There is much to love about living an expat life, but one thing that is really hard that family members and close friends are so far away. It is hard to comprehend just how difficult communication over long distances must have been before the internet age. Living as I do in an area that was … Read more
The process of buying a house in your own country is stressful enough. So add the complications of having to learn new house and bank related vocabulary in another language, figuring out the different laws and processes, plus the fact that in Spain there are a lot of corrupt money thieving estate agents, then there’s … Read more
Bernice landed herself a full time job with a Nigerian Internet start-up six months after arriving in Lagos; Susan was the (volunteer) 2015 Chairwoman of Small World, the massive yearly event that raises thousands of dollars for charities around Lagos; Gill came here with the intention of taking a break from her HR career, but … Read more
I enjoy cooking, but I leave bread-making to the professionals. We were given a bread machine when we lived in Suffolk and John occasionally made herb bread for parties. Soon after we arrived in the Morvan, however, we lost one of the paddles and never bothered to try to replace it. There is no incentive, … Read more
Spring has arrived in Stockholm and while that means more sunshine (hello 4am !) and slightly warmer days it also means noise – and lots of it. Stockholm, for as long as I’ve lived here, has seemingly been under permanent construction. More than twenty years ago, during my first stint in the city, the lovely … Read more
A few years ago, in pre-children days, I went travelling around the world. I was a little older than your average back-packer (29 when I left, 30 when I returned) but nevertheless followed a typical backpacker route through Hong Kong, to Australia and on to New Zealand. To be honest, despite my, err hum, advanced … Read more
The continuing adventures of June Finnigan, her Man, and Farty Barty the cat. The first week of April was enormously satisfying for me as my new novel The Bolivian Connection finally went live! This novel is part two of the series ‘The Continuing Adventures of Joanna Wilde,’ part one being My Father, The Assassin. A … Read more
MY ITALIAN PRINCE HAS BEEN won over! He has unexpectedly received the most unlikely news: the furniture-making shop that employs him is moving to a new location an hour and half away. Not having the inner demons of retirement charts to contend with, he agrees to take a year off and go to Italy. His … Read more
Portugal is a unique place to live. It offers artistry, warmth and opportunity for new discovery. Finding a New Artistic Voice Yesterday I had the pleasure of singing with the Bandalhos band for a birthday bash of a dear friend. At the onset of joining this band I was a bit intimidated because rock music … Read more
I have almost finished compiling Murmurs from the Morvan, a miscellany of articles about our life in this beautiful corner of Burgundy. I have drawn on my Expat Focus pieces and my articles in the Daily Telegraph Expat section, and added a wealth of new material. I hope to publish this book in aid of … Read more