Just what the doctor ordered.

My bad cholesterol level is too high so the doctor told me, amongst other advice, to avoid alcohol - apart from 2 glasses of wine a night! Honest, that is what he said!
Now, that's the kind of doctor you like.

Yes, very beautiful.

- We are very beautiful, non?

Animal or vegetable?

Have you ever seen a French poodle in its horticultural form? Well, here it is: pruned, trimmed and tortured to within an inch of its life.


This tightly shaped shrub has no merit. It is as charmless as a Victorian corseted waist or a bound Chinese female foot.
I feel no pleasure in looking at it, only dismay that successive gardeners have spent years forcing it into this ugly, humiliating shape. It reveals no love of the natural world, simply a desire to dominate, tame and bend to the human will.

Feast your eyes on the Best of Breed parade on permanent display at Versailles.

Feeling a little woozy.

I have been having dizzy spells lately due to nano particles in my inner ear swishing about in the wrong canal. So imagine how I felt when we came across this sight on avenue Georges V last weekend. I could barely keep upright.
There is no crazy mirror trickery going on here. This is how Parisians deal with the sight of "not beautiful" scaffolding. In the stylish and expensive 8th arrondissement, ugliness is not tolerated in either human or architectural form so with panache and wit they construct an outer skin to hide all the dirty, messy, untidy process. When the Gucci shop was undergoing a similar process, the whole building was enclosed in one massive Gucci suitcase complete with metal locks and leather trim (or so it appeared).


The windows are recessed and glassy. The corbels are three-dimensional. It is a very disorienting experience - take it from me, as I lie flat on my back on the pavement.

Back in the Land of Plenty.

I don't see much of the Winter sky in Paris. Light pollution and tall buildings obscure most of it. Consequently I can't judge what the weather is going to do apart from sticking my head out of the window to see what the locals are wearing for the day.
This lovely wintry sky will keep me going.

Remind me again where I live. Darfur? Zimbabwe?
Oh yes, Paris: gourmet capital of the world.
Then why do we insist on bringing back with us Red Cross food parcels of groceries?!!? You cannot see the kilos of porridge oats, boxes and boxes of Shreddies, jars of curry pastes and marmalade.


And this! Will I be able to make any sense of this? After today's attempt, obviously not. These are remote headphones, which should enable me to listen to podcasts of Radio 4 plays while I do my ironing. The reason I cannot listen directly from the computer speakers and iron in the same room is too long and involves melted plugs and metal prongs welded into a socket.