Bicycle visibility

Darkness is here: Visibility for biking and pedestrians

" ' Dans les jours qui suivent le changement d’heure, le nombre de morts parmi les piétons augmente de 42 %, entre 17 heures et 19 heures ', ajoute la Sécurité routière. " Quote from Le Parisien 26 October 2024

The months of "darkness", October through January, are the deadliest for pedestrians and bicylcists as busy traffic during commuting times takes place after sunset. In particular there is a 42% increase in fatalities right after daylight savings time ends. When daylight savings time ends and you have daylight from only 8 am to 4 pm there's a lot of bike riding and walking that is done in the dark. How can you put the odds of being seen on your side? Wear light colored and reflective clothing. According to highway security if you wear black you are visible at a distance of 20 meters, with reflective clothing you can be visible at a distance of 150m. That makes a huge difference…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 17 novembre 2025
  • 1

Planète Gascogne by Perry Taylor

If you are headed to south west France for your summer vacation or if you've already been smitten by the area or if you appreciate rural France you'll get a kick out of the drawings by Perry Taylor - as he interprets life in Gascony through a whimsical British lens.

Perry Taylor was born in Oxford, England. He was a graphic designer and art director at design studios and advertising agencies in London and Amsterdam for 25 years. He now lives with his wife and chickens in the Hautes-Pyrénées, at the edge of the Gers. The tender and amusing observations of this renowned ‘Anglo-Gascon’ artist, capture the spirit of South West France in his warm and witty drawings, that always contain mischievous details of the locals, their lifestyle, culture, heritage and sports. Drawn in Indian ink and watercolor, his pen strokes provoke smiles from the French, who recognize themselves, as well as the international visitors who have discovered this special part of …

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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 15 juillet 2020
  • 0

Smoke detector countdown

  We have had a smoke detector in our suburban Paris home for many years – it seems “normal” to me, but I realized how unusual its actually was when my housekeeper reported a mouse sound coming from the landing one day while we were on a trip. Thinking that we probably didn't have mice, but not wanting this sound to go without investigation I asked a neighbor to stop by. They couldn't figure it out. The next week my housekeeper saw nothing new and yet heard the peep again. I was quite perplexed, but since there were no other signs I did not pursue the matter. Upon arriving at home and going upstairs I immediately heard the beep of the the smoke detector reminding us to change an expiring battery. A few mintues later I burst out laughing as I realized that the smoke detector was the mouse. The incident made me realize that smoke detectors were not very common. In fact, in France only two percent of homes are fitted with detectors as opposed to 97 percent in Norway and…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 6 avril 2015
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