This month in Paris: a heatwave, and the most elegant solution — a visit to Duvelleroy, Paris's historic fan-maker, where peacock feathers and sycamore wood have been keeping Parisians cool since 1827. Then summer begins in earnest: one daughter heads to a baroque music stage in Brittany with her viol, another sits her baccalauréat oral, a third starts her first job at a supermarket checkout.
Meanwhile, cherry-picking under a Breton tree leads to a tart, a 90-year-old neighbour offers clafoutis in return, and an interview with novelist David Foenkinos ends with a sentence worth learning by heart. And all summer long, the number 90 takes centre stage — as an age, a kung-fu sequence, a Balzac novel count, and a very French way of counting.
 
Sometimes the best way to beat the heat is to slow right down. In July, we browse fans, wander through Balzac's hidden garden in the 16th, set a beautiful brunch table under a cedar tree, and let a blue coat stop us in our tracks. In the notes, I explore the art of nuance in spoken French, the conditional for polite suggestions, useful everyday expressions — and why the French say quatre-vingt-dix when everyone else says ninety.
 
📻 9 episodes | 📄 42 pages of transcripts | 🎯 Cultural & listening notes | ▶️ YouTube playlist link | ✏️ Wide margins for your notes
Level: Intermediate to advanced (B1–C1)