Halfway House To Heaven – Provence?

October 12, 2010

tags: Afghanistan, Bastide St Matthieu, Cote D Azur, Currencies Direct, Deepest provence, Grasse, Living In France, Moving To France, Plascassier, Provence, Valbonne, Villa rentals

Halfway House To Heaven is the title of a book just about to be released written by local tennis playing magnate Bill Colegrave, owner with his delectable wife Soraya of The Bastide St Mathieu a fantastic boutique hotel located between Plascassier and Grasse. Dear old Bill does not look the most athletic or intellectual person you have ever seen, but looks can be deceiving, he is a great tennis player, much fitter than he looks and has a consummate intellect. I don’t consider myself stupid, but when talking to Bill, I find that he knows more about everything than I do. Any subject we get on to, he leaves me trailing behind.

He set off on an expedition to find the source of the mythical Oxus river in Afghanistan in 2006, a feat that had eluded such famous explorers as Lord Curzon and Sir Francis Younghusband and that in itself should give you an insight into the man, as many had tried before but never found it. He found it and has written a book about it, the cover of which I would have liked to show properly, but being a dummy with computers didn’t know how to change it from a pdf file to a jpeg but show below anyway!

The cover of Bill Colgraves' book. Note the cunning way I have photographed it from my computer screen!

It has a foreward written by Sir Rannulp Fiennes, probably the best known explorer still living.

Talking of writers, which of course is my current vocation as well, now that the rain has stopped and the sun is out, I can resume my work from the comfort of my hammock, which I find is being used more and more at the moment, whilst I am so busy writing. This week, benefitting from my writing prowess will be Cote d’Azur Villa Rentals.

Bill Colegrave may have had to fight his way to Afghanistan in order to write a book, me, I am thinking of venturing into deepest Provence to write. Well, at least research deepest Provence on the internet from the comfort of the afore-mentioned hammock. It seems clear to me that I am in more danger of being found out for not actually going to the place about which I write, mainly because some people have been there before. This is not a problem for Bill, who, having convinced us he went there, can write just about anything he likes. Me?, sulky and disbelieving, just because he is better writer than me? well, yes actually.

I must also redouble my efforts to continue my most important work of saving the local ex pat community from the banks, who rely on their veneer of respectability to lure their customers into over charging them for foreign exchange movements. Indeed I have found quite a few lost souls in the past week, notably one REGS golfer who shall remain nameless but Bob Jones will know who I mean. Said lost soul has seen the light and will shortly be benefitting from great currency exchange deals.

Chris France

Buying a house in France, moving money? www.currenciesdirect.net/chrisfrance

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