Frustrating

At the end of last week our first guests of 2009 arrived. They were here house hunting for a few days and before they left they had put in an offer on a place out towards the 'Montagne Noire'.

Before Christmas, The Sunday Times ran an article - well several actually - about all the Brits fleeing France because it was too expensive on account of the exchange rate and the credit crunch. I said to Debrah at the time that it was absolute bollocks and typical one-sided journalism designed to fill media space.

Years ago I used to respect the Sunday Times for it's objective review of the week's events - it's sad to report that it is now firmly within the grasp of the same sensationalist dramatism as every other media channel. One couple, who's pension might be worth a bit less than it used to be, is translated into a wholescale evacuation of Dunkirk proportions back to Blighty, where, of course, things are much better.

Except that that isn't the truth and in fact it's an outright lie. I worked in advertising long enough to know that you can get away with the most outrageous lies if you dress them up well enough - and our papers and TV channels and Government have clearly learned that they can do the same. The mistake they will make is if they think that we all believe it.

So, my guests were ignoring the advice, opinion and dramatics and were still looking to buy a holiday home in this fantastic region of France - good for them - and lovely people they were too - perhaps it was because they worked in the advertising industry themselves that they were immune to all the negative press!

When they left on Sunday, I departed too - headed back to London for a couple of days with Debrah. On a three day lightning visit you want to spend as much time together as possible, so it was incredibly frustrating that on arrival I discovered that the Stansted Express wasn't running and that the replacement coach service only went direct to Liverpool Street, thus adding time and cost until I saw Debrah. Outrageously, I was charged the same price for my ticket despite the massive inconvenience

The theme of frustration continued because my conversations with our banks about a re-structuring of our finances have so far come to nothing and were arduous and long and ultimately inconclusive because of the inertia in the system. I wasn't asking for the world, just a small pebble - but they weren't playing ball.

They got us into this fix and have been massively bailed out by governments ( i.e. - you and me) and now they sit behind their desks doing nothing because they are all traumatised and scared to make a decision.

And so here I am back in France - I've fixed the shower head from the Apartment which had become a bit calcified from the harsh water here and I've caught up with the laundry and the admin - So all's up to date.

Some of us are still on top of our game.