Where are Brad and Angelina?
Let’s try and keep our spirits up. Petrol prices mean that everyone needs to stay at home, petrol shortages mean that we can’t go anywhere anyway…and I’ve hired a car starting this evening so I can go and do research on the Nimes region.
So either I won’t be able to set off, or I’ll set off and won’t be able to get back, or the trip will cost so much that I’ll have to sell the children into slavery to pay for it.
In any event the timing is looking a bit dodgy - the weather has been pretty chaotic recently with floodings and storms breaking through the sunshine with alarming frequency, so I’ll probably be hit by lightening as I stand on the Pont du Gard even if I do manage to get over there.
Still I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself as long as I can hang on to my umbrella.
I’ll be staying in a hotel that would best be described as functional - francethisway not quite yet having the reputation that entices hotels to invite me to stay free of charge in the hope I give them a glowing review. Now that would be nice, any offers?
Don’t worry, my editorial integrity allows for bribery and if you put me up in a luxury penthouse I promise I’ll say nice things about your establishment.
Strangely the two most recent reviews for the hotel I’m going to stay in were completely different. Both dated from August 2007 - one said ‘it was the most uncomfortable place we have ever stayed in‘ while the other said ‘we loved it and changed our flight dates so we could stay a few more days‘. I hope I get the room where the second couple stayed.
My choice was limited because I have a low budget and because I waited until yesterday to try and find a hotel with availability for tomorrow. It is towards the lower end of the price range but I don’t mind being pleasantly surprised.
My one concern with heading over towards Provence is the news that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are supposedly hiding out somewhere in that direction, unable to get to their French villa because there are zillions of paparazzi sleeping on their lawn.
Where better for them to hide out and avoid attention than in one of the few cheap hotels to still have availability - no one in the world would think to look for them in my hotel out on the plains of the Camargue.
So hopefully when I get back I won’t be talking about the thrills of visiting Arles in a thunderstorm, but instead revealing the ending of Brad’s next film, and announcing that I’ve sold the film rights to this blog for millions of pounds to a big shot hollywood director.
