Sunday 4 September 2011

back from france

back from france brilliant weather more to follow

Friday 8 July 2011

more scandal

press and politics in turmoil each side hyopcitical slagging off each others behavior we need a new political sytemn this one is bust

Monday 4 July 2011

ole

djocovick defeats the Spanish bull at Wimbledon .afterwards he eats grass from the centre court i felt like animal and it tasted nice . he has also ended all the commentators drooling over the Spaniard, we have lot to thank novak for,

Saturday 2 July 2011

i dont get somethings french

I'd live in France if i was born again born , want to be roman french, but there is perverseness i still don't get--- why do they have a clay tennis court in in paris when french players like tsonga and mon fils play better on Grass.why when they have great food do they throw it away by becoming the biggest consumers of MacDonald's out side the U.S . then politics ghastly to the Anglos chirac- why would you rather have him than sarko. chirac had mistresses discretely and apparently having them goes with the job of being president - then spent 780 thousand on salad and yet he's OK he has dignity. well i cant see it . sarko may be an idiotic at times but at least hes out in the open about his life., so will some one explain whats right with chirac and wrong with sarko. just reading inez de la fresange book on Parisian chic great book - the secret places of Paris of restaurants galleries etc and also about how to dress= so why why not a book for anglo guys who want to distance themselves from the fat in short sleeved shirts and shorts and burgers look . finally on the bright side catherine deneuve and louis garell in the same movie o its like having having two helpings of the best meal you ever tasted0 see i have become French i describe be people terms of food. I've been away but i hope my mate solar will be back on here too

Tuesday 10 May 2011

hello again

taken time off to go north east and west royal wedding etc street parties days on the beach, someone murdered my cat, its been eventful, we also have election and referendum no to av the luvvies choice , i hate champagne socialists and caviar gauge - whats new well watch this space - reflection on restaurants in u k they go up while french go down why- in France beware of any Establishment that says restaurant, pizzeria, bistro and salon de the which means they have no idea what they are doing therefore avoid

Thursday 24 March 2011

high speed tosh

as usual the protesters are out at the prospect of high speed rail through the midlands. the argument that it will despoil the country side is none sense a ribbon of rail stretched across the country with elegant trains on it what is the problem and as they are going to encase it with two million trees means well have more trees than we lose. the high speed rail between Avignon and Turin is practically invisible even though it passes through one of the most compressed spaces in Provence between the mountains and the sea. in France i live with in 300 yards of the railway its is surrounded by pines and you don't hear anything .as for the spurious argument it will only clip 30 minutes to Birmingham then add Leeds t then Newcastle finally Edinburgh and youve saved two hours. as most peoples times is calculated as being 30 quid an hour you've saved a lot of cash and you've brought the UK into the loop of 21st century transport. Edinburgh to Paris 5 hours at most whats to quarrel with. advantages in France a boom in the south less air craft and journey that is quick pleasant and gets you right in the centre of what you want to be the moaners ive heard so far haven't analysed the gain don't want to know, negative negative --campaign as much ad you like it will happen sooner or later why not sooner


entente

last November England and France signed up to merge part of their armed forces everybody laughed. Libya has proved the scoffers wrong the British and the french have worked together very well. should we be in Libya is like asking should we have intervened in kosovo or should we have gone to war for Poland, it was too nasty to watch and do nothing . i love the talk of the crusades as being an emotive word well what about the moors overrunning Spain and southern France and the desecration of the greatest shrine in Christendom hagia sophia in Istanbul ghadafis' bluster about the crusades is part of the nonsense over who did what we ought get over not that we expect him to --and think on this Arab friends ,if the west goes down who will you sell you oil to china, a much less equable trading partner than the ones you've long been used to your best enemy is sometime the other face of your best friend

gap

there has ben a gap , stinking winter ,stinking cold, twists of fate affecting both solar and polar but were back hoping to attract more notice than before

Tuesday 15 February 2011

tribalism

no blogs recently the cough and antibiotics got in the way. my best Friend in France solar himself said your friends are the family you choose you family is often what you get stuck with. in England we are stuck in tribal groups. upper class lower class ,we abuse each other as toffs ,scroungers no one wants heal wounds have an inclusive society where everyone top and bottom is motivated to help each other do their best. i was told by another friend i was a romantic, a hopeless idealist-- well the tribal groups don't work I've never had Muslim friend since i was at college it was when i played hockey and i learned to forget there was such a thing as colour or race re multicultural ism and nationalism prevents getting close to different groups. Dianne abbot said to come to hackney see our rainbow culture -a rainbow is a homogeneous whole one colour dependant on the other- if that's what hackney represents i cant wait to see this version of a non tribal big society

Wednesday 26 January 2011

stylists

critics would say they are a mess however the Brits produce a crop of style eccentrics its hard to beat - way back to oscar wilde our, current stylists hold up the tradition. helen bonham carter in vivien westwood at the golden globes ,like fashion car crash, she stood out amongst the blonde glamour girls who all looked the same. then we've got russel brand wild and wonderful who wouldn't dream of wearing a tight blue suit, a dandy with his own style never on best dressed list, he should be because he's an image maker legs then there is also tilda swinton who looks like shes been resuscitated again no one like her these, three have created their own image are like fashion laboratories in the round. fashion slave David beckham take note youve fallowed every look under the sun but don't have your own sense of style

