Lazy Sunday

The uphill walk to Pastor Joe's was undertaken in rain and the return in drizzle, almost ceased by the time we got to the seafront.

Wonderfully, lunch was proper for a Sunday which allowed me to sit on the balcony all afternoon and finish "Best of Enemies" by Robert & Isabelle Tombs. Over 700 pages of delight. Sadly, one almost feels sorrow for the French in their search for purpose and someone they can lead.

Equally sadly, as the final pages end in 2005 is the overwhelming anger I feel directed at Tony Blair, of whom it is written, "British state policy was made by Blair and his small entourage in an inextricable tangle of vision, audacity, deceit and incompetence." After a history populated by generally decent statesmen and a lady we got Blair.

Thus was well over a century and a half during which great efforts had been made by great men and women to reduce the impact of being widely regarded by the French as "Perfidious Albion" undone at a stroke.

The only vestige of excuse we can offer, and it is a tiny vestige is that Jacques Chirac was as duplicitous, self-centred and downright dishonest as Blair. However, Chriac was not a desperate sycophant clinging onto Bush's tail encouraging him to undertake a war in Iraq, in fact he was only re-elected because Jean-Marie le Pen was the alternative and "Le Monde" put "rather a crook than a fascist" on their front page as the election took place.

Even de Gaulle put his country first, albeit in such a way as to ensure that he was the only one in a position to lead it but he had an idea of what honour was even if he never missed an opportunity to heap it upon himself. But in Blair honour was replaced by ego, as Chirac is reported to have said, "he (Blair) was an agnostic until it suited him to become a mystic."

I finish with view from our back window, the sea has all but disappeared under the steadily advancing rain which is causing a river to flow down the street as twilight descends. Valletta still looks good out of the front, though.

We survived Blair, sort of, and the forecast for next week is hot, sunny, dry and only windy towards the end of the week. Or so the BBC tells me.

I'll believe it when tomorrow comes but I wouldn't believe anything that Blair ever said, says, is involved with or has influence over .........

I bet the French wouldn't either, thus the French and I share common cause and opinion.

Who'd a'thought it, eh?