Ticked off?

Today’s column starts with a kind of biblical theme as it starts with church. Church to people who live in Valbonne means Cafe Latin on a Friday where I was going to say the great and the good but yesterday was dribs and drabs of the ex pat community gather on a market day. For me, continuing the biblical thread, it is an opportunity to convert a few stragglers who have yet to sign up for an account with Currencies Direct to save money on their foreign exchange needs.  She knows who she is and I know where she lives.

So with the sun back in its rightful place and a glorious spring day forecast I suspect an impromptu lunch may occur and judging by the scale of the provisioning that took place yesterday I suspect it will be nearby. I publish the photographic evidence as my picture today and will doubtless have a report tomorrow..

I feel lunch coming on

After walking the dogs first thing yesterday that nice lady decorator made an unpleasant discovery. It appears that some ticks had been infested by Banjo, that nice lady decorators dribbling disobedient disaster dog. Don’t get me wrong I do not like ticks, they are nasty little parasites but even I feel sorry for them having a Banjo infestation. When I suggested as much to that nice lady decorator I was given a thorough ticking off. Anyway Banjo was removed from the tics and another reason for smug satisfaction was denied me.

Tuesday sees us back home in England searching for a new house. I see on the TV that there is already a hose pipe ban in many areas, a fact illustrated beautifully by a Sky News reporter standing in pouring rain bemoaning the lack of water. This could only happen in England. But I will not be downhearted there are some upsides to being an English resident again. Decent beer and good pubs, cricket in the form of Test matches with South Africa and the West Indies (unless rain stops play during the drought) and of course I shall look forward all the more to my restricted holiday visits to Valbonne. No, it is not all bad, just mostly bad. The suitcase is already all but full of coats, jumpers, woolly hats, ski jackets, long johns and other thermal underwear.

With sprog 1 returned to the UK to study (for which read drink and smoke and cost a fortune) and sprog 2 departing tomorrow I will be able to see how much of my hidden stash of wine and beer has remained undiscovered. Very little is my guess. I think the installation of cctv and electric fences may prove less costly in the long run. I shall miss them, but not by very much. I shall not miss the cat and mouse game where they try to catch me in the presence of that nice lady decorator with some sob story of why they need more money for clothes, cigarettes, deodorant (not the male sprog), toothpaste, food, rent, concert tickets, festival passes, medication, toiletries (again not the male sprog unless it is for condoms) which inevitably leads to WDS, wallet depletion syndrome. If there was a degree in WDS my two would be star pupils.

Bluebell the camper has been stirred from her winter slumber starting first time for the first time this year. I took her for a spin into Valbonne yesterday remembering at the last moment not to enter the large parking area where I once memorably removed the roof rack very quickly under the height barrier, an action that had me in the dog house for some considerable time.

Chris France