Renaud

The madam opened the brothel door in Glasgow and saw a rather dignified, well-dressed, good-looking man in his late forties or early fifties. "May I help you sir?" she asked.. "I want to see Valerie," the man replied. "Sir, Valerie is one of our most expensive ladies. Perhaps you would prefer someone else", said the madam. "No, I must see Valerie," he replied. Just then, Valerie appeared and announced to the man she charged £5000 a visit. Without hesitation, the man pulled out five thousand pounds and gave it to Valerie, and they went upstairs. After an hour, the man calmly left.. The next night, the man appeared again, once more demanding to see Valerie.. Valerie explained that no one had ever come back two nights in a row, as she was so expensive. There were no discounts. The price was still £5000. Again, the man pulled out the money, gave it to Valerie, and they went upsta irs. After an hour, he left. The following night the man was there yet again. Everyone was astounded that he had come for a third consecutive night, but he paid Valerie and they went upstairs. After their session, Valerie said to the man, "No one has ever been with me three nights in a row. Where are you from?" The man replied, " Edinburgh ." "Really", she said. "I have family in Edinburgh .." "I know." the man said. "Your sister died, and I'm her solicitor. I was instructed to deliver your £15,000 inheritance in person..." The moral of the story is that three things in life are certain------ 1. Death 2. Taxes 3. Being screwed by a lawyer

I know what Stan means about the Joe Pike role in the Elvis Cole stories. I think that it is a bit deo ex machina when the protagonist can wheel out a sociopathic superman type to kill the baddies ... but I feel that Robert Crais is actually developing Pike as a person. Soon he might even be vunerable! Other sociopathic superman types are Hawk in the Spenser stories and Harlen Cobden's sports agent hero has an invunerable banker (!) to help him out. Still the greatest thing about my memory disintergrating is that I can reread so many books not knowing how they will turn out. Just been through Maigret again.

I am with those who enjoy Michael Connolly’s Harry Bosch (do read Void Moon) and Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole. Where these books have an edge on Lee Childs's Jack Reacher is that Reacher just plods through whatever situation never moved emotionally or hurt. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone book are written beautifully. I like the way she is trapped in a time bubble but it would be interesting to see her in 2011. Would she be running a bureau with a couple of investigators? Would she have taken over (the late?) Harry's house as an office? I agree that the Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell took a real nosedive. I have just finished Jonathan Kellerman's True Detectives which like all his books is hard to put down and has good new protagonists but it has all got a tad mechanical. Like Virginia C I grew up with Gavin Lyall and think the Smiley books the best of Le Carré's work. Recently I have found Catriona McPherson's 1920's books with the heroine Dandy Guiver to be very enjoyable if a bit long and convoluted. Also Tony Hillerman's Navaho detectives have a wonderful sense of Place. I would like to know what those of you who live in France make of the Bruno Courreges books by Martin Walker.

Le Chateau des Enigmes in Pons might be a bit far south but is a good is a day out . There is a game of 23 puzzles that take you (as a sailor) across the park to the chateau with kinds of clues to solve as you go. When you end up at the chateau you type in all your answers into a computer that lets you know how well you have done. Take a picnic lunch with you but leave it in the car from where you can get it at lunchtime, rather than carry it about all morning.

I don't think that it is a wind-up, just a journalist looking for an article. My apologies if I am wrong but that is the assumption one makes if a first post asks a long question.

Yes you can. You do need to build a good team to help you though. Look at the following for help and information: www.laymyhat.com/forum

The airfare probably does not cost as much as the taxi to the airport or the car parking charges. O'Leary could charge twice as much, then throw in all the niggling extras for free and be the hero of low cost air travelers. Trouble is he is such a contentious pixie that he gets up the nose of those who could so easily regard him as a hero.

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike from Robert Crais are up there with Harry Bosch and co.

Methinks the furore over Grey and Keys and the (disgusting) phone tapping scandal have a lot to do with the non-Murdoch media aiming to stop him getting all of Sky. ps Andy Grey is an ex-international Scottish, ex-Leeds United centre forward. A breed well-known for their gentle attitudes.

Edward In what way is the Guardian morally superior to the Daily Mail? I don't read either but I am interested to know.

Virginia, thanks we may well go down that route. Wooly, yes I had thought of a couple of tasteful strands of barbed wire.

We need to fence-off part of our garden so as to stop toddlers threatening the peace of rural France. Trouble is it will cut across a vista dear to our hearts. The fence only needs to be a meter high. Any suggestions?

I thought that Whiskey was the spirit of Britain.

Fantastic news - congratulations. Ps Changing your home insurance to something you actually want ain't easy. Remember to send a registered letter saying that you are going to change at least a month before it is due to expire.

As a person who once made a living in graphic design... First find your paying clients, if you have these - the rest is mere bagatelle...

Fifthed

Its because the Aussies come across as such bad winners that this is so great. Well done Strauss, Flowers et al!

In cyberspace nobody can hear you scream...

A gold farm sounds a good wheeze. I have put the cuff-links my Aunt gave me on my 21st into a garden pot. Lets see how they do.

Can't any of you see that this is all a plot try-out by Robert Ludum (or whoever writes his stuff) for the next Jason Bourne book / film.

As I understand it it was Alistair Darling who arranged the billions for Ireland in the gap between the election and his being booted out of the Treasury.

I would like to thank Gordon Brown (words I never expected to write) for keeping Britain out of the Euro. (Even if he only did it to annoy Tony Blair).

I that that our part in the first Gulf war was justified and right. The invasion of Iraq was certainly less so, though I supported it at the time. However the real blunder with that war, was not to plan for the aftermath. Bush did not want to and Blair hadn't thought enough about it. I supported the first war in Afganistan however again the problem was the aftermath. When John Reid, the Defense Secretary, sent our troops back in he said that he did not expect them to have to fire their weapons. So much for having thought about what might happen.

Cathy, I have just caught this thread. My very best wishes go to you in this predicament and sincere hopes for the best possible outcome. Lots of love

I once hired a car from a leading car hire company and when the car developed a minor fault, the company took responsibility and got a mechanic to me swiftly. He sorted the problem out. This year a friend staying with us hired a car from a cheapest car website company. When she picked the car up it was from the same leading company. When this car had a problem, nobody wanted to know. They were stranded for a while. Moral - if you want money off, you might get other things off too.