Angelina something or other
 
I have it on good authority ~ Well Arthur told Patrick who mentioed it to Diane who didn't believe it but passed it onto me anyway that there was a conversation in the pub opposite the Chateau at Montbrun the other night or was it 2 weeks ago that the owner is thinking of selling up.

Having retored the castle to its former glory he's moving on & the Chateau is for sale.

I'm told by Diane who heard it from Brian, her husband ~ so it must be true ~ that the Dutch owner, an entrepreneur, has earned his fotune by dubious but interesting means. Involves film noir, rounded ladies, well-endowned French men and some whips.

Also according to Arthur who heard it from Gloria ~ so it must be true ~ the new owners flew in by helicopter the other day to visit the Chateau & said Dutchman.

I think the report of a helicopter is probably a bit of an exaggeration!

I think they're called Brad Pitt or something like that & Angelina Something, I think.

Anyway a nice couple just trying to get away from it all & settle into the quiet rhythms of France. Just like the rest of us really.

They'll fit in nicely with all of us and I'm sure Angelina will enjoy the Coffee morning group.

Brad is going to join Bernadette's class for French lessons and the words got around ~ can't understand it but Bernadette's class is already full for September!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by David Vernon Goddard at 16:34 0 comments  

Labels: Brad and Jollie

Yesterday Carol & I spent the morning cutting the grass & generally tidying up the garden. The weather has turned into a proper Summer after the rains & clouds, so we had a great day. Spent most of the afternoon in the sun just reading.

At teatime as Carol was getting some coffee & biscuits, I went to the side of the pond just to see how the fish were and I heard some rustling in the reeds. As I glaned down to where the sound was coming from, I just caught sight of something entering the water.

My God ~ it was a snake about 2/3 feet in length with its head out of he water and just gliding along till it got to the middle and went into the weeds & plants.I tell you this has thrown me ~ a snake in our pond. And when I explained what had happened to my wife she reacted badly because she has a real fear when it comes to snakes ~ can't bear to watch them when they come on TV!!

When I fed the fish this morning I was particularly careful where I stood & after feeding there it was again ~ on the other side of the water just swimmimg along and back into the reeds. Unfortunately it wasn't there long enough for me to see its markings or to identify it.

So I guess I need to do some research.

And we have friends around this weekend who have children so I'm going to have to do something.

But what?

George Orwell gives the following as the main drivers for him writing:

(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.

(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story. Desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed. The aesthetic motive is very feeble in a lot of writers, but even a pamphleteer or writer of textbooks will have pet words and phrases which appeal to him for non-utilitarian reasons; or he may feel strongly about typography, width of margins, etc. Above the level of a railway guide, no book is quite free from aesthetic considerations.

(iii) Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.

(iv) Political purpose. — Using the word 'political' in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples' idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.

Why do you write or Blog????????????????????

Vernon

Khabibullo Ismailovich Abdusamatov

Today in Limoges we have dark clouds, heavy rain and temperatures of between 10/12 degrees. "Today" has lasted from May through June and is now set for July.

So what's happening? A blip in the weather? A poor summer? A one-off?

I think not. The trend of unusual and unseasonal weather has been with us for some years & the scientists have been examining and appraising the situation for many years now.

See the problem for me is not that something is happening and accelerating ~ that's obvious. I see it with my own eyes.

No! The problem for me is that the experts themselves disagree both on the causes of what we are witnessing and the potential solutions.

* There are those who blame mankind. They argue ~ We have developed and built our societies on the fossil fuels & simultaneously polluted our atmospheres with so much carbon as to alter the normal balances of nature, weather etc. The only solution ~ and it may be too late ~ is to reduce carbon emissions.

* There are those who argue that what we are going through is a natural adjustment ~ part of the cyclic nature of the earth. They also indicate that man's contribution is negligible and the major cause in the shift is the sun. There is no solution. Things will get worse.This has happened before.

 

So here I am in the Limousin watching the rain ~ and watching the first signs of confusion & doubt in our usually confident approach to life.

There's one thing that's certain ~ there's much more of this to come and the process will accelerate.

The recent floods in UK give us an insight into how quickly someone's life can be turned upside down.

I guess we need to worry more about Global warming than any other current problems.

And when is the tennis going to restart?