In many parts of the world, November is Movember, a time to grow a moustache to raise awareness of men’s health. In Marseille though, November actually seems to be Mowvember. While only off by one letter, it is fundamentally different. Here during Mowvember, it is time to cut and prune and shave every branch,…

My mother-in-law, Lydia, has lived for a few years now in a Jewish retirement residence in Nice called La Colline. That said, I refer to it as Baycrest Sur Mer in homage to Baycrest, the Toronto Jewish retirement residence on Bathurst. I could alternatively call it “Baycrest with a View”. Janny and I go often…

Yesterday, on Remembrance Day, I attended the Mazargues Commonwealth War Cemetery. I was the only one there. At 1100 am, I played The Last Post from my phone. I stopped at the grave of Lt. Greenberg of the SAAF. I had been at his grave before. He died at 28 in a plane crash while…

Driving in France is bad enough, but parking is a whole other story. It is impossible. I am anxious enough about driving in this country in the first place (I am generally not an anxious driver) but it is the thought about parking that puts me over the top. At the thought of going out…