Jump to content

Recommended Posts

The UN has nominated some days to celebrate its official languages and is kicking off with International French Language day, which is being celebrated in Central London on March 17th, right under Admiral Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square, with a free concert.


International English language day will be on April 23rd (Shakespeare's birthday)and 6th June, the birthday of Aleksandr Pushkin, will be Russian day. Spanish day is in October and the Chinese day hasn't been agreed yet.


It would be nice to do something locally. A guided walk around the area in French and English to highlight French connections has been suggested for the 17th, the only problem is knowing whether there are any? Would be grateful to hear from anyone who knows. Thanks.

I know what you mean Minder. I would have thought it should be 14 July for a celebration of the French language anyway, since that's the French national day and also is an important symbolic date for the independence of many Francophone countries.


The official date they have chosen is March 20, but in London the French govt is paying for a party on the Saturday, 17th. Possibly a good day to be French-Irish. Apparently 20 March was chosen by a group of American teachers of French, originally. You can imagine that they aren't allowed to mention Bastille Day in the US. Perhaps if anyone says the word "revolution" in US schools they get locked up for being socialistic.


I like the idea of the food trail, but I don't know whether the French cafe is ever so French, is it? - although the coffee is quite nice.

Yes, Languagelounger, I wouldn't have know that 14th July is the French national day. I suppose we just associate it with American Independence Day!


Oh well, good to know the French government are paying for the party on the 17th! Why should we in these times of recession?

minder Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Yes, Languagelounger, I wouldn't have know that

> 14th July is the French national day. I suppose

> we just associate it with American Independence

> Day!


Erm, thats the 4th July! You may more familiar with the 14th of July as my birthday - I always think thats its lovely how a significant part of Europe takes the day of work just to throw me a party. :)-D

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Not miserable at all! I feel the same and also want to complain to the council but not sure who or where best to aim it at? I have flagged it with our local MP and one Southwark councillor previously but only verbally when discussing other things and didn’t get anywhere other than them agreeing it was very frustrating etc. but would love to do something on paper. I think they’ve been pretty much every night for the last couple of weeks and my cat is hating it! As am I !
    • That is also a Young's pub, like The Cherry Tree. However fantastic the menu looks, you might want to ask exactly who will cook the food on the day, and how. Also, if  there is Christmas pudding on the menu, you might want to ask how that will be cooked, and whether it will look and/or taste anything like the Christmas puddings you have had in the past.
    • This reminds me of a situation a few years ago when a mate's Dad was coming down and fancied Franklin's for Christmas Day. He'd been there once, in September, and loved it. Obviously, they're far too tuned in to do it, so having looked around, £100 per head was pretty standard for fairly average pubs around here. That is ridiculous. I'd go with Penguin's idea; one of the best Christmas Day lunches I've ever had was at the Lahore Kebab House in Whitechapel. And it was BYO. After a couple of Guinness outside Franklin's, we decided £100 for four people was the absolute maximum, but it had to be done in the style of Franklin's and sourced within walking distance of The Gowlett. All the supermarkets knock themselves out on veg as a loss leader - particularly anything festive - and the Afghani lads on Rye Lane are brilliant for more esoteric stuff and spices, so it really doesn't need to be pricey. Here's what we came up with. It was considerably less than £100 for four. Bread & Butter (Lidl & Lurpak on offer at Iceland) Mersea Oysters (Sopers) Parsnip & Potato Soup ( I think they were both less than 20 pence a kilo at Morrisons) Smoked mackerel, Jerseys, watercress & radish (Sopers) Rolled turkey breast joint (£7.95 from Iceland) Roast Duck (two for £12 at Lidl) Mash  Carrots, star anise, butter emulsion. Stir-fried Brussels, bacon, chestnuts and Worcestershire sauce.(Lidl) Clementine and limoncello granita (all from Lidl) Stollen (Lidl) Stichelton, Cornish Cruncher, Stinking Bishop. (Marks & Sparks) There was a couple of lessons to learn: Don't freeze mash. It breaks down the cellular structure and ends up more like a French pomme purée. I renamed it 'Pomme Mikael Silvestre' after my favourite French centre-half cum left back and got away with it, but if you're not amongst football fans you may not be so lucky. Tasted great, looked like shit. Don't take the clementine granita out of the freezer too early, particularly if you've overdone it on the limoncello. It melts quickly and someone will suggest snorting it. The sugar really sticks your nostrils together on Boxing Day. Speaking of 'lost' Christmases past, John Lewis have hijacked Alison Limerick's 'Where Love Lives' for their new advert. Bastards. But not a bad ad.   Beansprout, I have a massive steel pot I bought from a Nigerian place on Choumert Road many years ago. It could do with a work out. I'm quite prepared to make a huge, spicy parsnip soup for anyone who fancies it and a few carols.  
    • Nothing to do with the topic of this thread, but I have to say, I think it is quite untrue that people don't make human contact in cities. Just locally, there are street parties, road WhatsApp groups, one street I know near here hires a coach and everyone in the street goes to the seaside every year! There are lots of neighbourhood groups on Facebook, where people look out for each other and help each other. In my experience people chat to strangers on public transport, in shops, waiting in queues etc. To the best of my knowledge the forum does not need donations to keep it going. It contains paid ads, which hopefully helps Joe,  the very excellent admin,  to keep it up and running. And as for a house being broken into, that could happen anywhere. I knew a village in Devon where a whole row of houses was burgled one night in the eighties. Sorry to continue the off topic conversation when the poor OP was just trying to find out who was open for lunch on Christmas Day!
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...