diff --git a/makesite.py b/makesite.py
index 167f5f3..977ea6e 100755
--- a/makesite.py
+++ b/makesite.py
@@ -46,8 +46,10 @@ from pygments import highlight
 from pygments.lexers import get_lexer_by_name
 from pygments.formatters import html
 
-# set user locale
-locale.setlocale(locale.LC_TIME, 'fr_FR.UTF-8')
+
+FRENCH_WEEKDAYS = ['lun.', 'mar.', 'mer.', 'jeu.', 'ven.', 'sam.', 'dim.']
+FRENCH_MONTHS = ['janv.', 'févr.', 'mars', 'avr.', 'mai', 'juin',
+                 'juil.', 'août', 'sept.', 'oct.', 'nov.', 'déc.']
 
 # initialize markdown
 
@@ -99,9 +101,9 @@ def read_headers(text):
 def rfc_2822_format(date_str):
     """Convert yyyy-mm-dd date string to RFC 2822 format date string."""
     d = datetime.datetime.strptime(date_str, "%Y-%m-%d")
-    dtuple = d.timetuple()
-    dtimestamp = time.mktime(dtuple)
-    return utils.formatdate(dtimestamp)
+    weekday = FRENCH_WEEKDAYS[d.weekday()]
+    month = FRENCH_MONTHS[d.month - 1]
+    return f"{weekday}, {d.day:02d} {month} {d.year} {d.strftime('%H:%M:%S')} +0000"
 
 
 def slugify(value):
@@ -193,7 +195,8 @@ def get_header_list_value(header_name, page_params):
 
 def get_friendly_date(date_str):
     dt = datetime.datetime.strptime(date_str, "%Y-%m-%d")
-    return dt.strftime("%d %b %Y")
+    french_month = FRENCH_MONTHS[dt.month - 1]
+    return f"{dt.day:02d} {french_month} {dt.year}"
 
 
 def make_posts(