IT TAKES extra helpings of courage and ingenuity to convert an old Citroën garage into a restaurant. For many years M. Planès had run his repair shop in a solidly built and capacious shed, the sort of thing the French call un hanga
YOU'VE GOT two minutes. Two minutes to write down all the French words you can think of that we use in ordinary everyday English speech. Nonsense, there are hundreds of them. You've got pencil, paper and watch? Right, head down and off you go.
Read more: Christopher Campbell-Howes asks you to take his word for it . . .
BY THE time you read this you'll know the answer: did France vote oui or non for the European constitution?
A few days ahead of the vote it's impossible to say which way it might go. I wouldn't stick my head out that far. I'm always wrong a
Read more: Christopher Campbell-Howes declines all responsibility . . .
IS DESERT Island Discs still on the go? You know, the radio programme where the guests are invited to list the music they'd take with them if they were in for a long stay on a desert island? Years ago I used to listen to it occasionally when it wa
Read more: Christopher Campbell-Howes gets nostalgic about school dinners . . .
PLACE: The village. One of France's most beautiful. It's official. As you drive into the village there are plaques reading Un des Plus Beaux Villages de France. There are only 143 others in all France.
OCCASION: The annual conventi
Read more: Christopher Campbell-Howes tries to keep time . . .
Service d'été, they call it, summer timetable. It comes in about May and lasts until la rentrée in early September, when summer holidays end and the schools go back. Service d'été means
Read more: Christopher Campbell-Howes' siesta is interrupted . . .
The voice on the telphone said Venez déjeuner, monsieur. Come for breakfast. We like to finish each job with a meal. It's just a little custom we have. Please join us. We'll expect you about 7.30. D'accord?
Read more: Christopher Campbell-Howes gets a little vitrified . . .