Thatcherism lives!

Well, there are now 5 BA long haul pilots off my Xmas card list. As suspected, having grown quickly accustomed to the quality if the service in First Class on the way out to Nairobi, by way of contrast we were left to languish in economy for the flight back. It was not all bad as the plane was half empty so we had more space that expected, but those promised copies of my book contingent upon the right treatment being applied hang on a shoestring.

Arriving back in France in mid morning, it was very gratifying that my diary, which had been left clear in case of a delay on my way out of Africa was, within an hour, infilled with a celebratory mid day drink with Paul and Lisa Thornton Allan and then further adorned by an invitation to lunch at Auberge St Donat, our old favourite.

Present were the usual tennis suspects, the Wingco, Peter “Misty” Milsted and Greg “Thirsty” Harris, head of Cote d’Azur Villa Rentals. Tennis was at least discussed, if not played. The Wingco, excellent wordsmith that he normally is, inadvertently made a rather thoughtless comment about breast cancer, specifically suggesting that a sufferer might like to “get it off her chest” but otherwise it was reasonably uneventful, yet great to be back in the bosom of the south of France ex pat humour.

I have so many pictures from my trip to use in the coming weeks, but this was one of my favourites, showing some local Kenyans repairing a roof of their home. I did not know that Thatcherism was rife in Kenya (this one specially for the Reverend Jeff).

Roof repairs, Kenyan style

Today, straight back to more work, after a tiring 11 days of work in Africa. I have talked much in the past if my missionary Zeal for ensuring that no one I come across is left in the hands of their banks when contemplating foreign exchange conversions, and extolling the virtues of Currencies Direct, but it was nice to learn a new skill, the representation of the wonderful investment opportunity that is Medina Palms. Given the current problems in the Eurozone, and the pressure that disaster will have on just about all banks, an investment in real estate down in Kenya looks a good bet to me.

Today, I must attend a planning meeting for the Currencies Direct Xmas Fair which will take place at Sophia Antipolis next Tuesday 13th at Drakkar on the route Des Dolines. This will be one of those rare moments when I shall be in the presence of some of my books, and will enable those looking for an individual Xmas present for friends, family and even people they don’t like; my book “Summer In The Cote D’Azur”. Of course if the rush is too much, you have two further signing opportunities at the English Book Centre in Valbonne on Friday 16th and 23rd December, the last two Fridays (and therefore the last two market days in Valbonne before Xmas).

One of the items that I purchased in Kenya was a made to measure lime green matching shorts and shirt outfit that I was hoping to wear at the forthcoming Riviera Ex Pats Golf Society event this Saturday at the Grande Bastide but it seems I may have missed the deadline for registration,  a deadline of which I had not been previously aware and I half suspect was imposed only after the secretary got wind of my intended golf apparel. It is no good however, if that is the case then they are only postponing the ieevitable. Isn’t it amazing what jealousy can engender?