Dear Funsters,
Welcome to the twentieth edition of my newsletter! While it is still no closer to being monthly and still no closer to having a defined purpose, I firmly believe that this is one of the top 63 best occasional, unfocused and bemused newsletters to be produced by a London-born Croat in France today. Don’t agree? Prove it!
Right, without further ado (and certainly not enough ado to allow Christian Payne to remind me that I’ve not done a newsletter for a while), let’s dive straight into this edition’s topics!
What I’ve been up to
What I’m going to be up to
Stupidity from Facebook
…and more!
So, buckle up, buttercups! It’s gonna be a blast bu
James
It’s that time of year!
It so often is that time of year! But, for me, it’s that time when Content Supremo, Christian Payne (better known as Documentally) comes to Paris to teach content creation on the course that I run. I look forward to this for a number of reasons (and not just for the sharp kick-up-the-arse that I get to coax me to write another newsletter, dear reader! Oh no!). The main reason is that, when you are dealing with really creative people, you can never be sure quite what is about to happen and what is going to be created.
We came up with something new for this year - a sort of photowalk (but without the media constraint of it being photos). The idea was to entice the students to see their surroundings differently and to ignite the instinct to capture what was going on.
We spent the day, with the students, in the Musée des Arts et Métiers and the Centre Pompidou - and took a LOT of photos. Here are just some!
If you ever find yourself teaching in Paris, I would strongly recommend contacting some of the big museums and galleries as they have some excellent discounted rates for student groups…
Just one complaint…
I am not sure how I felt to be looking around a museum and finding two things - one from my childhood and one from my adolescence - in a display cabinet of genuinely historical stuff.
I just don’t feel ready to face the reality of what this means!
Croatia - here I come!
In a typically last-minute decision, I’m off to Croatia with the co-pilot (for those who followed the adventures with the EV a while back). This time, we’re going to do the whole thing by train!
Brittany > Paris > Zurich > Zagreb > Munich > Paris > Brittany
I’m going to work out a way to let you join us, virtually, on our journey! Details of that will be posted here at some point.
Regular readers will know that this is going to be a special trip for me - as it is not only just my third time going to Croatia, it is my first time going there as a Croatian citizen. Which is massively exciting… but I need to work out how I am going to explain that I am a citizen that cannot (yet) speak Croatian… That’s going to take some explaining!
It’s time to give that lovely new blue passport a test!
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Click the button and tell your chums that they too could enjoy a not-quite monthly newsletter about all sorts of stuff… If you could explain it better, that’d be great!! :)
Things You Never Thought You’d Do #874 : Registering your own birth
In the process of registering my children as Croatian citizens, I am required (sort of - but for the purposes of this newsletter, go with it!) to register our marriage with the Croatian state. If we’d thought all this through at the time, we’d probably have come up with something simpler than having to register the Icelandic marriage of two Britons, one of whom is now Croatian, in Croatia… but hindsight…!
During various discussions, it was suggested that it would be much simpler for me to also register my own birth in Croatia now that Britain has decided to be odd.
The reasoning is that, as things currently stand, if I need a birth certificate for official purposes, I have to apply for one from the UK and have it apostilled (and potentially translated too) but, as soon as I have it registered in Croatia, I can apply for a Croatian birth certificate and use that instead, without the formalities in most cases.
So, here I am, registering my birth at 49 years old!
So many Brexit benefits…
Accurate
This will always be my favourite movie description. Everyone else can stop trying.
Congratulations to…
…two friends in the UK - one who has gained Irish citizenship and one who has gained Maltese citizenship since the last newsletter. I think two in the space of one newsletter is a record!
Have any more of you made the jump? Let me know!
MetaStupidity from Facebook
I have received a warning from Facebook. If I offend again, I shall face consequences. Stern consequences!
My crime? Spreading Fake News!
I know, right? But it gets worse…
I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to…
No!
Wait!
In for a penny, in for a pound, eh?
Want to see what I posted? Dare I share my lies again? … Of course I will!
Let me translate it for you. “ALERT: From 15 October, Enedis [The French energy company] will be able to cut the electricity of private homes during football matches, just to piss them off.”
Billions of dollars of top tech has decided that this is fake news.
Satire isn’t dead. It’s just being suppressed by a Poundland algorithm.
Coffee Corner
Regular readers will know that this newsletter is free and I am to keep it like that with the appeal for you to buy me an occasional coffee. In return, not only do I deliver these newsletters but I also give a shout-out to those who have kindly bought me a coffee and also show you a selection of the coffees bought.
This week’s coffee was special. It came from Le Café by Alain Ducasse at La Canopée (Rue Rambuteau - but it’s easier to explain as being opposite the Lego Store in Les Halles).
Why was it special? Well, it was the strongest coffee that I have ever drunk.
And when I say ‘the strongest coffee that I have ever drunk’, I mean that my tongue tingled and went a bit numb.
I’m still trying to work out whether I enjoyed it. Genuinely.
It wasn’t the easiest thing to drink but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant. And, while I recognise that ‘it wasn’t entirely unpleasant’ probably won’t make it on to the marketing materials, it might have been good.
It’s been over 24 hours and I still don’t know.
Certainly an experience…
That’s all for now…
…there are bags to pack and things to arrange! Lots and lots of things! Especially, how best to share the journey across Europe. I’m going to be using my Twitter Circle for some of it but I’m trying to work out whether there will be more somewhere. Who knows?
Until then, stay safe everyone!
James x
1. Musee des Arts et Metiers is one of my favourite museums in Paris. I managed to convince them I was a teacher so they gave me the discount even though I didn't have any students with me.
2. I so hope you share much, much, much of your Croatia trip.
3. I would love to take Estonian citizenship, but the Eesti government requires that I renounce my US to do so. I have no problem with that except - The F-ing US demands a whopping $2380 to do so and on a pensioners mite this is am impossibility. Bloody greedy basturds!
Hope your autumn is wonderful,
Martha