I stayed a week in Rueil Malmaison, which is where Napoleon lived once upon a time, and happily it began to snow not long after I got there. Days of snowy whiteness, cars buried under inches of that marvellous cold stuff. Wandering amongst it, I relished the thought that it was in Paris where first I saw snow. I was staying with a family of four, looking after two kids, aged 2 and 5. If I hadnt been in Paris I think I would have felt pretty lousy, as the family w...

I had a few more days of London venturing before I flew to Poitiers. London felt familiar and homely, on ,my second visit there, and I really didn't want to leave, but the prospect of France eased my remorse, with excited jitters and cheese and wine soaked thoughts.So I went to stay with the Svarc family, and gave my tired suitcase a rest. They were all I could have hoped for, French to the core. They lived in a little town called Bagnizeau, in a massive old farm...

In Bordeaux I found my future home. A city on the river, with light and a feeling of immense space and airiness. It seemed like a city I could live in, and maybe one day I will. I went there on my last day with the Svarcs, and it was a short hour and a half drive, with the children arguing around me as I sat wedged in between their happy bickering. I caught the tram with Arthur and Marie and saw some of Bordeaux's finery, before heading over to the markets. Stal...