternoon the sunshine is often warm enough for coffee outside, or at least…France4 min read
Published in Human Parts·Jan 22Why We Joined the Migration From the CityHow the pandemic helped us leave Paris and move to a small town in the South of France — It was the storks that made up my mind. I’m not sure what the others — my wife and son — were thinking at that moment, but after I’d watched the storks fly over, I knew we had to move down here. A year later, we owned a house on…France5 min read
Mar 26, 2021The Magpie Spring: A Lockdown StoryHow a family of corvids helped me cope with Covid. In the courtyard behind our apartment building in Paris there is a cherry tree. Tall and spindly, its uppermost branches are level with our kitchen window on the third floor — so close you can almost reach out and touch them. …Wildlife6 min read
Oct 20, 2020My One-Man Mission to Save Paris RestaurantsForced closures and dwindling resources threaten a vital element of the French way of life. This writer is taking it personally. “They’re going to kill us, in any case,” says Pascal, his mask hanging like a bandage at his throat, as if it’s already been cut. “It was difficult to…Paris5 min read
May 12, 2020I’ve been an Englishman in Paris for 20 years. Here’s what I’ve learned.In May 2000 my life changed for good. — I was 32 years old when I got the email that brought me to France. By then the course of my life looked pretty much circumscribed. …Paris6 min read
Aug 22, 2019Bonding With My FatherMy dad died this year, but his legacy was an immortal hero. When the name of the new James Bond movie was announced this week, I felt — as Ian Fleming might have written — a sharp stab of pain in my abdomen. Not because of the name itself: in fact, No Time To Die almost sounds like a pastiche of a…James Bond4 min read
Oct 10, 2018The French Art of SwimmingFinding characters and a kind of therapy in the quirky pools of Paris. If you get there early enough — and I nearly always do — you can be first into the water. …Swimming4 min read
Aug 23, 2018What I learned From My Wife’s Breast Cancer JourneyI was standing in line at airport security at Berlin Brandenburg when I got the call. As soon as I saw my wife’s name on the screen, I answered. She rarely calls cold like that — almost always sends a text. …Cancer6 min read
