Bonne Année 2012

Well almost 6 years on since moving to Montpellier & happy New year...

When you move away from your native country one of the most tricky things to get your head around is you're soon forgotten by your friends - or maybe it's just the fact that you come to accept that you were never that popular!

No phone calls from any of my old buddies back in the UK in fact very few messages via FB or Skype during the Christmas period. For some time I convinced myself that I had no friends but once you move away your quickly replaced by everyday events that occupy peoples time. This new year holds lots of positive changes certainly for me and hopefully for all of you who are reading the flip side.

Sorry for the lack of updates over recent months - a lack of time and too many things going on to put keyboard to paper. The music will be stronger than ever in 2012 - so here's to a wild n happy musical new year.

Artiste Auteur - Original Artist

Like I've said previously there's nothing simple in France, if it is feasibly possible to make things more complex the French are champions at increasing the complexity of anythying bureaucratic. I'm just in the proces of officially declaring myself as an Artist or as it is more widely known here 'an author of original works'. I've almost won the hat which determines that I can produce pieces of art and create invoices for them. This also involves changing my social status, having to change where I pay my social charges and also means that I can only invoice for the creation of original work. Anything repetitive, repeat productions and that changes the rules of engagement and in all honesty I'm not to certain where it goes if we arrive at this point; so for the moment everything is original unless I'm told otherwise!!!

I'm very happy producing Venitian Stucco tablets 'cause no else seems to be interested in using this material. The finish is incredibly profound and well its difficult to show via images on the web so in essence you have to see it to really appreiciate it.

Above is a recent portrait of a very politcal character of the Languedoc region who passed away in November 2010 - Georges Freche. Some claim that Freche was possessed by leaving his mark at every opportunity on the regeon, outspoken in his views and tough on his working colleagues - the only comment I can make is that his direction has certainly changed the face of Montpellier and some surrounding villages over the previous 15 yrs. Whether this is for the good we will see in the fullness of time.

The Director of Cultural Affairs : Nicole Bigas, reserved the portrait 'Mister Montpellier' for the Agglomeration on the evening of the private view 'Un Nouveau Regard' but to date I have received no further communication of how to conclude the sale! On the Flip Side one doesn't have to overlook the fact that this is France and words are cheap regardless of which continent you reside upon. I'm only glad that I sold this portrait to a friend and an honourable busnessman prior to being approached by the elected representative of the Agglo.

OK catch you on the Flip Side of the next wave.

Un Nouveau Regard

Whilst time flies by in the blink of an eye - passions change direction, people take on different roles and things move in all sorts of different ways. It's just over 5 years since I moved to Montpellier and finally I seem to have located a direction and purpose for things that I'm passionate about.

I fell in love with Venetian Stucco some years ago and after participating on a course with a very skillful bunch of guys based up north in the UK, not far from Bradford, I've been expereimenting with the material and creating some interesting pieces of art. I've developed my own techniques and like to think that I am now creating pieces that are sumptuous, original and hold a certain quality that has the potential to be appreciated by a worldwide audience - only time will tell. ( I'm hoping that this appreciation will materialise prior to becoming too old... or at least before I die !).

Anyway 2011 is the year of making one's mark, so to this end I've committed to playing live with my good friend and incredibly talented harmonacist 'Henri Lubrano' in our blues duo namely ' Zee Blue Monkeys' and making a concerted effort to exhibit my artwork and increase my reputation as an English Artist living and working in Montpellier - so if you reading this please spread the word. Some of my work can be seen at LIFE The Gallery in Farnham, Surrey, UK - just ask for Martin or Kerry Kelly and they will be more than happy to assist you.

My first official exhibition sponsored by the City Council of Montpellier 'Montpellier Agglomeration' will take place at the :

Maison d'Agglomeration de Beaus-Arts, Aiguelongue, Plan des 4 Seigneurs
25, route de Nîmes
Montpellier
34000

4th February 2011 - Vernissage / Private View - from 18h30
5th February to 19th February 2011 - 10h00 to 12h30 & 14h00 to 17h30

The format of the Vernissage / Private View will include:

1 - An demonstration of how I produce my work
2 - The production of a small Venetian Tablet / Application of the Stucco
3 - Live acoustic music to bring the evening to a close.

If you're in the region please feel free to share a glass of wine with us at the Vernissage.

Back to the Road Bike

Firstly, apologies for my blog yesterday - the feel good factor most certainly got the better of me and I have a certain embarrassment attached to my statement. Still life goes on and one has to live with one's errors.

So today it was back to the road bike - a good number of months with very little pedaling so as always ' le reprise' as they say here is most definitely TOUGH. One of my French bike colleagues explained to me that road bike riding was a bit like having a mistress - if you ignore here for just a few weeks; when you go back to her she really punishes you. Today was a short ride 65 cliks and very enjoyable but I have maintained a certain level of fitness via my foil-board riding, so less difficult for me than some of the other guys who were really struggling towards the end.

In my come back plan I'll be out again on wednesday for a short ride of 30kms doing intervals and then 70kms next saturday on the Mountain bike - the weekend after is a serious 35km hill climb in the Cevennes followed by a support morning for a lady who is participating in the 100Km Milleau run - yes that's right a 60 mile run!! I will be supporting her with food and soup and stuff like that - no massages planned in the schedule but hey who knows... Its an easy ride that one as the pace is at a marathon jog of fast walk towards the end. Well that is the top and bottom of it for today so catch you later.

