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Euronews
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Write, seal, and wait: A letter café arrives in Paris
ADVERTISEMENT I have written, in a rough estimate, several hundred letters in my life. Between elderly relatives predisposed to using pen and paper, and far-flung pen-pal paramours, the decade of my twenties was largely taken up with a firm dedication to hard-copy correspondence. The romanticism and endurance of those letters are palpable; no email, text message, or even phone call has the emotional legs of a handwritten note, however short or trivial it may seem at the time of sending. There is a spirit inherent in the work itself, arriving in its sealed package, able to be studied again and again, each reading offering the possibility of new interpretation and deeper meaning. John Donne, writing to diplomat Sir Henry Wotton, declared that 'more than kisses, letters mingle souls.' And like a kiss, a letter carries an element of risk. Will it arrive safely? Will my old-fashioned intentions be taken on faith? Will my words find purchase in a week, a month, a year? There is a fatalism in dropping that paper into the mail slot, to be passed through dozens of hands before reaching its destination. In a moment of historically speedy communication, letter-writing bears the watermark of thoughtfulness, permanence, and trust that the gears of civic society will place value on our sealed words. The world's second letter café, and the first in Europe This is the idea behind Café Pli, a 'letter café', located at 38 rue du Faubourg du Temple, in Paris's 11th arrondissement. Founded by Geneviève Landsmann in July 2024, it is the first of its kind in Europe, inspired by Nuldam Space, a similar concept café in Seoul, South Korea. Guests are invited to choose from an assortment of stationery — envelopes, postcards, stickers, pens and pencils, sealing wax — and write a letter to themselves or another, to be posted on some future date. Sealed envelopes are then slotted into a wall with a niche for every day of the year; simply select the day you wish your letter to be sent, and the attendants of Café Pli will do the rest. To hold the letter for up to a year, the charge is €15, which includes a drink and all the aforementioned writing paraphernalia. If you wish the letter to be held for five years, the price rises to €25. For €45, the letter will be delayed by twenty years. In the event the café goes out of business, they promise all letters will be kept and duly sent by a responsible person. Changes of address can also be requested online, for an extra €10. A €4 surcharge is added for international postage, which covers all countries outside of France, regardless of the continent. Even with all that is included, €15 is a little dear for sending a letter within France. ). A normal first-class French domestic stamp can be had for €2.99 at La Poste. Sending a postcard overseas can be done for as little as €2. Naturally, the trick is in the delay: Café Pli doesn't trade in mail, but in delayed gratification. Write today, mail tomorrow On a recent cool spring afternoon, I visited the 11th arrondissement, also known as Popincourt. The pétanque terrains of the Jules Ferry Square sounded with cheers and the knock of boules colliding, and music and chatter drifted out from the brasseries along the Canal Saint-Martin. Under a cobalt awning, Café Pli was doing fair business. The round bistro tables inside the small, twee and twill interior were taken up by customers, bent over an array of paper, scribbling away on postcards and notepaper, sipping at cups of tea or coffee. The post boxes along one wall were stuffed with hundreds of brown paper envelopes bedecked with stickers and scrawled with addresses: France, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Turkey. The café is also an art hub, regularly hosting workshops on creative writing and calligraphy, linocutting, and watercolour painting. I purchased an international package, selected the least ignominious from the variety of inspiration-type cards ('I Love You,' 'Be Proud of Your Progress,' 'You Are Amazing,' 'You're Doing Great'), and sat down to write. But what does one write to one's future self? Hopes of what is to come? The current reality? As Lewis Carroll remarks in his 1890 pamphlet, Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing, 'Your friend is much more likely to enjoy your wit, after his own anxiety for information has been satisfied.' As the friend in this case was me, the assurance of wit was dubious; I dashed off my feelings and wished myself well. Paris today, Istanbul in a week, and who knew where in the year to go before I would see this card again. I sealed the envelope with a daub of blue wax and stuck it amongst a dozen others waiting to be mailed in May 2026. All of us trusting our words of hope and wit to the process of Café Pli. Another letter in the hundreds of my life, but this time, and for the first time, it would find me again.