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Le sang bleu de l'hiver

Début d'année au coeur de l'hiver. Début d'année, plus une mort qu'une naissance, comme un goût poussiéreux d'amertume, il faut refaire le chemin vers l'hiver prochain, traverser encore celui-ci qui n'est pas encore fini, aller vers le printemps avec allégresse, celle qui fait battre aux tempes le pollen et les fruits puis arrêter le cours des choses dans le grand coeur savoureux de l'été, le grand coeur de fruit rouge entrouvert et saignant, le grand coeur de l'été généreux et offert comme une femme du sud portant haut la poitrine, le grand coeur de l'été. Mais pas encore. Pas encore. Mon cher amour de Juillet. Pas encore. Il est encore Janvier et je promène celui que j'appelle mon corps le long des bateaux du port dans une immense lumière bleue. Le vent qui lui tranche les épaules fait son malin. Alors voilà, cette lumière bleue m'apparaît comme le sang bleu d'un immémoriale bête céleste et triste, là, sacrifiée dans le ciel pâle. Et tombé vers nous, liquide contre le sol, son sang bleu, épais et glacial. Le voilà qui nous colle à l'hiver.

Thursday 20 January 2011

les faux pas

why are our leaders so ill educated about history Cameron said we were the Junior partner with the u.s in 1940 - the u.s didn't get into the war until 1942 when two turning points had been reached El ale main and Stalingrad. now sarkozy when he is in Alsace thinks he's in Germany, since the war the population of Alsace has done everything in its power to become wholly french this man is insulting, slack, and perhaps not worthy of the office he occupies

Saturday 15 January 2011

an oasis

after the hectic times of Christmas wears your interconnect gland out, i for one need a quiet place, my own oasis a place to remember what am i all about-- its difficult living near to a building site but i try to imagine an empty space . what did i do in this place i read and then i drew or painted things i don't normally paint desert men, fighting bulls, in a medium i don't usually use, and i cut out all extraneous contact- that is contact you have because you think you have to,- if you don't you'll be anti socially or a sad looser- so it became movies s i wanted to watch food i wanted to eat, no comments ,no dissenters, no justification needed. on new year we had dinner with Vincent and honorine and very unobtrusive they were too ,which is just the way i like it when I'm in the oasis mood. out side the oasis, bad mouthing continues ,petty jealousies flourish ,incompetent fools are in charge everywhere, and the news is bad, a selfish British electorate, greedy Icelander's, floods in Australia and dull weather- yet i have to come out again or I'll have become an out of touch recluse ,the longer it goes on the more difficult it becomes.so today its off to Bristol to a marvellously eccentric ladies exhibition and then off to an Italian restaurant tonight with friends who i can disagree with but who don't sulk now that's a real treat- so ole i click my heels and back out into the world i go

Friday 14 January 2011

madness

eu regulations force fisherman to disgard any fish caught that are over quota, therefore half the fish caught are returned to the sea dead, a futile waste this is part of the eu conservation policy but still madness . the solution fish less days keep all the catch, senseless killing of any living creature cannot be justified- join the protest movement by signing up at www. fishfight . net--- my great grand father was a fisherman i know how important the conservation of the seas is it is a vital resource we cannot afford to despoil

Saturday 8 January 2011

it turned out all right in the end


here in the south west the gardens are ruined, i feel i want to do a Garbo hide away,what a lousy time of year -so what am i doing painting images of the south of France, reading the biography of Hedy lamarr the movie star an ongoing down ward spiral into poverty and tragedy until the last chapter, when the super intelligent Hedy her beauty gone, is recognised for her invention that led to mobile phone and space technology , and who then at te age of 75 learned to play the stock market and ended up rich again-- brains before beauty any day ,but her looks certainly gave her a head start, but ironically her legacy is much more than anything she did in the movies- so every time you lift your mobile thank Hedy Lamarr

lack of optimism

apparently,in one of those crazy polls that no one you know has ever taken part, in the french are the least optimistic country in Europe - well cheer up mes amis, you have twice as much space as the UK, better roads ,railways, everyone i know looks chic, has profound things to say. has more sunshine ,endless supplies of classy rose ,gorgeous weather presenters , great jeans wonderful shirts , glace fruits , places like nimes and the bouche du rhone coast - ok your restaurants aren't so hot any more , your chips have gone to dogs and the french and English navies are about to make love . and even if the french language is on the run ,you live in a beautiful place ,you have an existential intensity that gives me goose bumps, and no matter what the Franco phobes say, your the most loyal friends you can ever make ,so cheer up mes ami you've got a lot going for you and i love you ,will defend you against all comers, even if you don't love yourselves

Tuesday 4 January 2011

new year

new year is one of those things that was big in Scotland maybe a viking tradition eating haggis neeps and carrot mash it then spread to England then the empire etc with robbie burns old land syne never mind we dont know what it means .new year for me well not my thing , getting snogged by poeple you've avoided for the rest of the year getting smashed ,so new years days a write off ,we also have the new years honours list this year luvvies and dodgy bankers. david suchet got one the great Pete pothlethwaite didn't. annie lennox for her charity work well if she was a real toiler in the fields we wouldn't know about it. then they give dame hood to an actress called harriet who no one knows - what a pointless farce -- new years meal 3star and didn't have to avoid any unwanted lips this year also texts and emails and phone calls from all my closest so excellent start hope all goes well for anyone reading this I'm not making any resolutions and intend to be as grumpy as ever. as for the fireworks in london an artistic triumph that knocked sydney cold - i didnt see paris so i cant make comparisons