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.
Is It Hire a Frog Week?
I think that the result of the French Presidential Election and the subsequent uncertainy may mean that a lot of high-grade people working in France decide to hop-on the Eurostar and get a job in England.
Personally, I am pleased I no longer own the house in Antibes, as I suspect if some of the candidates win on May 6th, I’d have a lot more taxes to pay.
I checked with my stockbroker this morning, and he said that French bonds are at least holding up, but that is not what can be said for Spanish ones.
The Louvre Does A Liverpool
The Times today reports, that the Louvre is opening a branch museum in Lens. It suggests this might have been inspired by the success of the Tate Liverpool.
I suspect though that the French will charge in Lens, whereas, the only charge in Liverpool is for special exhibitions or in the excellent restaurant.
It Never Rains But It Pours
After my brief escapade into hospital last week, I thought everything was better.
But now I learn, that my penis implant has failed. Apparently, the piece of broom handle that was used has got wordworm and has now collapsed. The French surgeon, who did the job at great expense can’t be traced and the NHS doesn’t want to know.
I’ve talked to Cuprinol and they have no idea what I should do. If anybody has any idea, please reply to this post.
The French are Complaining
According to The Times, the French are complaining that the official Olympic brochure is not available in French.
But if you do put it into French, do you use French French, which I can read or Canadian French, which I can’t and a lot of French people from France have been known to laugh at in the same way we treat American English.
In my view there might be a more serious problem on the various Olympic sites. All sports with the exception of football, cricket and one or two others are performed with respect to metric units. Even rugby talks about 10 and 22 metre lines!
So do we put up the signs inside the Olympic park with yards or metres. As most of the competitors and spectators, think a yard is somewhere to keep your rubbish, we should use metres.
But I bet we don’t!
The only place I know in the UK, with metric signposts, is Liverpool University’s campus.
There is an e-petition on metrication here.
For those who are against this on account of it’s not the British thing to use metric units. I have never used Imperial units in business and don’t ever use them to measure anything. My eldest child will be 43 this year and he didn’t even learn about Imperial units at school.
So why do we keep them?
London Is Alive With the Sound of French
I don’t know why, but London this morning seemed to be full of the French. I thought it might have something to do with the rugby, but France play England in Paris on the 11th.
I was travelling to Westbourne Park station and back and both ways I had to sort out groups of French travellers, who had got lost. One thing that seems to have confused them, is that the Circle line, is no longer what it says on the tin. So experienced travellers to London, who want to get between say St. Pancras International and Victoria stations with heavy cases, get rather confused with having to change trains at Edgware Road station. The first group had been so confused they’d actually got on the westbound, rather than the eastbound they needed. I came back from Paddington and there it is more confusing, as all eastbound trains terminate at Edgware Road. The information leaves a lot to be desired.
I still haven’t found out why all the French were here, but something was up, as why would there have been a TV crew at St. Pancras.
TV Crews at St. Pancras
I think they could have been French!
Doesn’t DSK Ever Learn?
There are reports everywhere to say that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been detained by French police investigating a prostitution ring.
As he supposedly had sex with several of the women, what else could he have thought? Perhaps, that they just felt sorry for him? Or they were giving him a free sex-education lesson?
Imagine if the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition had been involved in a similar enquiry! But it wouldn’t happen here would it? Not now maybe, but similar things have happened in the past.
The Anonymous Widower 