Dog encourages drinking

Banjo, the stupid spaniel introduced into this household against my advice, has a wonderful habit he has developed of trying to catch bees in his mouth. Today, the best possible scenario occurred when one of them stung him and he squawked like a stuck pig. It itself this was gratifying and just deserts for all the hardships and strife that he has visited upon me in the past two years, but when a trip to the vet was mentioned I was rather too hasty in suggesting it was a job for me. That nice lady decorator knew that if I took him he would never return.

Now if you want to escape from the wife for a late drink on a summers evening, it is best if you own a labrador which also likes to escape and can almost inevitably be found at the local restaurant. Such is the situation with Gerald Gomis, fiery latin rugby type, who I suspect holds a candle for me, as he once texted me twice in a night saying he loved me, only to claim he though he was texting his wife. The night before last he arrived as we were finishing tennis dinner at the Auberge St Donat, found his dog, proceeded to order two beers and a bottle of wine. Clearly, as far as his wife (the lovely Pippa, Business Development manager for the whole of France for Currencies Direct) was concerned, it was going to take some time to find the animal.

Thus it was quite late when I got in, and being slightly tired and emotional, (after all,it is a great achievement to be unbeaten at tennis for so long, six months, and one that needed to be celebrated) so I retired at a reasonable hour, before midnight, only to be awoken by that nice lady decorator, who had disrobed and was in the swimming pool calling for me to join her. Being a confirmed non swimmer myself, that would have been folly, but I did manage to take this picture from the bedroom window, before I shut the shutters to drown out the noise rather than risk drowning myself.

Late night swim anyone?

Today is likely to be a big day out. We are to go to Antibes, where we shall meet a couple of friends with the sole intention of drinking and eating to excess whilst having a laugh. The sun is shining, the wine is cold and the resolve is implacable, I am on a mission today.

July will feature polo twice in my diary, according to that nice lady decorator.I am awaiting my outline schedule for the summer with bated breath. Actually, what a stupid expression, what on earth does bated breath me? Anyway, polo in Surrey and polo in the Var, two very different prospects, the first in the Var next Sunday, the 10th July where the weather will no doubt be very warm. I do hope they will welcome Bluebell the camper, as this will be the first day of our camping trip down to the Costa Brava (if the old girl makes it – I mean that nice lady decorator not Bluebell) and the second a rather incongruous pairing of polo and a performance by The Faces at Kenny Jones Hurtwood Park Polo Club on 23rd July where it may be warm but more likely it will be wet, as anyone seeing U2 at Glastonbury recently will no doubt testify..

The more astute amongst you will have noticed that this entails my going to England in summer (a fleeting concept I know), but one occasionally has to show solidarity with the old country, as long as one has tickets for the Lords Test Match and there is some decent beer available.

Chris France