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Articles by Robert Tickler

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About Robert Tickler

A man of financial substance, Robert has a wide range of interests and opinions to match. More Posts

Wrapping up

I got back from a hot Nice to a cold, grey and wet south coast Friday. I am definitely in the school of ‘rent not buy’ when it comes to overseas property but it took 3 hours to pack everything up and another one to unpack sandwiched by a flight in a compacted easyJet flight with [...]

April 29, 2018 // 0 Comments

The Mediterrenean diet

No  disrespect to Daffers and her ilk that spend significant amount of their waking hours in restaurants but often you cannot beat a simple meal at home. Yesterday after a stroll down the Promenade we partook of asparagus, prawns, ham and salad all fresh from the market that day on the terrace and [...]

April 26, 2018 // 0 Comments

The Chateau and the ballet

The flat I rent is adjacent to the Chateau of Nice. In the book that Henry reviewed and I read – The Riviera at War – it refers to this being a place for German ordnance to fire on the Allies in the event of sea attack. You can see why as it’s atop of a hill on a promontory between [...]

April 20, 2018 // 0 Comments

No frills, no fun

There are few things in life I enjoy less than travelling on a budget airline. From booking to getting the boarding passes to travel, the whole process is one where I grit my teeth and bear it. Take yesterday, for example, when I was travelling from Nice to London Gatwick on easyJet. Neither Polly [...]

April 17, 2018 // 0 Comments

The French Character – a Paradox

Last night we met Muriel – the lady who was so helpful, when I was pickpocketed, for a drink. She is a social worker in some of the large sink housing estates around Nice such as Ariane. She is clearly a good soul like Regine. Yet it proved a somewhat convoluted arrangement. We agreed to meet [...]

April 14, 2018 // 0 Comments

Sanary

Sanary has an interesting literary history. Aldous Huxley, Cyril Connolly and Sybille Bedford all lived there. Sybille Bedford wrote a touching account of her childhood there in Jigsaw. Then the German Jewish writers notably Berthold Brecht fled there in the thirties. Nowadays it attracts more the [...]

April 13, 2018 // 0 Comments

Bad day at the holiday

The phrase “bad day at the office” seems to mean a connection between work and a bad time but this can happen for whatever reason, at whatever  place. Yesterday it happened to me on holiday through a combination of bad service, bad weather and bad luck. The plan was an over night stay at [...]

April 12, 2018 // 0 Comments

Cleaners

I have always found cleaners an odd breed, supposedly  providing a service but in reality imposing their own foibles on your household. French cleaners are no different, worse in fact. I have engaged a cleaning agency that offers a but not the cleaner twice a week as I have yet to have the same [...]

April 11, 2018 // 0 Comments

comparing notes

It’s interesting to compare notes with William (Byford), both of us victims of crime. A burglary is a far more invasive crime than a pickpocket and more was stolen from him too. I still notice that the first reaction in both cases is  disbelief – “Has it really happened ?” Followed by [...]

April 10, 2018 // 0 Comments

an unpleasant incident

Yesterday I intended to travel to Golfe Juan to meet some old friends of my parents for a lunch. I was rather worried about taking a tram for the first time to the station and Sebastian kindly offered to meet me at the stop to explain how the ticket machine works. As I get up early I had time to [...]

April 7, 2018 // 0 Comments

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