100,000 hits and rising

Hitting 100,000 hits on this website was cause for much celebration today, if only by me. How do you keep letting me get away with it? This is nothing short of provocation to write more of this daily drivel about living life between the idle rich of Valbonne and the idle poor in Arundel (only joking you Aruldites, many of you are quite industrious). At this rate of popularity I must shortly pass those twin milestones of 100 sales of my second book, The Valbonne Monologues and 350 customers for Currencies Direct. Can an appearance on Jonathon Ross be far behind?

But amid this celebration of literary achievement, there was suddenly sadness yesterday. Terence the Tractor is no more. He has been happy; diligently mowing the lawn at our house in France for a couple of years, having been liberated from mistreatment by the Wingco, who would cruelly get him to cut extra long grass, until we rescued him by paying the ransom of 300 euros. He had been very content nibbling at a bit of light grass on our lawn from time to time, although last summer he developed a bit of an arched back because he was being ridden by man mountain Peachy Butterfield, and herein I think lies the problem. Its seems that he (Terrence) has suffered a broken back axle, which in donkey speak can be interpreted as a torn fetlock or fallen arches. Even Phil the Mechanic could not rescue him (without paying as much as a new mower would have cost me), so he is being laid to rest as I write. I will miss him.

As all statisticians know, numbers cannot lie. Although they can be misinterpreted, certainly by me

It was a remarkably efficient Monday, which is nearly always a desultory wash out on all levels, social and business, and all the more surprising given the fact that we travelled 2000 miles, there and back, for a party at which a great deal of champagne and fine wine was consumed at the weekend. Normally I would not equate the start of the week with any hint of efficiency, but weirdly, yesterday was different.

Life and travel plans have become so complicated, That Nice Lady Decorator and I had to hold a diary meeting on Sunday evening over a few pints in the Swan Hotel in order to decide on our summer itinerary. It is all now planned and my cup runneth over as it looks like we shall be in France for most of July, except for going to Lords for the first two days of Ashes test match, obviously, and the Arundel Festival which starts around the middle of August. Visits to Cheltenham (for the Wychwood Festival, where John Otway will be playing on June 1st), and Cornwall are amongst the attractions – and by that I mean they will probably attract rain) on the agenda, before we head off to the sunshine, my bar and the pav at the end of June.

And so, we eased through a whole day without a drink and in fact neither of us wanted one. The same will be the case tomorrow although the difference may be that I would want one by then as it has been designated a diet day. If we manage another day, it will be the first consecutive days of temperance that I can recall this year, and with the sun forecast to be in evidence for the whole of the week, the chances seem remote. We do however have high hopes that the family wedding in Oxfordshire on Friday may remain dry, except for the bar.

Chris France
@Valbonne_News