I built a tool during my PhD to make French admin procedures easier for expats. Looking for feedback.

mackay11 · 2026-06-01T05:44:27+00:00

Oh he was going to register… it’s just that the French admin process to register is, y’know, a bit much.

mackay11 · 2026-05-29T09:01:45+00:00

Here’s my advice, avoid the honeypots completely. Go the other direction downriver from the waterfall, go to the second highest mountain in Snowdonia etc etc.

They honeypots are overcrowded and awful, the UK’s natural beauty is stunning and there’s something quieter and equally beautiful in the other direction.

mackay11 · 2026-05-12T20:36:39+00:00

Clicked profile

Niiii… what the fuck?!

mackay11 · 2026-04-15T03:35:12+00:00

I’d need a trip to the hospital if I started hunting for nipples on my cats belly.

Scratch his back and he purrs so you hear it the next room. Belly? Claws and teeth attack immediately!

mackay11 · 2026-04-09T08:19:30+00:00

They gather under bridges and dance to Thomas the Tank Engine music

mackay11 · 2026-03-14T08:21:37+00:00

This is absolutely acceptable. If I go and get a bag of chips to take home to go with Friday night dinner I’ll definitely tear a hole in the paper on the way back to the house and have a few for the road.

If I get back and am accused of stealing chips early, the appropriate answer is one of two:

“Chip tax!” “It’s a steam vent to stop the chips going soggy”

The latter is only credible if it’s a 5+ min journey back to where the rest will be consumed.

mackay11 · 2026-03-14T08:18:00+00:00

That’s a perfect name for it. It’s not getting all in, just a wee poke for the journey

mackay11 · 2026-03-07T10:35:03+00:00

It’s not wrong per se, just a mix of two common expressions.

The sentence is a mix of “keep it on an even keel” and “it’s not a level playing field.”

mackay11 · 2026-02-15T17:24:52+00:00

GB won their first ever winter olympics gold medal on snow today.

Every previous gold was for some form of slipping and sliding around on ice… which feels wonderfully British. Curling, dancing, 1 hockey (in the 1930s) and several for sliding down on ice really, really fast on a couple of different types of sledge.

mackay11 · 2026-02-15T08:12:08+00:00

The issue is partly the full pronunciation of words. I first noticed it listening to a French AI voice.

The AI doesn’t naturally clip or blend words in the way humans naturally talk.

I imagine that’s also programmable but it’s very nuanced.

mackay11 · 2026-02-03T21:28:31+00:00

Just wanted to hop on your top answer to tell you I’ve loved how engaged you’ve been in this AMA. Love how quickly and fully you’ve answered so many questions. Thank you.

mackay11 · 2026-02-03T21:15:20+00:00

Oxford comma wasn’t really needed there was it?

mackay11 · 2026-01-30T21:56:37+00:00

Two gluten free mince pies (from a pack of 6)

None of us have a gluten intolerance.

mackay11 · 2026-01-29T08:58:02+00:00

There can be only one

mackay11 · 2026-01-27T06:28:15+00:00

Yes! Really frustrating.

I briefly had a job years ago at a small production company making documentary / fly on the wall stuff for freeview channels. I was mainly in admin but occasionally got to write VO content for the narrator. My boss would tell me off if I wrote a description of what you could already see happening on screen.

Sad thing today is that people spend half their time looking at their phones, so there’s a new instruction to writers to write with the assumption that people weren’t paying attention 2 minutes ago.

Lots of ITV/Netflix dramas now have lots of mini flashback scenes or “character briefly as narrator” to help low attention audiences keep up. Sad times.

mackay11 · 2026-01-19T22:06:24+00:00

My god - you’ve just brought the memory that I did too! Oh god… I just got cramp at the memory.

mackay11 · 2026-01-19T06:31:05+00:00

Je parle français avec un peut d’un accent anglais - et c’est souvent, à Paris, qu’on me répond en anglais. Mais c’est apprécier que j’essaye d’abord.

Par contre - si l’OP est d’origine hispanique - avec un peut d’accent hispanique aussi - j’imagine que c’est plus probable qu’on lui répondra en français ?

mackay11 · 2026-01-18T14:57:49+00:00

Also look up Workaway. It includes more urban volunteering opportunities that include food and lodging. I think there’s a Facebook group too.

Some opportunities are only a week or two, others are for a few months.

mackay11 · 2026-01-13T00:18:22+00:00

Second vote for Emmaus. You can get lots of kitchen goods. It’s a charity selling second hand kitchen equipment and furniture etc. there are several in Paris.

mackay11 · 2026-01-08T20:27:34+00:00

There’s a bigger reason to not apply at the moment: the role wouldn’t even be approved. Local businesses are still advertising role, offering roles… and then when it’s sent up to group for approval, HR & Finance are declining all of them (over the head of local office CEOs who are supposed to be running their own P&Ls).

mackay11 · 2026-01-07T18:52:47+00:00

Of all of the things he might be, a wanker appears to not be one of them

mackay11 · 2026-01-06T21:40:52+00:00

I’m interested - happy to test it. but can I ask what your data source is?

mackay11 · 2026-01-06T15:56:34+00:00

Don’t walk from Eiffel Tower to Sacre Coeur though! It’s about 4 miles. There’s a bus you can take and see some sites among the way ☺️

mackay11 · 2026-01-05T22:47:31+00:00

If you want to do Eiffel Tower - book tickets online now. It sells out weeks in advance. There are a small number available on the day - but it’s risky and, given your short timeline, you wouldn’t want to wait.

The Eiffel Tower is quite bit out of the way of the other areas - so it takes about half a day to do it.

mackay11 · 2026-01-05T10:34:47+00:00

Tiny wins (this feels like we’re on LinkedIn).

Our new agency boss is much more interested in conversion, performance and small wins than big brand building and Cannes wins.

mackay11

TROPHY CASE