The Ramadan Rush
It would appear from The Times, that rich shoppers from the Middle East are getting their shopping in before Ramadan starts on July 20th. They also claim that France’s burqa ban, means that shoppers now prefer London.
The French really know how to create laws that help their business sector, especially as they are bringing in a financial transaction tax.
Are The Frogs Floundering?
Let’s face it the French haven’t the best record as fighters when it gets wet; Trafalgar, Copenhagen, Quiberon Bay. And they don’t seem to be doing too well on a rain-effected pitch in Donetsk.
Could Hodsgon’s luck be thinking about turning as France need to beat the Ukraine.
The French Are Coming
Ever since 1066, the French have always been invading these isles. In some ways the only time they have been successful was in that historic first attempt, which put William the Conqueror on the throne.
But now is this, the first of another wave of invaders? I took these pictures by Chapel Market in Islington.
As after all, London is now the city with the sixth largest population of French nationals in the world.
It’s just that I’ve never found any gluten-free crepes in a trailer like this.
Why Do The French Like the Queen So Much?
According to this article on the BBC web site, the Diamond Jubilee has gone down well with the French.
So why is this? Could it be that she’s probably the only English-speaking leader, who speaks reasonable French in public?
The Torch Relay Gets a Health Warning
Apparently, they’re fainting in Haverfordwest as they awat the torch and BBC Wales has issued a health warning, in that they’re telling everybody to bring suntan and a drink.
I would assume that some of the locals will be in traditional Welsh dress a short time later in Fishguard, as if the yeomanry and especially the ladies of the town hadn’t defended so stoutly against the French in 1797, the Olympics would now be taking place this year in Paris. The story is told in this article on the Battle of Fishguard. The part the ladies played is summarised in this paragraph.
The heroine of the hour was Jemima Nicholas, who, with her pitchfork, went out single-handedly into the fields around Fishguard and rounded up 12 French soldiers and ‘persuaded’ them to return with her to town where she locked them inside St. Mary’s Church.
It is thought the French troops may have mistaken local women like her, in their traditional tall black hats and red cloaks, for British Grenadiers when they stood on the cliffs above the British force lined up on Goodwick Sands at the surrender.
Certainly the Royal Oak pub has lived on the tale for more than two hundred years.Although today, the weather may be too hot for a black hat and a heavy red cloak.
The Headmistress Lays Down the Rules
The headmistress or is it the Chief Warder, has put on her sternest East German face to lay down the law to the naughty Greeks, who have said they won’t take her medicine.
I’m afraid I think they will have to otherwise the financial police of New York, London, Frankfurt and the Far East, will make it so expensive for them to get the money they need to spend on expensive cars and the other imports they need.
The state of the Greek parties are outlined here. Just look at the face on the Chief Warder’s picture.
As if the Chief Watrder hasn’t got enough on her plate with the Greeks, and the French decide to play by their own rules. I suppose they have to, as reportedly, it’s the French banks, who are up to their necks in Greek debt.
The Election That Wasn’t
Has there ever been an election, that was so low key? I haven’t seen one window sticker or been canvassed. If it wasn’t for the coverage on television and in the papers, you would have thought there was no elections at all. I did see Boris once, but he wasn’t actually doing anything, except being nice to everybody.
The only result that says anything, has been turn-out of 32 %, that has been the worst for a decade.
I did vote, but the polling station was like a morgue. I saw two other voters and the one of those had got lost as he tried to find the room, where the vote was taking place.
In some ways the election that matters for London, other than the Mayor, takes place at the weekend in France. Turbulence and political uncertaincy there, will certainly affect London, but until we see the result of the Sarkozy-Hollande run-off, we won’t know how.
A Fiesty Debate In Paris
It would appear that it was a feisty debate in Paris between President Sarkozy and his challenger, Francois Hollande. But no one got in a knock out blow.
Now there’s an idea!
Perhaps the two of them, should meet in the boxing ring!
It would be a world-wide TV hit!
It’s Swimwear Buying Time Again
Judging by this picture of a London bus, it’s time to buy swimwear again.
H&M Swimwear Advert on a London Bus
Not me, as I don’t swim. And the advert wouldn’t apply to me personally, as I’m a man.
My late wife, C, was a manic and enthusiastic swimmer to say the least and every day before work, she’d swim umpteen lengths in the pool at Bedford Lodge Hotel in Newmarket. She used to wear out Speedo Endurance swimsuits regularly, and I used to watch eBay for when last year’s models were sold off for here. Do professional swimmers have suits and trunks made out of something more long-lasting, or does the sponsor just pay?
I remember in 2007, which was the year she died, that C decided she needed some summer clothes and that of course meant swimwear. Since her breast cancer a few years before, she always felt that she must look the best fifty-year-old on the beach, not out of vanity, but more to stick two fingers up to the cancer. Although, she was probably two polite to do that other than metaphorically.
So she bought tickets on easyJet and one Friday in April we took the plane to Nice and checked in at the Hotel Windsor, which is much recommended. We had a marvellous weekend in the sun.
It was the first of seven holidays that we took in that fateful year before she died in December of a cancer totally unrelated to that in her breast.
My biggest memory of that holiday, is that C decided to buy a couple of bikinis for the summer. So we headed to Gallerie Lafayette and for a couple of hours, she tried on most that were suitable in the shop, whilst I passed what I thought might be suitable or a different size over the door of the changing room. It was a difficult job, but someone had to do it. They got hard work that last summer she was alive.
The picture shows C on the beach on the island of Panarea. I think you can just see that she was wearing nail polish, something she rarely did except on holiday.
The French Try Every Way to Leave the Country
The French seem to have panicked about the prospect of a new very left-wing government, as this article shows.
The Anonymous Widower 