A Brand New 007-ish kind of year!

After a looooong absence – I note my last entry was on 5 December!, I am finally back in the land of the living blogs! – and it is good to see all my regular and loyal readers still out there!
I wish you all a brilliant new year…….
This is going to be a good one ---
It HAS to be a good one….
It WILL be a good one!

So – where were you to see the old year out?

I always thought the big bash on New Year’s Eve was a bit of a damp squib, most of the time. Much more a night to reminisce and perhaps feel a little rueful or sad or nostalgic. Celebrating on the actual New Year’s Day makes much more sense to me…

Anyway – this New Year’s Eve I had the good fortune to be in THE in-place to be for the event – along with everyone who is anyone – and, although so NOT in that category in my books, even Hilton Paris-- or Paris Hilton – whatever – was there. Yes! The beautiful City of light and luminosity, fireworks and festivities – Sydney!
It was magnificent! The
huge bats in the botanical gardens might not have approved, and Mrs Macquarie might have shaken her head in bemusement, and the silly neon coat hanger on the harbour Bridge (No! NOT the Coat Hanger! Please!) might have looked just that – silly, but the atmosphere of excitement all day in the city as people queued up for kilometres and hour after hour to get a good vantage point from where to watch the display, the smiles and goodwill and sense of fun and anticipation – the general wonderful feeling in the air in Sydney on the 31st of December 2006, was something to be experienced!

And the fireworks? Splendiforous! Spectacular! Superb! One just had to forget for a moment how many people could have been fed, or housed or clothed with the AU$4 000 000+ that the pyrotechnics cost the city, fill up another glass of champagne, wipe away the last few caviar crumbs, and enjoy! 2007 started with a Big Bang for me and I fully intend for it to continue that way! I do hope for you too!


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Market Day in Issigeac

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Ségolène Royal: One step closer to the first woman French President?

Will Ségolène Royal be the woman who will lead France into the future?

Ségolène Royal has finally, after a gruelling six weeks of debate and backbiting, been designated Socialist Party candidate for the 2007 presidential elections. The party’s 218,771 paid-up members cast their vote in 4,000 transparent ballot boxes on November 16. Of these eligible voters, over 68 000 were new members who had joined the Parti Socialiste (PS) via the Internet with cut-price dues of €20 in order to participate in the ballot.
Royal received 60.6 percent of the vote. The other two contenders were Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the finance minister in Lionel Jospin’s Plural Left government (1997-2002), with 20.8 percent, and Laurent Fabius, prime minister under PS president François Mitterrand (1984-86), with 18.5 percent.
All three candidates were close associates of Mitterrand, president from 1981 to 1995. They worked with him to dispel the socialist aspirations of the French working class and to impose austerity policies in the interest of the French bourgeoisie. All three pledged and maintained unswerving allegiance to the right-wing Socialist Party programme elaborated in June this year.

The vote was the culmination of a six-week selection process involving six debates: three on national television and three before the party membership.

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Definitely NOT local/Perigord creatures!

During my recent visit to South Africa, I visited the game reserve and had a few close encounters with some of the beautiful creatures of the African bush. For any of my readers who are interested in visiting this amazing country and seeing these animals in real life, do not hesitate to contact me for information on things to do and places to go. Tourism in South Africa is five star all the way and you would have to go far to find a holiday destination with so much variety and so many opportunities at such excellent value.
A magnificent big tusker perhaps a little close for comfort?
The thrill of finding a leopard! Have you spotted him yet?
It is heartening to see that there are still herds of a few hundred buffalo roaming the plains..
Colourful and camouflaged.....

Only such a very young hyena would you find cuddly!


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Christmas in the Dordogne

A little Christmas gift of a small jar of my own
onion chutney to thank all the people in the village of Lalinde who have made this such a good year for me........

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