The gift of gifted hands

Well I've never been one to gloat or blow my own trumpet but I am just about to change all that. It's great being reserved and modest but heck (to coin an American phrase) sometimes you gotta just say it how it is. I'm feeling pretty fantastic today and the reason is I know that I am good with my hands, yes you heard it here first. No sexual innuendos implied of course. I'm shooting my own trumpet today because what ever I touch either looks good or works very efficiently. This is a great realisation for me - I've never lacked confidence before however, the feelgood factor when you make such a statement and know (believe) that is 110% true is GREA................T.

Well it's short and sweet today - lots to do and lots of things to make beautiful. On the flip side - I just repaired our old NewBeetle electric window and it works a treat so I was pleased, I don't like working on cars that much as I always cut my fingers to shreds.............aghhhhhhh Cars. Money, money, money - try to save a few bucks and at the end of the day it would have been cheaper to drop it into the garage - it must be a rich mans world.

My world of Polished Plaster

Hey this is a 2m x 1.2m Bamboo in Orange art piece that I have just completed this weekend. Hope it gives you a flavor of the kinds of things I am producing. So time moves on at a rapid rate of knots and professions change with the wind it would seem - well not quite but to keep ones head above the water one has to go with the flow, so as to speak. This is the beginning of my 5th year in Montpellier and whilst it has been challenging it has been very rewarding living here.

Upon arrival in the sunny Languedoc region of l'Herault I new only three people - my wife, my son and my trusty friend Laurent Ness; Kitesurfing buddy and great ally in times of loosing the plot (thanks Laurent for being there for me).

During my initial search for work I was under the illusion that it would not be very difficult to find something to do here for a multi-faceted guy like myself. WRONG so WRONG!! As a design professional I thought it would be a cinch to find a French company looking to develop their portfolio and work with British clients and these companies exist without any doubt the only problem - French Employment Law what a night mare. Let me explain...

France as a Socialist Nation (regardless of political leaning) has some very ridiculous employment laws and as a result companies refuse the take any unnecessary risks when engaging people on business ventures. For example - if I were to travel to Lyon for a job I would have to have a work contract for two reasons: Firstly to know that I was going to be paid at the end of the month and secondly, to secure a flat or lodging the estate agent/proprietor will only rent property to people who have an CDI work contract - Full Time Contract. If you have a one year contract it is much more difficult to secure a flat but it is possible however, if you don't have a contract your basically 'up the creek without a Paddle!'. This is not too complex I hear you thinking and rightly so but the work contracts here come in 3 flavours:

CDI Contrat Durée Indeterminé = Open Contract of Engagement without Limit
CDD Contrat Durée Determiné = Fixed Term Contract of Engagement (6 months etc)
FreeLance - Limited to 3 months only after that you have to have a contract
Casual Labour - working via a third party employment agency for taxation reason
Undeclared Casual - Paid cash and undeclared to the state

If you secure a job everyone insists upon a CDI but the company who offer the contract then become stuck with that employee regardless of their working capacity. As a result most companies are scared shitless to take people on if they don't have a recommendation from someone they know and trust plus even then there is no guarantee. It has become a very closed market and if you don't have a good network of contacts the likelihood of getting a long term job is slight if not impossible to attain - in my experience.

So you have to work for yourself... There's no option on that front!!!

Is it complex starting your own business here...? I'll tell you more about that next time much to say that you have to be prepared to tolerate so much unnecessary paperwork and so many jack-ass functionary employees, who don't really know why they are employed by the state but just pitch up to collect a pay-cheque at the end of the month. But hey on the flip-side we are in France

Sure has been a while...

Sure has been a while since I took the time to post to the flip side - lack of time, busy with lots of stuff you know how it is - c'est la vie. Well I don't know about you but I've been busy. Was working from Feb through to beginning of August for a Kitesurf Store as their web manager, a bit of an insult really as they were paying me the minimum french wage for 20yrs of design experience but hey I guess that's the flip side of life in the South of France!! Salaries aint nothin' like the UK...

A big learning curve, French every day, being present to the extremely poor working practices of a small family run business, that's made a loss for the past 3 years. Amusing to see how firmly rooted human beings can become in their day to day actions even though it is costing them dearly - much to say my fixed term contract was terminated after only 5 months due to the owner trying to rip me off over a kite purchase - but that's another long story...

Turns out that I am now understanding very quickly how the French Prud'homme system functions (employment tribunal) as I'm taking my ex employer to the Prud'homme due to them illegally terminating my contract. Much to say it will probably cost them in terms of shop turnover somewhere in the region of 60,000 Euros - pretty ridiculous and very short sighted considering the shop has been making a year on year loss of somewhere in the region of 20%. The trials and tribulations of livin' in the south.

Still on the flip side I discovered SUP Surfing which is well and truly worth investigating, Foilboarding with a kite which is like walking on water or low level flying - lots of good stuff combined with the crap.

Plus my latest discovery - an Adamas 2080 what a joy to play and sing along with. I thought for 20 years that my Pilgrim guitar was a really special instrument, it sure accompanied me in a lot of countries and bars but it was never as easy to play as the Ovation. If you have the inclination don't miss out on opportunity to put your hands on one.

Catch you soon and I promise not to leave it so long...