Ooh, the drama...

We seem to be surrounded by drama here at the moment. The sort of drama that makes Hollywood producers foam at the mouth, with storylines that rival the most classic thrillers of all time.

The big news in France today is that the long-awaited trial starts in the Clearstream Affair (think Watergate, French style), a gloves-off, political playground brawl between ex-Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and President Sarkozy.

Not sure if there will be any noogies or snakebites involved, but mud-slinging and name calling should fill the papers for the next month or so.

In another story straight from the Agatha Christie archives, a man known as a corbeau (a crow, or in this case a poison-pen writer) has been arrested for allegedly sending threatening letters with bullets to President Sarkozy and various other leading French politicians. He was apparently traced by his DNA prints on some of the stamps.

He was arrested Sunday afternoon in Herepian, a village 10 minutes away from the Dukedom. How was I to know that while I was enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon snooze on the sofa, a national shake-down was going on just up the road?

However, the 'Outstanding Drama Series' Emmy award would have to go to the drama that is currently being played out right here, literally, in the Dukedom's backyard.

One of our neighbors has taken it upon himself to come into our back garden and cut some trees down that border our communal wall. A wall that he decided needed to be lowered to let more light into the groundfloor windows of the house he is renovating. We only became aware of this when we went into the garden and realized that our once private, secluded garden now is mostly open on one side, with four big gapping windows overlooking it.

He says that he did ring our bell the other day to discuss it, but since we weren't in, he DECIDED TO DO IT ANYWAY. Helloooo....excusez-moi, but WTF?

So far the dialogue includes things like the police, the townhall, bribery, pay-offs and revenge. No violence, yet, but the plot is thickening and who knows how it will play out.

Quite frankly, I can imagine any of these stories being picked up by Hollywood, and I imagine the likes of Ron Howard, Tom Hanks and Rober DeNiro could be involved. I'm just at the moment trying to decide who would be the best fit for the coveted role of the Duchess. I'm thinking maybe Scarlett Johansson, or maybe Keira Knightley, and of course Jude Law would be a dead-ringer for the Duke...