Blogging in Paris

Catching up with the news at Living The Life in Saint-Aignan, I came across two new words. Two new words in a post aptly entitled More whinging and a comment!
It did look like whining, but I checked it out at the Free Online Dictionary, which gave

intr.v. whinged, whing·ing, whing·es Chiefly British
To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.

Now do you whinge, pronounced like hinge, or do you whinge like a wing? Had to go back to the Free Dictionary to get the answer and you whinge like a hinge!

As for grizzle, used in a comment by Chris, no satisfactory definition was found in the same dictionary so I googled it and came across acceptable definitions in Wordnet Search

# be in a huff; be silent or sullen
# whine: complain whiningly
# a grey wig

Obviously, the last definition is out!

Whinging or grizzling?

This week, I am off to Normandy for a couple of days and didn’t have much time to upload photos on to
flickr. So here is one of my older photos, which I took rue Royale., that goes from Madeleine to Concorde and which has some of Paris most expensive and fashionable shops. Like Lachaume, where you can buy very expensive flower arrangements, or Ladurée, famous for their macaroons.
I won’t give you Lachaume’s website as it just crashed my Firefox a couple of times.

To listen to this post in French, click below

Whenever I see a child on his/her dad’s shoulders, I remember the feelings of power and elation that I felt whenever my father carried me so. My father was quite tall for a man of his generation, and when I straddled his shoulders, I felt like the master of the universe!
This photo was taken when I was ten, well past the age of straddling anyone’s shoulders and although I don’t remember the details of the episode, let it suffice to say that the year following this photo, in 1955, my father suffered from a massive backache problem and was bedridden for months on end. He had a lumbar disc hernia which caused excruciating sciatic pain, and for months, they couldn’t decide whether he should undergo surgery or not.
So six years after I had been forced to lie in my parents’ bed for something that felt like ever, it was his turn. I remember this well, how my mother bought our first TV, a black and white set, of course. In those days, there were only a couple of hours of programmes every evening, and they showed the same ballet over and over, for TV sellers to be able to show their customers something, during the day.
My father couldn’t move at all, he was imprisoned in some sort of plaster corset and my mother had resumed her nursing duties. She was never feeling better that when she could look after one of us.

May 1st, – le 1er mai– , is a bank holiday in France –un jour férié–, and traditionally, people offer their family, friends or relatives a sprig of lily of the valley for good luck.
Although the weather was uncertain that day, I went for a walk and took a few photos.

Lily of the valley - muguet

Shops are closed

And on that day, anyone and everyone is allowed to sell lily of the valley on the street.

Selling lily of the valley

Either she just got her sprig, or they are going to offer it to some friends or relatives.

Just got hers!

And here’s some of mine

My back is killing me! For the first time in months!
Not the result of over-exercise, just the mismanagement of my heavy suitcase on my way back from Norwich.
This occurence sent me back to reading my mail and blogging. In my mail, had been sitting a nice comment from a new commenter, Susie Vereker.
As I had a look at her blog, in no time I had three new words.
The first one was OTT, obviously an acronym.
I found it reading a post entitled Failing to be French, had to consult the acronym dictionary and assumed it meant Over The Top, rather than Off The Truck or Ottawa, among the first three offerings.

One cupboard here contains the remains of my Paris clothes, all quite unsuitable and OTT for Hampshire

OTT?

I remembered one of the photos I took last year and thought it would be suitable to illustrate the acronym

Chic-lit review
Blogging about blogger Petite Anglaise who has just published a book, she wrote

Despite not being a WAG, she’s had wonderful media coverage for her book launch - even the FT has reviewed her - and the controversy amongst her readers can only help sales.

I did get the FT, or at least I hope so (Financial Times, is it?), but WAG puzzled me! It did look like an acronym, but the Acronym Finder made me wonder if I’d have to make a WAG (Wild Ass Guess) to figure it out; the fourth entry Wives and Girlfriends (of the English Football team) didn’t seem to make sense as I took it literally and Petite Anglaise isn’t a footballer’s wife, AFAIK.
So I resorted to The Urban Dictionary, recommended by my daughter and finally chose the Wife and girlfriend explanation. Was I right?