France 2 - allez au Gap!

Our final day of training with senior directors went very well. We had yet another lunch in the sun with an excellent red wine and finished promptly at 5. I then jumped in a cab and headed to the airport to pick up my hire car - a nearly new VW Polo - and hit the road. The drive to Gap takes you up to Nimes, across the top of the Camargue to Arles then across to Aix and up the autoroute to Sisteron and Gap.

Gap is a sweet typically French town on the Route Napoleon and well worth a visit for skiing in winter and lakes in the summer - and it was a beautifully clear morning as I was driven to the Lycee by my host and friend Laurence.

I was very nervous before going on in front of 25 mostly female 18 year olds!

Their English wasn't good and the first silly game was a bit of a nightmare. Soon they warmed up a bit and by the end they were entering into the spirit! As usual these presentations are over before you know it and we were soon ensconced in another great restaurant for lunch (pic attached) where I ate a wonderful mixed fish dish followed by rum babas which were amazing - homemade and soaked in real rum.

I drove back to Montpellier against a backdrop of mountainous landscapes and then because I was early turned of the autoroute and drove across the flat Camargue and saw wild white horses and bulls being bred for bull fighting - as black as sin.

Sitting here now back at La Grande Motte beach the sun is beating down on me for what could be the last time this year - heaven forfend! - Jeremy will just have to book us our next trip toute suite! Can't wait to see la famille now!

Day 2 - Sales Managers, Ghandi and Bowling

This pic shows Jeremy Blake standing next to a statue of Mahatma Ghandi, placed in a shopping square here in Montpellier. We hope it will please all of our new Indian readers!! Montpellier is a growing city in terms of commerce and population. They are building lots of new developments and offices and it is extending towards the Med. The town has ambition and some class, plus excellent food and wine, and links to Spain and the rest of the continent.

Training Sales Managers is very different from training other types of manager. Because in the majority of cases they are required to a) sell and then b) manage. usually with little or no guidance, except 'learnt behavior' from their previous managers, on how to do this. The group we trained today have a great opportunity to unite on several peices of principle that will propel them forward. As usual in France you get an excellent lunch as well... This evening we had a light dinner washed down with some excellent beer brewed on the premises (shades of India again!) and then we went ten-pin bowling. Last time we played in Gurgaon Jeremy whupped my behind. This time I thrashed him 3 times! Oh yes! and I am normally useless!! Tomorrow we do Senior Management facilitation, and afterwards I leave for a 3 hour drive to Gap in the Haute Provence to deliver a talk to 25 female business students on Friday morning whilst Jeremy comes home. For those of you interested in such things I am currently reading 'Le Colonel Chabert' by Balzac (free download from ibooks) - superb! I have also leant Jeremy 'The Alchemist' by Paolo Coelho. Thanks for reading...

French visit 1

We arrived on Monday afternoon to a sunny day and a lovely beach. Jeremy immediately decided to take a dip but has sadly put an embargo on the subsequent photos of him in his underpants - I am open to bribes!

We had a disappointing meal at the beach and a ruinous taxi back to the hotel.

Our first days training with managers was great fun - not least because of the wonderful lunch with rose and red wine!! They know how to do things here! Which meant we went on slightly longer!!

In the eve Jeremy had another swim action shots attached!! We then got the tram into town and went to an excellent and reasonable restaurant Thym et Romarin - thanks to Maya at the Holiday Inn for the recommendation of the restaurant and the wine - Archambault from the Languedoc. We then retired early - full but satisfied!!

We miss home however we have had far worse gigs!

More managers today!