So what are things like now (and why do so many of my posts start with “so”)? Things are like windy with a hint of very warm, a dash of pine scent and a large dose of hangover brought on by sitting out under the stars with a bottle of good whisky at hand. I could do with a good shower, preferably one that cleans out the insides too, but standing up makes my head spin. Sir Geoff of New York is back in town and the already high French level of imbibing has been ratcheted up to 11 for a week. Last night must have been particularly heavy as he has gone back to bed, a behaviour generally unheard of in his brisk-walk-before-breakfast world. Come on we’ll miss the best part of the day…
It’s generally acknowledged in the South of France that the best part of the day is L’heure Du Pastis. I guess it’s a better part of day for those who work as it’s what you have when you get home after a hard days slog. I haven’t done much slogging for a while now so I can’t claim that I feel it the same way as a hard working Provencal person, but it’s pretty good anyway. L’heure du pastis generally slips like a hand into a silk glove towards les trois or quatre heures of wine and laughing, which soft-focus their way into L’heure or deux de whisky, followed by L’heure de wandering back to my little apartment in a wobbly fashion. No matter, it’s taken years off me…
Prior to the arrival of Geoff, I had the pleasure of the company of Fabio for a week here. That week was somewhat less drunken and involved more playing music in the next door neighbour Vince’s garage studio. Drumming again. I’m losing pounds off my arms and legs… doesn’t seem to be doing much for my belly yet… maybe if I drink more of the wine?
Been for picnics in places that look like this…
And I wish you could smell this over the internet
Also been looking into the idea of buying somewhere here. For a while it seemed that I could sell my house in London, pay off my mortgage totally, buy a little apartment with a garden overlooking the port in St Mandrier and still have some money in my pocket… hmmm tempting… Then I spoke to an estate agent in London whose other job is telling children that Santa doesn’t exist at the earliest age possible, and now I’m looking for a good pyramid scheme to get involved in. There is a cloud on the horizon for the first time since I stopped working over a year ago (should have really had some sort of Yuka anniversary shouldn’t I?) and that cloud is dressed as a rapidly dwindling bank account. And we know what that means don’t we boys and girls? I’m going to have to try to find some work soon… (Pause for dramatic bit of music.) Ideas welcome…
Hi John, how’s the house (or gite) hunting going. Your Uncle would not approve as he doesn’t hold the French in high regard as a nation, especially when they dis our food (you know how he loves his cooking). I think this is something that the English will not forget – like the burning of our lambs. Still it takes a few of the younger generation to make bridges and stop the bigotry of us old farts. We are fine (bombs apart) and Jake is growing ever bigger – when will he stop! He’s already 34 kilos at only 6 months. He had an argument with a brick wall yesterday and ruined his good looks, so we call him ‘scarface’. Spike gets ever older and ever slower – he conserves his energy well, a lesson he learned from Bertie. Dweeb is still a little power pack. We are having the place tarted up at the moment (painted) and are househunting in the west country. We have applied for planning permission to put apartments on the site of Worth House, but can’t make it work financially so will sell the house hopefully with the planning permission (as a sweetener). We are looking for a place near an airport in the south west so that Geoff can commute until his work is finished up here. You know the shoe-bomber came from here. We’ve got so many of them here that it just doesn’t feel safe any more and we are both fed up with the creeping urbanisation – it feels very overcrowded here now. They are just about to start the development behind us – 129 dwellings on 7 acres. Who makes up these rules of density. The development behind us has a density of 59 per hectare! Am feeling very 21st Century this morning as I’ve just got broadband – they’ve had it on site for a while and dial-up was wasting such a lot of my time. Good luck with the house-hunting & hopefully it won’t be too long before we see you again. Luv Lesley