“Gullible” not in the English dictionary shock

December 20, 2010

Something has been worrying me. What would happen if there was no such thing as a hypothetical question? It is one of the questions I have been worrying about for some time.

As my friend Mark Gurdon once told me, it is a fact that the word gullible does not exist in the English Dictionary. I am embarrassed to admit that my first reaction was “really?, before the penny dropped. Talking of gullibility, one of my friends thought that the meaning of a karaoke evening is Japanese suicide night, and if you heard him singing you would know how he reached that conclusion.

A wonderful cork tree. This or more oil rigs? No contest

My picture today is of a cork tree. I took it at Le Provencal Golf Course recently. As you can see the tree itself is a lovely looking thing, but its existence in general is now under threat from the plastic stoppers that are becoming more fashionable. In an age where environmental concerns and sustainability are watchwords, I fail to understand why the natural option of using a naturally occurring product to seal wine bottles should be increasingly replaced by plastic stoppers ultimately made from oil which won’t break down for hundreds of years. There is also the tradition involved, corks have been used for thousands of years and are totally biodegradable. Avoid stoppers! I know I do, in fact it is a mission of mine to check as many bottles of wine as possible for corks rather than plastic stoppers.

On the other hand there is something that bothers me about ecology and the protection of endangered species. What would you do if you saw an endangered species eating an endangered plant? Or is that a hypothetical question?

The spreadsheet of social events starts, rather ominously for my liver, tomorrow evening and from then an takes the shape of an accelerating downhill spiral from then on right through to the new year and beyond. That nice lady decorator loves a party and usually accepts every single invitation we receive. This becomes a slight issue when there is more than one invitation for the same evening. Then, when one invitation has subsequently to be rejected, she blames it on me, saying I have double booked, which in diplomatic parlance is called being economical with the truth. As I often do not hear of many invitations in advance, this takes on more potential for confusion as I sometimes get admonished by my friends for being responsible for not attending an event, about which I had never been informed. Thus at a stroke I am saddled with the twin criticisms of ignorance and disorganisation. Life can be so hard.

After the Christmas market in Opio, the thirst overcame me and so we dropped into the Cafe Des Arcades in Valbonne for a mulled wine as it was so cold, I do hope the Landlubbers were enjoying the cold on their round on the frost hollow that is Opio Valbonne in winter!

The world of commerce however does not stop and today Dave The Fade will finally succumb to the delights of Currencies Direct. It has taken a mere two years to land him….

Chris France

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

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