Lambrusco with a lemonade top?

I have decided that I don’t need google any more, as that nice lady decorator knows everything.

Lunch at a magnificent private villa in Mougins was splendid, except for the unaccountably generosity of our hosts in allowing in some northern riff raff. Peachy Butterfield, once again gaudily dressed in the kind of primary colours one normally associates with backward tribes in Africa, was at one stage considering adding some lemonade to his Chateau Gloria to “pep it up a bit”. Clearly a good night out for Peachy often culminates in a gallon of Lambrusco, with a lemonade top.

This time it was green Ralph Lauren shorts, striped green and yellow shirt and mismatched hooped socks, an outfit which even he suspected looked a little gay. He asked a dear gay friend if there was any danger that he could be mistaken as a non-heterosexual but was quickly reassured that no gay person could ever have such poor taste as to wear anything that Peachy might wear. I have attempted rather unsuccessfully to catch the full horror of it below.

You may think I failed to get Peachy's head in this shot with his gorgeous wife, Sue deliberately, and you would be right

Talk turned to a recent spate of burglaries, coincidentally when the circus was in town, and Peachy announced that the worst thing that could happen is that all his clothes would be stolen.

Other interesting facts came to light. Did you know for instance that the British Association of Plastic Surgeons are if course called the BAP’s? Or that if you are imprisoned in France for any reason, you are entitled to half a bottle of Bordeaux per day?

Simon and Sarah Howes excelled themselves once again, Simon raiding his cellar to produce several bottles of what Chateau Talbot consider to be the best wine they have ever produced, the 2000 Grand Cru Classe which was superior even to Chateau Gloria which passes for every day drinking wine in this exalted household.

Today, unless I can think of a way around it, I will be gainfully employed by that nice lady decorator starting by emptying the trailer at the local tip. What is the point of having a trailer if it always gets filled up with rubbish I was going to ask? then suggest to her that we therefore get rid of it, but given her Fukushima countenance, by which I mean the possibility of a melt down in the next few days, I changed my mind.

The possible meltdown is due to the extra pressure of planning for a Miglio jewelry party she is staging on Wednesday sponsored by Currencies Direct, the completion of the new terrace in time, the erection of some tent like apparition under the old oak tree and concern about the weather forecast for this hopefully outdoor event.

That nice lady decorator does not do stress. By that I mean she does not bottle up her feelings but, as I believe it is described in diplomatic terms, is often frank and direct in her language. She also does not do diplomacy, that is left to me to do in her wake.

Thus after emptying the trailer, I must then fill it with tiny pebbles purchased from the quarry yard in Mougins and ferry these back to the house to add a decorative touch to the aforementioned terrace. I am told three trailer loads will be sufficient, what joy!

Luckily, Mr Clipboard arrives this week and Wednesday for me will mean tennis and lunch at Auberge St Donat, followed by brandy on the wingco’s terrace, plus ca change…

Chris France