The road to nowhere?

After he retired, Sir Winston Churchill took a cruise aboard an Italian cruise liner. When questioned about his choice of carrier by some journalists he explained that he had made his choice based on great food, wonderful service and if there was an emergency on board there would be none of this women and children first malarky. Never a truer word spoken in jest, but I suppose he may not have used the word malarky. How prescient given events recently with the Costa Concordia running aground recently and with the captain one of the first to safety. It seems from one report I saw, that he had steered too close to the coast so he could wave to some relatives.

Talking of mighty vessels taking improbable courses, I hear today that one female amongst yesterdays brigade of happy souls in the “cognac and coffee followed by lunch party” in Valbonne Square seemed temporarily to have lost control over her coordination. It seems that on her way home, she popped into a friend’s house to collect children, even some of her own,  and was in such a state that the friend had to button her coat for her before she stumbled into the evening. Regular readers will know that my cardinal rule is never to reveal the identity of the perpetrator of these kinds of embarrassing events, but I believe that Mr Paul Thornton Allan from The Big Picture shares my knowledge of the miscreant’s identity and perhaps it is not too illuminating to reveal that he has close, some may even say marital, links to and with the subject in question.

Today, as long as it dawns as forecast, to be bright and sunny we shall jump on the car and head up to the snow fields nearby. A quick aerial photograph may suggest that skiing could be on offer in Valbonne itself as my picture today depicts but we have a plan to battle up to Greoliere Les Neiges, about an hours drive away, for a mornings skiing, before a trip to Limone Piemont just over the Italian border next week.

No ski lifts in Valbonne?

Wisely I had earlier turned down the opportunity to play golf with the Landlubbers, an off shoot of the REGS golf society this weekend, even though it is my clear duty as Regional Controller for Currencies Direct to maintain contact with my customers, many of whom play in this grouping. I say wisely because I was being exhorted by Dave “gruff” Goddard to play on the basis that the weather forecast was good for the weekend. It seems 20 cms of snow sitting on the golf course may have justified my refusal and may not have figured in his planning.

Last night was predicted to be  coldest night down here on the sunny Cote d’Azur with as low as minus 6 degrees celsius being talked about. Given that there is no real lagging on pipes in this area because it is not normally needed, we may have some work for the hordes of Polish plumbers who had overrun Britain a few years ago. I predict a nasty spate of burst pipes once this cold snap is over. I have heard a Zen teaching which suggest that experience is something you get just after you need it. With global warming perhaps now is the time for builders automatically to lag pipes.

I trust that everyone now has their theatre and after show party tickets for 14th February? These are still available on-line at the theatre website priced 20 euros for the show (discounts for bigger parties, pensioners and students) and 10 euros for the party afterwards at the Pre Des Arts in Valbonne. The play is being staged in the cinema with the party in the same building.

Chris France