Farewell to the Midi 2013

Our time in the Midi is ending for the present round. As with everything – as well as with life itself, it has passed much too quickly. Whilst we look forward to cinema, music, theatre, museums, different restaurants, different vistas and different friends, it is always painful to part from the many loves we have here in the south of France. It has been a hard winter – bitterly cold and with more snow than I have known previously. It has varied between being Alpine and Mediterranean but has been interspersed with enough days of beautiful sunshine and sparkling skies. And although I have yet to locate the passing comet, les étoiles de la nuit have been more than ample and awesome.

On the political front, I remain increasingly aghast and angry. Two blogs in particular have hit home: Finian Cunningham’s “US: Psychotic Superpower on a Hair-trigger” (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34252.htm) and Fred Reed’s “The View from Abroad:The World is not Billy Bob's Rib Pit” (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34328.htm) – the former concerning America’s boundless and destabilising paranoia; the latter, on mounting world hatred for America’s arrogant ignorance and incessant global meddling. By contrast, the heroes of the day include the UN’s special rapporteur Ben Emmerson (http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/mar/05/britain-us-secret-torture-reports), Bradley Manning (http://www.disinfo.com/2013/03/pfc-bradley-e-mannings-statement-for-the-providence-inquiry/), The Guardian newspaper (http://ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/11422/) and even, the now late, Hugo Chavez (http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/25411-hugo-chavez-vs-the-network.html). My wish is always for a viable world enlightenment that divests the kinds of absolute power that lead to absolute corruption, that would separate us from the sorry state eventually achieved by imperial Rome, and that would rescue our planet from the downwardly spiralling infestation we humans so mindlessly have unleashed upon her. Short of this, my wish would be to forget the political mess of our current times, but even this, for me, remains an impossibility.

The irony is that, apart from the obvious non-fulfilment of my two wishes as well as the bodily ravages steadily inflicted by time, I am wondrously and incredibly happy. On the personal level, I am still apparently under divine protection (eudaimonia). Our marriage is a joyous one full of laughter, comfort and companionship. Intense appreciation and gratitude remain the overriding factors for both of us. This extends to the treasure of the friends we have, to the beauty of our ‘nomadic encampments’, to our comparative ease in slipping through life as compared to the hardships of most others, and to the arts and nature that continue to kiss us.

For the rest, and thankfully, it has been mostly uneventful and peacefully gentle. We have had several evenings of cocktails and dinners at the Hotel Calalou, another day trip to Aix-en-Provence (where we forced ourselves to see Lincoln and ended up glad that we had), been to super dinners and parties with friends, encountered snow blizzards, watched the England rugby win over France at Nigel and Rosamund’s and the England defeat by Wales at Penny and Hamish’s, celebrated the Roman carnival and New Year, did proposals for both the ASR and AAR conferences, have experienced La Table and the Restaurant de Truffe, attended the Benediction des Chiens in Moissac, been to the fund-raiser evening for Bounas in Moissac, got the thumbs-up on Richard’s post-cataract surgery from the ophthalmologist in St. Maximum-la-Baume, enjoyed the Literary Luncheon on the Route de Draguignan with the English writer/actress Elizabeth Morgan as the guest speaker, have submerged ourselves in lots of walks and have been to David Roberts’ funeral in Vidaban. With this last, Richard declared afterwards that do not need to go to movies. We have already enough drama and emotion in our real lives. For the rest, it is now packing and closing down as much as we can, doing a radio interview for The Illuminati Network, saying good bye to friends, doing a French will and re-visiting Les Gourmet, Calalou and La Celestine. If I was able to say it has been uneventful, I am now assessing that it certainly has been full.

And when the sun shines, all is joyous and glorious.