Provencal morning

Today was our first full day in Provence so, as is customary, I went in to the village early to get croissants, pain-au-chocolat, newspapers and other prerequisites of a civilised breakfast. The first sight I encountered was of a film crew filming one of those casually glamorous French presenters outside the most elegantly dilapidated premises in town.

Truly, you couldn’t make this up. What a country. I hope Sarkozy doesn’t ruin it.

Celebrity culture

Engagingly hysterical scenes outside the Cambridge Corn Exchange tonight as revellers arrived for my daughter’s Leavers’ Ball. It was interesting to see how many of the girls had managed to transform themselves into replicas of the kind of people normally seen only in Hello! magazine.