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No fool like an April fool

1st April 2008 by Helena 5 Comments  

When I went to collect Leo from school today he ran at me, threw his arms around me and started giggling hysterically. As this is something he often does, I didn’t pay any attention. We left school, went to the park, chatted to friends and then came home.

At home I finally realised I had a fish stuck to my back, they call them poisson d’avril here. Seconds later I found a hand-written letter on my desk from the mayor. Rather suspiciously the handwriting looked just like Bea’s.

‘Helena,’ it read. ‘Your work is no good, your books are horrible, if there is not an improvement by the end of the week you will be removed from your work. Signed’ and there was a signature that looked a bit like a jelly-fish in some kind of trouble.

""An email arrived from a TV production company specialising in food shows. They have read my blog and love it, it read. Would I like to come and chat to them about appearing on one of their shows. They made such hits as Two Fat Ladies and Gordon Ramsay’s F-word. I have made an appointment but am slightly worried the address will turn out to be fake. And how stupid will I feel standing on a building site wearing my chef’s hat and apron?

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: Children, France, TV, blog --> Tagged With: april

5 thoughts on No fool like an April fool

  • Antoine says:
    1st April 2008 at 9:24 pm

    While the first two are obvious pranks, the second one might be the odd one out. Coincidentally, an offer to talk to a head hunter from a prestigious firm today (of all days) and treated with suspicion. I replied and told the head hunter that I’m on a business trip and will be available later this week … I’ll soon know if this is a prank, I suppose …

    A

  • Pollyvousfrancais says:
    1st April 2008 at 9:31 pm

    Alas, I cannot tell a lie.

    I taped the fish to your back.

    And I sent the letter from the mayor.

    And I sent the laudatory email from the TV production company.

    Forgive me?

    Happy Poisson d’avril!!!

  • Rose says:
    2nd April 2008 at 2:05 pm

    Hi Helena,

    Just wanted to say that I have read your book and I often read your blog.

    I have left a post on my own blog about your book and my views of French women, if you ever want to read it.

    I very much enjoyed your book and I enjoy reading your blog.
    I know that life in France is not always easy but I admire your spirit.

    Keep writing, no matter what the critics may say.

    All the best,

    Rose

  • jules ritter says:
    2nd April 2008 at 7:44 pm

    I was sent the same email! It must be Graham, he’s the food, wine and woman lover and now we know also a fetish for chefs hats and aprons. He is visiting his brother in Aus at the moment who is Rupert Murdock’s man over there so maybe it involves crocodile sausages and Kanga steaks. You on H?
    Julesritter.com

  • jules ritter says:
    2nd April 2008 at 7:45 pm

    PS I have written at least three comments in the last week, time you got over to my site, I have left a blog about an intimate moment with Elle, The Body Macpherson in the Ladies….

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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