'Tis the season to be jolly .....





Isn't it ?

My word I met some jolly people last week, I met nobodies thinking they were somebodies, someone sitting on a camel with a long black beard and two men at Bristol airport who thought they were doing everyone a favour by sitting miserably in a hothouse of an office complete with a flat screen TV showing an impossibly exotic cooking programme. Ryanair had done us proud by landing half an hour early. The car hire firm kept us all waiting an hour and a half before depositing the few lucky ones to a pitch black car park. We stumbled towards a portacabin inside a large shed radiating light and warmth. 'We just want to get home' uttered one weary traveller, not unreasonably I thought. 'Don't we all love' was the response. I started humming 'Tis the season to be jolly' but the irony was lost on these two unfortunates secure in employment.

Meanwhile banks continue to behave like savages as the rats running them with their once wonderful degrees from assorted business schools sharpen their teeth seeking out the next hapless victim, usually upright decent hardworking people who have given their all, in some cases small family firms that have been run for generations, tearing the lives apart of careful savers and ripping to shreds the myth that the banking profession is a respectable one. As these rats scurry to save their own stinking skins the astounding news that one single man can hoodwink them out of billions just confirms that there is no question that the renewal of the stocks needs to be re-instated for the idiots and lowlife that are currently swirling all around us. Enough said.

Hurriedly popping my rose tinted specs back on, for I know that you all love me best when I am so attired and goodness me I wouldn't want you to think that I had mislaid them I was uplifted on my return to France at the sight of the Mediterranean coastline laid out before me as the plane circled into Beziers airport. The sea was azure, clear and sparkling, the oyster beds laid out neatly below as the South of France displayed itself in all its seductive glory. Agde, the Graeco-phoenician port lay below, a jewel in the crown on this beautiful coast. I would have taken the most marvellous picture as you might imagine but having requested to sit right at the front for the flight you apparently have to then take yourself back six rows for the plane to land. I was craning my neck past the most impossibly 'I just love myself' man who was trilling that he could see his house below, 'just down there, right on the point of the headland, fabulous position'. I must have murmured my approval for he casually volunteered the information that he would staying in a Chateau for Christmas. After giving me enough time to digest this riveting gobbet he, as an after thought in my opinion, asked me where I would be spending my Christmas. The question hung in the air.

The quick witted answer came to me as I'm sure you can all guess.

However on this occasion I kept my counsel.

Comments

Pondside said…
Oh dear, Sally don't bite down too hard on your tongue. We love you with your rose-coloured glasses, but count on your sharp wit too!
So sad that so many are being affected so terribly because of the greed that was rampant at higher financial levels. It's not over yet, I fear.
Mrs ElderBerry said…
oh, what a horrid little man my dear, you did well to hold hard. These upstarts really should know their place, l expect he was a banker. It is enough to start sharpening knives to reap revenge on such ghastly goings on.
muddyboots said…
oh, you do have a way with words, loved to have seen you deal with that blurdey bloke!
LittleBrownDog said…
Oh, Sally - I believe you have perfected the art of saying just the right thing at just the right time. Unlike like that irksome little man who must surely be desparately trying to compensate for some glaring lacking in a certain area... In fact you'd probably have required rose-tinted specs of a very strong prescription to make anything out at all...

Do keep your rose-tinted specs to hand, but don't forget to take them off now and again for our amusement.

xx
Grouse said…
We all have to check in for a dose of life through your specs, Sally darling, to get us through the winter and the recession!

Hope you just left that ordinary little man your card...would have loved to see his face......
Cait O'Connor said…
Agree with you about bankers. I did say bankers :-)
deborah said…
ah,travel during the holidays - not fun for anyone no matter what continent...
"pondside" said it best - we love you with or without, your rose-colored glasses - it's the wit and clever writings we look for.
those of us who have lived in older homes already know the problems of old houses (and then there's REALLY old,large,drafty houses), plus the issue of having "guests", then the issue of living where you will always be an outsider....
wail and nash your teeth - we have eager ears and most of us still hope we can be a guest at your chateau - altho' we may be somewhat better "informed" than others....
don't be so long between posts!
Frances said…
Sally, I can always count on you to find where truth doth dwell. Always truth round your dwelling, and truth delivered with such style.

Is travel broadening? In a way that we would prefer?

Rambling a bit this evening, but always want to let you know that I am definitely in your corner, and think that I get almost all of your subtleties. xo
deborah said…
thank for the good wishes -
and you're quite correct - "forty something" can have many meanings. you, for instance, are forty etc and certainly "are something". ;]
Tessa said…
Ghastly little man. He was little, wasn't he?

Lovely that you are back in your beloved France, Sally. Your description of seeing the coastline from the air was .....just delicious!
Just been over here googling your home it's beautiful!! Thanks for your kind words and stop by any time;) French
blogthatmama said…
Did he tell you the name of the Chateau Sally? I'm hoping you don't get a nasty Christmas surprise!
Françoise said…
Sally,
I love a good rant where it is deserved. You did yourself proud!
Françoise

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