Modern Art – a gigantic con trick

The Daily Telegraph ran a report a couple of days ago that said that a beer a day or a glass of wine has a positive health effect over people who were resolute teetotalers. Apparently partaking of one or the other every day can reduce the chances of a heart attack by over 50%. It is something to do with reducing stress, but how that can be when that nice lady decorator is in full flow in a bar, and I know I am picking up the tab at today’s exchange rates defeats me, but as my mum always said, If it’s in the Daily Telegraph it must be true.

So it seems that my 2 days of refusing to drink beer or wine have been counter productive, and in fact as a result of this deliberate alcohol avoidance, I have been twice as likely to suffer a heart attack in the past 2 days. This is a very serious health warning, and one that I shall be taking on board this evening, probably at Le Kavanou in Valbonne, in fact, I think I have some catching up to do in order to protect my health.

Another aspect to avoiding alcohol is that it is supposed to aid weight loss, but two days away from alcohol and I have actually gained a pound in weight, although that may well be due to those bathroom scales with which I have been having such trouble since Christmas. Recalibration (or throwing in the skip), one or the other, is well overdue.

My picture today is another taken on the walk at Theoule Sur Mer earlier in the week. It is of some kind of modern art so beloved by the French, but seems to me to be a very simple piece of concrete which has doubtless been sold to the commune for an obscene amount of money.

Is this a sign for half a six? Cricket fans au fait with a certain umpire will understand this.

The French have a history of loving modern art, which in my opinion is a the biggest confidence trick the art world has suffered in thousands of years. This misconception is not limited to France however, it is probably best illustrated by almost every exhibit in the Tate Modern, or any entrant into the Turner Prize. Almost all are entirely bereft of artistic merit, except in the minds of those that want to believe. It staggers me that exhibits such as “an unmade bed” or “a bag of coal” which are still beloved by art “experts” are not seen for what they really are, a wonderful exercise in fooling some of the people all of the time. How one can compare this type of stuff with, say, a Rembrandt is a perfect illustration of the huge scam that modern art is. Anyway, quite what this “creation” is doing at the end of the beach, right off the beaten track is a mystery. I want to believe that perhaps the artist or sculptor (or owner of a concrete mixer with a sense of mischief?) has created an icon which will unfold into a finger sticking straight up in the air? This for me would constitute a wonderful comment on modern art in general and this piece in particular.

Yesterday morning, back to the Valmasque for the daily grind, with the proper dog, Max and the cocker spaniel now the size of a small bungalow, Banjo. Even our French friends says “il bien mange” which is polite French way of saying your dog is colossally fat and if you don’t cut down on his food, he may not be long for this world….now there’s a thought.

Finally I am contacted by wakeupinfrance.com a holiday rentals company. Once I have suggested that their name should in fact be wakeupwithfrance.com, I receive no response….

Chris France