Hat chat

You rarely see Queen Elizabeth II without a hat and I have to admit I’m quite partial to my hats too. I may not have the selection available to Her Majesty, but I have a cunning system of changing the scarf on my summer hat to better coordinate it with whatever floaty dress I happen to be wafting around in – versatile and resourceful, that’s me.

An artist has spotted a photo of me in my summer hat and has kindly asked for permission to paint it. Wow! In just the same way the commissioning of a new Royal portrait always warrants space in the press, so I just had to tell you. How exciting! If you want to see the photo it is over on the ‘France et Moi’ page here. Tomorrow will see the launch of the new French Village Diaries Friday feature ‘France et Moi’ where each week I will be talking to someone interesting about their love of France. Some, like me have made France their home, others have fallen in love from afar, but always treasure visits. We will be discussing regional food, cheese, patisseries, wine, cars, the language, favourite places and basically all things French. It has been great fun for me to set up so I hope you enjoy it too.

Now back to hats, and I have some sad news. Much as I like my summer hat it is my winter hat that I love. I don’t like being cold and uncomfortable so winter dog walks see me carefully attired, yes, I am the sort of person who tucks my gloves into my coat and then securely tightens the Velcro cuffs. There is nothing worse than the wind whistling in my ears so my hat has become my trusty winter friend since I bought it in a mill shop in Ireland, just before we moved to France in 2004. This week I lost my hat! Our village is not a big village, but somehow between leaving the library on Tuesday and walking the two roads to home I managed to loose it. I have retraced my route three times, checked the wheelie bins on the road, but nothing, my faithful friend has gone. I can only hope it will be handed in to the Mairie or Boulangerie and we will be reunited soon. The look on Ade’s face when I put on the replacement (that used to be Ed’s many years ago) spoke volumes, so I think I may need a shopping trip soon. My poor hat, I miss you my friend.

My favourite hat