April 19, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
The first thing I do when I get up in the morning, after converting to a new religion so I can pray to a different god not to let France follow the United States and Britain down a political rabbit … Read More
April 5, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
The first time I heard about the now-commonplace airport restrictions for carry-on liquids, I was already standing, beltless and shoeless, in front of a security agent at Orly. Nancy and I were flying to Spain for a short trip with … Read More
March 22, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
It was Samuel Johnson who said, in an essay on future U.S. presidents: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” If he were alive today, he would probably say, “Uhdv fnn glsh szzz frrs fffffj oooh mrrst.” Because, hey, … Read More
March 8, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
With the arrival of a new administration in the United States and a presidential election looming here in France, it’s difficult not to be thinking about politics. But somehow I manage. Lately I’ve been thinking instead about planned, or just … Read More
February 22, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
In the past few days, readers from all over the world, or my frontal lobe, have been writing in to ask, “David, have you seen anything strange in Paris recently?” To which I can only answer, “Should Adair buzz in … Read More
February 15, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
My wife Nancy used to be close friends with an American woman who had lived in Paris in the late 1940s and early ’50s. One day they were talking about what the city was like back then, and the older … Read More
February 8, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
For my most recent birthday, a friend gave me a bottle of a Pauillac grand cru classé from 1986. If you don’t have a friend like that, you should get one. It’s not the kind of wine that I drink … Read More
January 25, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
As though we didn’t have enough problems in Paris already, what with facing a cold snap, eyeing a presidential election in May and stomaching a surge in the rat population, now we have wolves roaming the streets. Or at least … Read More
January 11, 2017 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
I hate to say it, but if Paris and Rome were pitted against each other in an all-out, go-for-the-jugular cultural history smackdown, Rome would win. It’s true that Paris has the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, Notre Dame, 1.5 godzillion other … Read More
December 19, 2016 | By David Jaggard | C'est Ironique!
Like all people of any nationality, the French are associated with a number of stereotypes based more on assumptions than facts. The natives of my adopted country are supposedly great lovers and terrible soldiers, well dressed and ill mannered, with … Read More