Local France
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Local France
French Word of the Day: Poste
Why do I need to know poste? Because this French term simply has too many different meanings. What does it mean? Poste - roughly pronounced to rhyme with tossed (not powsed as some English-speakers do) - is one of those French words most people think they know already. This French noun changes meaning depending on the gender ( la or le ) and the context. For example, you are probably familiar with La Poste, which is the French national postal service. If you send something par la poste , you are sending it by post (or mail). Advertisement On the other hand, un poste (masculine) refers to a position or job, or a work location or premises (for example, un poste de sécurité would be 'the security post/ station'). You might have heard of the popular (and controversial) French TV show Touche pas à mon poste. Confusingly, this translates as 'Don't Touch My TV Set'. The old-fashioned way to describe a television set in French is a poste de télévision or a récepteur de télévision. Over time, people started abbreviating it to either just poste or télé . Once upon a time, people also described a radio set as a poste de radio , though this is not commonly used anymore. And finally, as the world becomes more and more connected by the internet, anglicisms like 'Facebook post' have made their way into French too, much to the dismay of France's Académie Française. However, a blog post or an Instagram post would be written as un post instead of un poste . That said, you might hear a young person say j'ai posté sur Insta (I posted [a picture] on Instagram). Use it like this J'ai accepté un nouveau poste, je vais donc bientôt changer de ville. - I accepted a new position, so I'll soon be moving cities. Avez-vous envoyé la lettre par la poste ? J'espère qu'elle arrivera bientôt. - Did you send the letter through the postal service? Hopefully it arrives soon.
Local France
21-02-2025
- Local France
What is France Identité and can foreigners use it?
As a one-step process for proving your ID or getting access to digital versions of vital documents for French life, France Identité sounds great. However as a foreigner in France, you may not be able to use it. What is France Identité? France Identité is an app created by the French government and providing a secure short-cut to access official websites. It also allows you to provide a digital proof of your ID and/or address when required, and offers an online ID-proof service that allows you to provide proof of your identity without having to divulge personal details to an external website. It's also used to access digital versions of key French documents - at present you can get a digital driving licence, next to be rolled out is the digital carte vitale and it seems likely that other documents will follow. The app is available now as either iOs or Android versions. Who can use it? Here's the bad news - in order to set up an account with France Identité you will need a French ID card, the carte nationale d'identité (CNI). Other forms of ID like a driver's licence, residency permit or passport cannot be used. The carte nationale d'identité is only issued to people who are French citizens - so foreigners cannot use the app unless they have French citizenship. French citizens can use it provided they have the new-style ID card - the ones that are the same size and shape as a credit card. This means that non French nationals cannot use the new digital version of the French driving licence, and will not be able to use the digital version of the carte vitale when that is rolled out, since these are provided via France Identité. In fact anything that offers you a shortcut via France Identité will not be available. Alternatives to using it In good news, the digital versions of the driving licence and carte vitale remain optional, so foreigners will just have to continue using the physical card. Likewise the shortcut to access on French official websites is not available, but you can still get in via entering your email address and password, or by using France Connect. French rail operators SNCF have also announced that France Identité can be used to prove your ID while on a train - but inspectors will still accept proof of ID via other means such as a residency permit or passport. Not to be confused with France Identité is not the same as Identité Numérique - this is another online ID verification tool that allows a shortcut to secure access to French government sites, but instead of being run by the government it is run by La Poste. Identité numérique can be used by some foreigners but not all - if you are not a French or EU citizen you will need to use your residency permit to confirm your identity, and only multi-year cartes de séjour are accepted. Full details on how Identité numérique works HERE. The one useful admin shortcut that everyone can use is France Connect - this is more basic than the two ID apps, but does allow you easier access to French government websites.
