I can’t tell you what a delight it is to get a Google alert from out-of-the-blue, notifying you that someone has said something nice about something you’ve done. Alison and I worked very hard to make France: Instuctions for Use a useful pub, and a worthy follow-up to Italy: Instuctions for Use; according to Cherie Thiessen of January Magazine, we succeeded:

I’d have bought the book for only this one piece of advice, which I happily learned before the plane’s wheels smacked the runway.

… always to be the first to say bonjour… anything else is unfathomable, and will be considered downright rude.

What great advice this was! Time and time again we saw dour faces transformed by a mere “bonjour madame,” and helpful suggestions offered in response to our “Bonjour monsieur. Pouvez-vous m’aider?”

We are very flattered. Merci, Cherie.