Artistic licence revoked?

Its all about me. The cover painting competition to feature on the jacket of my next book commenced yesterday at Marina Kuliks painting classes in Plascassier. A record turnout of artists greeted me and for some two hours all the attention was on me, as today picture taken outside afterwards illustrates.

There were some really good work developing and even better!, 7 more copies of my limited edition first book were sold, taking the total to 174 now and making me by definition an even more successful author. It was at this point that my ego suffered the almost inevitable blow that comes with over its regular over inflation and my new found celebrity status took a bit of a knock. As Marina was touring the room advising people on how to improve their work, I heard her tell one aspiring artist “very good caricature” only to hear a response “It was not supposed to be a caricature”.

Ego being inflated nicely

Today then I leave to return to the UK on the house hunt. It is rather ironic that the sale of my house in England, first put up for sale when we moved to France is directly responsible for me having to move back. I made the mistake of checking the weather for the next week and realised that putting the winter clothes away had been a big mistake, it seems rain or showers will be omnipresent each day for the next week. Welcome to my new life in England. There will however be sunshine in my heart as I continue to discover others I can help with their currency needs via the good offices of Currencies Direct. There is even a direct link to an application form click here application form link.

Straight after the art attack a select few adjourned for a calming glass of rose in the Square in Valbonne and ended up with a pizza and a pichet at the Cafe Des Arcades, thus quickly ending my determination to avoid a drink yesterday. The coming week will take a serious toll on health with English beer and the intake of large quantities of stodgy food, especially English breakfasts which will inevitably be required to keep out the cold and wet.

Still the feedback from “that” lunch on Saturday is trickling in. I had no idea until today that Jude O Sullivan, who has a renowned appetite for Bailey’s managed to excel herself by consuming the best part of a litre bottle of the sickly sludge all on her own, refusing to share the bottle with anyone once it got to her. Regular readers will remember when I caught her in a supermarket car park with a trolley containing 6 cases of Bailey’s and a bag of crisps. She had not realised she had picked up some crisps, they were a mistake so clearly the rumoured therapy is not working, a case to be tried at the Old Bailey perhaps?

So the delights of Lewes in the rain, Arundle in the rain and Rottingdean in the rain await me. I suggested to that nice lady decorator that perhaps we should put Rainham or Waterford on our list as we were going to have to get used to getting wet in England but she is actively looking forward to spending more time in the rain. Me? I am planning a number of international trips, Adelaide in November for the Golden Oldies Cricket festival, perhaps with a stop off in Mumbai to catch England v India and take in Goa, a music centre, so a completely justifiable business expense (this just for my accountant who reads this column so that he can be forewarned about expenses I shall be submitting and he will be rejecting).

Chris France