fip

Yesterday in France, pretty much the entire country was on strike against proposed governmental reforms. I'm still surprised that a whole nation can respond like this and for me, there's always an 'unexpected day off school' feel about the whole thing. The strike extended to the radio, with the national stations all joining in.
I subsequently missed listening to one of the many things I love about France.. fip
Fip is a station which plays continual music, playing an inspired selection of 'jazz, blues, chanson francophone, pop-rock anglo-saxon et musique du monde' and much more..
There is always a sexy, breathy French woman introducing the music - which is kinda cool and gives it a very Frenchie feel.
Somehow the programming gets it just right and I find I can listen to it all day.

Here's an example of what was on between 8 and 9am this morning..

08:00 KASSE MADY DIABATE DOUGA DJABIRA
08:05 TRILOK GURTU DOUKHONTOU
08:09 FRANCIS CABREL DES HOMMES PAREILS
08:13 NAOSOL WHY
08:17 HENRY TORGUE/SERGE HOUPPIN LA FILLE DE WANG
08:19 GILBERT O SULLIVAN OOH BABY
08:23 F.E.R. FIP LOOP 2²
08:24 ENZO ENZO JUSTE QUELQU UN DE BIEN
08:28 MOLLY JOHNSON MEAN TO ME
08:32 ERIC LEGNINI TRASTEVERE
08:36 BOB DYLAN DREAMIN OF YOU
08:40 TEOFILO CHANTRE DES BLEUETS DANS LES BLES
08:43 BAU SEM PRETENSOES
08:45 LURA MARI D ASCENSON
08:50 F.E.R. FIP LOOP 2
08:51 BIRDPEN BREAKING PRECEDENT
08:55 ALAIN BASHUNG TANT DE NUITS
08:59 EASYDOOR WITH A CANDLE

The best thing is, you can listen to it anywhere online

ps. the above photo has nothing to do with this post!
I was going through my New Zealand images and remembered how much I love this view.

the birds

While we were staying in Auckland we went out to the west coast gannet colony at Muriwai. This is the rugged, wild, black sand western coastline of New Zealand. Very different from the swimmer friendly, golden sandy beaches of the eastern side.
We were lucky to be there on a very impressively stormy and blustery day. We were able to watch the gannets dive bomb fishing, bringing their catches back to their noisy chicks!

thank you

A huge thank you to Lily at Les Carnets du Design for her blog piece about my Life Books.

let them eat cake

We've been having the perfect excuse lately to eat cake!
In France around Epiphany, from the beginning of January in every boulangerie, you'll find Galettes des Rois. They come in 2 kinds.
The first is a brioche ring with glaced fruit and sugar on top and the second is a frangipane (an almond like paste) tarte.

Each cake has a lucky charm (une fève) inside. The person who finds the charm gets to wear a golden crown and choose their king or queen!

tagged

I've been tagged by the lovely natsumi for '6 things that make me smile'.
So here goes..
1. The view from the Astro Café, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand.
2. Walking in the New Zealand bush and smelling the forest.
3. Discovering new viaducts to cross.
4. Cinnamon buns and coffee at the Nordic Bakery in London.
5. The signs in the botanical gardens on Hong Kong island.
6. Nice mail.

I tag tinaskiwi

taxi!

While in Hong Kong I was reminded of how much I love their city taxis. There is something about them that reminds me of those 1960s saturated colour films.
Hong Kong's taxis are so cheerful and friendly looking with their boxy shape and lettering in both chinese and english.
The best cities have taxis that become icons - London's black cab, New York's yellow taxis.. Do you have any favourite city taxis?
I didn't take taxis growing up in New Zealand (there was no need) and so even now it's always a bit exciting to take one. For me taxis are usually associated with a special night out or visiting a new place - at any rate something a bit out of the ordinary and special.