Salut!

Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Hallyday: kindred spirits

First, go back a step and read up a little on what this is all about: clicking on "Jimi Hendrix's spotty face, Johnny Hallyday and an autograph 45 years on".

This is the illustrative evidence that backs up the memories of Jocelyne Criticos on her teenage quest for a pop star's autograph.

Study the first image and you see that Jocelyne has written her name at the top of the record sleeve. The year is 1966 and the record is Je l'aime , then Johnny's newest release in France.

Jimi Hendrix's spotty face, Johnny Hallyday and an autograph 45 years on

My electronic friend Robb Johnson, English songwriter extraordinaire and - see this - confirmed Johnny Hallyday fan, would love this story .. a tale of much belatedly requited adoration

Imagine the scene late at night at a cafe in the eastern French city of Nancy.

It is 1966 and young Jocelyne Criticos is in search of her idol, Johnny Hallyday, best known beyond the francophone world as the French Elvis though the music itself has not travelled too well.

She is clutching a copy of Johnny's new single, Je l'aime, the sleeve of which which she naturally wants him to sign. But having missed him at the theatre, Le Rio de Nancy, she hopes he'll be hanging out, as musicians often did, over drinks in the Place Stanislas.

The cream of Cassis? Make mine a litre

I started the day cursing my luck that I'd come across a story that sounded like a mini world exclusive on the worst possible news day to have such a thing to offer anyone.

Never mind. It might hold a day, I thought, only for it to collapse altogether before the end of the afternoon.

Failure can be exhausting. So, I decided a few minutes ago, why not just remind myself of a pleasant fleeting visit to Cassis yesterday?

Lovely little port, which this time I managed to see. When last I called here, earlier in the month, a policeman was stopping allcomers approaching the seafront, and I found myself being pushed farther and farther away in search of a parking space until finally I gave up.

Yesterday was busy again, with a regatta and the predictable May Day crowds but it was possible to find parking 10 minutes or so on foot from the port. It felt like being in a smaller, cosier, prettier Sanary.

I loved this sign, the franglais partly obscured but self-evident all the same ...

After a quick coffee and a brisk walk, it was already time to leave. There was a long drive to make, west to the Carmargue.

Has anyone tried crème de cassis? "A sweet, dark red liqueur", it says here, and that doesn't sound too promising.

But if I'd known how today would be, I'd have stayed and helped myself to a lot of it and cancelled Monday.