Living in France, le blog

Before the first round of the 2012 French presidential election, I made the suggestion that this contest had grown tiresome and predictable, and it had. The results of the first vote, however, have injected some much-needed piss n' vinegar into the whole affair.

True, the pioneer European urban trail race is still experiencing some growing pains; however, the 2012 edition was nevertheless a day to remember.

Winter finally came to Lyon. It's been too cold and windy to do much outside, and one can only amuse oneself for so long looking out the window and making fun of people who refuse to buy hats and gloves for the ten days a year that the temperature stays below freezing. What to do?

Cook warm, delicious, fattening things! Duh.

As a contentious Republican presidential nomination process finally moves into its endgame, Newt Gingrich pulls out his trusty French-bashing niblick and uses it on...fellow conservative Mitt Romney?

Being an American man in France is challenging in many ways, but perhaps nothing is more unsettling than being surrounded by men who seem to have been born with the ability to match a silk scarf to their socks. And everything else in between. Still, even these guys have a few things to be embarrassed about. It's time to speak out.

While headlines urgently proclaim that foreigners in France will soon have the right to vote in local elections—and while right-wing types wave their baguettes in protest—the truth is that we're no closer to voting now than we were before the proposition was passed. And I thought the American law-making process was banjaxed...

It seems that Tony Parker's tenure in ASVEL green will be sadly cut short.

Zut alors. For a few glorious weeks, it really looked like the billionaire vs. millionaire pissing match that was the NBA lockout was going to last the whole season. Would've served them right.

Would've served me right, too.

The European debt crisis, a radical change of leadership in Greece, the end of the Berlusconi era in Italy, the perma-deadlock in Belgian government, borderline fascists running the show in Switzerland...as this expat feels the European earth shifting beneath him, he's been thinking about what it means to be European, and in turn what that means in terms of the current mess.

He's not liking what he sees at all.

So like, big deal, right?