Columnists

Pigging Out

One of the problems of living in Hong Kong, though not everybody would see it as such, is that barely four weeks after one’s Christmas bells have fully jingled along comes Chinese New Year and another sizeable dollop of festive

En Marche! – March In The Morvan

La République En Marche ! is the political party founded by Emmanuel Macron. When something is en marche it is on the move. En Marche! was the title of my first French textbook in 1953. As I type Monsieur Macron

Pancakes And Valentines In The Morvan

Around the middle of January our local shops are full of pancake paraphernalia: crêpe pans, electric crêpe makers and free crêpe recipes appearing in the supermarkets. A little early for Pancake Tuesday, surely? Well, yes: they are in fact gearing

Bonne Année ! From Rural Burgundy

I am typing this on 30 December in the lull between festivities. First there was Le Réveillon on Christmas Eve, with champagne, foie gras and oysters. Christmas Day came and went, with turkey or goose and bûche de Noël and,

It’s All Greek to Me!

Okay, maybe not Greek but the subject of Chinese had me spouting similarly when I first landed in Asia many years ago, especially the written form which has remained a source of fascination not to mention great torment ever since.

Christmas In The Morvan

Advent, the traditional run-up to Christmas, begins on 1 December, but the big sales drive starts soon after La Toussaint on November 1. The Christmas market season starts on December 1. Here at Maré le Bas the dates to remember