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My suitcase arrives…..

20th March 2008 by Helena 6 Comments  

Regular blog readers may remember that ever since I was a little girl I have lived with the idea that a large suitcase of cash would one day magically appear on my doorstep. Well, it has.

The night before last we had a friend over for dinner. He is a charming man, a proper bloke, as Rupert would say. He showed up with presents for the children and wine for us. He played chess with all three children (and let them win), entertained us with stories and told us that is we ever needed anything to come to him. “After all,” he reasoned, “you are bringing on the next generation.”

Then we started talking about what we were up to. I told him about Renew and how we had lots of press coming but were still short on punters. He asked me how much it will cost to run the first retreat. I told him. “Oh I’ll lend you that,” he said. Needless to say, my immediate reaction was to jump up from the dinner table and kiss him. Amazingly this didn’t put him off. Today we are having lunch to iron out the details but thanks to this particular suitcase, Renew Retreats is now very much a goer.

""If there happen to be any world leaders reading can I just say one thing? Boycott the Olympics in China. That’s all you need to do. France (bless her) has made some noises in that direction but the rest is a deafening silence. As for Gordon Brown meeting the Dalai Lama, good, but why not do it in Downing Street and make it a state visit? No need to answer that, we all know why; cowardice and greed. Not two adjectives one would use to describe the people of Tibet.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008


Filed Under: Human Rights, Work, blog --> Tagged With: arrives, suitcase

6 thoughts on My suitcase arrives.....

  • Sev says:
    20th March 2008 at 11:06 am

    Hi Helena. I agree wholeheartedly with your remarks about boycotting the Olympics in China, and I’m so pleased to hear that France looks like they may lead the way.
    You may remember that Tony Blair made excuses, and wouldn’t even meet the Dalai Lama, so maybe there’s a bit of a change for the better with Gordon Brown.
    A total EU boycott of the Olympics would be the best thing we could hope for, and I wonder whether constitutionally the UK could be forced into having to boycott the games by a vote in the EU? Maybe that’s what we should be lobbying for.

  • GHCH says:
    20th March 2008 at 1:47 pm

    Twice this morning I have been urged to make my voice heard and encourage the boycotting of the Chinese Olympics.

    The vast majority of Europeans and Americans know absolutely nothing about China apart from crispy duck, fried rice and cheap toys decorated with lead based paint. We know even less about Tibet. But we are all up in arms and ready to spit on China and snub their showcase games.

    Should China refuse the participation of the USA and Britain for the wanton destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq? Should dozens of other countries where human rights is a sick joke be allowed to enter the 4×100 men’s relay? Will Mr. Mugabe be allowed to send a team?

    Gordon Brown has been in office 9 months, Sarkozy 6. So what do they know?
    Wonderful young men and women all over the world have spent 5 or 6 years, 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, running, swimming, jumping, sweating and hurting. Their bodies and minds wracked with pain to find the inner strength that builds their endurance and stronger than strong wills. Should they be punished because our governments want a deal on steel and coal?

    Sign your petitions, write your articles, get China boycotted and stop the horror of Tibet. Very commendable I agree. After all, we need the trade don’t we?

    But these are games – not political arm wrestling where the only prize is a financial one. Think about the 13 year old British diver who gets up every morning at 05:00, trains for three hours, goes to school, then back to the pool until 20.00. Of course, this cannot be compared with the awfulness of the Tibet situation – And it shouldn’t.

    But the world’s elected leaders should be brave enough to take a stand and boycott China, the country, not the games, through sanctions.

    Do they have the guts of a 13 year old athlete? I doubt it.

  • Roger T'Opspin says:
    20th March 2008 at 2:18 pm

    It is absurd to suggest boycotting the Olympics. What is needed is to send a crack team to take the ping pong gold medal. That will bring them to heel & probably lead to the downfall of the oppressive regime! Hu? Wen? With such ridiculously named leaders, it is only a matter of time…

  • Rose says:
    25th March 2008 at 6:03 am

    Don’t commend something just because the topic is “in”. Do you really know how much about the affair of China and Tibet? Do you know how much efforts Chinese people have put in to make Olympics successful?
    Roger, please don’t redicule people because they don’t have a name like yours. It shows your own narrow-mindedness.

  • Linda says:
    31st March 2008 at 7:53 pm

    Dalai Lama says that he has no desire to seek Tibet’s separation, and he also said:” I have, from the start, supported Beijing’s being awarded the opportunity to host the Games. My position remains unchanged.”

    If you don’t want to or do care doing a detail research on Tibetan history, here is an article with actual witnesses from the Washingonpost talks about what had real happened in Tibet half month ago.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/26/AR2008032603275.html

  • Linda says:
    31st March 2008 at 11:53 pm

    This is the correction of the last paragraph in my last comment. Should be:

    If you do not want to or do not care doing a detail research on Tibetan history, here is an article with actual witnesses from the Washingonpost talks about what had really happened in Tibet half month ago.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/26/AR2008032

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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. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

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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