Clive Panto, Oh Yes he is

October 25, 2010

tags: Clive Panto, Cote D Azur, Currencies Direct, Food & wine, Living In France, Moving To France, Paul Thornton Allan, Valbonne

Lunch with the Warners in Biot is seldom a quiet reserved affair and frankly we would not go if it was. Thankfully it was up to its normal high standards, great food, copious amounts of wine and interesting characters.

Usual suspects Wayne Brown from FR2day, Lucy from Red Radish fresh (well fresh enough for me from her 20 mile morning run) were present as were rather more dubious characters such as Clive Panto and Ray Hamilton. Wayne has taken on the role of my personal physician. He had decided that my stated quest for a cholesterol reading of 10+ is not something he will tolerate and with my normal doctor on holiday has arranged for a second opinion today. His opinion, being the first opinion, is that I be prescribed emergency course of statins. I did my best to start the intensive therapy myself with a wholehearted attempt to drink as much red wine as possible, it containing high quantities of statins but Dr Wayne monitored my food intake carefully, occasionally even intercepting items of food he deemed unsuitable on the way to my mouth from my hand.

Ray Hamilton was extolling the virtues of power snooker, a company in which he has a controlling interest which is launching at the O2 next weekend, apparently with the support of such impeccable bastions of the establishment as Frank Warren, Harvey Goldsmith and Barry Hearn, all acclaimed impresarios without any trace of scandal in their backgrounds.

Clive Panto was back in town. He can no longer live here as he cannot afford it, so visits from time to time and we give him solace. In return he has to accept that I will always ask him if Panto is his real name, and stoically once he has confirmed this he accepts, without good grace it should be noted, the response of “oh no it’s not”

Paul Thornton Allen spent much of the afternoon repeating Tommy Cooper gags, which I admit to finding very funny, particularly gags like ” I went to the doctor and asked what he could give me for had for wind, so he gave me a kite.” I think you can see these from these events that it was not a high brow affair but no less fun for that.

At home in the evening I was looking for a photo to feature today, and came across this from Friday night. It was taken just before John O Sullivan went to sleep but I don’t think you can tell.

A grinning sleepy Irish bandit

On the face of it, this week looks quiet, but often that is the case, however, with half term upon us, no doubt there will be a number of refugees from the winter weather in England who will be turning up at our door to be entertained. In any event that nice lady decorator should be well refreshed having retired to bed at 8pm on Sunday evening. Some may think that her over diligent attention to many varieties of wine being sampled at the extended lunch may have had something to do with it, but I could not possibly comment.

Chris France

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