To properly split an infinitive

Despite my pleadings to the contrary, that nice lady decorator, not wanting to tempt fate with the hunters engaged in a cull of the Sangrier in the Valmasque, switched our morning constitutional to a walk around Cap d’Antibes. Thus the money I had pledged to several “Chausseurs” to pick off that black and white travesty of a dog, Banjo, on their pig hunt was wasted.

Personally I had Banjo, the cataclysmic cocker, in my sights but sadly when I squeezed the trigger, all that happened was I took this photograph.

A small cove on Cap d'Antibes and I don't mean the nice lady decorator

A dinner engagement on Saturday evening with a chap rather alarmingly known as Peaches was sufficiently successful for me to fall asleep over a lemoncello digestive, but I was not the first to be over come by a bout of extreme tiredness. I cannot reveal who else lapsed into a state of blissful repose, but that nice lady decorator has no right to be so bright-eyed on the morning after.

Thus the need for a walk yesterday morning was very pressing, but when that failed to work, that most wonderful restoratives, a Bloody Mary was a last resort. We found just such an animal in a bustling bar in Antibes close to the lively Sunday market.

Now I find that particular antidote to be very effective, and suddenly the idea of an all day breakfast at the Hop Pole in Antibes, which pre restorative application, would have been unthinkable, became very alluring. It is only afterwards, when one considers the range, quality and number of restaurants available in Antibes, one realises what a crap idea that was.

Today, however we shall make amends by having lunch at the Michelin star Lou Fassum with Oxbridge don Bill “split infinitive” Colegrave, his dusky and beautiful wife Soraya, the wingco and his equally attractive other half. Bill told me that when he was a teenager, he managed to get a letter published in The Times. He knew that his father always read the letters page, so waited for some reaction. His father, having read everything, turned to Bill and said “there is a split infinitive in a letter to The Times today”.

Recently, Bill was mortified to have a council house oik discover that he had inadvertently carried on with the grammatical tradition in his book Halfway House To Heaven about discovering the source of The Oxus River in Afghanistan. To rub, or as Bill might say “to properly rub” salt into the wound, the same council house oik then beat him at chess, twice, but most notably with a variation of fools mate. Modesty forbids me to reveal the identity of said oik, but I believe he is responsible for a very successful blog in Valbonne.

Already the fruits of the learning curve achieved at the Riviera Business Club’s social media networking event last week can be seen, with the many links to this page now displayed on the right hand column, and ,if it works, a rather fetching pictorial link to the glories of Currencies Direct. Although this is probably a little early, May 19th will see Le Tour De Finance hit Mougins, at Le Paradise Des Oiseaux giving ex pats the chance to sort out all and any financial issues in one go. Free entrance and some wine and cheese will be offered to help ex pats deal with financial issues at apero time. The tour then moves on to Nice on 24th May.