December 2025

Towards winter!

On the first of last month, the garden and its flowers were still looking good, but the rains and winds of November wreaked havoc, sweeping away the golden leaves that still adorned the façade (cherry, Virginia creeper, oak), carried away by the millions hundreds of meters away. It looked like a rush of rodents, a scene straight out of Ratatouille!

We turned up the heating. Swimming in the pool is now just a fond memory; as for the last salad plants in the raised beds, they were hit by the first frosts... and we savoured every last one... It's now the season for stews and hotpots, and of course the traditional ‘chabrot’!

We just left the farm for a few days to go to Paris, first to pay a friendly visit to very popular French singer Hugues Aufray, whom I found in great shape in the former home of a very famous sculptor. Hugues is so full of life that I'm sure he'll be celebrating his 100th birthday on stage in just four years' time! He gave me his Christmas album, and I thanked him again for coming in 2009 to sing with me at Petit Journal Montparnasse hig Great success, that I used to sing in the streets of Marseille in 1965, ‘On est les Rois’, French version of King Of The Road.

We then spent a few days at the new Paris Boat Show, which has just risen from its ashes after a two-year hiatus. It's always a pleasure to catch up with our loyal readers and a few sailing friends, and to visit stands such as that of the Sauveteurs en Mer (Sea Rescuers). Thank you to everyone who came to have our recent reissue of Mettre les Voiles signed. Thank you to Globe Sailor for welcoming us, and thank you also to the Pantaenius team, who insured Banana Split for three years, for their kindness and enthusiasm.

And now we're back in Auvergne, sitting by the fireside. Tomorrow I'll go and see if the holly tree has any nice red berries for our festive decorations!


Happy December!

Antoine