No, I’ve not been slacking off relaxing by our pool or frolicking down on the beach but hard at it in the office battling over some new software which is keeping me horridly busy and away from my blog. So busy in fact that poor old Freddy has had to contend with runs in our garden as opposed to the park and Nigel has had to wear the cook's apron these past few days. Happily, the adage you can't teach an old dog a new trick (or two) has yet to sink into my brain; I may still blunder about in the dark over a few technical problems but progress (albeit slow) is being made.

If I may have turned the corner on this particular knotty software issue, I also feel that this coming weekend is another turning point. The 18th Fête des Jardins is being held in Sophia-Antipolis as of tomorrow and throughout the weekend and marks for me the true start of spring and the promise of summer itching to start. For garden lovers everywhere on the French Riviera this flower show is the place to be whether you're looking for a typical Mediterranean plant or something more exotic.

When I first arrived on the French Riviera I marvelled at the wonderful vegetation that grew so naturally everywhere. Only much later did I learn that 90% of it had been imported from different regions of the globe and was not native to these shores at all. For example, the first palm trees on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice were only planted in 1868 and came from other shores than these.  But when I learnt that the well-known Villa Ephrussi-de-Rothschild on St Jean-Cap Ferrat, one of the most beautiful and best known icons of the French Riviera had originally been yellow (it was only painted pink in 1960 when it came under the care of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and received a face-lift) my curiosity soon got the better of me.

In fact, it niggled away so much that I’ve taken the momentous decision to dedicate as much as I can of 2008 to uncovering the real French Riviera.  This also gives me a great opportunity to update and review everything that I’ve written and published on the website and bring subjects up to date as well. While Freddy will certainly be enjoying loads of walks with me (as will my pedometer) , I fear that Nigel will be wearing the cook’s apron for a lot longer!