Monthly Archives: March 2012

I Love You And…

I’m not fond of graffiti since it blemishes the appearance of otherwise lovely buildings and walls, but I know some people regard it as artwork and we are all entitled to our own opinion about that. However, sometimes I do find the odd bit of sentimental, social, or political statement to be quite interesting and this piece of writing falls into that category. I saw this snippet of graffiti (which turned out to be funny in a rather wry way) on a wall in the old town section of Granville in Normandy, France.

French "I Love You" graffiti on a wall in Granville, Normandy, France

It translates via the online translator a bit too literally to read, “I love you and I’m bushed (or worn out)” — but if you read between the lines, so to speak, what I think it means is closer to “I love you and it’s wearing me out!”

One way or the other, it’s one of the few incidents of graffiti that we’ve seen in northern France!

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Need A Parking Space?

So — you live in a quaint French town full of gorgeous old stone houses on a one lane cobblestone street and you know that the painters and plasterers are coming to work in your home. How do you suppose that they will make certain that there is available parking right in front of the house which is on an uphill slope?

How tradesmen secure a parking space on a narrow, uphill, cobblestone street in France

That’s how! They simply take several large paint buckets and lay planks across them until they secure an area that is large enough to park the work van.

Voila! A very practical solution!

Censorship Is Alive And Well In PayPal’s Misguided Little Minds

Deviating from my normal posts about travel, history, or the issues involved in living as an expat, today I am addressing a situation that has just been brought to my attention by one of the publishers of my books.

I publish both of my books about spiritual growth, social and historical issues, and future visions in paper versions — The Dreamkeeper and the most recent book, Darkness Folding Inward, Light Emerging — at Lulu.

But I also publish both books in electronic versions at Smashwords — and I am quite concerned because Smashwords is under attack by PayPal right now.

I found it breathtaking that PayPal has decided that it was appropriate to be ‘content police’ on what is published at Smashwords. They have informed the head of Smashwords, Mark Coker, that unless all books are removed that contain what they consider to be objectionable material, they will cancel the PayPal account that enables authors like me who live in countries other than the USA to be paid our royalties.

This is simply insane on at least three fronts. (1) It would immediately bring the wonderful flow of artistic output from non-USA-writers to a halt since we would not be able to be paid for our book sales. (2) It penalises all Smashwords authors, even if we are not producing what the ‘thought police’ over at PayPal consider objectionable. (3) It sets up PayPal as the judge and jury of what the readers of the world are allowed to read. And what gives them that right???

I will begin to immediately participate in the online protests against this impending action by PayPal against Smashwords. I encourage all of my readers to read this article at Electronic Frontier Foundation and do the same.

Giving France A Chance

We did it! Mark’s paperwork is complete and he is now registered to work in France. And today I finally got the last of my own paperwork done and as of 3 PM this afternoon, I am legally a resident of France!

Carte Du Sejour application for French residency approved and number assigned!

I’ve intentionally kept the photo of my official paperwork small and unreadable for security’s sake. Within a week or so I’ll have a little laminated photo ID card to carry in my wallet instead of this larger piece of paper. But the happy news is that it’s done and we can move forward.

We’ve decided to give France a chance. So I’ll be posting some articles in the future that vary a bit from the travel writing because they will describe our efforts to settle in for awhile.

I think we’re about to be on a large learning curve!

A Thought-Provoking Museum in Normandy, France

The full-sized airplane hanging from the ceiling was an unexpected surprise in a place entitled the Caen Peace Memorial, but that was indeed the first thing that we saw as we entered the spacious entrance lobby.

This World War II plane, along with several tanks in one wing of the museum, are amongst the sprinkling of ‘hardware’ that accompany the more thought-provoking displays. This is a serious history museum and one that needs to be explored slowly. We hadn’t realised quite how comprehensive the before, during, between, and after the world wars examination would be.

World War II air power overhead at the Caen Peace Memorial museum in Normandy, France

It’s hard to conceive of how fraught with anxiety every day to day activity would have been under the German occupation or with bombs dropping on your home or workplace. We can try to imagine it fully, but that state of imagining would be simply inadequate.

Passing from zone to zone during wartime must have been quite unnerving.

There is nothing playful about this museum, but you will certainly leave here with a greater understanding of the social and political factors that led to both of the World Wars in Europe.

There is a decent cafe and a quite a nice bookstore and gift shop within the museum, so there is probably something for everyone. I highly recommend a full day out here.