We have added a section to the site to give you a chance to see some more examples of Pat Kelsall's work. We have included some examples of her work as an Illustrator and as a Painter. Do go and have a look - it will save you a trip to an exhibition! Or encourage you to go...

20th January 2000

In a letter received today Geoff Morris tells us of his experiences in the Charente-Maritime during the storms. He says "The damage to property and trees is incredible. We had winds of 160 km/hr rising to peaks of 200 km/hr. We had the chimney top hurtled down onto the roof which was already partially stripped of tiles. High voltage pylons were snapped off like so many matchsticks and the district was without electricity for four days. Thank goodness for our 16 year old installation of an electro-gen. We put the neighbour's frozen food in with ours and lost nothing. Lights, central heating pumps, freezer and the TV all worked perfectly for the duration on around 40 litres of petrol. I stupidly went out when the storm began and was blown down but managed to scramble back inside. The death toll in the Charente-Maritime was nine." The Morrises' part of the Charente-Maritime has, of course, also been hit by the awful oil slick from the wrecked oil tanker 'Erika' off the coast.

Geoff also tells us that he has received a number of very pleasing letters from readers who have tracked him down in order to say how much they have enjoyed his book, "Only Fools Drink Water". In the next few months we will be bringing out "Two Birds and No Stones", his autobiography from birth to retirement, excluding the French bits. It's wonderful.

We receive our copy of the February issue of Living France magazine which contains a nice review of Grace McKee's book "Ou est le 'Ping'?" It is on offer through the magazine's Books by Post scheme. Grace and her husband Phillip have just returned from a well-earned week's holiday in the Virgin islands, where they only spent three hours a day tied to their laptop computers... The temperatures there were hot enough for them to laze around on the beach catching up with their reading; back at home in Boston USA, the thermometer now registers about -15 degrees Centigrade. They have vowed never to complain about English weather again!

15th January 2000

Jack and Anne go to the Vive la France French Lifestyle exhibition at Olympia, leaving Hartford on the train at 7.04am. Jack is recovering from a cold and Anne is in full stream - with blocked nose and a revolting cough which prevents her saying more than a few words at a time. They should reach Euston at 9.55am but a fire on a bridge near Watford means that the West Coast Main Line trains are diverted. After a long wait at Bletchley, the train backs up to Bedford and they eventually arrive at King's Cross about two and a half hours late. The exhibition is very interesting and face-to-face contact is made with many nice people who have become friends over the telephone. It's great to see how popular the Léonie Press books are - especially on the France Magasin stand - and Anne signs one for a customer who has just bought a "Duck". Anne is asked to do a book signing when France Magasin moves into new premises in Stow-on-the-Wold in the spring.

28th December 1999

Extremely severe storms have caused havoc all over France. We receive a message by e-mail from our neighbour Virginie to say that we have some damage. She asks us to call Georges, the agricultural contractor who looks after our land. He eventually rings from St Paradis to say that some tiles have come off the roof of our barn and that we have lost the heavy metal "hat" from the chimney. This was fitted last spring and was bolted to the stonework in four places! He sounds upset and shocked, and says the woods in the area are devastated. St Paradis still has electricity and the telephone but many nearby villages don't.

Electricité de France report that nationally 3,450,000 households are without electricity - and because of the use of electric pumps to fill the water towers in some cases without water too. It is estimated that 270,000,000 trees throughout France were lost.

18th December 1999

We pick up part of the new batch of copies of "Only Fools Drink Water" from "Bernard the Binder", so no-one will be kept waiting for any significant period - critical at this time as there is one of the longest potential reading periods for years on the horizon (excluding summer holidays)!

8th December 1999

Peter Marsh and his exploits are the subject of a double page feature in the Macclesfield Express newspaper under the headline "The bearded buccaneer who sails close to the wind".

7th December 1999

The combination of our recent mailing to our regular customers and the sudden Christmas present rush experienced by our distributors results in a decision to reprint "Only Fools Drink Water" NOW! We pride ourselves that any order received overnight by fax or in the morning post is on its way by lunchtime - so we don't want to run out! We manage it - only two people have to wait a couple of days - awful by our standards but miraculous by most other people's.