Local France
17-02-2025
- Local France
French banks issue warning about new 'courier' scam
Banks have been emailing customers in recent days to warn them about a sophisticated new scam aimed at securing the banking codes or PIN numbers of account holders. The scam follows a multi-step process; First a text message will be sent purporting to be from a French administrative body such as Ameli, CPAM or La Poste, asking you to click on a link and fill in certain personal details on a form. Once you have submitted the form, a second text is sent, claiming to be from your bank informing you that someone has tried to use your bank card for a fraudulent transaction. The fraudster then calls, claiming to be from the fraud department of your bank and asking you for extra details, including the details of any security codes or authentification codes sent out by your bank via text message or the banking app. If they are successful in getting the details they need, the fraudsters have even been known to send a person out to a customer's home, claiming to be a courier who has arrived to collect and destroy the bank card in order to avoid further fraud - in reality they use the card to make purchases, using the codes supplied on the phone. Banks have reminded customers that they will never ask for security codes or a PIN number on the phone, and they do not send couriers to collect and destroy bank cards. Common scams This scam is unusually elaborate, but there are dozens of variations on the scam, especially using fake emails and text messages claiming to be from legitimate French organisations. Text messages claiming that a parcel is waiting, that a fine must be paid without delay, that an application at the préfecture has an update are all common. So too is a text claiming that the recipient's carte vitale health card needs to be updated or it will stop working. All texts containing a link should be treated with suspicion - if you are at all unsure, login directly to your account with the relevant government body and proceed to your account and deal with any messages or updates there. It's also common for scammers to phone, and attempt to extract personal or banking details on the phone.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
AP Interview: Trailblazing referee Frappart wants to help more women take the whistle
PARIS (AP) — After a decade of making history in soccer, French referee Stéphanie Frappart is using her experience to help more women take up the profession. Frappart was the first woman to referee a men's Ligue 1 game in France and the first woman to referee a men's World Cup match. The 41-year-old Frappart is working with France's national postal service, La Poste, on a committee promoting female referees called 'Women and Refereeing" in conjunction with its four partner federations: soccer, rugby, handball and basketball. Their ambition is to increase female match officials in all sports in France, which currently has an estimated 80-20 split for male refs. 'It starts with a change in mentality. Football is played more by men and maybe in handball it's equal. So to begin with you have to increase the numbers of women playing football, which in turn increases the number of referees,' Frappart told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. 'Last season, we had a 14% increase compared with the season before and now, halfway through the season, we already have 5% more female referees than last season.' Frappart says the French soccer federation is fully committed to having more female refs and to more women in the sport's governance. But La Poste's committee says the main barriers facing aspiring female referees at the outset are lingering sexism and misogyny. 'We remain confronted by certain stereotypes which are difficult to get beyond ... something still anchored in certain cultures and mentalities," Frappart said. "We have to communicate more on the place women have in football and in society. In media terms, the more women's soccer is shown on television and the more women's sport is shown on television, that will change things.' Frappart was also the first woman to take charge of a men's Champions League match, back in 2020. Across more than a decade officiating in men's games — including the French Cup final and World Cup qualifiers — has Frappart received sexist comments? 'Not from players and coaches, but from people in the stands,' she said. 'There have been some chants and comments.' Frappart became the first woman to take charge of a professional men's game when she refereed a second-tier French league match in 2014. Others were more worried that day than she was. 'For me it was a normal progression. It didn't make me feel particularly emotional. But I remember one of the directors from (soccer club) Brest who asked me 'Are you not too stressed?'" she recalled. "I replied 'Well, actually it's not my first game.' It was a higher level match, but not my first.' Five years later, Frappart took charge of a top-tier game between Amiens and Strasbourg. Her ascension continued when she refereed Germany vs. Costa Rica in 2022 at the men's World Cup in Qatar. She said the context of the tournament shielded her from the impact this was having back home. 'I know in France there was a lot of excitement. But (in Qatar) we were more protected in terms of the media, because I was far away and not in my country. We were in a bubble,' she explained. 'The moment which had more impact, where you realized the importance of the game, was in Ligue 1. You turned the TV on and you were on it." There was another first for Frappart when she headed a trio of female officials for a Ligue 1 game in 2023, along with lineswomen Manuela Nicolosi and Élodie Coppola. Later that year, Rebecca Welch became the first female referee in the Premier League. Frappart is optimistic women's soccer will continue gathering pace. Last Sunday, U.S. defender Naomi Girma became the first women's million-dollar transfer when she moved from San Diego Wave to Chelsea. It's far from the men's record 222 million euros ($231 million) Paris Saint-Germain paid for Neymar; and Girma's salary won't be anything near what Erling Haaland receives from Manchester City after signing a 10-year deal. Frappart sees it differently. 'You shouldn't compare what happens in women's soccer and in men's soccer, they are two separate entities with a different economy. But what I would say is that it's good that transfers like these are starting to happen," Frappart said. 'It's a positive evolution which shows there are human and financial measures for the development of women's soccer. Some years ago there were no contracts and the players were still amateurs. Now there is genuine progression, we must push for this to continue.' ___ AP soccer:
